I was the US product manaer for the Akai line from early 1987 to 1994. It was a fun time with a lot of great products. I also programmed 65 disks for the early S900 sample library.
That’s awesome. As an old hip-hop head you had a hand in my formative influences! The sound of these machines shaped so many classics that I still bump today. I only recently learned that up under the MPC 60, 60 II, and even the e-mu SP series was often the venerable S950! I thought I knew what they were doing back then but I only had half the story.
DJ Premier has been doing a great series on his channel about how he made all his hits. Crazy that he used an S950 and MPC 60 basically his entire career.
@def creator he's trying to keep things simple for an audience that aren't musicians. I would love it if he went into more technical detail, but I bet his team thinks it would alienate too many people and he wouldn't get enough views. I think the stories are entertaining most of the time anyway though
@def creator I imagine he doesn't want to draw attention to a lot of the illegal/questionable samples he snuck through back in the day. And, as mentioned, trying to keep it simple for all of his fans. He still let's some gems of knowledge out from time to time, and is a great storyteller.
My Amiga 1000 computer's sampling which came out the year before was a great solution for a teenager like me or amature musician, and plenty good enough for my use of live performance. It had a full Windows style mouse driven OS. Sample length and quality was limiter only by the amount of ram & drive space you had, which could go up to 8 megs and hard drives could be added. I could even load Mirage disks. No better combined value of a state of the art personal computer, state of the art game console, and a versatile musical instrument for the mid 80s that had no equal in the computer market. It was 8 bit sampling, but up to 14 bit sample quality using some tricks. Also wasn't limited to sampling with it's DSP sound chip but emulated various forms of synthesis like subtractive, FM, additive & drum machine emulation.
It cleaned up nice... you should have seen all the brown tape residue and scuff marks when I picked it up for you earlier. But elbow grease and some compounds made it shine a little once more. :D Bring on the gritty samples, my friend!
The real charm with these units is in overdriving the inputs just the right amount when sampling (don't overdo it or things will sound like farts), tweaking each sound a bit with that unique filter, and then feeding the individual outputs into a mixer for further eq/processing. That's how I use my X7000, which I believe has the same engine as the s900, except it has about half the sample time. I mostly use mine for drums
I owned one of those machines. May the Gods bless you! And please DO NOT downplay what it could do. You could buy Fairlight sample disks with all kinds of sounds. The limit was only your imagination! That's what made some 80's music so powerful and transcendental in time. People are STILL trying to figure out how they created such great music with that technology compared to what we have today!?!?! CREATIVITY
Totally agree with that!! 👍 Though I did like the 70's music. There was a lot of styles of music.... Plus I got more into my old school band after leaving school in 76. After all there was plenty of styles to choose from. I just wish I still kept my keyboards! 😭😭
The Akai S900 from 1986. A 12-bit sampler, 63 sec sampling time and a very (for the time) easy and fast operating system. The S900 made Akai the kings of sampling and soon total domination. 00:00 Intro and demo music 01:00 History of Akai samplers in the 80s 05:38 Sampling (REC) 07:24 Edit Sample 09:26 Edit program 11:58 Disk format and saving 13:38 Outputs 16:30 Voice out 17:03 Misc. Support this channel on Patreon: www.patreon.com/espenkraft The easy and fast (compared to other models form other companies) operating system, a very favorable price around £1699 and lots of other features made this the object of desire for a lot of people. The S900 (and 950) has a massive cult status today and people are still using these for their sound, especially for their grungy time-stretching abilities, resampling and manipulations. In the mid 80s, this was also used for glossy pop as the S900 had 8 individual outputs so it was a perfect drum sampler. With a growing popularity it soon dominated the world of sampling and Akai would continue their climb to the throne. Any other brand getting in on the sampling market lived in the shadow of Akai as Akai was the sampling standard anyone else had to obey. Those who didn't would soon quit the sampling business all together. The demo track is made using only samples from the S900 of course. Many of the sounds are sampled from my own synths and drum machines. Find my music here: iTunes Apple music: apple.co/35ZTdfR Spotify: spoti.fi/38aoWMB Bandcamp: espenkraft.bandcamp.com/ Google Play: bit.ly/2NrgXD9 Find my patches and sample packs through these links: thepatchbay.co.uk/product/tal-sampler-the-digital-collection-vol-1-by-espen-kraft/ sound7.co.uk/products/italo-disco-synth-pop
The first proper professional studio I recorded in back in the late 80s / early 90s, had an AKAI S900 or 950 I forget which. The studio owner had previously toured as a session musician for some big names in the 1970s and early 80s. A special feature on him was in Sound On Sound Magazine in 2000 I think. His name is Carl Stipetic. His studio in the early 90s was quite minimal by modern standards, but he sure knew how to dial in the very best sounds and production methods from it all. I remember a violin sample he had on the AKAI, which was like nothing I have heard since. Very raw and full of character, and with a nice Lexicon reverb just sprang out of the mix in a addictive way.
Love your videos. I was in high school and had an Akai X7000 back in '87 but always wanted a S900 instead. I remember seeing Peter Gabriel live around then and he had several S900s in use.
People who are very famous today, like hip-hop groups like Run-DMC, DeLaSoul, Chacka khan, Cold Cut, Todd Terry, Fatboy Slim... They started with the Casio Rz1 which was very cheap but with individual audio outputs. It was the best alternative for high school or university students, S900 was very expensive for many in 1986, but there were cheap things like Casio Sk1, Yamaha VSS, some mixers with 8-second samplers that allowed you to play instrumentals. Mac Classic II with Basillik also had software for sampling with farallon hyper sound, those were primitive years, and the most profitable thing was a Mac Cassic with some audio programs. The rest came later and 12-bit and 16-bit samplers offered better sound quality than a computer in 1986. Thanks for all this content, you have a great channel, thank you.
How do you get that though? I ain’t very good at electronics can you buy them online and are they easy to install? I heard someone else say they sample digitally into it, but not sure what’s the difference? I wonder is that a bit like the ESQ-1 where it’s digital wave forms which go thru an analog filter.
Nice review my friend! The S900 is a beast! I still have my S900 but the disk drive stopped working years ago. I made so many beats on that thing using a cheap Yamaha PSR keyboard to trigger it and an Alesis MMT-8 to sequence my tracks. I need to get it out of storage and retrofit a disk emulator like you’ve got there and fire up the beast!
When using multisamples with root note C, I prefer making root note in the middle of keygroup. Breaking keygroups with G and F# rather than C and B. That way gives every sample 6 semitones pitch down and 5 semitones pitch up. 12bit samplers have charm in pitching samples down. Doing it as you did all samples other than lowest one have no pitch down and have only pitch up for almost an octave which can sound froggy on short bass sounds. Cheers! S
You're absolutely right. I too do this often. I felt it was easier and faster to make the part of the video with the C, but I agree completely for "real life" sampling and key-grouping. Thanks for commenting! :)
Yep, to take this further, I usually sample the middle note of whatever key I'm using for that part in a song, not just always C. This way I can get away with just one sample for bass, one sample for chords (assuming the chords only use one octave). You only really need multiple key groups for instruments that need to span multiple octaves. The stretching of samples can act like built-in key-scaling if done right.
good call out on the module color, never really paid any attention to that. its definitely the first thing my eyes are drawn too when seeing a rack of gear. great comprehensive vid! these are coveted in jungle circles
I bought 2 x S3000XL for less than 100 GBP a couple of years ago. Definitely not in the same ball park as this beast but not a bad sampler at all. Keep up the good work!!!
Hey Espen - Great piece of nostalgia 👍 Like most musicians at the time, I wanted hi fi quality and couldn't quite pull the trigger on one of these but I did buy a S1000 for a project which didn't come off and it was sadly under-used and eventually sold. It was in my 1990's studio but I'd forgotten all about it until I saw this😁
Whoever figured out how to maximize sampling time on the S950 by feeding it sped up samples then pitching down will always have a special place in my heart.
These machines ( including the S612 and S20) are still the stuff of dreams. So much I pretend my Volca Sample is an S series :-) great video as always Mr. Kraft!
Had mine for over a decade, S900 & ASK90 trigger input expansion. A great bit of kit. Once you have learnt it, you can blast through sampling and program setups.Much better sound to the S1000 thanks to the analogue filter.
That’s a great tip with putting the high hats on the same output. I love this about music production, there is always a work around thru the limitations. (and ‘limitations’ are welcomed for creativity in an age of endless options). This is what is great about the old ways compared to the new. Cheers🎉
The first thing that came to mind when I saw this was how convenient it was that it should show up in my recommendations right after I had asked you about a sampling unit that had an interface that was user friendly. The other thing that came up while I was watching the video itself had to do with that gray chassis and how unusual it was. Something I’d like to know is if the designers at Akai were inspired by the Octave-Plateau Voyetra synthesizers which were also built in chassis of that shade. I also wouldn’t mind knowing if Roger Linn had a hand in the design of this module. I’m aware that he was hired onto the Akai design staff after Linn Electronics went out of business. Not only make this model have features from the Linn 9000 under its hood, but Roger is the one who pioneered designing drum machines with multiple outputs
I remember buying an Akai X7000 from Musical Exchanges in Birmingham, England in the 90s. I had to carry it to the train station, which was over a mile or so away. It was so heavy that if anybody wanted to steal it off me, they would have been welcome to it. That's if they could carry it themselves!!
As always, that was great! Very enjoyable. I now know what I’m going to do with any spare time I have this weekend. I’ve got an Akai S01 that hasn’t seen any action for ages so it’s going to get connected and played with. Cheers.
I am really inspired from this, i could really see this right beside my commodore amiga 2000 and hooked up to midi, so i can extend my samples wich can be played simutainously. or to sample whole sequences, to sequence even more sequences
I bought a S900 when it came out, it was in our studio for almost 30 years but unfortunately we lost it when the studio burned down. Should get another one soon.
I owned Akai, Roland, Ensoniq, and Kurzweil samplers. They were all great, but none had a character that I truly loved as the Emu samplers did. Like you said though, Akai ruled! Thankfully my Kurzweil 2000, 2500, and 2600 read Akai samples quite well back in the day.
Thinking to get a k2000 or s900 - both sround 300 usd. Not sure which to get, both a bit huge and im running out of space but i got GAS and do need another multitimbral sampler 😅 I got a roland S760 but the disk is dead and i dont know how to replace with zuluscsi. Which do you recommend?
oh yes...the good old days. My very first sampler was an Akai S01, the mono box. I was proud to be able to double the internal memory from 16 to 32MB. I used it to sample my own Yamaha bass across all 8 banks. Surprisingly, it actually worked quite well. And today the good old box is in the attic with old Ataris and is gathering dust....actually a scandal.
That IS a scandal. What is it doing there? Get it down and use it, or sell it to someone that will actually make some music with it. Gear are meant to be used, not stored away. ;-)
@@EspenKraft Oh believe me I've sold quite a few of my old 80's/90's hardware stuff. In 2018 I sold hardware for several thousand euros. Starting with my old, fully upgraded, beloved Atari Falcon 030 with Cubase Audio 2.0, Steinberg Midex Plus, Atari Mega ST 2, Roland TR 909, two EMU Ultra 5000 Samplers, Yamaha MU 50/80Synths, Roland jv 1080, U220/U110, various Roland Sound Canvas, Casio VZ-10m, Roland VS2400 CD, Yamaha Motif 6. I may have forgotten something, too. Today I still have the Akai S01, a Kawai R50 drum machine with the E sound chip expansion. Funnily enough, I dusted it off again 2 months ago and switched it on. But she didn't want to anymore. Display only dimly lit, some sounds are no longer played at all or only choppy. I think it's the internal battery that needs to be replaced. I have no idea what else is flying around up there. Except for Ataris yet. And now...since 2020 I've bought hardware FX and a tape machine again and I'm doing a lot of things this way again and using fewer plug-ins....crazy.
I had an S01 too! I got it new then got a S900 for like $450 if I remember. I gave my S01 away to an up and coming producer I knew, keep the S900 and then got an MPC3000 which I still use!
Great video Espen! Huge fan of the S/X samplers from Akai. S612 was the first I got my hands on. Resently got a X7000 wreck. Hope to get it back to former glory. Recall Nitzer Ebb opening for DM back in ’88. A lot of off white samplers on stage. I was blown away. Great times 😃
Reason DAW was the first to emulate physical gear and they have a sampler from the beginning back 20 years ago to today they has a device very similar to Akai samplers.
Launching a thousand bands! On a personal note, for some reason I forget how physically large these were. I do remember hauling a few of these around in a rack. Hard drives were still years away for me too, due to costs and fragility.
I really love this sampler. Unfortunately, its in my garage with a broken disk drive. I need to get a floppy emulator. Nice shout to Pet Shop Boys and Fatboy Slim.
At my college I attended (way back when) they had one of these (S900) in the music studio there, along with a bunch of other cool gear such as the D-50, S-50 and HR-16.
I have worked for years with an S900. It's a great machine. It broke down one day, I could have kept the money to buy a more efficient one, I preferred to have it repaired and continue to work with it. Unfortunately it was stolen from my cellar. But I'll buy another one someday. Best Regarding its weight, and if you have to use it regularly for live, moving around with it, physical training will be necessary. 😜
Yeah both S900 and S950 have a great crunch, from my understanding they both also used a clock per voice to pitch the samples also, which not a lot of samplers do. S1000/S1100 is probably the newest characterful akai rackmount worth looking at as it was using some interesting windowed interpolation methods for pitching the sounds. After that it is a bit more boring larger ram sizes meant higher quality sampling, meant they could get away with basic linear interpolation which was far less CPU intensive but ultimately lacked a lot of what made the earlier ones so interesting.
Very accurate summary. The S1000/1100 are the latest models to give any sort of "magic" although these two models don't offer the 12-bit "crunch" being 16-bit samplers.
@@EspenKraft Yeah the only modern hardware that I have found to have an old rack akai like sound is the Squid Salmple in eurorack, much more like an S1000 than older though. Some really nice workflow too compared to the old units, but it doesn't do everything they do.
I’ve only ever looked at pics of the front....your intro ( & you leaning on it ) demos how its a REALLY big unit isn’t it!😳. Makes sense considering PC technology when it made...interesting to this is obviously one of the Akai with the output to use with theirs synths 🤔. Thanks for the run through Espen,
Don't forget A Guy Called Gerald. Voodoo Ray called because he ran out of memory. It was originally Voodoo Rage from a vinyl recording of Derek and Clive 😀
I had a Casio FZ1, i did look at the yamaha tx16w but settled on the Casio for it's detailed display which could also draw the waveform out as a graphic you could zoom into
I took out a bank loan in around 1990 I think and bought an Atari, Cubase 2.0, a Yamaha SY22 ( that was a mistake!) and.. an S950. I felt like the king of the world for weeks! I got so quick with the 950 I could virtually use it with my eyes closed! I honestly think I was way more creative on that basic setup than on all the DAWS that I’ve owned since lol
I know exactly how you feel. We were much more creative and productive because we didn't have a gazillion options at out hands. We had a few pieces of gear we knew very well and the brain didn't have to focus on options options and more options. Cheers
@@EspenKraft I added an ESQ-1 later. A synth I believe we both love? Wish I never sold it… I was looking for an ESQ-M for the longest time, but I’m happy enough with the Arturia one for now. That taught me what a real synth could do and how limited the SY-22 was :)
I don't love the ESQ that much. ;-) I've sold the ones I had too and I can't say I miss them very much. They've been well emulated now and I can live with those instead.
In the early 1990's the Akai S950 Sampler was responsible for entirety new genre of music, UK Jungle/Drum & Bass, without the Akai's famous time-stretch function and the basic low pass filter, early 90's Jungle would have sounded very different.
Yes very true and the Samplers like s900 and the MPC beat machines made Hip Hop possible and if you didn't know, the first DnB tracks were made from putting hip hop break beats at dubble tempo from 90bpm to 180bpm. I use Reason DAW to make DnB and I use the stock sampler called Oct Rex for its hip hop beat selection and time stretching. I load up hip hop drum loops and put to 180 and most of My drum and bass starts off with that. Infact I probably use Rex loops to greater or lesser extent in every DnB tune I make.
You forgot about the E-MU SP-1200 which is the real pioneer of Hip Hop long before the MPC existed. Virtually every Hip Hop producer has used the SP-1200.
Great video Espen! I never heard of this modification om the input circuit. Very interesting and I'll probably do this mod on one of my 2 s900. One of my s900 has the ASK90 board installed. It's an 8-channel audio trigger board which can be used with any audio signal to trigger samples. Probably most used with a drumset or E-drums like the simmons drums. The sensitivity can be adjusted for every channel.
I treasure my E6400 Ultra not for its converters or any garbage like that I use it cause of what it can do to samples...it's able to mix and mangle things in ways I never could've imagined
The synergy between your (excellent) TH-cam channel and buying great gear is going to pay you an awesome retirement in the Bahamas or wherever you desire. Great video btw.
Still have my S1000 with a broken display (common problem) in my basement. No reason to get rid of it. Maybe time to get that display going again instead!
Very cool video! I are trying to learn sampling nowdays, but worked earlier in a musicstore in 4 years so sold both E-MU and Yamaha A3000... And a family I know throw away and full spec E-Mu (6400 perhaps) for around 60000 NOK when the software samplers was good enough...
I have one of these I bought in the last couple months with the Gotek Drive and all. Sounds amazing... I do however have some issues with it. I get random freeze ups at times. Usually once i record my second sample in it would freeze. Lately I set the sample times to max and I can rewrite over that sample with no freezes. I obviously use this machine mostly for resampling. When I sample something longer it seems I get some artifacts from a Possible Ram issue but when I check my Ram it says its OK. Love this unit since I got it for cheap but since its not full operational I seem to be not about to use it to its full potential. May take it in for a fix in February if I cant find a fix. Once again. Amazing unit. I do want a S950 or a SP1200 though to go with.
This is also the form factor I really need miss and want . Mine ( s 1000 ) finally died many years ago and was replaced with an asr 10 16 bit plus ! Also very cool but the Akai was much more straight forward and focused on sampling. And “way less “ menu diving as well . 👽
Akai since the early 80s s612 with the MD280 quick disk drive the year 1985 then S900 midi to the Emu sp1200 then the Akai mpc 2000, then the mpc 2000xl
Espen The first thing you play at 4:53 is the identical beat used in ED Sheeran's song Overpass Graffiti. It's also used in Coldplay's song Higher Power. Recent 2021 releases and smash hits, Two of the most popular UK artists in the world.
Pure coincidence. Never heard the songs you mention. I was just copying a Howard Jones drum machine opening, so if anything they copied HIM. I don't listen to Ed Sheeran.
I used to drool over samplers like the Akai S900, S1000 or the Kurzweil and EMU samplers. But I couldnt afford any of them. Best I could do was get the Roland W-30 Sampling workstation (which I still own). I did for a brief moment get the Yamaha TX16W sampler which I just couldnt figure out.
Speaking of Jeff Rona, I actually purchased his S900 from him about 5 years ago. He also had it modded with the Oberheim (Marion Systems) upgrade which allows you to sample at either 12 bit or 16 bit. Of course I have no reason to sample at 16 bit because if I want 16bit I'll just use my S1100 - lol.
This is a very sought after machine(together with the S950) as it has a unique filter, this plus 12bit sampling gets you that punchy early 90s /80s hiphop sound. See th-cam.com/video/ROSxeiMW79k/w-d-xo.html from Bomb The Base which was produced on a pair of S900s as an example of the S900s grit.
Oh, also from the same year, 1987, MARRS - Pump Up The Volume - all S900 again... th-cam.com/video/w9gOQgfPW4Y/w-d-xo.html It's easy to see the historical significance of S900 with these 2 seminal tracks.
I've got an S2k and an S5k. The S5k I've slowly been adding parts over the years and the only card left to get is the ADAT which I'm not really too bothered about.
I wonder how I could incorporate an S900 or 950 into the modern MPC workflow. The stretching, filters and overall sound of those units warped me for life haha
They had a bunch of great machines but seeing it from today's perspective i regret i didnt swap my S1000-PB with that Jupiter-8 i was offered back in 1990. 😲
![ลองสุ่มไอโฟน 990 โกงมั้ย? [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.101 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bfsWe0j492k/mqdefault.jpg)
I was the US product manaer for the Akai line from early 1987 to 1994. It was a fun time with a lot of great products. I also programmed 65 disks for the early S900 sample library.
Awesome!
It would be awesome if you can make the contents of these discs available as Wave files! Is there a page you listed them?
That’s awesome. As an old hip-hop head you had a hand in my formative influences! The sound of these machines shaped so many classics that I still bump today. I only recently learned that up under the MPC 60, 60 II, and even the e-mu SP series was often the venerable S950! I thought I knew what they were doing back then but I only had half the story.
Those Drum sounds are still used to this day!
Good job Sir
that machine impacted my musical path big time and thank you for your contribution to the Akai S900, it's used still to this day 🤘
DJ Premier has been doing a great series on his channel about how he made all his hits. Crazy that he used an S950 and MPC 60 basically his entire career.
Yes his “So Wassup” series is dope! He had a S900 first though, before the S950 and he had an Alesis HR-16 before the MPC60.
@def creator he's trying to keep things simple for an audience that aren't musicians. I would love it if he went into more technical detail, but I bet his team thinks it would alienate too many people and he wouldn't get enough views. I think the stories are entertaining most of the time anyway though
@def creator I wish he would breakdown the workflow more often like in the Limp Bizkit video.
@def creator I imagine he doesn't want to draw attention to a lot of the illegal/questionable samples he snuck through back in the day. And, as mentioned, trying to keep it simple for all of his fans. He still let's some gems of knowledge out from time to time, and is a great storyteller.
Nice video. I see that you've purchased the s2400 as well.
My Amiga 1000 computer's sampling which came out the year before was a great solution for a teenager like me or amature musician, and plenty good enough for my use of live performance. It had a full Windows style mouse driven OS. Sample length and quality was limiter only by the amount of ram & drive space you had, which could go up to 8 megs and hard drives could be added. I could even load Mirage disks. No better combined value of a state of the art personal computer, state of the art game console, and a versatile musical instrument for the mid 80s that had no equal in the computer market. It was 8 bit sampling, but up to 14 bit sample quality using some tricks. Also wasn't limited to sampling with it's DSP sound chip but emulated various forms of synthesis like subtractive, FM, additive & drum machine emulation.
It cleaned up nice... you should have seen all the brown tape residue and scuff marks when I picked it up for you earlier. But elbow grease and some compounds made it shine a little once more. :D
Bring on the gritty samples, my friend!
I forgot to mention that in the video, but you did an awesome job cleaning it up for me. Thanks a lot, you did an awesome job! :)
Ed Sheeran used the S900 in his late 2021 song Overpass Graffiti.
Hi Anders, the previous owner here. You really did a great job cleaning it up! But it still sounds nice and dirty. Roger
@def creator Yes I'm not a fan and I think He is massively overrated.
@def creator Music for NPC normies. 10min video by Morgorth th-cam.com/video/AwJ8rYqOxp4/w-d-xo.html
The real charm with these units is in overdriving the inputs just the right amount when sampling (don't overdo it or things will sound like farts), tweaking each sound a bit with that unique filter, and then feeding the individual outputs into a mixer for further eq/processing. That's how I use my X7000, which I believe has the same engine as the s900, except it has about half the sample time. I mostly use mine for drums
Ed Sheeran's Overpass Graffiti Hit song use the first beat Espen played. Its literally Identical.
I owned one of those machines. May the Gods bless you! And please DO NOT downplay what it could do. You could buy Fairlight sample disks with all kinds of sounds. The limit was only your imagination! That's what made some 80's music so powerful and transcendental in time. People are STILL trying to figure out how they created such great music with that technology compared to what we have today!?!?! CREATIVITY
@def creator Preach!!
Totally agree with that!! 👍 Though I did like the 70's music. There was a lot of styles of music.... Plus I got more into my old school band after leaving school in 76. After all there was plenty of styles to choose from. I just wish I still kept my keyboards! 😭😭
This thing birthed jungle...thanks akai s900
The Akai S900 from 1986. A 12-bit sampler, 63 sec sampling time and a very (for the time) easy and fast operating system. The S900 made Akai the kings of sampling and soon total domination.
00:00 Intro and demo music
01:00 History of Akai samplers in the 80s
05:38 Sampling (REC)
07:24 Edit Sample
09:26 Edit program
11:58 Disk format and saving
13:38 Outputs
16:30 Voice out
17:03 Misc.
Support this channel on Patreon:
www.patreon.com/espenkraft
The easy and fast (compared to other models form other companies) operating system, a very favorable price around £1699 and lots of other features made this the object of desire for a lot of people.
The S900 (and 950) has a massive cult status today and people are still using these for their sound, especially for their grungy time-stretching abilities, resampling and manipulations.
In the mid 80s, this was also used for glossy pop as the S900 had 8 individual outputs so it was a perfect drum sampler. With a growing popularity it soon dominated the world of sampling and Akai would continue their climb to the throne. Any other brand getting in on the sampling market lived in the shadow of Akai as Akai was the sampling standard anyone else had to obey. Those who didn't would soon quit the sampling business all together.
The demo track is made using only samples from the S900 of course. Many of the sounds are sampled from my own synths and drum machines.
Find my music here:
iTunes Apple music: apple.co/35ZTdfR
Spotify: spoti.fi/38aoWMB
Bandcamp: espenkraft.bandcamp.com/
Google Play: bit.ly/2NrgXD9
Find my patches and sample packs through these links:
thepatchbay.co.uk/product/tal-sampler-the-digital-collection-vol-1-by-espen-kraft/
sound7.co.uk/products/italo-disco-synth-pop
You don't have to reply that one every post. Once is enough.
@@EspenKraft Ok comment deleted.
I bought my S 900 after watching Espen’s S 700 video and hearing that warm patch that he made.
Man that music at the end could fit the tv show Air Wolf
The first proper professional studio I recorded in back in the late 80s / early 90s, had an AKAI S900 or 950 I forget which. The studio owner had previously toured as a session musician for some big names in the 1970s and early 80s. A special feature on him was in Sound On Sound Magazine in 2000 I think. His name is Carl Stipetic. His studio in the early 90s was quite minimal by modern standards, but he sure knew how to dial in the very best sounds and production methods from it all. I remember a violin sample he had on the AKAI, which was like nothing I have heard since. Very raw and full of character, and with a nice Lexicon reverb just sprang out of the mix in a addictive way.
Love your videos. I was in high school and had an Akai X7000 back in '87 but always wanted a S900 instead. I remember seeing Peter Gabriel live around then and he had several S900s in use.
Cheers!
People who are very famous today, like hip-hop groups like Run-DMC, DeLaSoul, Chacka khan, Cold Cut, Todd Terry, Fatboy Slim...
They started with the Casio Rz1 which was very cheap but with individual audio outputs. It was the best alternative for high school or university students, S900 was very expensive for many in 1986, but there were cheap things like Casio Sk1, Yamaha VSS, some mixers with 8-second samplers that allowed you to play instrumentals.
Mac Classic II with Basillik also had software for sampling with farallon hyper sound, those were primitive years, and the most profitable thing was a Mac Cassic with some audio programs. The rest came later and 12-bit and 16-bit samplers offered better sound quality than a computer in 1986.
Thanks for all this content, you have a great channel, thank you.
Cheers!
I have an s950 with digital sample board. Sampling digitally into the s950 gives it an amazing compression. It's really incredible.
How do you get that though? I ain’t very good at electronics can you buy them online and are they easy to install? I heard someone else say they sample digitally into it, but not sure what’s the difference? I wonder is that a bit like the ESQ-1 where it’s digital wave forms which go thru an analog filter.
i've owned 2 Akai S950 in the early 90's.. i loved them..
The old Akais are sexy. Great video Espen!
Thanks!
In the late 90's these things were dirt cheap. About $150 each. At one point I had four. Used to keep them for spare parts to keep two working.
I bought an EPS classic in 2009 for 125 while I woke up to throw up after a long night of drinking. Best 125 ever spent. I still use it to this day
I actually bought 2 s900's for 100 euro each, 10 years ago.
@@LocaliLLocanohope you didn’t throw up on the EPS 🤣 but damn you got the deal of a lifetime. Lucky you, lol.
Very well done video, Mr. “The 80s”!
Cheers!
Nice review my friend!
The S900 is a beast! I still have my S900 but the disk drive stopped working years ago. I made so many beats on that thing using a cheap Yamaha PSR keyboard to trigger it and an Alesis MMT-8 to sequence my tracks. I need to get it out of storage and retrofit a disk emulator like you’ve got there and fire up the beast!
Cheers!
When using multisamples with root note C, I prefer making root note in the middle of keygroup. Breaking keygroups with G and F# rather than C and B. That way gives every sample 6 semitones pitch down and 5 semitones pitch up. 12bit samplers have charm in pitching samples down. Doing it as you did all samples other than lowest one have no pitch down and have only pitch up for almost an octave which can sound froggy on short bass sounds. Cheers! S
You're absolutely right. I too do this often. I felt it was easier and faster to make the part of the video with the C, but I agree completely for "real life" sampling and key-grouping. Thanks for commenting! :)
Yep, to take this further, I usually sample the middle note of whatever key I'm using for that part in a song, not just always C. This way I can get away with just one sample for bass, one sample for chords (assuming the chords only use one octave). You only really need multiple key groups for instruments that need to span multiple octaves. The stretching of samples can act like built-in key-scaling if done right.
good call out on the module color, never really paid any attention to that. its definitely the first thing my eyes are drawn too when seeing a rack of gear. great comprehensive vid! these are coveted in jungle circles
Cheers!
I can see why this was a popular sampler back in the 80s. Great video Espen!
God, this thing sounds glorious, and I was wondering when you were going to do a demo on it. Instant thumbs up from me!
THE STUDIO OF MEMORIES OF MAD DESIRE.-
I bought 2 x S3000XL for less than 100 GBP a couple of years ago. Definitely not in the same ball park as this beast but not a bad sampler at all. Keep up the good work!!!
Cheers!
Hey Espen - Great piece of nostalgia 👍 Like most musicians at the time, I wanted hi fi quality and couldn't quite pull the trigger on one of these but I did buy a S1000 for a project which didn't come off and it was sadly under-used and eventually sold. It was in my 1990's studio but I'd forgotten all about it until I saw this😁
Whoever figured out how to maximize sampling time on the S950 by feeding it sped up samples then pitching down will always have a special place in my heart.
These machines ( including the S612 and S20) are still the stuff of dreams. So much I pretend my Volca Sample is an S series :-) great video as always Mr. Kraft!
Thanks!
Had mine for over a decade, S900 & ASK90 trigger input expansion. A great bit of kit. Once you have learnt it, you can blast through sampling and program setups.Much better sound to the S1000 thanks to the analogue filter.
Still have mine, also with the trigger inputs. Unfortunately I have the 16 bit upgrade installed.
That’s a great tip with putting the high hats on the same output. I love this about music production, there is always a work around thru the limitations. (and ‘limitations’ are welcomed for creativity in an age of endless options). This is what is great about the old ways compared to the new. Cheers🎉
Cheers!
I own an S1100 and am very glad with it. Thanks for showing 😀
Agree, I own S950 which has stretch mode, pretty much the same machine and sound. Awesome for gritty boom bap and lo-fi hip hop.
The first thing that came to mind when I saw this was how convenient it was that it should show up in my recommendations right after I had asked you about a sampling unit that had an interface that was user friendly. The other thing that came up while I was watching the video itself had to do with that gray chassis and how unusual it was. Something I’d like to know is if the designers at Akai were inspired by the Octave-Plateau Voyetra synthesizers which were also built in chassis of that shade. I also wouldn’t mind knowing if Roger Linn had a hand in the design of this module. I’m aware that he was hired onto the Akai design staff after Linn Electronics went out of business. Not only make this model have features from the Linn 9000 under its hood, but Roger is the one who pioneered designing drum machines with multiple outputs
I remember buying an Akai X7000 from Musical Exchanges in Birmingham, England in the 90s. I had to carry it to the train station, which was over a mile or so away. It was so heavy that if anybody wanted to steal it off me, they would have been welcome to it. That's if they could carry it themselves!!
I know the feeling of hauling heavy gear. ;-)
As always, that was great! Very enjoyable. I now know what I’m going to do with any spare time I have this weekend. I’ve got an Akai S01 that hasn’t seen any action for ages so it’s going to get connected and played with. Cheers.
Cheers!
Just picked one on the local auction. 140eur absolute mint with trigger input expansion. 😎
I am really inspired from this, i could really see this right beside my commodore amiga 2000 and hooked up to midi, so i can extend my samples wich can be played simutainously.
or to sample whole sequences, to sequence even more sequences
Wow look at all those outputs, nice.
i remember having the brouchure of this (and 950) dreaming of having it, but being 15 yrs old in '86 that would never happen :)
OMG the intro digital bass, sounds so PPG love it. would love that sample.
I bought a S900 when it came out, it was in our studio for almost 30 years but unfortunately we lost it when the studio burned down. Should get another one soon.
Ha! I remember having that very issue of Keyboard mag, however I had the S2000, which I used with Zip disks!
That was just the right amount of info Espen. I could see a follow up too!
Cheers!
I owned Akai, Roland, Ensoniq, and Kurzweil samplers. They were all great, but none had a character that I truly loved as the Emu samplers did. Like you said though, Akai ruled! Thankfully my Kurzweil 2000, 2500, and 2600 read Akai samples quite well back in the day.
Kurzweil are most versatile of the bunch, but they all have their strong points.
Thinking to get a k2000 or s900 - both sround 300 usd. Not sure which to get, both a bit huge and im running out of space but i got GAS and do need another multitimbral sampler 😅 I got a roland S760 but the disk is dead and i dont know how to replace with zuluscsi. Which do you recommend?
Wow I do know what Akai did for sampling but thank god for a good UI and advanced music software.
Great old-school unit!
Wow I never knew about a trick with light-colored case :) genius, indeed
X3 S950 in my studio ✌best sound and best workflow/menu, better than other Akai rack sampler
oh yes...the good old days. My very first sampler was an Akai S01, the mono box. I was proud to be able to double the internal memory from 16 to 32MB. I used it to sample my own Yamaha bass across all 8 banks. Surprisingly, it actually worked quite well. And today the good old box is in the attic with old Ataris and is gathering dust....actually a scandal.
That IS a scandal. What is it doing there? Get it down and use it, or sell it to someone that will actually make some music with it. Gear are meant to be used, not stored away. ;-)
@@EspenKraft Oh believe me I've sold quite a few of my old 80's/90's hardware stuff. In 2018 I sold hardware for several thousand euros. Starting with my old, fully upgraded, beloved Atari Falcon 030 with Cubase Audio 2.0, Steinberg Midex Plus, Atari Mega ST 2, Roland TR 909, two EMU Ultra 5000 Samplers, Yamaha MU 50/80Synths, Roland jv 1080, U220/U110, various Roland Sound Canvas, Casio VZ-10m, Roland VS2400 CD, Yamaha Motif 6. I may have forgotten something, too.
Today I still have the Akai S01, a Kawai R50 drum machine with the E sound chip expansion. Funnily enough, I dusted it off again 2 months ago and switched it on. But she didn't want to anymore. Display only dimly lit, some sounds are no longer played at all or only choppy. I think it's the internal battery that needs to be replaced. I have no idea what else is flying around up there. Except for Ataris yet.
And now...since 2020 I've bought hardware FX and a tape machine again and I'm doing a lot of things this way again and using fewer plug-ins....crazy.
I had an S01 too! I got it new then got a S900 for like $450 if I remember. I gave my S01 away to an up and coming producer I knew, keep the S900 and then got an MPC3000 which I still use!
Very interesting video on a classic piece of kit.
Great video Espen! Huge fan of the S/X samplers from Akai. S612 was the first I got my hands on. Resently got a X7000 wreck. Hope to get it back to former glory. Recall Nitzer Ebb opening for DM back in ’88. A lot of off white samplers on stage. I was blown away. Great times 😃
Reason DAW was the first to emulate physical gear and they have a sampler from the beginning back 20 years ago to today they has a device very similar to Akai samplers.
Launching a thousand bands! On a personal note, for some reason I forget how physically large these were. I do remember hauling a few of these around in a rack. Hard drives were still years away for me too, due to costs and fragility.
I really love this sampler. Unfortunately, its in my garage with a broken disk drive. I need to get a floppy emulator. Nice shout to Pet Shop Boys and Fatboy Slim.
Get it fixed and get working!
many thanks for this instructions, you made my day :)
Cheers!
At my college I attended (way back when) they had one of these (S900) in the music studio there, along with a bunch of other cool gear such as the D-50, S-50 and HR-16.
Thanks Espen. Very interesting!
I have worked for years with an S900. It's a great machine. It broke down one day, I could have kept the money to buy a more efficient one, I preferred to have it repaired and continue to work with it. Unfortunately it was stolen from my cellar. But I'll buy another one someday.
Best
Regarding its weight, and if you have to use it regularly for live, moving around with it, physical training will be necessary. 😜
All the Akai samplers have substantial weight to them. ;-)
@@EspenKraft, and by the way, thank you for this video, it brings back very good memories of creation.
Best!
Yeah both S900 and S950 have a great crunch, from my understanding they both also used a clock per voice to pitch the samples also, which not a lot of samplers do. S1000/S1100 is probably the newest characterful akai rackmount worth looking at as it was using some interesting windowed interpolation methods for pitching the sounds. After that it is a bit more boring larger ram sizes meant higher quality sampling, meant they could get away with basic linear interpolation which was far less CPU intensive but ultimately lacked a lot of what made the earlier ones so interesting.
Very accurate summary. The S1000/1100 are the latest models to give any sort of "magic" although these two models don't offer the 12-bit "crunch" being 16-bit samplers.
@@EspenKraft Yeah the only modern hardware that I have found to have an old rack akai like sound is the Squid Salmple in eurorack, much more like an S1000 than older though. Some really nice workflow too compared to the old units, but it doesn't do everything they do.
I’ve only ever looked at pics of the front....your intro ( & you leaning on it ) demos how its a REALLY big unit isn’t it!😳. Makes sense considering PC technology when it made...interesting to this is obviously one of the Akai with the output to use with theirs synths 🤔. Thanks for the run through Espen,
Cheers!
i´d love to see the S1000 version of this video. Thanks!!!
I have a S1000 video showing pretty much the same thing.
Thanks that video was very interesting mix of history, tutorial, magazine and so on. Helped me alot as I am getting more into sampling.
Cheers!
Don't forget A Guy Called Gerald. Voodoo Ray called because he ran out of memory. It was originally Voodoo Rage from a vinyl recording of Derek and Clive 😀
I had a Casio FZ1, i did look at the yamaha tx16w but settled on the Casio for it's detailed display which could also draw the waveform out as a graphic you could zoom into
Both very nice and great samplers.
Interesting episode. These AKAI samplers were good equipment at the day.
Akai samplers have a warm fat sound and they’re user friendly!
have the thing. It's great. Just drive those inputs hard. HARD.
I took out a bank loan in around 1990 I think and bought an Atari, Cubase 2.0, a Yamaha SY22 ( that was a mistake!) and.. an S950. I felt like the king of the world for weeks! I got so quick with the 950 I could virtually use it with my eyes closed! I honestly think I was way more creative on that basic setup than on all the DAWS that I’ve owned since lol
I know exactly how you feel. We were much more creative and productive because we didn't have a gazillion options at out hands. We had a few pieces of gear we knew very well and the brain didn't have to focus on options options and more options. Cheers
@@EspenKraft I added an ESQ-1 later. A synth I believe we both love? Wish I never sold it… I was looking for an ESQ-M for the longest time, but I’m happy enough with the Arturia one for now. That taught me what a real synth could do and how limited the SY-22 was :)
I don't love the ESQ that much. ;-) I've sold the ones I had too and I can't say I miss them very much. They've been well emulated now and I can live with those instead.
It was the same pain in the behind, as my SU700. thanks 3.5" floppy era.... But fun.
The operating system is fast. It's as fast as you can click the buttons which means you can tap around very quickly despite the numerous menus. 😎
In the early 1990's the Akai S950 Sampler was responsible for entirety new genre of music, UK Jungle/Drum & Bass, without the Akai's famous time-stretch function and the basic low pass filter, early 90's Jungle would have sounded very different.
Yes very true and the Samplers like s900 and the MPC beat machines made Hip Hop possible and if you didn't know, the first DnB tracks were made from putting hip hop break beats at dubble tempo from 90bpm to 180bpm. I use Reason DAW to make DnB and I use the stock sampler called Oct Rex for its hip hop beat selection and time stretching. I load up hip hop drum loops and put to 180 and most of My drum and bass starts off with that. Infact I probably use Rex loops to greater or lesser extent in every DnB tune I make.
And UK garage. Spin Spin Sugaaaaaaaaar 😀
You forgot about the E-MU SP-1200 which is the real pioneer of Hip Hop long before the MPC existed. Virtually every Hip Hop producer has used the SP-1200.
Just noticed you have a Roland Jupiter 8, Epen. Welcome to the club!
I've had it for over a year, but it's only on loan. ;-)
The best youtube channel
Thanks!
I put my S950 up on eBay 15 years ago and it was sold in 30 seconds.
Great video Espen! I never heard of this modification om the input circuit. Very interesting and I'll probably do this mod on one of my 2 s900.
One of my s900 has the ASK90 board installed. It's an 8-channel audio trigger board which can be used with any audio signal to trigger samples. Probably most used with a drumset or E-drums like the simmons drums. The sensitivity can be adjusted for every channel.
Thanks! Yes, I've used the ASK90 before. We used it on a TV performance once. The S900 was used a lot.
I treasure my E6400 Ultra not for its converters or any garbage like that I use it cause of what it can do to samples...it's able to mix and mangle things in ways I never could've imagined
The synergy between your (excellent) TH-cam channel and buying great gear is going to pay you an awesome retirement in the Bahamas or wherever you desire. Great video btw.
I have no desire to travel anywhere, but a nice Christmas tree would be ok. Cheers
Konge video, Espen!
Takk så mye!
The display though!
Still have my S1000 with a broken display (common problem) in my basement. No reason to get rid of it. Maybe time to get that display going again instead!
Very cool video! I are trying to learn sampling nowdays, but worked earlier in a musicstore in 4 years so sold both E-MU and Yamaha A3000... And a family I know throw away and full spec E-Mu (6400 perhaps) for around 60000 NOK when the software samplers was good enough...
Thanks!
i had a CD3000 and it was awesome!
I have one of these I bought in the last couple months with the Gotek Drive and all. Sounds amazing... I do however have some issues with it. I get random freeze ups at times. Usually once i record my second sample in it would freeze. Lately I set the sample times to max and I can rewrite over that sample with no freezes. I obviously use this machine mostly for resampling. When I sample something longer it seems I get some artifacts from a Possible Ram issue but when I check my Ram it says its OK. Love this unit since I got it for cheap but since its not full operational I seem to be not about to use it to its full potential. May take it in for a fix in February if I cant find a fix. Once again. Amazing unit. I do want a S950 or a SP1200 though to go with.
Used in the early 90's on so many Techno songs 🎵
This is also the form factor I really need miss and want . Mine ( s 1000 ) finally died many years ago and was replaced with an asr 10 16 bit plus ! Also very cool but the Akai was much more straight forward and focused on sampling. And “way less “ menu diving as well . 👽
I think that Vince Clarke use that on the wild tour. I remember see that show on the 90 best sound on live show with a d50 Luke máster keyboard
Great video, well done!!
Thanks!
Akai since the early 80s s612 with the MD280 quick disk drive the year 1985 then S900 midi to the Emu sp1200 then the Akai mpc 2000, then the mpc 2000xl
Espen The first thing you play at 4:53 is the identical beat used in ED Sheeran's song Overpass Graffiti. It's also used in Coldplay's song Higher Power. Recent 2021 releases and smash hits, Two of the most popular UK artists in the world.
Pure coincidence. Never heard the songs you mention. I was just copying a Howard Jones drum machine opening, so if anything they copied HIM. I don't listen to Ed Sheeran.
@@EspenKraft Good point about Howard Jones the beat arrangement and sound samples are identical to ED Sheeran's track.
@@HOLLASOUNDS The name of the song is "Equality". On the "Human's lib" album.
One of my first samplers, very limited, but solid.
I used to drool over samplers like the Akai S900, S1000 or the Kurzweil and EMU samplers. But I couldnt afford any of them. Best I could do was get the Roland W-30 Sampling workstation (which I still own). I did for a brief moment get the Yamaha TX16W sampler which I just couldnt figure out.
The TX16W is pretty arcane if you use the original OS.
Would love to see a video showing how to use the s900/950 for drums and a bass for example and how to adjust the programs
Speaking of Jeff Rona, I actually purchased his S900 from him about 5 years ago. He also had it modded with the Oberheim (Marion Systems) upgrade which allows you to sample at either 12 bit or 16 bit. Of course I have no reason to sample at 16 bit because if I want 16bit I'll just use my S1100 - lol.
Cool. Like I said in the video, back then it was all about getting to 16-bits. ;-)
This is a very sought after machine(together with the S950) as it has a unique filter, this plus 12bit sampling gets you that punchy early 90s /80s hiphop sound. See th-cam.com/video/ROSxeiMW79k/w-d-xo.html from Bomb The Base which was produced on a pair of S900s as an example of the S900s grit.
Oh, also from the same year, 1987, MARRS - Pump Up The Volume - all S900 again... th-cam.com/video/w9gOQgfPW4Y/w-d-xo.html It's easy to see the historical significance of S900 with these 2 seminal tracks.
I've got an S2k and an S5k. The S5k I've slowly been adding parts over the years and the only card left to get is the ADAT which I'm not really too bothered about.
I wonder how I could incorporate an S900 or 950 into the modern MPC workflow. The stretching, filters and overall sound of those units warped me for life haha
The forgoten art of finding the sample start and sample croping. Every miliseconds counted. 😉
Boards of Canada's favorite sampler.
What came next the S950 was they greatest sampler ever made.
I’m thinking of getting one of those SD card readers for my MPC-2000xl
They had a bunch of great machines but seeing it from today's perspective i regret i didnt swap my S1000-PB with that Jupiter-8 i was offered back in 1990.
😲
We've all done fatal mistakes. ;-)