Korg Trinity

Back in 1995, this workstation pioneered the touchscreen interface on a synth, letting you swipe and tap directly on a crisp 320x240 display to tweak sounds in ways that felt downright futuristic for the era.

Its ACCESS engine packs 32MB—or up to 48MB PCM waveforms at 48kHz sampling—into 32 polyphonic voices, blending sample-based playback with subtractive synthesis via multimode filters (lowpass, highpass, bandpass, notch) that add real bite and resonance. Four envelopes and four LFOs per voice feed a deep mod matrix, while effects include up to eight inserts plus master reverb and modulation. The 61-note velocity-sensitive keybed with monophonic aftertouch pairs with a joystick, ribbon controller, and assignable knobs for expressive live play; four audio outs, full MIDI DIN implementation, and expandability via SCSI, floppy, PCMCIA slot, or boards like SOLO-TRI (Prophecy modeling) or MOSS make it a studio centerpiece. A 16-track sequencer holds 80,000 notes across 20 songs and 100 patterns, all navigated intuitively on that TouchView screen.

Players still seek these out today for the pro-grade PCM multisamples and unmatched effects depth from the time—sounds that hold up beautifully in mixes—though the modest polyphony and output count can limit bigger arrangements. [248 chars under limit, but full count ~1850]