Jugg Box appears in a 1983 Nihon Hammond catalogue; Hammond and Sakata appear in British and American documents from 1984. This family record connects those DPM-48 names while the territorial pages retain their own evidence.
The machine in the record
Prince / a reported DPM-48 connection.
Collector accounts have linked Prince to the DPM-48, with one owner describing him as the only user they had encountered. It is a reported association, not a session credit, but it belongs on the page as a clearly labelled lead around an exceptionally obscure machine.
Read Sakata DPM48 ↗Three names in the paper trail
A 1983 Nihon Hammond catalogue identifies a Jugg Box DPM-48. British reviews and advertising use Hammond; a December 1984 American product notice names Sakata and its distributor Multivox. Together they trace the DPM-48 name across markets. The documents establish those names and offers, but do not settle every production revision or prove that all surviving examples have identical circuitry.
Nihon Hammond catalogue — Jugg Box DPM-48 ↗ Hammond Digital Percussion Machine DPM-48 advertisement ↗ The Market Place: Sakata Digital Drum Machine ↗
A panel built around the part
The Hammond reviewed by David Ellis separates the sound keys from the programming controls, with eight faders above the drum voices. The DPM-48 manual describes a rhythm built by tapping in real time, entering steps, or combining the two approaches. Patterns become songs on a removable RAM cartridge. It is a useful way into the family’s working idea: write a part, shape its balance and carry the arrangement to the next session.
Follow the badge into the story
The Hammond chapter follows the British review, its connections and the later life of surviving machines. The Sakata chapter follows the American announcement and the shared manual’s approach to rhythm writing. The photograph here comes from the Hammond review and shows a panel marked Nihon Hammond; it is not a photograph of a Sakata-badged example. Keeping those routes distinct lets the related instruments share a history without losing the details printed on each object.
Hammond DPM-48 ↗ The Market Place: Sakata Digital Drum Machine ↗ DPM-48 Owner’s Manual ↗
On record
- Prince. Prince is sometimes linked to the DPM-48 in collector accounts: an owner writing under the name hinotori mortal called him the only user of the machine they had heard of. It is a tantalising lead, not a session credit. Source ↗
Sources
The visual archive