Back when I didn't have the knowledge, I guessed that he was playing the Triton/Trinity on most of those beats. I know he re-did a bunch of the FnD tracks because of sample clearance (the Supremes-less version of "Ma Dukes" is still nasty as hell) but I assumed a lot of the more minimal beats (including a bunch that Madlib picked for the retail version of Jaylib) were just Dilla fucking around with a keyboard, moving on to a new sound (Neptunes, or uh...Rockwilder-influenced).

Then you hear the OGs for shit like "What Up," "Hoes," a bunch of those "First Installment" beats, the craziness on the 2002 batches (ungodly Zapp/Roger flips....obviously samples but I mean DAMN.)

Whether you want to believe it or not, Dilla had beatmakers reaching for different records after that period. Synth shit, prog, 80's rock...all that shit took on a different meaning after he got his hands on them.

It's tied with the Ummah sound as my favorite Jay Dee period. So much creativity.