The unit itself is as-new and effectively perfect. It was never installed into a studio rack or used in production, and has spent its life stored in the original packaging. It has recently been plugged in purely to confirm operation before sale. It powers up correctly, the display is bright and clear, and the controls and menus all operate exactly as expected. The only age-related wear is to the original cardboard box from storage. This is a proper piece of recording history. Auto-Tune launched in the late 1990s and rapidly became one of the defining technologies in modern music production. The early hardware units brought Antares’ pitch-correction processing out of the computer and into dedicated rack hardware, making them especially interesting today as original studio tools from the first generation of Auto-Tune. The technology became famous through artists and producers associated with early Auto-Tune use, including Cher, whose 1998 track Believe helped make the extreme tuned-vocal sound famous, along with wider studio and touring use by major engineers and artists in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The ATR-1a allows real-time pitch correction of vocals and monophonic instruments, from subtle transparent correction through to the unmistakable hard-tuned effect. The unit itself is immaculate. Only the outer box shows storage wear. Supplied exactly as photographed.