R-70

Back in 1992, this rhythm composer introduced one of the first positional sensing pads on a drum machine, letting you strike different spots on a single pad to morph cymbal shimmers or snare positions for hyper-realistic grooves that felt almost human.

Its PCM sound engine packs 210 onboard drum instruments across six banks, editable via 10 parameters like attack damping, pitch in 10-cent steps up to ±48 semitones, decay, nuance, and brilliance—tweakable for custom kits with layering and assign groups. You get 16 velocity/aftertouch-sensitive rubber pads plus that standout positional pad, a value slider, and a 16x2 backlit LCD for real-time or step programming at up to 384th-note resolution with 96 PPQN timing. Record 100 internal patterns or 20 songs (up to 2000 parts total), chain them multitimbrally across 4 melodic parts plus rhythm, and sweeten with built-in reverb, delay, chorus, and flanger effects—all outputting via stereo 1/4" pairs or four individual outs, with FSK tape sync for old-school sequencing.

Weighing just 4.4 lbs in a shallow 14.4" x 9" x 2.6" metal chassis, it's a portable powerhouse that programmers still hunt down for its clean jazz and TR-808 kits, deep editing, and solid MIDI control—though some note the polyphony caps at 14 voices during busy patterns.