The Proteus series began in 1989 as the world's first dedicated rack-mountable sound module. It was designed to offer the high-quality orchestral and pop sounds of the expensive sampler in a more affordable, non-sampling "rompler" format.
: Modern iterations, such as Proteus VX or the Digital Sound Factory libraries, allow these "portable" sounds to be triggered by any 88-key MIDI controller, effectively creating a "Proteus 88" workstation for the modern DAW. proteus portable 88