The Fairlight soon had stiff competition. New England Digital introduced the stratospherically priced Synclavier (perhaps most famous for the chiming gong sound at the beginning of Michael Jackson’s Beat It), and Emu Systems introduced the sub-$10,000 Emulator and Emulator II keyboards. Technology advanced so quickly that by 1985 the Ensoniq Mirage cost a mere $2000 and became known as the poor-man’s Fairlight.
