Ensoniq Mirage "This is a Mirage. This is not." ad, Electronics & Music Makers, 1985

Ensoniq Mirage "This is a Mirage. This is not." page and a half black and white advertisement from page 66 and 67 in the July 1985 issue of Electronics & Music Makers magazine.

No.  It's not an April Fools post. I'm just late. Was supposed to post yesterday and ended up having to work and the post never got finished.

Then, tonight when I got home (late... again...), I got on my stationary bike to blow off some stress from the day but found it had a flat tire. WTF?!?! How does that happen? But it was flat.

And then I remembered the post. So, I pulled up an Ultravox concert on YouTube, Chromecasted it to my TV, and decided to finish the post.

And so here it is...

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While doing some background research on the Ensoniq Mirage for a different project, I was reading through the product review for this cute little sampler in the July 1985 issue of E&MM. But as I was flipping through the magazine to find the review, I was startled when this Mirage advertisement popped up further on in the magazine. I don't recall ever coming across it.

It's startling for a few reasons.

First - it's black and white. At a time when most of the ads appearing in E&MM were taking advantage of the magazine's glossy pages through the use of saturated bright colours and classic 80's designs, Ensoniq darted in the other direction with a very stark, black and white advertisement.  Ballsy? Or did they just not have the cash for a colour ad? Who cares... it stands out.

Second - Ensoniq took a page (knowingly or unknowingly) out of Moog's 1979 marketing playbook and kept the ad concept simple. Very very simple. If you don't recall those particular Moog advertisements, here's a refresher (click to view blog posts and larger versions of the ads):

Both of those Moog ads, and this Mirage advertisement that came six years later, don't even sport a logo.

But, what the Moog keyboard itself has that the Mirage doesn't is a distinctive design. Most readers of this magazine would immediately recognize a Minimoog. But, remove the logo from an Mirage keyboard and it looks a lot like the other digital keyboards that were around at the time.

Another company that got away with this type of advertisement is E-mu with its Emulator. It too, became a classic in my books (again... click on the link to view the blog post and a larger version of the ad):

The only reference to the name of the instrument in this E-mu advertisement is glued to the keyboard itself. But the Emulator was distinctive like the Minimoog, so they can get away with it. As quickly as the Ensoniq Mirage gained fame, it was too generic not to point out what the instrument actually was.

Aside: Ultravox concert from YouTube. The Thin Wall just started. Amazing. I had to stop writing and dance a little - no joke. Look it up - Ultravox Concert 2010 - Return to Eden Full Show. Okay - back to the blog post...

Third - although not really "startling", is the theme. Ensoniq used a nice little play on words to get across the best thing the "Mirage" had going for it - the price. But the "optical phenomenon" theme didn't end after the price tag in the bottom half of the ad. If you read the fine print, you get to "Rush to your nearest oasis before it's gone!" and then the ad directs the reader to the previous facing page.

There on that facing page, the reader will find another 1/2-page long list of dealers for the sampling keyboard. E&MM managed to sell the 1-1/2 page advertisement spot a fair bit, and it was very effective.

And that brings up to the forth thing - and definitely back into the range of "startling". Even on this page, the company logo is only in small print at the bottom of the column. This ad is all about the synth, not the company. Not sure why this is, but my best guess is that the distributor or dealers were paying for this ad. And it was the Mirage that was the darling of the show. Not Ensoniq. But that's just me thinking out load.

Anyways, if you ever get a chance to read that Mirage review from the same mag, don't pass it up. The review gives an amazing account not just of the instrument itself, but the history of sampling up to this point as well as Mirage's debut at the February 1984 Frankfurt music fair.

"One factor contributing to this chaos [of the music fair] was the presence of two stunning German girls giving out glossy brochures, but the main reason was superficially rather more mundane. Three extremely dull-looking electronic keyboards, similar in size to a DX-7 and obviously in a just-finished production state, wouldn't ordinarily command such universal attention.

But these instruments were different. Even withe the help(?) of an unflattering speaker system struggling to make its presence felt in the face of strong competition from some triffid-like potted plants, the keyboards sounded good. Lots of strings, brass and piano sounds being reproduced with uncanny accuracy by electronics were not, of course, a novelty. But when the girls told us the keyboard would be selling for under 2000 pounds, our mood changed from one of mild pleasure to one of uninhibited astonishment."

The review also explains how six months later, the orders were coming in so fast to America, that Ensoniq set up production in Italy where Mirages were made under license.

That's enough blogging for now. Time to get back to that Ultravox concert.

Clef Products (Electronics) Limited aka Clef Electronic Music ad including Clef Master Rhythm, Band-Box, Microsynth, Electronics & Music Maker, 1982

Clef Products (Electronics) Limited aka Clef Electronic Music1/2-page advertisement including Clef Master Rhythm, Band-Box and  Microsynth from page 15 in Electronics & Music Maker October 1982.

I got a few emails after my last few blog posts on the Sound Master Memory Rhythm SR-88 and Eletro Dynamics Corporation DM-1000 Super Drum Machine. In those blog posts, I had found a number of rhythm machines that seemed to share a common ancestor - the SR-88, the Boss DR-55, EDC SR-99, Amdek RMK-100 and, also, the Clef Master Rhythm. I also asked if anyone had more information.

One reader - "vout" - sent in a great email that included a photo of his SIX different rhythm machines -including the Clef Master Rhythm, along with a great explanation of how they were programmed. With vout's permission, I've also included the photo he sent (DROOL!):

"All these drum machines are linked by the fact that they use a simple step-time programming system that basically just uses two buttons - once you get your head round how it works it's a great way of programming beats, often with a bit of randomness thrown in. Roland developed this idea more than anyone else by using it in both the CR-78 and the CR-8000 drum machines, these are probably the most complex machines that use only this method of programming."

vout also provided a lot of information on the individual machines - including ones that I hadn't even heard of like the Movement Sequence Memory Rhythm and the Kay Memory Rhythm. He concludes his descriptions with a big nod to the Clef Master Rhythm, calling it one of the best of the bunch:

"The Sound Master SR-88 is only one of many variants of the same design. The Kay Memory Rhythm is another, as is the rare Movement Sequence Memory Rhythm (Movement were a UK company better known for the large and very rare Movement Drum Computer, famously used by the Eurhythmics). It seems that an (unknown) Japanese company licenced its design to many distributors in the early 80's. The Sound Master machines, Kay and Movement machines are all variants of this design and all sound identical, though the casings and control layout were sometimes different, they all have the same circuit design inside.

The Electro Dynamic Corporation EDC-99 is a very interesting variant, it is far more complex on the programming side, having a microcontroller (some sort of PROM I think) and far more extensive programming, you can actually program songs, not just patterns on it, but the sounds are identical to the SR-88.

The Boss DR-55 was Rolands own design and though it is similar (the control circuit is almost but not quite the same) the voice circuitry and sounds are very different. Because of Roland/Boss market penetration this is the machine that everyone thinks is the original that everybody else copied, but I don't think this is the case.

The Amdek machine was also designed by Roland (Amdek were a Canadian subsidiary of Roland who distributed many type of effects pedals and the Amdek drum machine, all available only in kit form). The design is not the same as the  DR-55 - the voices in particular are more sophisticated, more like the TR-606 in fact.

There also exists the Sound Master Latin Percussion, a very interesting non-programmable version of the SR-88 with more voices and a 'Latin' theme. I'm still looking for one of those!

Finally, the Clef Master Rhythm was a totally independant design from a UK company who specialised in Musical Instrument kits and effects units in the 1970's. This machine is more complex than any of the others (with the possible exception of the EDC-99), with more sounds and program memories - it's actually the best machine here IMHO and arguably predates the other designs."

It was this final bit about the Clef Master Rhythm's superiority that made me dig a bit deeper in some UK magazines to see if it had done any advertising. Sure enough, I managed to find one in Electronics & Music Makers.

The ad doesn't disappoint either. It not only backs up vout's excellent comments about the machine (not that I had any doubt!), but also provides a lot more information about some of the other kits and products Clef offered lucky UK readers. Don't forget to read the fine print in the ad scan to learn more about these products!

Two really cool MATRIXSYNTH posts popped up during a Google search that provide some great historical info. The first is actually a December 2008 auction post for the Clef Microsynth, including a low res version of this ad. But, what's also cool is that in the comments section, someone who worked at Clef says that the Microsynth was the only product not designed in-house. Varifying that the Master Rhythm was designed in-house (and also backing up what vout said earlier about it being an independent design).

The second search result is an August 2008 auction post that I linked to in that earlier SR-88 blog write-up. If you didn't check it out then, check it out now. It includes some good close-up photos, a programming demo video, and some sound examples. Excellent stuff.

My quick scan through  E&MM provided a bit more info. I've found out that the Clef Master Rhythm was still available until at least July 1985, as it was included in E&MM's check list series of drum machines that month:

"Clef: Master Rhythm - 129 Pounds. 13-voice analogue drum machine, 24 programmable patterns, mono output; 2 cymbals, rimshot, brushes, claves, snare, 4 toms, 2 bongos, conga, bass drum.
+ Wide range of voices for the money;
- doesn't sound as good as FR110, and isn't as easy to use
- if the voices are the ones you want, there's simply no alternative"

 But, unfortunately, by the January 1986 drum machine checklist installment it had stopped being included.

Thanks to vout, I think I can now stop fixating on these addictive little rhythm units.

And, if anyone has a Sound Master Latin Percussion unit he would like to give vout, contact me and I'll send on the info!  :D

Sequential Circuits Prophet VS, E & MM 1986

Sequential Circuits Prophet VS from page 17 of Electronics & Music Maker magazine April 1986.

Akai S612, Electronics and Music Maker April 1986

Akai S612 sampler from page 25 of Electronics & Music Maker magazine APril 1986.