Vintage Synth Explorer

Akai • S-1000

An oldie but a goodie. Akai's great sampler of the late eighties! It actually still stacks up pretty well even today! A 16-bit, 22kHz to 44.1kHz sampler with 2MB to 32MB of RAM. Editing and programming the S-1000 is a very good precursor to the advanced S-3000 series. There are lots of advanced edit capabilities for looping, truncating, sample merging, time comp/exp, tuning and even analog-like parameters to control its filters and envelopes. Individual outputs for each of the 16 voices, stereo mix out, stereo input, MIDI, and trigger inputs round out this machine as a professional vintage-status sampler that still proves to be very useful even today! It is used by Moby, The Chemical Brothers, SkyLab, Scanner, Fluke, Nick Rhodes, Fatboy Slim, LTJ Bukem, Mr. Oizo, Crystal Method, Pet Shop Boys, Gary Numan, Future Sound of London, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Mouse on Mars, and Apollo 440.

The S-1000KB was a nice big keyboard version of this mega-sampler. It featured a 61-note keyboard with velocity and aftertouch sensitivity and room for an 80MB hard disk. SCSI and digital interfaces were available on both keyboard and rack versions. Other variations include the S-1000PB playback-only unit and the S-1000HD with its built-in 40MB hard disk.

Following the S-1000 came the S-1100 (1990) which boasted up to 32MB of sampling with 24-bit internal processing! Also on-board were a SCSI interface, digital effects, AES/EBU digital output, SMPTE reader/gen, and optional hard-disk recording.

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Dan Wilson

Posted 388 days ago

The AKAI S1000 is built like a tank and is from an era when build quality really mattered. The only real weakness is that the displays become very dim with age. The good news is that the EL backlight element can be replaced fairly easily. These samplers will work with SCSI Magneto Optical drives eg. Olympus 230II which makes storing and backing up samples much more convenient than hard drives. Although an old technology MO disks have a reputation for superb data retention - quite unlike SCSI ZIP drives!!!

Dan, Hideaway Studio.

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