Back in 1985, this machine brought authentic Latin percussion to electronic music when most drum boxes stuck to basic kits—think congas, bongos, timbales, cuicas, and cabasas that pulse with real tribal energy.
It's a digital sample playback drum machine with 15 dedicated Latin sounds stored in ROM, running on a 25 kHz 8-bit (or 6-bit for some) engine that delivers that raw, quantized character so loved in house and techno. The front panel packs 16 velocity-sensitive pads for live play, a central 16-fader mixer for instant per-sound volume tweaks, and a clear matrix LCD for step programming up to 64 patterns across 4 songs. Controls are dead simple: shuffle/flam effects, accents, real-time recording, plus MIDI in/out, DIN sync, and 3 stereo individual outputs for mixing flexibility. At 380mm wide by 250mm high and just 1.5kg, it's a compact beige powerhouse made in Japan, perfect for stage or studio.
Artists like Aphex Twin and Luke Vibert grabbed it for its infectious grooves in acid house and beyond, and even today, players dig the hands-on faders for live sets while noting the fixed tones keep things focused rather than endlessly tweakable.
