Can you feed audio through a synth?

[DrumBoy5 at aol.com]

Hello

I've been kind of a sleeper on the list, but I've been meaning to ask this 
for awhile.  I've seen products on the market (especially the Roland DJ 1000, 
but also the Roland JP-8080) that seem to allow you to imput audio and run it 
through LFO, Modualtors, etc.  Instead of paying $800 for a Roland DJ 1000 
mixer/small synth, is it possible to design my own audio synth?  Also, does 
anyone have plans for an auto BPM counter with a numerical readout (also on 
the Roland DJ 1000)

Info+specs on roland products can be found here:

<A HREF="http://www.rolandgroove.com/">http://www.rolandgroove.com/</A>

Thanks

Morgan