The rackmount machine that started a revolution in sampling, the Akai S-950 Sampler's importance in the development of modern music cannot be overstated. The 12-bit stereo sampling, 7.5kHz to 40kHz variable sampling rates, and 63 seconds of sampling time allowed musicians to traverse new frontiers in electronic production and attracted icons. Perhaps more resourcefully, Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) uses a transposed S950 Tone Program mixed in with an Oberheim Matrix-1000 for many of his sub-bass sounds. S950 drum loops, grainy and grungy in all their 12-bit glory are particularly hip in hip-hop. A vast range of Akai and third-party sounds are available for the S950. I spent another week or so auto sampling, trimming, and chopping samples from the S950 to get that crunchy S950 12-bit sound. If you're looking for the sample packs you can grab them at the following. One of the most popular hardware samplers over the years for hip hop producers was the Akai S950. Essentially an upgraded version of the S900, this sampler became popular amongst hip hop heads, namely for its 12-bit linear sampling capabilities. Most producers would stack this with an E-MU.
Digging the crunchy 12-bit sound of classic samplers like the Akai S950? Well, now there’s a plugin for that.
Akai S900/S950 Sample Library. S900/950 Sample Library 92 Disks. $10 Each: This library is also compatible with the Akai S1000, S1100, S2000, S2800, S3000 S3000XL, S3200XL, Remix 16, S01 and Kurzweil K2000s & K2500s: Library Also Available as Floppy Disk Images via download delivery.
Mathieu Demange, an independent software developer from France has released his first effect plugin in VST, Audio Units & Rack Extension formats: the RX950 Classic AD/DA Converter.
The plug-in mimics the AD/DA conversion process of the Akai S950, thanks to an accurate modeling process. According to the developer, to achieve this result, Demange has studied every bit of his very own Akai S950 unit in order to replicate each stage of the signal processing. With over a year of work, the result comes as the RX950 Classic AD/DA Converter.
Let’s watch a quick overview:
As you can see in the video above, the RX950’s interface is a simple affair of 4 self-explanatory knobs and one button – you can’t go wrong with them!
We’re looking forward to adding the plugin to our DAW (it’s also low on CPU, which helps!).
Price
19,00€
To buy the plugin and learn more about it go here.
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Ok this is an issue. If you scan the net most people is telling that you need AKAIDISK. And most people is telling one needs Win98 tooWRONG!
You can read/write Akai S900 disks with Omniflop, and it works flawlessly under XP. (actually ONLY XP is supported!) (EDIT 02/18/2010: Omniflop 2.2c has been reported to work with Vista)
WHAT YOU NEED:
- PC with floppy drive (not USB!)
- Registered Onmiflop program (it's free)
- AKAI S900/s950
- Floppies (Modern HDs work ok, just put some tape on the HD hole...)
- Samples
- Patience :)
Akai S950 Vst
WHAT TO DO:
First install Omniflop. Later on, when trying to read a disk it will ask for a key and if you don't have it already the wizard will ask to mail the author to get one. Mail him and get your key. (he's very kind and usually replies within 24h. EDIT: I see from the site that now registration is done via WWW...)Get a floppy, if it's HD put some tape in the hole.
Format the taped disk in the S900 and save some samples on it.
If you are running OS 4 on your AKAI and want to access the samples later from the PC remember to disable 'SAMPLE COMPRESSION' from the DISK menu. If you just plan to backup your floppies you can leave compression ON.Fire up your Omniflop, do the free registration thing, and set it in READ DISK mode using its simple wizard. When it comes to select a format choose the following:
Now insert the AKAI floppy in the PC drive. and go 'NEXT' REMEMBER TO WRITE PROTECT THE DISK AND PUT SOME TAPE ON THE HD HOLE! If you don't write protect it and something goes wrong you may lose you data. You've been warned...
Akai S950 Tone Program Software
Now save the file, use .img extension.
Your backup is done. You can write it back to a floppy at anytime, remembering to put some tape on the hole. The best is to format the floppy on the AKAI before writing back images on it.
Akai S950 For Sale
With Omniflop you can also write back to floppy the new OS 4.0 and load it into the AKAI. Instruction will follow. Information about the new(er) OS 4