As I understand it, Keytek
was the company in between when Siel folded and Roland took over
the remains.
MDP stands for 'MIDI Digital Percussion' and 40 is the number of
pattern presets. It was built in Italy around the mid 80s and features
12 different sounds which take up around 128Kb when sampled in 16bits.
The sounds are bass drum, snare, rimshot, tom, closed & open
hihat, cymbal, handclap, shaker & cowbell. It's not velocity
sensitive but does have low-velocity versions (intended as brush
or for variation?) of the bass, snare & closed hihat.
One could play drums manually on the device itself or by MIDI
In. The latter is how I do it since the switches for base &
snare drum have worn down. The lousy bouncing contacts result in
3 or 5 shots instead of one!
Some will describe it sounding "cheezy" but others just
can't get enough of that. Fact is that with General MIDI songs I
find it sounds better when drums are played by this device instead
of any soundblaster wavetable. I still use the sounds of this this
device in my own songs, routed through a diversity of effects of
course (compressor, EQ, pitch, reverb, delay, etc.)."
I am extremely grateful for this rare donation - it's not a Linn
(that's for sure!) but it does have a certain lo-fi charm and appeal
that could find a place in many genres of modern music.
This is a little gem made all the more attractive because of its
obscurity and it's unlikely that any other sample library features
this rare little beatbox! |
