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My lasting musical contribution to the keyboard industry

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ESQ1 synthesizer keyboard

In 1986 I was working as a customer service representative for Ensoniq Corporation, a disruptive music technology company at the time. Up against leviathans such as Yamaha, Korg and Roland, three former Commodore Computer heavyweights had managed to one-up the competition with the arrival of the Mirage, an affordable sampler that had taken the market by storm. Next up was to pursue the synthesizer world, and the development of the new ESQ-1 was nearly complete.

Always contribute more than you ask for

One thing I’ve always tried to do in my career was to give an extra measure of effort to whatever company I worked for. Retail sales taught me that a “9 to 5” mentality was not going to get me where I wanted to be, so I would volunteer to do more than the minimum, much more in fact. In the case of Ensoniq, I desperately wanted to become a district sales manager, a coveted position that was my goal and reason for making the move to the vendor side of the industry. In the meantime, I was striving to be the best CSR possible, and I had been beta-testing the ESQ-1 at home in my spare time.

When opportunity knocks, open the door

My understanding was that some of the sounds I was developing had a chance to be included in the ESQ-1’s internal memory, which for me would be a great honor and achievement. At the time, I was a self-styled sound programmer, and while testing the functionality of the synthesizer had come up with some pretty cool patches to submit for consideration. But there was a sequencer on board as well, and late one afternoon an engineer approached me and asked if I knew how to use it, as the company was looking for a catchy demo song to include in the production model. Naturally I said I’d be glad to take a shot at composing something and was then informed in true detective Columbo fashion that they needed it by the next day. I went home after work and got busy, splicing together snippets of my own original songs.

Making the cut and reveling in the outcome

Keep in mind, the ESQ-1 was 8-note polyphonic, so care needed to be taken in terms of voice allocation. I put in several hours, sequencing late into the night until I was satisfied with the resulting demo song. The next day, we transferred the data via cassette tape to the unit in the marketing department and pressed “play”. I was blown away by the response – it was unanimous that this little ditty would be shipped in every ESQ-1, and thus I had made my mark as a young sound programmer and composer of sorts. Over the next few years this synth went on to be quite successful for Ensoniq in terms of unit sales, and I have the distinction of knowing that 35,000 people erased my music to free up the sequencer memory!

Hear my composition on SoundCloud.

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Filed Under: Career Development, Sales

About Doug Nestler

Sales Consultant | Author | Player
Doug is the author of Sound Marketing: Helping Music Brands Be Heard, and has been involved in the musical instrument and pro audio business for nearly four decades. His expertise is in sales & marketing strategy, key account management, product roll-outs and overall channel management.

Comments

  1. Denis Aumiller says

    October 29, 2019 at 1:18 pm

    Doug,

    Love the jam. Takes me back several decades. And it was really nice to see Sound Marketing in my inbox. It’s great to have you back!

    Cheers!
    Denis

    Reply
  2. John McCubbery says

    October 30, 2019 at 5:51 pm

    It hit the zeitgeist, it was so impressive and worked across borders as well. Perfect and effective demonstration song written by someone who loves music and knew what the ESQ-1 could do. Brilliant – and thank you again Doug!

    Reply
  3. Keith Mohr says

    November 2, 2019 at 2:28 pm

    I remember this song Doug and I didn’t know you were the one who composed it!
    Way to make best use of those 8 notes of polyphony!

    Reply
  4. John Epifanio says

    November 2, 2019 at 9:41 pm

    Great story Doug. I remember those days and you repping Ensoniq. I remember being so impressed

    Reply
  5. Jim Christaldi says

    November 2, 2019 at 11:36 pm

    Love it, Doug! Bought the Mirage and then the Ensoniq MR-64 (still have it), but never had the ESQ, so I missed this little gem!

    Reply
  6. Mike Neely says

    February 20, 2020 at 11:32 pm

    Doug, i worked at a music store in York Pa and can vividly remember you playing that demo for me on the ESQ1. What a great machine and a great demo.

    Reply
  7. Steve Hayes says

    March 4, 2022 at 11:33 pm

    Awesome ! the esq-1 was awesome . I loved the sequencer . I would love a software emulation with that sequencer . i made miracles with it . It was my first sequencer workstation. I also had a few modules . the bass module was my favorite . I loved the bass. Thank you for creating this board

    Reply
  8. Graham says

    March 6, 2022 at 1:56 am

    Great story. It’s such a slice of synth history for me. I pretty much stopped plying synths for a number of years until I heard the ESQ-1 and your demo. Love at first sight/hearing. Thanks!

    Reply

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Welcome to the show.

Sound Marketing sits at the intersection of music, sales & marketing. We explore how insightful strategy, focused tactics, and organizational change will help manufacturers be heard over all the noise in the musical instrument marketplace.

My name is Doug Nestler, and I’ve spent 40 years—still going strong—in sales & marketing. My resume includes roles in all areas of channel management and distribution, and Sound Marketing is a way to share my expertise with you.

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