Mirage SQ-80

Search the record for a machine called the "Mirage SQ-80" and you hit the same wall the paperwork does. No surviving source uses that exact name. What exists from the period is Ensoniq advertising from early 1988 that mentions a Mirage - specifically, a library of Mirage sounds - next to a separate Ensoniq SQ-80 Cross Wave Synthesizer with Poly-Key.

Ensoniq's own campaign ran in Mix (Feb 1988, p.120) and Recording Engineer (Mar 1988, p.24). It promoted the EPS Performance Sampler. The ads claim 96dB dynamic range, a built-in 8-track MIDI sequencer, and the ability to convert and play Mirage sounds, with a ready library of over 2,500 patches. A Mix new-products preview (Feb 1988, p.86) priced the EPS at $1,895 and described the SQ-80 as increasing expressiveness. That $1,895 figure applies to the EPS, not the SQ-80.

Beyond those ad pages, nothing else is documented about a "Mirage SQ-80" under that name. There are no confirmed standalone specifications, production dates, or prices. The entry is unresolved. The period record shows Ensoniq had both a Mirage and an SQ-80 in 1988, but not that they were ever a single product.