McLilith wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2025 11:38 pm I've seen a few similar iMac comments online, but there were clear synthesizers several years before the iMac computers.
Yeah, you're spot on. The 323 was released in 2001. I don't have any SmartMedia cards to test that feature of my drum machine. I wish they had used an SD card instead. I have plenty of those.dumbledog wrote: Fri Jan 03, 2025 2:43 am Oh no doubt, and I remember having a translucent purple Game Boy Color around '97. But specifically that Bondi Blue evokes the first Rev A iMac from 1998. There seemed to be a couple years where that blue was very trendy in consumer electronics. I'm having trouble finding contemporary reviews but the 323's manual shows it has a SmartMedia card slot which really puts it into the 1999-2003-ish timeframe which tracks.
(I had a Rev A iMac pimped to hell in the day so the nostalgia just hits)
https://soundprogramming.net/drum-machi ... om-rt-323/
The Zoom RT-123 model was also released in a special translucent blue color option. The normal color was opaque black. That model was released in 1999.
https://soundprogramming.net/drum-machi ... om-rt-123/
Lastly, the Zoom RT-223 was made in a "translucent black" or "licorice" color. It looks black at a glance, but when the LEDs light up, you can see light shining through the case, and you realize the plastic housing is actually translucent. I believe that was the only color option for that model. It was released in 2005. It has fewer features than my RT-323, but being 4 years newer, I think the samples sound a bit better and more modern.
https://soundprogramming.net/drum-machi ... om-rt-223/
I never owned any of the iMacs, but I do remember the cool commercials Apple ran for them. They licensed the Rolling Stones song "She's a Rainbow" for the ad campaign:
Up till then, most computers were boring beige or almond rectangular steel boxes. I thought those colorful iMacs looked fantastic!
