Without a doubt, if you own a Ensoniq Mirage DSK-1 you have a piece of history. The 8-bit, 32KHz sampler was a revolution for musicians. Before the Mirage, digital sampling was only available to studios and wealthy musicians. The concept of a low price sampler was exactly what the market needed.

The Mirage was simple in design and function. Its sample rate at best was 32KHz. 8 note polyphony, limited storage on floppy disk, and a 1 track sequencer did not impress many. To the "serious musician", the keyboard was thought of as a toy. And why not? It came out at a time when the Yamaha DX7 was the hottest, most overused synth on the market. The advantage was that you could sample those DX7 sounds, and others, from your friends.

The 333 note sequencer is not much, but it does allow for creative playback options. You can use the sustain pedal to start and stop the sequencer. A common use is a drum loop sample that is started with the pedal and stopped when done.

To edit parameters, filters and loop points you use the 2 digit display. The values are displayed in hex. Finding the right loop point is very difficult with this method, but after a few tries you will understand the process.

At one time visual editors were available to edit the samples. It required the advanced OS and most applications ran on Commodore 64's or Macintosh. The editors would help with the loop points and could be used as a library.
Synthesizer sounds were available through third party applications such as Sound Process.

In practical applications, meaning live performance, caution needed to be used for timing between songs. The load time from the internal floppy drive would require the lead singer to ramble on while the keyboardist switched and loaded new sounds. Switching sounds during a tune was almost impossible. For this reason, you would find many keyboardists who used the Mirage to have the rackmount version as well and control it via MIDI.

Speaking of MIDI, the implementation of MIDI was simple. You had your choice of Omni mode or a specific MIDI channel.

An interesting feature of the keyboard was its Mod/Mix wheel. Essentially you could mix samples using the wheel. This became handy when you wanted to change from a hard, percussive sound into a softer, pad sound. Using some creativity, you could sample 2 drum loops onto the same key and mix between them with the wheel.
The ability to sample a different sound on different keys and then layer an additional sound on top of those keys is some of the more powerful "hidden" functions within the keyboard.

It must be mentioned that the 61 keys are not weighted and they do not perform aftertouch functions.

The Ensoniq Mirage was revolutionary and gave the music world a peek into the digital sampling process.

Everyday use...

In the daily functions of my studio, the Mirage plays the role of controller. It is the centerpiece of my MIDI rack, consisting of the Mirage, a Proteus World, a Wavestation SR, and a Nanosynth.
I will play sounds directly from the rack units through a MIDI patch panel or connect to my Macintosh and create sequences with Cakewalk Metro.
I will say that a few years ago you would find some samples from the Mirage in some songs I composed. You can still find some Roland synth and vocal sounds used in current recordings. With the recent revival of "low bit" samples, I have used some drum samples recorded many years ago.

Some information about RUSH

Neil Peart
Percussion/Drums, Lyricist

Neil Peart was born September 12, 1952. He took up drumming when he was 13 years old and received professional drum lessons for his birthday. Originally inspired by the agressive drumming of the late Keith Moon, he is also influenced by the likes of Carl Palmer and Bill Bruford.

Neil grew up near Toronto and played in a series of high school bands before moving to London during the early 70's in order to try and further is musical career. While there he worked as a salesman at a shop called The Great Frog in the tourist district of Carnaby Street. Disillusioned by the British music scene he later returned to Canada where he eventually hooked up with Geddy and Alex. He became a member of Rush in June, 1974.

Neil likes to read and his lyrical influences stem from some of his literary heroes -- Ernest Hemmingway, John Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dos Passos, Barth, Rand, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Neil has also written articles and editorials, and in 1994 coauthored a short story "Drumbeats" with Kevin J. Anderson for the horror anthology Shock Rock II.

Neil's wife, Jaqueline Taylor, passed away from cancer in June of 1998; his only child Selena also passed away in August of 1997 from a tragic car crash.

Of the three, Neil has probably gone through the most radical change in equipment, and change in manufacturers of his instruments. We will look at his ever-evolving setup first.

If we could be transported back to Neil's first few tours with Rush, we would see a relatively large set of silver Slingerland drums, and some cymbals, clearly patterned after Keith Moon's double bass drum setup, with a few odd extra cymbals and a cluster of cowbells that Neil had collected over the years.

In Rush's unsynthesized early years, not much more was needed than that. Rush was more or less a perennial second-tier act with the ability to headline a small concert hall.

However, the band's fortunes changed, dramatically, with the release of 2112 and All the World's A Stage, in 1976. The band found themselves with hit records, a large cult following in the UK and Europe, and a newfound confidence in themselves (not to mention some well-deserved money in their pockets).
Neil took it upon himself to add various percussion and orchestral instruments to his drum set, to add some spice and variety to the new music they were creating. He also found himself with a new set of black Slingerland drums with Rush's easily recognized logo emblazoned on the bass drum heads, in full color. This titanic new kit, with its tubular bells, glockenspiel, temple blocks, and whatnot, would take him across Europe and North America, seemingly nonstop for the next two years.
1979 saw a new direction in songwriting, for Rush, and Neil decided to try some new drums, once again. He received a set of Tama Superstars, which gave his drum tone a slightly "throatier" sound. Other than the conspicuous percussion that he continued to carry, on tour, there was one notable holdover from the original Slingerland kit; he continued to use his old snare drum, which he had grown attached to.
In 1982, Neil changed to Tama's Artstar drums, which had much thinner shells, allowing for a more resonant sound.
After this tour, such concert stalwarts as "Xanadu" were retired. The forest of percussion that he had surrounded him for over six years was no longer necessary.
I will never forget the audience reaction when Neil's drum riser did a 180-degree spin revealing his new set of Simmons electronic drums, on the Grace Under Pressure tour. As if the "Live Rush Experience" needed another added attraction. Neil integrated the new set, seamlessly, into his playing. It would open the door to even greater heights of creativity from "The Professor." This tour also saw the beginning of the tradition of Neil's bass drum heads displaying the art for what was the album sticker (remember those?). Even after album sticker art went the way of the dinosaurs, the art for his drumheads still looked like it would have been made for such a purpose, with the exception of the psychedelic "Neil Face" heads.

A trip to a Rush concert in the late 80's would give the fan a look at Neil's snazzy new white-pearloid Ludwig drums. His ubiquitous solo spot during the show now had a very tongue-in-cheek title, called "The Rhythm Method."

Neil was now using his various electronic percussion pads to play all manner of sampled and synthesized sounds. His kit also now included a controller that was laid out like a xylophone, or marimba, called a MalletKat.
Neil obviously started to rethink how he wanted to present the drums with the tour for Roll the Bones. He decided to use only one bass drum, while experimenting with the size and placement of his other drums. A beautiful dark purple was chosen for the color of his drums shells, for this tour, which were still made by Ludwig.

On the ensuing Counterparts tour, the color was changed to a dark cherry red.

The biggest change in Neil's setup came with the Test For Echo tour. After using Ludwig drums for several years, he decided to switch to Drum Workshop. The DW's were finished in a totally retro-looking red sparkle finish, as a fop to his very first set of drums he owned as a boy. The way in which his toms were aligned and even the number of drums had changed, drastically, to go along with the new traditional-grip technique Neil was learning.

The old Slingerland snare was retired after serving Neil for some 25-odd years, as well, but one constant in Neil's setup, over the years, has been his unswerving devotion to Avedis Zildjian cymbals.

Alex Lifeson
Guitar

Alex Lifeson was born on August 27, 1953, in the mountain fishing port of Fernie, British Columbia. Alex's real name is Alex Zivojinovic. He started playing guitar when he was 12, having previously made an unsuccessful attempt at trying to learn viola. His first six-string was a Kent classical acoustic, which his father bought him as a Christmas present. A year later Alex acquired a $59 Japanese electric model.

His early guitar influences are Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy Page. He was basically self-taught as a guitarist. His only formal training was during Rush's early days on the Toronto club circuit.

"A friend I went to school with taught classical guitar," Alex recalls. "He was a very good teacher and I studied with him for about a year and a half. That started around 1971, but then one day he was in a motorcycle accident and had to go to hospital, so the lessons kind of fell off. Also, we'd started to play in clubs a lot more, so I wouldn't really have had the time to keep them up anyway."

Other contemporary guitarists whom Alex admires include Paco De Lucia, Allan Holdsworth, Edward Van Halen, Andy Summers and Rory Gallagher.

He is currently married and has two sons, Justin and Adrian. When not on tour, he also spends time flying, and is in fact, a licensed pilot. He also has a strong reputation in the group as a gourmet cook.

He released a solo album titled "Victor" in January 1996.

Alex on himself:

"I started playing when I was about 11 years old. I begged for a guitar for Christmas, and got an $11 Kent acoustic -- it was just terrible, but my parents still have it [laughs]. Then the following Christmas my parents bought me a Cenora, which sort of looked like a Gretch Country Gentleman. Both were inexpensive, poorly Japanese guitars. I borrowed the guy-next-door's Paul amp whenever I could, and taped "Vox" in black tape on the front of it [laughs]. I played for hours and hours and hours."

You can tell from the insouciant tenor of Alex Lifeson's gear descriptions in the various tour books that although he is very much a "tech head," that he doesn't take it all quite as seriously as the usual Guitar God.
Effects have always played a big part in Alex's sound, but the main difference in his live sound, over the years, comes mostly from the guitars that he's used at any given time.
Alex started out with his war-worn Gibson ES-335 and a couple of Marshall stacks. The sound we hear on their first live album however, is a Gibson Les Paul, a guitar that he would return to years later. During the earlier years, Alex also employed a Fender Twin Reverb, onstage, for cleaner sounds.

The effects Alex used, early on consisted of the usual Cry Baby wah pedal, an Echoplex, a phaser, and a Morley volume/echo pedal.

If A Farewell to Kings saw a change in the sound of Rush, then Alex's was the most pronounced. He added a cherry finished Gibson EDS-1175 doubleneck guitar that was pretty much identical to the one Jimmy Page made famous a few years earlier with Led Zeppelin.

Alex also began to employ a newer effect known as "chorusing" to his sound. The chorus effect takes the incoming signal and splits it into two separate signals, detuning the secondary signal to give the impression of more than one instrument playing, and giving it a spacious, expansive sound. The Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress flanger was a similar effect, but gives the sound a sweeping tone similar to a jet engine passing overhead.

Alex acquired a white Gibson ES-355, which was given a bit of a custom job with its electronics. This guitar had a lot of warmth and character, and went a long way to further refining Alex's sound. He also began playing acoustic guitar onstage, utilizing a homemade contraption that would hold his acoustic in place, on a stand, so he wouldn't have to switch between guitars.

He soon had a white Gibson doubleneck, and a new Roland GR-500 guitar synthesizer. A black Gibson ES-345 would sometimes make it to the stage, as well. He changed amps on the Hemispheres tour to Hiwatt stacks.

If all this new equipment weren't enough, from this point on, Alex would have a set of Taurus pedals on his side of the stage, joining Geddy in their rather unique musical tap dance.

Alex was clearly going through a transitional phase with his gear on the Permanent Waves tour. His amps consisted of a changing combination of Mesa/Boogie, Marshall, and Hiwatt driving Marshall cabinets, while he added a customized Fender Stratocasters to his live arsenal of guitars.

Alex began using a new Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion guitar onstage for the Moving Pictures tour. The guitar had a dark sunburst finish and looked like a large Les Paul with f-holes in the wings.

He now had a white, black and red Strat, but changed his amps, once again. This time, he was using smaller Marshall "combo" amps. Combo amps are self-contained units with the amp and speakers built together as one unit. Alex would use this equipment for the next few years, and this sound is captured live on their Exit... Stage Left album.

If you have a copy of Rush's Grace Under Pressure live video, you can see Alex playing a blonde Fender Telecaster on "New World Man." He would use this guitar live on the next tour, as well.

Late in the Power Windows tour, Alex was introduced to Signature guitars. He had the company build him a few models and began endorsing them.

There is a lot of dissension in regards to Alex's sound on the Hold Your Fire and Presto tours. Along with these guitars, Alex had switched to solid-state Gallien-Krueger amps. The rather thin sound he used during this time, which can be heard live on A Show of Hands, is not fondly remembered by most Rush fans.

Luckily, the guitars of one Paul Reed Smith came to Alex's rescue. The guitars were exceptionally made, giving Alex the feel of the Strat with the tone similar to a Les Paul. He has been using these guitars for over ten years now.