A 6-part
multi-timbral digital synthesizer with 30-voice
polyphony and a 61-note
keyboard. Released in
1989.
The U-20 offers 4MB
ROM of
sampled sounds, referred to as
"RS-PCM sound generation" in the manual. The unit is basicially just a
sample-
playback device, with only limited
pitch and
vibrato controls and no way to edit the
presets apart from
combining them. No
filter or even
envelope editing is available. A
drum section is included as the 7th
timbre. There are 64 presets in all, with double the amount using external
U110/U220 RAM cards.
A few
onboard digital
effects -
reverb,
chorus and
delay - are included, and can be used
simultaneously. Other features include an
arpeggiator and
chord memory.
The keyboard is
velocity and
aftertouch sensitive, but is said to require
maintenance every few years. The keys can be
split and
layered to max. 7 parts, but users have reported problems with this due to the slow
CPU.
U-20's
user interface consists of many
menus viewed on a
backlit 24x2
LCD display, with a special
"jump" button assignable to a desired menu for quick
access. For
external control,
MIDI in/out is included.
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