Bill Mauchly & John Senior | Ensoniq meets SQ80 V

Ensoniq’s SQ-80 is a keyboard responsible for some of the most recognisable synth tones of the ‘80s, ‘90s, and beyond. Its combination of digital oscillators, analog filters, and a surprisingly intuitive workflow sets it apart from the crowd, both then and now.

With SQ80 V, we wanted to resurrect this hybrid icon in all its former glory and more. We had the privilege of spending a day with two of the original engineers on the project, Bill Mauchly and John Senior, exploring their inspirations, the limitations of technology, and their insight into the process of designing a classic.

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Exclusive SQ-80 V launch offer until October 5th, 2021 ⏰

SQ80 V is Ensoniq’s classic ‘80s Cross-Wave synth reborn, weaving hybrid lo-fi character, complex industrial textures, and thousands of unique waveform combinations into a quick-fire softsynth enhanced for modern production. Digital synthesis unraveled.

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Arturia is one of the world’s leading developers of music software, studio controllers, hardware synthesizers and audio interfaces. Creating gear for pro and amateur musicians alike, we create equipment that is both easy to use, enhances your workflow, and sounds amazing.

[Johnsormani]

Thank you Bill Mauchly for your work at Ensoniq and bringing us Transwaves technology and Waveboy effects !

[deadscenerecords]

Meeting my heroes. Thank you for this.

[Amusiastudio]

How good is this! These guys must be so proud.

[zmix]

John and Bill are two of the nicest, smartest people I've ever met, it's so nice to see them re-launch their baby 33 years later..! By the way those guys don't look like they've aged a day since then,

[michatroschka]

omg. those two guys are legends! eps16 and esq are my favourites

[MyBichSustained]

I want those damn keyboards so bad....ASR 10 needs to come back more than ever!

[ukenbike]

Loved my Ensoniq SQ-80 and EPS. Those were fun workstations. Glad Arturia is keeping these vintage machines alive!

[j.d.gallie]

Amazing grace story! Very inspiring! Thank you for all your hard work and showing us such a beautiful instrument! I remember playing an original ELKA string synthesizer in a band in the 70s. Great fun! The technology and innovations that you two created have added so much to the music world.

[cke]

so glad I've held onto my SQ80 all these years. sitting right next to me ready for what's next. Arturia emulation looks good too.

[QuestionMarkComposer]

For me, real music production began with the original ESQ1, the first kind-of-a-workstation. Thank you for that!

[pepinillosazucarados]

i hope arturia starts making more modern synth emulation's from the 90's 😉 like the kawai K4

[williammchugh]

I had purchased a previous Arturia collection. As an Ensoniq EPS owner (still), when I saw the new collection had the SQ-80 there was no way I wasn't going to upgrade. An SQ-80 that doesn't break down? Yes please.

[riseofthethorax]

They also made a 15 voice chip for the Apple IIgs.. As I seem to recall, it was a mirage on a chip.. But the Apple IIgs was based on a 6502, so it could not access more than 64K at a time, and that would limit the accessibility of the sound chip to memory, as it sould have made only sense for all components to access the same RAM.. In the late 80s there was a US tariff on electronics exports..

[StayBased]

Please make an ASR-10 V synth Arturia!

[riseofthethorax]

This isn't all the keyboards they had at the time, they did have the mirage, but there was the ESQ-80 and another.. I'll have to go ask Gemini..  

4 distinct synthesizer models during that decade:  

Mirage (1984): Though technically a sampler, the Mirage included a powerful synthesizer section for modifying its samples, making it a popular choice for sound design.  

ESQ-1 (1986): This was Ensoniq's first true synthesizer, a hybrid digital/analog instrument with a distinctive sound and a user-friendly interface.

ESQ-M (1987): A rack-mount version of the ESQ-1, offering the same sonic capabilities in a more compact format.    

SQ-80 (1987): An updated version of the ESQ-1, featuring an expanded waveform set, an improved sequencer, and a floppy disk drive.  
It's worth noting that Ensoniq also released several other products in the 80s, such as the SDP-1 digital piano module and various sampler models. However, these were not synthesizers in the traditional sense.

[rdubb]

His dad John Mauchly co-invented the first programmable computer, the ENIAC

[Purrrelll]

I think the TS-10 was the best thing came out from Ensoniq.

[YASIR.K]

Is there any plan for Roland D-50?
I want to know before I plan to buy from Roland.

[TimesOfTheSines.official]

I call my real Sq80 the Jellotron... lol