Back in 1981, this drum machine burst onto the scene with digitally sampled sounds that captured real drums in a way analog boxes just couldn't match, instantly becoming the backbone of early hip-hop and pop grooves from artists like Run-DMC and New Order's "Blue Monday."
It packs 24 sampled percussion voices—bass drum, snare, toms, hi-hats, cymbals, and more—stored on swappable EPROM chips for custom sound swaps, all playable across 8-voice polyphony with three dynamic levels on bass and snare for lifelike accents. Every voice tunes ±½ octave individually, and you program via 24 velocity-sensitive pads in real-time or step modes, with quantization, swing, rolls, flams, and a crystal metronome for tight, human-feeling rhythms. Store up to 100 patterns and 50 songs in battery-backed memory, mix through 8 VCA level sliders and a 9-channel stereo mixer, then route to 8 individual outs plus stereo mix for multitracking. The desktop unit's sturdy build includes footswitch jacks for live start/stop/fills, tape sync, cassette backup, and ties seamlessly into Oberheim's OB-X synths or DSX sequencer—no MIDI stock, but retrofits exist.
Owners love its punchy, authentic 8-bit tone and intuitive workflow that still holds up for vintage beats, though some note the fixed soundset pushes creative EPROM hunting. A true '80s icon worth hunting down if you crave that raw drum machine soul.
