Ensoniq MR61 (1999)

The Ensoniq MR61 is a 61-key professional music workstation released in 1999, part of Ensoniq's late-period MR series. It was built around a 24-bit sound engine with 64-voice polyphony, and its engine was derived from the same technology as the ASR-X — Sonicstate noted it used a dedicated custom VLSI chip for the 24-bit sound core, while Sound on Sound (November 1996, p.218) observed that Ensoniq had reversed the usual order by releasing the keyboard version of the MR line after the rack module, and praised the company for clearly considering what a "performance" keyboard should be.

The MR61 offered 4 MB of internal sound memory, expandable to 68 MB, with 32 MB of wave ROM and 2 MB of sample RAM. It had a semi-weighted 61-key keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch (Sonicstate and Vintage Synth Explorer confirm this; Perfect Circuit lists only velocity sensitivity). Effects processing came from two 24-bit DSPs, allowing four simultaneous 24-bit effects. Connectivity included left/mono and right audio outputs, a stereo line input, MIDI In/Out/Thru, two assignable footswitch inputs, one expression pedal input, a headphone output, a single expansion board slot, and a floppy disk drive.

The MR61 was positioned as a portable, gig-friendly workstation and was marketed as a budget alternative to contemporaries like the Korg Triton and Yamaha Motif. It weighed 10 kg (22 lbs). No dimensions, original price, or power supply details are documented in available sources, and no maintenance or common-failure information has surfaced.