A manufacturer of synths and studio equipment. The company was founded in 1984 by integrated-circuit designer Keith Barr, who previously had been one of the principals at guitar-effects maker MXR. Early on, the company specialized in effects units; one of its products was the Midiverb, one of the first MIDI-controllable effects processors. Barr used his IC design skills to lower the cost of digital effects processing and recording equipment, and the company revolutionized the low end of the recording industry by introducing in 1991 the ADAT, the first multitrack digital recorder priced low enough to be affordable for project and home studios.