DPX1

Back in 1987, this 2U rackmount gem stepped in as a clever workaround for the floppy-disk era of sampling, letting you load and play disks from heavyweights like the Ensoniq Mirage, E-mu Emulator II, and Prophet 2000/2002 without needing the original machines.

It packs 8-voice polyphony with 12-bit sample playback into 1MB of RAM, dual floppy drives for 3.5-inch and 5.25-inch disks, and a resonant 24dB low-pass filter using the classic SSM2045 chip for that analog warmth on digital samples. Full MIDI In/Out/Thru supports 4-part multitimbrality, velocity, aftertouch, program changes, and controllers like pitch bend and mod wheel, with 100 presets and a simple front-panel volume slider for quick tweaks—no deep editing, just faithful reproduction of loops, filters, and mods from the source disks. A single stereo audio out keeps it straightforward, though later revisions added options like 8 individual outs and SCSI hard drive support.

Vintage enthusiasts love how it revives those irreplaceable '80s samples with uncanny accuracy, especially Ensoniq and E-mu sounds, making it a studio lifesaver for retro workflows despite its no-edit limitations.