At the heart of BlastBeats is a vintage FM chip called YMF-262 also known as the OPL3 chip & previously found in computer sound cards of the early 90s.

These chips were notoriously hard to program and were rarely used to their full potential. However, they can produce surprisingly rich beautiful and utterly dirty sounds with a bit of exploring... 

By putting so many parameters within easy reach BlastBeasts makes it fun and easy to master the signature sound of the DOS era!

FEATURES:

• OPL3 (YMF262) FM chip featured in vintage sound blaster cards of the MS-DOS era
• Quad audio outputs with custom instrument routing
• High fidelity audio amplification with low noise floor
• Mix (mono) and phones (dual mono) out each with per step volume control
• 6 drum tracks (bass drum, snare drum, tom, closed & open hat, cymbal) that can also be used for melodic parts.
• 4 synth tracks: two monophonic (2x2op or 1x4op) & two duo-phonic (4x2op or 2x4op)  
• 100 kits with per step kit changes
• 160 songs x 16 patterns x 64 steps
• Patterns of of arbitrary step lengths
• Micro timing (variable delay) of each step
• Quantised or Unquantised recording
• Pattern rotation (forward or backward) 
• Cloning and transposing of individual synth patters
• MIDI note numbers of drum parts can be re-assigned
• Web based configuration tool
• Kits and patterns stored on included SD card for convenient management and sharing.
• 56 faders with per step automation and modulation
• Real time and per step (a.k.a parameter lock) fader automation
• 32 high quality illuminated switches
• MIDI input and output on DIN5 ports 
• Customisable MIDI input channels
• All tracks transmit MIDI enabling Blast Beats to be used as multi-track MIDI sequencer
• Analog sync in and out on 3.5mm jacks
• All Audio on 6.35mm jacks
• Premium sandblasted anodised aluminum chassis
• All instruments can be sequenced internally or played via MIDI allowing BlastBeats to be used as a 4-operator 8-waveform polytimbral MIDI synthesizer
• Probability per instrument
• Swing (with automation per step)
• Kit and pattern randomiser
• Fader wiggling: randomiser with adjustable depth per step
• 3 tricks ( pitch bend aka spin down, freeze and stutter with real time automation and step sequencing of all tricks.
• Synth pitch vibrato and tremolo have adjustable speed and depth (with automation per step) and a choice of 10 waveforms
• Several operator waveforms and algorithms yielding infinite sound textures.
• Dimensions: 29.5cm x 16.5cm x 4.5cm (11.6" x 6.5" x 1.8")
• Weight 944 g ( 2 lb)
• 9V DC power supply included. 

More info: BlastBeats