S-770

Back in 1989, this rackmount beast brought Fairlight-style mouse control and external video output to samplers, letting you drag-and-drop edits on a big LCD like it was a computer workstation—way ahead of its time.

It packs 24-voice polyphony and 16-part multitimbrality into a sturdy 430x420x132mm chassis weighing 12kg, with 2MB of expandable sample RAM (up to 18MB) for 16-bit stereo sampling at rates like 48kHz, 44.1kHz, or 24kHz. Front-panel stereo inputs feed excellent AKM converters and 20-bit processing for that warm, present tone, while eight stereo outs (including assignable individuals and S/PDIF) plus an internal 40MB SCSI drive handle complex routing. Per-voice TVF offers low-pass, high-pass, or band-pass resonance filtering with 5-stage envelopes, paired with TVA amps, a versatile LFO for pitch/volume/filter mod, and clever resampling that merges two samples via six algorithms including ring mod—perfect for synth-like sound design. Store 128 patches or 64 multis, tweak via floppy, SCSI, or MIDI with 32-part performances.

Players still hunt these down for the organic filters and resynthesis tricks that hold up against modern gear, though SCSI quirks and no real-time FX mean it's best for studio tinkerers who love vintage workflow.