Back in 1997, Yamaha surprised everyone by diving into sampling with this beast, aiming straight for breakbeat creators and live performers who needed a phrase-slicing workhorse without the complexity of bigger rigs.
At its core, it's a 16-bit digital sampler with 64-note polyphony and an AWM2 tone generator, packing 2MB of onboard memory expandable to 128MB via SIMMs for up to over six minutes of 44.1kHz stereo sampling. You get per-sample multimode filters—low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, band-elim—and three dedicated envelope generators plus four LFOs for deep sound sculpting, all tied to a 16-part multitimbral setup with dynamic voice allocation. Five multifunction knobs up front let you tweak in real time, alongside a basic MIDI sequencer, SMF/AIFF/Akai/Emu sample import, and three flexible effects banks with 54 patches each, including reverb, delay, chorus, distortion, and more—routable for internal sounds or live processing of its stereo analog input through four stereo outs. The compact rackmount design keeps it studio-friendly, though the tiny two-line LED screen demands some menu patience.
Over the years, folks have praised its intuitive real-time effects on external audio and robust editing for multisampled programs, making it a cult favorite for electronic producers. Common gripes center on fiddly sample trimming via that small display and a clunky OS, but its sound quality and expandability still hold up strong today.
