Back in 1989, this rackmount module brought Kawai's clever blend of additive synthesis and PCM sampling to studios everywhere, letting producers stack waveforms in ways that punched above its entry-level price tag.
It delivers 16-voice polyphony with up to 4 sample-based oscillators per patch, drawn from 256 waveforms—204 crafted via additive synthesis of the first 128 harmonics for evolving synth tones, plus 52 PCM acoustic samples for realistic hits. A single LFO with triangle, saw, square, or random shapes modulates pitch or amplitude, while 4 DADSR envelopes shape each source's dynamics; lowpass and highpass filters add subtractive bite, and ring modulation brings gritty AM textures. Controls are straightforward via a 16x2 LCD and dedicated buttons for single (up to 4 sources) or multi (8 sections) patches, with monophonic aftertouch and velocity sensitivity responding over MIDI In. Housed in a compact 1U rack chassis with a single stereo audio out, it stores 64 single patches or 32 combos internally.
Players have long praised its unique, hard-edged digital sounds perfect for EBM and industrial sequencing, thanks to solid 8-part multitimbrality—though some note the lack of onboard reverb and fixed LFO rate cap it for lush pads.
