[joren-]

I do recognize that 'one of the first off-the-shelf devices for high-quality, real-time music applications' it is somewhat murky and a lot was happening in the late 80s, beginning 90s. This thread already contains pointers to other - more accessible alternatives. Giving more proper definitions helps: With real-time I mean that audio (or a MIDI event) can enter the system and, with a low latency in the order of 20ms, a sound can be produced. With high-quality I mean that it is capable to generate 16bit samples at 44.1kHz (CD-quality, at the level of human hearing). This combination made it one of the first (the first?) truly general systems for electronic music applications.