Korg DSS-1

The Korg DSS-1 was a 12-bit polyphonic sampling synthesizer released in September 1986. It came out at a time when many of the popular synthesizer companies were beginning to get into sampling, an area of sound design that had previously been left to a handful of fledgling companies such as Fairlight, E-mu, and Ensoniq. Like Yamaha, however, Korg did not stay long in the sampling arena. The DSS-1 (along with the rackmount DSM-1) turned out to be the company's only sampler until 1998 when Korg started including sampling options on their Triton and Trinity series of workstations, and on their Electribe series of drum-and-phrase samplers.