Dynacord ADD Drive (1993)

The ADD Drive was Dynacord's top-of-the-line drum computer. It was announced at the NAMM Show in 1993 and priced at $2,840. "ADD" stands for "Acoustic Digital Drum." The machine runs a 16-bit linear PCM sound engine with 16 MB of sound memory. It shipped with 1,000 drum sounds, which the company marketed as a "virtual percussion universe," and it pairs them with a built-in sequencer and effects unit. The core of the machine used Dynacord's "virtual modeling" technology.

The storage format is the unusual part. Instead of floppy disks or ROM cards, it read sounds from a proprietary 88 MB magneto-optical (MO) disk in a shuttered plastic cartridge - the so-called "ADD Drive disk." The device read these MO disks at high speed. The ADD Drive is the flagship of that series and can be used standalone as a drum machine.

Documentation on the ADD Drive is thin beyond its manual and the original announcement coverage. No current market prices, dimensions, or detailed signal specifications have surfaced in the record.

Known specs, such as they are:

- 16-bit linear PCM sound engine, 16 MB sound memory

- 1,000 supplied drum sounds

- Polyphonic

- Built-in effects unit and sequencer

- Proprietary 88 MB magneto-optical disk storage ("ADD Drive disk")

- Announced NAMM 1993; original price $2,840

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