Ah, the beloved Ensoniq KS-32.  This was my first real touring keyboard, it’s been around since the days of South Bend’s Saint Joseph St. basement, where we worked out songs like Divisions, All In Time, Kimble, Bob, Muffburger Sandwich…… haha that one too.  My original touring keyboard for the band, I used the Ensoniq as my main board from 1998-2000 as Umphrey’s McGee began to find its sound.  Yes, this is the keyboard that is featured on our first two albums, Greatest Hits Volume III & Songs For Older Women.

The board itself features 76 weighted keys, 32 note polphony & is basically an early workstation as you have the ability to record different ideas on top of each other as well.  The pianos are decent sounding & there are a few surprise patches in there that come off as very solid for the early production date of the board, particularly the acoustic guitars, wind instruments & some nice pads.  If you want more memory, it runs off a ROM card, those are still widely available over the internet & not pricey at all. More specs here.

Is the board in perfect shape?  Certainly not, but the additional value of it being an Umphrey’s McGee relic makes up for it’s imperfections.  It works just fine & might be good for a basic starting keyboard or if you just want to help contribute to a good cause.

We’ll be auctioning this piece of UM history off and donating 50% of the proceeds to our friends Food Patriots, an organization focused on getting fresh food from farms to the inner cities where healthy options are often not available for many people of all ages.  Help us make this important contribution to one of the more innovative & important causes out there.

Auction will run until Tuesday, October 23rd at 2PM CT. Happy Bidding!