Back in 1981, this little silver box was meant to mimic a bass guitar for bedroom rockers jamming with Roland's TR-606 drum machine, but it ended up birthing the squelchy acid sound that defined house and techno forever.
It's a pure analog monophonic bass synth with one oscillator pumping out sawtooth or square waves, feeding into a transistor-based 24dB/octave resonant low-pass ladder filter that's the heart of its personality. Six knobs up top handle tuning, cutoff frequency, resonance, envelope mod, decay, and accent, letting you dial in everything from subtle thumps to screaming squeals, while 13 mini keys below program its 7-track step sequencer for up to 64 one-bar patterns and 7 songs, complete with slide, swing, and time modes. The compact desktop design measures just 300x146x55mm and weighs 1kg, running on 9-12V DC or four C batteries, with DIN Sync24 in, CV/Gate I/O, mix input, mono out, and a headphone jack for easy integration.
Owners cherish its raw, unpredictable vibe and non-volatile memory that holds patterns without power, though pristine originals are rare and pricey due to high demand—clones abound for those chasing the legend without the hunt.
