The true joy of the AX series is that they provide a unique palette of sounds... A juno 106 will help you sound like everyone else, An AX will make you stand out. I've owned many of it's competitors (juno 106, matrix 6, prophet 600) and played extensively with the Korg polysix....The AX 60 is my favorite by a mile.

@KennethDonnellyStargazer21

2 жыл бұрын

Right... that thing is capable of some sweet sounds, and can beef you to death with the unison... so useful 🌛

@anonymous_friend

Жыл бұрын

Ax60 vs Ax80. What are your thoughts?

Akai had their name on the map from their S series samplers long before the MPC range. They're legendary samplers that have been used by anybody and everybody.....from pop to industrial and everything in between.

So happy you did this comparison! I adore both of them, so I'm definitely in the "swear by the AX80" camp. It is quite the polarizing synth though. It also really benefits from the Tauntek firmware upgrade. One big caveat on the 80, replacement displays cannot be sourced. If the screens are dead or dying, only a donor AX80 will solve that issue. The connections on membrane button circuit boards are also known fail, but this is an easy fix. The AX60 has a different sound, but is also a truly wonderful synth. They both shine most when using resonance. Akai pushed the voltage on the filters beyond manufacturer specs, so they go to 11 and can really scream (sometimes painfully). The 60 would have really benefitted from having logarithmic sliders as their linear ones are hard to dial in sometimes. I was just making some patches on the 60 earlier: kzread.info/dash/bejne/m4Wf28OtfMW2fLA.html I like the long play times. Great video, keep up the solid work! You need to do the Prophet 600 and Matrix 6 next.

@asoundlab

3 жыл бұрын

Love the 60 patches that you put out!

@darthrex761

3 жыл бұрын

have 2 80’s. That was our secret weapon. Made all of our own sounds with it. Sampled a lot of it. Wish I would have bought the 60’s I came across dirt cheap compared to today’s inflated prices.

During the 80's the thing I most associated Akai with was their range of Samplers which were according to the magazines of the time very prevalent in the studio and I think one of the market leaders.

Thanks for doing this video. I love early Akai gear. Though, I think the piece of gear that is missing from your story is the vx600. A rare bird but was a unique piece of gear both in its design/form factor and in its sonic architecture. I personally view my ax60 as half of the intended design, with the S612 being the other half of the design. It was a pretty creative solution that still provides pretty awesome results to this day. I would guess they designed the ax60 as a hands on synth companion to their digital sampler and it was probably cheaper and easier to design a synth around a single chip, the CEM 3394 “synth on a chip” with a vco, vcf and amp, than to use a DCO, an independent filter, and amp. The CEM 3394 also has an audio input which made the Ax60/S612 combo easy to implement from a hardware perspective.

@Alamo Music Audio Lab I have read in more than one place (but don't have the source off hand) that the AX60 was designed by David Cockerell--famous for the EMS Synthi/VCS3, Hi-Fli, etc--specifically to interface with the Akai S612 Digital Sampler, also credited to David Cockerell (EMS, Electro-Harmonix) and Chris Hugget (EDP/OSCar). The AX60 was thus designed specifically as a S612 performance controller/modifier with dedicated programming controls, and also with VCOs (as opposed to DCOs) to better contrast with the digital voicing of the S612.

@briankehew579

2 жыл бұрын

This is the secret. Use the sampler with it.

I used the AX60 together with Juno-6. The Juno-6 sounded a tad better in string sounds but the AKAI has a wider sonic temple - more tech stuff makes the sounds more complex. The AX60 synth can be split and play two sounds simultaneously. Have midi etc etc. It's definately a little more dirty sounding than the JUNO-6. They work together in a sweet way.

Solid work, bruh. I dig it. The ax line was the poor man’s Juno...their sample are still pretty lit. Things fall off after 2006, but they really known for their tape machines and samplers. BRAVO!

I have a long history of owning synths that others shunned, partly because I was poor and they could be acquired less expensively and partly just because I like to be different. For example, my first keyboard was an Octave Cat! 😺 I remember the day when I came across an AX-80 being blown out in a music store that mostly sold folk instruments. They did not understand how to sell the beast and just wanted to get the remaining stock off the floor. I purchased it at a great price and over the next few years, fell in love with the instrument. Firstly, it has been the coolest looking synth I have ever owned (my Casio VZ-1 having been a close second). I have always seen the uniqueness of its sound as a strength, but then I was making experimental music and was not at all interested in mimicking the sound of others (I have never even considered owning a DX7😀 or a D50). I just had my AX-80 opened up today to check that the battery was intact and to apply some solder to those weird connectors that bridge the PCBs under the display. I am very happy that I have it working it tip top condition again. I might be looking to sell mine soon, not because I don’t love it… just because the value of them has been climbing and I really don’t have space for it anymore. It’s a awesome synth and deserves a more attentive owner. Sorry you didn’t dig the sound, back in the 80’s I always ran mine through an SDR-1000, so maybe that combination is what made me enjoy mine so much. It can definitely sound a little harsh and can greatly benefit from some sweetening. 😀

Absolutely fantastic video.

On wednesday my Ax 80 arrives !! What a coincidence Thx for this video 👍🏻 It arrives and its a beautiful looking futuristic 80s looking machine Sounds absolutly perfekt Resonance is raw and powerfull Love it 🎹🎶☺️ One Tip for all Lfo vcf (3) Select only the squarewave Then you have control over the filter By using the mod. Wheel and poti. Nice sweeps With resonance on the dial You can use it live just like other analogue synths

I´m really loving your videos!

@asoundlab

3 жыл бұрын

Thx 🙏🏼!!

Excellent 👏Thanks for featuring the Akai’s ; they really are forgotten!! I’ve never even seen either one for real. I’m keen on getting a Akai analogue one day ( choosing between the 80 or 60 is difficult- just LOVE the aesthetics 80 , but sound of 60 probably more interesting.....so appreciate you demoing these two👍 The release did seem backwards- but I always assumed they were really looking at the 60 as less of a stand alone synth but more as a pair for Akai samplers (eg so if sampler provided one oscillator why build expense of two oscillator synth?)...FWIW Before the synths Akai professional made a bunch of useful gear in 1U rack- things like stand alone arpeggiator, midi patch bay, equaliser,etc last was highly regarded MFC analogue filter.

I have an AX80, its bass sound somehow "futuristic", and it's resonance it's beautiful. Reminds me the Matrix-1000, but i found it somehow difficult to get different pleasant sounds, like if the scope of sounds it can do well is limited. But I really like the synth bassy sound (Preset 27).

@dennis5504

2 жыл бұрын

I love my ax80. With enough time you can get some very pretty sounds out of it, however the synth is naturally dark and muddy (with a razor sharp resonance that cuts right through that mud!) The bass sounds have been described as "Being hit by a rubber baseball bat" by jesus. So great, and honestly unique. The ax80 can be a bit fiddly to program, but it's awesome for more than just the bass, for sure. One day I'll have to do a video of my patches on mine. I love it so much.

I'm so glad you picked up these 2 badboyz I dont think they receive their due appreciation . Many thanks to you guys :-). When you apply the envelope to the 60s filter, it has an almost oberheim ish spill out of the resonant harmonics as you trim the cutoff .

@asoundlab

3 жыл бұрын

The ax60 is amazing! I’m having trouble bonding with the ax80...help!!

@AdamTheAd-vanc3d

3 жыл бұрын

@@asoundlab Hahaha yeh I feel you on that one. The 80 just doesn't havnt that mojo the 60 has. Having said that I love the AX 80s tomytronic looking display lights.

@luxoverb

3 жыл бұрын

The AX80 has one of the coolest looks ever ... but you can’t play looks. 😬 In some respects, it has competitive guts (Curtis chips) but it does take some work to coax good sounds from it. There are some demos on KZread that showcase some really good sounds ... but no, I wouldn’t take it over a Juno 60, a Jupiter, or a modern VCO synth like Prophet Rev2 or P6. Full disclosure, I have one; it’s not my go-to synth but I think a could get a lot out of it if I had to.

The AX-60 is an interesting gem. Thanks for the review.

Wikipedia: Akai (Japanese: 赤井, pronounced [a̠ka̠i]) was founded originally as Akai Electric Company Ltd in Tokyo, Japan, in 1946. Grande Holdings in Hong Kong purchased the Akai brand, and now distributes various electronic products such as LED TV, washing machines, clothes dryers, air conditioners and smart phones, through collaborations with other electronics companies bearing relevant expertise. inMusic Brands in the United States took over Akai's brand, starting the ‘Akai Professional’ label, that distributes high-end audio electronics products.

Thanks for covering these synths, especially the AX80. I've owned one since new, and being a guitarist, didn't really have any background into what was what back then - just what I was demo'ed. It worked for some tunes at the time, and most notably Kim Mitchell used a pair in the video All We Are, although I suspect that it was for the stage look. The AKAI logo is even taped over in the video. The into notes for that song sound like they were P26... I mostly use mine as a VST controller today...

I have both and really love the AX-60. The AX-80 is awesome but needs some effects. I would like to see you re-visit both synths in the near future. Topics to possibly cover would be firmware and programming. Keep up the good work.

This man looks like he's from the 80s reviewing these synthesizers right after they're released.

I owned both. I owned the AX-60 first, sold it in favor of the AX-80, big mistake in my book. Since I used synth modules in the late 80's/early 90's I needed a velocity keyboard and the AX-80 should have worked. The AX-60, curiously, didn't send velocity information via midi. Part of my mistake was a reliance on the Yamaha FB-01, I had two in my rack and they didn't handle velocity information well at all. I found a workaround but the AX-60 would have been the better choice for my rig, I didn't own the Yamaha's at the time of my switch. Like your review, the AX-80 was very harsh, I salvaged a few patched to use live but the various modules I was using overcame the limitations in the quality of sound from it.

It helps some keys do not sound when active in polyphony but when I deactivate it they all work

I also really like the AX60; not the greatest sounding synth for sure, but it has a routing flexibility and creative potential that you don't get on almost any other poly. What other poly lets you mix in external sounds on every voice? The big drawback on this synth is the software/processor that interfaces with the analog controls, making all of the sliders jumpy/glitchy. I wish someone could write a firmware update or solve this issue somehow. If not for this problem, it would be a nearly perfect sound design machine.

I wish there was a sysex firmware for the vx600. Usability sure what backwards from the ax80 and 60

I have an AX-80 with the hard case. It’s been boxed up since the 80s. I wonder what value it would hold?

The vfd displays are the same ones they used on the hifi equalizer range of circa 1984 , the fact they used the same styling makes these look unique , akai was the low budget player in the 80s before samsung and lucky goldstar (lg) took this market

Interesting synths. The AX80 seems to be an attempt to do those 80s sparkly sounds. Maybe like the DX7 it has more interesting sounds lurking in there waiting to be discovered.

The ax80 sounds very warm and silky. I was always a fan of the 60, but at the time I had mine there was no sound demos of the 80. It sounds more like a Jupiter.

The AX80 is not liked by some because it does not do 'swimmy' 'fuzzy' analogue. AX80 gets lumped in with its analogue contemporaries and it is this, I think, is why it gets the hate. If you appreciate the AX80 for the what it is instead of what it is not, you will come to understand that it really does sound good and is a beautiful sounding synth - in a glassy, precise, HI-FI and controlled way. It is not a Juno 6/60, but it can do Juno type strings and synth keys, but just in a less loose and fuzzy analogue sounding way- it is more controlled and pristine. The interface is really easy to use and it is easy to dive in and start making new sounds on it. The factory (built in presets) are ok, but do not represent what the AX80 is capable of. It is very expressive when you set the controls properly and program it to respond to expression. I've owned or used practically every 80s poly synth and the AX80 is a keeper to me. Love it for what it is. With the AX80 you have to dive in and program it and spend time with it, connect it up to some reverbs/delays and it sounds beautiful. I WILL NEVER EVER SELL MINE! The AX80 is a beauty.

The AX 80 - Der schönste 80er Jahre synthesizer !!!!!🎹🎶

I have the 60 and Juno 60... interestingly complementary 🌛

Will you do AX 60 and Juno 106 comparison

@SacSynths_Jack_Z

3 жыл бұрын

I can tell you they sound almost nothing alike.

The AX-60 rules. you have to have that repaired and try it with the S612. It’s like a poorman’s PPG Wave.

You could argue that it was against the market but so were the matrix12 and matrix 6 /1000 , i think akai was one of the first to recognise digital sampling or romplers could not fill the whole gamut of sounds so they wanted to corner both

Maybe I should be looking out for a VX90 (AX73 in a rack).

A good basic demo but you're missing out on the best features and settings possible on the AX60. Get an external 612 sampler and your mind will be blown - no other little synth does that!

Wish you had the ax73 to compare also. Completely different beast made with the same synth chips as the Sequential Circuits SixTrak....

I agree that the filter isn't all that inspiring in the AX-80 - being stuck in 2 pole isn't great either. However, the multi LFO modulation is very helpful at coaxing out warmer sounds and FX are a MUST. I'll never understand why a sub-oscillator wasn't implemented in the AX-60 - would have added so much.

I couldn’t disagree more with your assessment on the AX-80’s sound. Since this review a magnificent work was uploaded to KZread: check out the AX-80 music by Rimela.

The AX80 sounds digital and very like a Casio Cz1000

The 60 sounds like Buckaroo Bonsai.

You probably forgot to mention the "oberrated" AKAI VX600, the so called poor man's Oberheim Xpander, with anything except OB-sound.

had the ax60-its pretty good but its sounds are 'samey' after a while.v aggressive res but not a keeper for me.played an ax80 briefly a few times,thought it was just ok,better sounding synths for the money out there.

Personally I love the Akai AX80. One of my all time faves. It was the main synth I used with my old band Rodeo Jones. maybe not so great for pads, but love the bass it can produce. For reference the bass sound on this track was actually an Ax80, even though a bass guitar is shown in this video. kzread.info/dash/bejne/l22sztSDkZCskco.html

@Mooli

Жыл бұрын

PS .. I should add.. I've used the Ax80 on almost every track I've done up to this day. So every Mooli track features an AX80 either for bass or other synth sounds.

Who told you that you have the knowledge to make such reviews/comparisons ? We own those synths for a very long time 30+ years, we have used them in many productions and works and now we have you here saying "this is good, this is not good". What do you really know from the AX-80, from the JX-10 or the Kawai SX-210 ? I have watched many of your videos and I find them completely unusable. I am wondering why all these videos.. Please make some really useful videos with your own knowledge, whatever it is and stop repeating info and opinions of the "Vintage Synth" kind of sites/forums.

AX80 sound way better...

Reviews that time forgot...jeeesas what a waste!

it´s clear why his synth sucks... it sounds terrible

I have an AX-60, its in good condition. I replaced all the LEDs with blue ones. It sounds different than most 80’s analog polys. I like it, it looks cool and has nice features. I find it is a bit squirrelly, it has a mind of its own but that’s ok. I also have its “partner” the Akai S-612 sampler with USB drive. Im looking for an AX-80 now. I have a Kawai K-3 which sounds similar to the AX-80. 🎉