Ensoniq MR-61

 Music workstation synthesizer  (1996)

Rompler synth with many bugs, quite expensive at the time
(picture by Daniel Kohan - thanks)

Overview

OVERVIEW  MR-61 61 key (C-C) synth-action keyboard with programmable velocity, release velocity, and channel pressure sensitivity
3 programmable keyboard zones for splits and layers - Programmable Pitch and Mod Wheels. a 40 (2 x 20) LCD display
4 knobs, 89 buttons (46 with LEDs)  and a  volume slider

RELATED MODELS:
- MR76 same with 76 keys
- MR rack rackmount edition

Terminal connectors:
- Midi Interface 
- main signal out
- 4 programmable foot switches (SW-2, SW-6, optional SW-10)
-programmable Mod/Volume Pedal (optional CVP-1)
- Left/Mono and Right Main outputs (balanced TRS)
- Left/Mono and Right Aux outputs (balanced TRS)
- Stereo headphone output

Sound

OSCILLATORS 64 voices polyphony , 44.1 kHz sample playback rate at 18-bit D/A conversion,  the internal wavetable features 
112 Megabits (14 MB) of 16-bit wave ROM including 28 Megabits (3.5 MB) of acoustic piano, multi-sampled acoustic instruments and synthesizers, second-generation Transwaves (created through digital synthesis and resynthesis technologies) , sustained synth waveforms with harmonic and inharmonic structures 

MEMORY  
- 256 RAM sounds possible (70 sounds shipped from factory)
- 468 ROM sounds (2 banks of 128, 79 drum kits, 128 GM sounds, 11 GM/GS drum kits) 
-  751 ROM drum elements  
All data can be saved to HD disk floppy

Expansion, sequencer and effects

EXPANSION  3 expansion slots, for a total of up to 688 Megabits (86 MB) of ROM wave data, or up to 96 Megabits (12 MB) of user-loadable samples . A Wave Expansion board holds up to 192 Megabits (24 MB) wave data, multiple banks of sounds (up to 128 per bank), and demos 
An MR-FLASH sample memory board provides 4 MB of re-writable FLASH ROM memory for .AIFF and .WAV files.
Expansion boards are user-installable

EFFECTS  40 insert effect choices  Effects can be routed to Main or Aux outputs + reverb-

SEQUENCER  16 tracks midi with  384 PPQ resolution

internal of mr61

ENSONIQ MR61 / 76 Specifications



TECHNICAL
44.1 kHz sample playback rate
18-bit D/A conversion with 108 dB dynamic range
103 dB signal-to-noise ratio
2 Hz -20 kHz frequency range

40 (2 x 20) large character LCD display
4 knobs, 89 buttons (46 with LEDs) , volume slider
SoundFinder TM /RhythmFinder TM interface - one knob selects sound/rhythm type, another knob selects specific sound/rhythm. Sounds/rhythms can be searched for alphabetically within musical categories, numerically within bank locations (ROM, RAM, Expansion Board, GM, User, Demo) , or with keyboard spelling.
Onboard Help function

EXPANSION
3 expansion slots, for a total of up to 688 Megabits (86 MB) of ROM wave data, or up to 96 Megabits (12 MB) of user-loadable samples
A Wave Expansion board holds up to 192 Megabits (24 MB) wave data, multiple banks of sounds (up to 128 per bank), and demos
An MR-FLASH sample memory board provides 4 MB of re-writable FLASH ROM memory for .AIFF and .WAV files.
Expansion boards are user-installable


VOICES
64 dynamically assigned voices
Dynamically sized voice architecture (up to 16 layers) , with the following parameters (per layer) 
 Independent waveform selection 
    Volume and Pan
    Layer delay up to 10 secs or by key-up trigger
    2 independent multi-mode dynamic digital filters (low-pass, high-pass, variable bandwidth band-pass) with key tracking (33 settings, including fractional scaling)
    3 five-stage envelope generators (time and level) with level and attack time modulatable by velocity (8 possible curves) , key scaling, and response to release velocity
    22 modulation sources, 8 modulation destinations
    1 LFO (7 waveform choices) , can sync to 16 Track Recorder, Drum Machine, or external MIDI clock (12 subdivisions)
    Variable rate noise generator, can sync to 16 Track Recorder, Drum Machine, or external MIDI clock (12 subdivisions)
    Octave, semi-tone and fine tuning
    Pitch tracking (33 settings, including fractional scaling)
    45 ROM Pitch Tables (256 steps per semitone resolution)
    1 RAM location for receiving a pitch table sent from any device that supports the MIDI Tuning Standard (Bulk Tuning Dump and Single Note Tuning Change)
    Key and velocity ranges
    Voice trigger options (key-up or down, MIDI controller enable)
    Glide mode, glide time
    Mono/poly playback
    Pitch Bend on/off, Held Pitch Bend mode (range is programmable for both positive and negative wheel directions)
    Sustain on/off
    Key group assignment


 Effects
VLSI 24-bit digital signal processor (ESP-2) with 26 MIPS of DSP power, 52-bit accumulation 
    New UMTE (Universal Multi-Timbral Effects ) architecture with 6 stereo busses:
        3 stereo busses with independent sends into global reverb
        1 stereo bus with a wet/dry mix into global chorus and a send into global reverb
        1 stereo bus with a wet/dry mix into an insert effect, a wet/dry mix into global chorus, and a send into global reverb
        1 dedicated stereo dry bus
    Dedicated buttons for global reverb, global chorus, insert effect, and FX bus routing
    40 insert effect choices (dynamically modulatable by MIDI controllers)
    Effects can be routed to Main or Aux outputs


Drum Machine
Over 75 onboard rhythms with 8 Variations and 8 Fills per rhythm, adjustable tempo (25-350) , volume, and part muting 
    Drum Kit zones (Kick, Snare, Hats, Cymbal, Toms, Perc1/2/3) can be edited to adjust Sound, Volume, Pan, FX Bus, Tuning
    New drum or percussion kits can be selected from ROM, RAM, or Wave Expansion boards
    Each Variation and Fill can be set to use pattern data from any other Rhythm (selectable per Zone)
    Rhythms can be sent to Track 10 in the 16 Track Recorder for synchronization with sequence data ( links Drum Machine operations)
    New rhythms can be loaded from disk
 16 Track Recorder
16 tracks, each with a complete set of track parameters (same as performance presets) 
    Up to 64 internal voices per track, dynamically assigned (no limit on MIDI voices per track)
    24 sequence per song structure (3 banks of 8 each, A-H)
    200 kBytes memory (Recorder and Idea Pad)
    384 PPQ, synchronized to internal or MIDI clock source
    2 real time record modes (Replace, Add)
    Automated punch/edit/auto-locate regions remembered for each sequence
    Quantize from whole note to 1/64 triplet, normal or Delta quantization, strength, swing, random, shift, key range, window, quantize Note Offs, move Note Offs, user-definable templates
    Copy (with/without data) , Erase (all, within region, data only) Track
    Copy (with/without data) , Erase (all, outside region) Sequence
    Click/Countoff with selectable sound (click, vocal, both, stick) , volume, pan, FX bus, timing (1/2 note to 1/32T) , # of bars
    Tap Tempo control (25-350)
    Song Playlist allows creation of a song form quickly from the dedicated front-panel controls (up to 9,999 Steps per Song)
    Dedicated Pan and Mix knobs, Track Mute and Solo buttons
    Track Mix records all volume and panning changes for each track, globally for the song (fade-in/fade-outs)


STORAGE
    1.4 MB High Density (HD) 3.5" floppy, MS-DOS compatible
    Loads, edits, and saves Standard MIDI Files (Type 0 and Type 1)
    Save All-Session (all FLASH & RAM) , All-RAM (all songs, RAM sound bank, rhythm bank) , 1-Song, All-Songs, 1-MIDIFile, Rhythm-Bank (loadable to FLASH or RAM) , 1-Rhythm (loadable to FLASH or RAM) , Sound-Bank (loadable to FLASH or RAM) , 1-Sound (loadable to FLASH or RAM) , Preset-Bank,1-Preset

MR-61 Dimensions: 41 3/4" (106.4 cm) wide x 4" (10.5 cm) high x 14 2/3" (37.2 cm) deep
MR-61 Weight: 31 pounds (16.78 kilograms) unboxed, 48 pounds (21.77 kilograms) boxed

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