Ensoniq Ensoniq Mirage: Ensoniq, Sampler (musical instrument), Fairlight CMI, Musical Instrument Digital Interface, Operating system, Sample-based synthesis

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Ensoniq Corporation's Mirage was an 8-bit sampler introduced in 1984. Priced below $2000 with features previously only found on more expensive samplers like the Fairlight CMI, it became a best seller. The Mirage featured a 5-octave velocity sensitive keyboard, a two digit LED display, extensive MIDI implementation and a 333 note sequencer, all in 144Kb of RAM. It included a built-in 3.5 inch SSDD floppy drive, which was used to boot the operating system as well as store samples and sequences. Each disk had a copy of the operating system and could be used as a boot disk, obviating the need for a separate boot disk.