hedger@ada-uts.UUCP (08/15/85)
has anyone seen the Akai sampler????? I heard it the other day so here's some info. The sampler is rack mountable and sells in Boston for 895.00. I think it utilizes 8-bit sampling rate and sounded pretty good considering. There is an lfo and filter on board and unlimited 'overdubbing' of samples is supported. Now the bad news....If you want to store samples (under Akai's scheme of things ) you have to buy their rack mounted disk drive...this unit costs 265.00 and uses small mini diskettes that I was told are very popular in Japan..(I think these mini diskettes are also used in Yamaha's cx5m computer) but trying to get an answer as to how much the blanks go for I was given the runaround.. (sounds like you only get them from Akai and you get gouged in the process) The diskettes only hold 2 samples (one on each side). The sampler itself only holds one sample at a time. All of this makes live performance a bit precarious. The box is equipped with MIDI so obviously the disk drive could be avoided and a p.c. used, but still since the box only holds one sample at a time and since there's an 8-second load time,live performance would probably be a little hairy... maybe if we all write letters, Akai will add 32 ts memory locations for a couple hundred more bucks...... ******************************************************** Keith Hedger - Intermetrics ihnp4!inmet!ada-uts!hedger
rsk@pucc-k (Wombat) (08/23/85)
In article <30100008@ada-uts.UUCP> hedger@ada-uts.UUCP writes: > >has anyone seen the Akai sampler????? I heard it the other day so here's some >info. The sampler is rack mountable and sells in Boston for 895.00. I think >it utilizes 8-bit sampling rate and sounded pretty good considering. "8-bit" is not a measure of sampling rate; it is a measure of resolution. Additionally, the Akai sampler has 12-bit resolution; and is six-voice polyphonic. It handles 8 seconds worth of sample; and the disks that the auxiliary drive uses are about $5. The Akai unit is far superior to the Korg SDD-series box; if you have a MIDI keyboard and want to have sampled sounds available, I would recommend this unit whole-heartedly; it's certainly a better investment than a Mirage or an Emulator. -- Rich Kulawiec rsk@pur-ee.uucp rsk@purdue.uucp rsk@purdue-asc.arpa
hedger@ada-uts.UUCP (08/30/85)
rich, thank you for clearing up the 'bit' term for me....an for answering the question about the cost of the disks. I did find your last statement a bit puzzling however....why is the akai a better investment than a mirage or an emulator????? a mirage i can understand but surely you don't think that the akai sounds betteror even as good as an emulator???!!! (and again for all you performers out there, the fact that the akai saves 1 sample on each side of a diskette seriously limits it's potential as a live performance instrument...unless you have a roadie to flip diskettes all night...at least the mirage holds 3 samples on a diskette, and the emulator can be gotten with dual drives)