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Why I bought an Akai S6000 hardware sampler in 2023...

The Akai S6000 is a big beasty of a rack mount hardware sampler. It is unwieldy, takes floppy disks, and isn't exactly inexpensive... so why did I buy this vintage thing when I could just use a DAW? Plus, do I not already have an Akai S2000?! Weeeeellll here's the deal...
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Пікірлер: 200

  • @RC-nj1by
    @RC-nj1by Жыл бұрын

    I managed to get a Zuluscsi working with the S5000 without having to go thru the whole process of adding the HD1.img file to it, etc etc etc ....I just straight formatted a 400G SD card to fat32 and it read it straight off the bat. *shrug* I haven't tried to plug into the USB on the front to access the SD yet....I just pop it out and into an SD reader

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Oh yeah? When I did that it still showed me all of the other empty hard drives, as it was set up to read 7 of them. How did you get around that?

  • @RC-nj1by

    @RC-nj1by

    Жыл бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod I just formatted the SD card as straight single FAT32 partition. It managed to read it just as a standard drive. I actually had my S5000 reading a 400GB SD card as one single partition Just DO NOT use the .img thing that the instructions say to do.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    I just tried this. It doesn't work for me with FAT32, but exFAT it works perfectly. I'm not sure why it didn't pick it up correctly before - but this is a way simpler method than what I had been doing. Thanks for the top tip!!

  • @RC-nj1by

    @RC-nj1by

    Жыл бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod yeh....messing about with all those img files was just not working for me. This method is waaaaay easier.

  • @RC-nj1by

    @RC-nj1by

    Жыл бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod One other thing I did.....if you switch the SD card when running, the S5000 tries to scan the entire drive bus and it totally crashes because I took out the floppy and replaced it with zuluscsi. The way around this is to essentially hookup the floppy as a dummy in the hard drive bay right next to where it was. Sure, you don't have access to the floppy anymore, but at least it's attached so that the sampler doesn't have a complete freakout when it searches for it and it's not there.

  • @synkuk
    @synkuk Жыл бұрын

    Got the S5k upgraded to 256mb with the SD2SCSI card replacing the floppy ... totally fell in love with this sampler... and use it in my Akai force controlled setup .. use it more for sampling and crunching up stuff over playback .. but have played with groups and sequencing them ... and the USB link card allowing me to direct connect to an external 32 bit PC .. like you its hands on-ness of the device and the whole usage experience that I love .. along with some of the crazy things it can do that a lot of modern stuff has lost .. still use modern samplers .. but the 5k still persists in the setup

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Hell yeah!!! What setup have you got for the usb card? An old windows machine? XP? Think it's work getting an old laptop or something for that?

  • @d.g.f.7056

    @d.g.f.7056

    Жыл бұрын

    Dude, you gotta look up the sysex for the S5000/6000 it can bring it to a new level with sequenced sample swaps or any number of other parameters. Hell you can even program it to load in a new multi or preset from the drive in the background...but I mean...there's far more general use things and less niche stuff you can do through the sysex. S5000 is my main sample workhorse, cause it can just handle so much stuff all at once it's wonderful

  • @reddenstudio

    @reddenstudio

    3 ай бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod Just use virtualization software running the XP operating system on your fast modern computer! No need to maintain an old window machine when you just need to run the old windows machine's operating system. You have the power of your modern computer, with the legacy Aksys controller software for your S6000.

  • @jeffryarchambeau5441
    @jeffryarchambeau5441 Жыл бұрын

    Actually, I thought the main thing you sampled for making music was single malt.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    That's for special occasions!!

  • @BigStereoVR

    @BigStereoVR

    11 ай бұрын

    ​@@StephenMcLeodadmit it: you're sucking back the Buckfast!!!😂😂😂

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    11 ай бұрын

    @@BigStereoVR sook sook sook

  • @bitley
    @bitley9 ай бұрын

    I completely agree to why hw samplers are super fun. And I'm a huge daw user and commercial library dev for Kontakt & Reason but there is magic to be found in hw samplers. I have a few and I'd love to add a S5000/S6000. I had the huge S1000KB for a while and you can check my video on that.

  • @Death_By_Media
    @Death_By_Media Жыл бұрын

    The E-MU E4XT Ultra is probably the pinnacle of hardware samplers IMHO I highly recommend you get your hands on one if you can . Specs at a glance :128‑voice Polyphony. 32‑part multitimbrality (2 sets of MIDI connections). 64Mb RAM. 3.2Gb Hard Drive. many have been upgraded after the fact as though the cable is a diy job the HD is just IDE Dual 24‑bit effects processors. 21 filter types. 8 Balanced analogue outputs. Word clock & AES/EBU I/O. 240 x 64‑dot Custom Backlit Display. 48‑track sequencer. Arpeggiator.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    E-MU samplers are a rabbit hole I don't want to fall down, but I guess it's inevitable ha.

  • @Death_By_Media

    @Death_By_Media

    Жыл бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod lolz . They are a different worm hole for sure , but the filters and effects engines are worth the effort . Cheers !

  • @Arc.hitectureMusic

    @Arc.hitectureMusic

    Жыл бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod I own both an S5000 and E4XT Ultra with RFX32 and 16 analog outputs, the Emu has sonic advantages over the S5/6Ks. E4XT can take a 120Gb HDD on the IDE bus, making it quite the rompler if one wishes, with a lot of synthesis flexibility and lots of automation available

  • @johnviera3884

    @johnviera3884

    Ай бұрын

    you guys should check out Ableton 8.

  • @reddenstudio
    @reddenstudio3 ай бұрын

    I loved your video! I just upgraded my S5000 to use a SCSI2SD card and now I have four 10GB drives that load on startup. It is amazing! Some advice, don't make your SD card drives too large. Think about what SCSI drives/sizes were available in the 90's and they weren't 100GB ones. I tried going big as possible with my SD drives and it created SCSI errors randomly, and dropping down the size to 10GB made it very stable. Could I get stability at 15GB? Maybe, but 10GB was good enough for me. Also, I suggest getting the USB card for your S6000, if it doesn't have one. What can you do with it? Well, if you install an Oracle free software program called VirtualBox, an iso file of Windows XP (32 bit) and a license key, this will allow you to install the companion software for the Akai S5000/S6000 called Aksys. What this will give you is the ability to just drag-and-drop files from your computer (since you will setup a VirtualBox share drive from your host computer that your WinXP instance can access) over the USB cable directly to the newly created S6000 SD card drives. Using this setup, you can prep your samples in your DAW, move them to the virtualbox shared drive, start your Windows XP instance, and S6000, and drag the folder with the files to your S6000 target drive, and go get a beer as it transfers. Easy peezy!

  • @seemedoit
    @seemedoitАй бұрын

    When the S6000 was released it was the ultimate "must-have", but that did not last long. I worked at Sam Ash on 48th Street in 03-05', and in late 04' we could not give these away for $400 to 500. It was hard to see, especially with how much I would have killed for one in 99'.

  • @Vangelismusic1

    @Vangelismusic1

    29 күн бұрын

    I don't remember the S6000 going for 400 bucks I think they had a blowout at about 1000, I bought many things from Sam Ash.

  • @decaystar
    @decaystar Жыл бұрын

    I think the last rack sampler from Akai was the Z8, which was like a MPC-4000 in rack.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    ahhhh you are completely right. I forgot about the Z8! It's a 24 bit thing right?

  • @decaystar

    @decaystar

    Жыл бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod That is correct and the Z8 also had a “Remote screen” like your S-6000. The reason why these samplers are priced so low is because people has “currently” more focus on samplers with “Lofi” characters like Akai S-950/900, Emu Emax ..Ensoniq Mirage..etc….while devices as S-6000 is more focused on being as “Hi-end” as possible, which is also why you would probably only have seen them in bigger studios in the past. [Retail price £2799, depending on which expansion options you picked] But if you are interested in similar priced “hi-end” sampler devices, then I can recommend, which is currently low priced: - E-Mu Ultra E6400 - “beat munger“, Z-plane filters - Yamaha A4000 - A5000 - „Stand alone effect processor” and “loop remix” - Kurzweil K2000 w. Sample option - Samples in combination with the V.A.S.T engine.

  • @mckrisbo
    @mckrisbo Жыл бұрын

    If you're loving old samplers, look into the Yamaha SU700. It's properly slept on and still easy to find cheap. You can record at a wide variety of sample rates, plus either 8-bit or 16-bit. It has some fantastic sounding effects and the workflow is kind of akin to a primative/LoFi version or Ableton.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    That is a beautiful looking thing!!

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Bought one!!

  • @leftmono1016
    @leftmono1016 Жыл бұрын

    I’d love to see you mess around with one of the Yamaha A series samplers. Loop remixing works incredibly well and the loop divide splits a loop into however many sections you want and maps them to midi notes. These are creative things, it may not have some of the same specs as top level Akai and Emu samplers but they’re fun to use. Three effects blocks which can be series or parallel (6 effects blocks on the A5000) and take external input. Some bonkers effects too, real time pitch shift and time stretch as an effect 😀 They load wav files, I’ve done this via a Gotek drive but it’s too much pishing about so don’t bother. Just need to install new encoders!! Did mine years ago and still working fine 👍 Things like changing the sample rate (numerous options) and being able to monitor the ‘effect’ before recording. Clever.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Oh yeah? I've seen an a3000 but was unsure whether to take the plunge or not... I've heard the effects are pretty cool mind.

  • @leftmono1016

    @leftmono1016

    Жыл бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod - it’s the A3000 I’ve got. Doesn’t display waveforms but I’m used to trimming by ear. I’m old 😔 If you can find an A5000 with its 6 effects blocks it’d be worth a punt 👍

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    @@leftmono1016 Ohhh I've been looking at the A3000 as I can get them for a nice price. HmmMmMm.

  • @leftmono1016

    @leftmono1016

    Жыл бұрын

    I do very much like the A3000, just takes a bit more time without the bigger screen. Old skool 👍 Quick to use when you get used to it. Record a sample, assign a midi channel to it and off you go.

  • @richiejohn3679
    @richiejohn36793 ай бұрын

    So, for example, you can set the envelope generator on a snare sample, to add a slow attack on the VCA envelope-makes it a lot more realistic--

  • @Fidel_Villeneuve
    @Fidel_Villeneuve Жыл бұрын

    Ah, your channel is so cool. Thanks for this upload, it's bringing back a lot of memories! I used to make music on Digital Hardcore on an Akai s1000 and my best mate had the 2000. Totally agree about the 2000's tiny screen! Nightmare. A few years ago I bought a 5000 on eBay for about £150 with dreams of getting the Atari ST out again, but it didn't quite happen for me. Glad to see these things getting used!

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Get that Atari out!!!

  • @leeman2470

    @leeman2470

    25 күн бұрын

    Big up Fidel, make more noise please

  • @Fidel_Villeneuve

    @Fidel_Villeneuve

    25 күн бұрын

    @@leeman2470 kzread.info/dash/bejne/nYGbuZR9mqq2Zs4.html That's the last thing I did, it's not very noisy though.

  • @richiejohn3679
    @richiejohn36793 ай бұрын

    i used multiple S300/ S6000's back in the day -- they were Great ! (still have one or two in storage !)

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    3 ай бұрын

    Get em out!!

  • @leewightman8619
    @leewightman8619 Жыл бұрын

    It's impressive how much gear you have..and the fact you know how to use it all

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Who says I know how to use it all?! Haha.

  • @mylarmelodies
    @mylarmelodies Жыл бұрын

    Love it. Also strangely attracted to the rolls royce devices (of their era) which are basically modern landfill now. On a similar tip I can thoroughly recommend Yamaha's A4000 and A5000 samplers, for being incredible in terms of UI/usability and basically complete synths that happen to use samples. One thing is the encoders go weird, though I think they can be replaced - you can also drop in IDE to Compact Flash adapters to trick out their memory! Looking forward to a nerdy run through of the interface and your use case …

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks man! A few folks have pointed out the Yamaha samplers in particular - they are meant to have sweet effects routing. I am trying to not fall down that rabbit hole, buuuuut... I can feel it happening.

  • @mylarmelodies

    @mylarmelodies

    Жыл бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod Yeah the effects are particularly good, there's multiple blocks, all sorts of FX (like amp modeling as well as reverbs etc) and IIRC you can bake the effects into the sample quite easily.... Again watch for dodgy pots tho but they can be replaced.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    You're not helping!!! I'm in Korea at the moment and strongly considering hunting one down...

  • @djellusiv
    @djellusiv Жыл бұрын

    I brought mine new in 98 for £2600 soon as it was released added the usb card which is almost an essential purchase if you can find one or luck enough to have one installed on the one you brought the aksys works great & makes recycle etc a breeze for importing/exporting all those chops etc still use it today

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Nice! I have one of the USB cards, though I don't have a computer capable of running aksys. I'm thinking of getting an old laptop dedicated for that buttt unsure

  • @justjoeblow420
    @justjoeblow420 Жыл бұрын

    When a 90's sampler has a better screen than your 1000$ groovebox. But more on topic I understand completely, I'm wanting to pick up an Emulator 4 rackmount unit in part as a processing box but also because it gives me access to a ton of the classic E-Mu sounds as well as being able to use the filter on it for external audio because oddly basically no one has tried to clone the E-Mu Zplane Filter set up outside of an Eurorack module I'm aware of I'd like to have access to those older liquid DnB sounds of the late 90's and early 2000's as it was part of what got me into electronic music and the E-Mu sound was a big part of the sound for a lot of acts.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Pretty wild eh?! I don't know a huge amount about the E-Mu samplers... that's a world I am hesitant to peer too deeply into, lest I end up falling down that particular rabbit hole haha. I actually had the Morpheous Eurorack module at one point, but it was too complicated for me to understand, so I ended up selling it. Probably a regret now, but alas!

  • @justjoeblow420

    @justjoeblow420

    Жыл бұрын

    Yeah they tend to be complicated beasts given that they are at their core not just a sampler but a full sample based synth. But for me they are more my speed than the Akai units of a similar vintage. Not just because I prefer the what I can only describes as the E-Mu sound but just how they are done in general as far as features is more of the kind of stuff I've got uses for. EDIT: I actually was looking into getting a Morpheus and a line level to eurorack injector with it but I quickly dropped the idea when it came out to be more than just buying an Emulator 4.

  • @jfn467
    @jfn4674 ай бұрын

    I had one of these back in the days, packed with everything, including USB used together with AkSys from my Mac, the main problem is the time it takes to load stuff into the sampler's RAM, huge bottleneck, else it's a lovely machine. For more fun, the later EMU and Yamaha rack samplers had loads of nice filter types, in that department the S6000 was a tad bland imho.

  • @DJDigitalJosh
    @DJDigitalJosh Жыл бұрын

    Amon Tobin used 1 back in the day. I always wanted one. Seemed like a beast of a machine with all those outputs & that crazy controller on the front.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Love the 16 outputs!!

  • @andycurrie8171
    @andycurrie8171 Жыл бұрын

    I had the chance of buying one of these fully expanded off Gumtree for £150 about 10 years ago , I dithered , never bothered and regretted it since

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Oh dang that would have been a bargain

  • @MrTom-Songwriter-Composer
    @MrTom-Songwriter-Composer Жыл бұрын

    I'm happy to be early in the comments. You know me mate, I'm an old guy and I remember when MIDI 5 pin din ports first came out and was considered "new state-of-the-art" tech. The one thing old AKAI hardware are quality builds. Stay with me for a bit... I've been actually playing some small venues again out there, just solo stuff acoustic guitar and singing (YES, it's been a while since I've been playing live).. But what I realized.. Is all the commercially licensed music that I've been writing and I DO REALLY like MIDI and using my computer and DAW, that I REALLY need to practice playing not just acoustic guitar but synthesizers in real time, to get my skill-sets and playing back up to what it was. I think you buying your hardware sampler was a good idea as manually using that with a midi keyboard and playing sounds in real time is again, something that everyone needs to do once in a while, play in real time. My 2 cents. Have a great weekend, cheers.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Glad to hear you are getting out and playing live again! It took me a while to get set up to do once gigs started off - at least with electronic stuff. I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to the S6000... even though it's pretty heavy and bulky it would be fun to lug it to a gig just to see people going wtf... Take care!

  • @MrTom-Songwriter-Composer

    @MrTom-Songwriter-Composer

    Жыл бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod Hey, that the way it was done in the "old days"! LOL... maybe that why I have back issues.. LOL..

  • @d.g.f.7056
    @d.g.f.7056 Жыл бұрын

    I got a S5000 and upgraded the outputs, ram, voices, and slapped a zulu scsi in it as well. It's a beautiful sampler and I mainly use it for its 32 part multitimbrality and massive amount of voices and ram...that's to say I load shit I made elsewhere onto it to take the work load off my other samplers that have far more complex synth engines. It's wonderful, does what I need it to, looks cool, and outperforms any hardware sampler on the market, all in all I don't know how I'd do some of the stuff I wanna without it.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Awesome! S5000/6000 solidarity!!

  • @jezzyby47
    @jezzyby4710 ай бұрын

    I just use a very outdated now piece of software for all my sampling playback, FXpansion's Guru. It was followed by Geist which is even better if you can get a copy of that, let me know if you want to sell me it. The sound library with Guru is massive (around 5 gigs worth) and with Audacity which is free you can sample anything you want and load it into Guru which will play nicely in any DAW i believe. It's basically the best drum /sample machine i've found for the money. It will even work in win 10.

  • @stephenmarsh6746
    @stephenmarsh6746 Жыл бұрын

    I bought my S5000 back in ‘97 when it came out for the princely sum of $4,500 CDN. (about $8k in 2023 dollars). 64 voices, 8 outputs, 32MB of RAM, USB card, effects board and I installed a 128GB SCSI drive in the internal drive bay. It was the business. Used it as my piano, drums, found sounds and lo-fi vocal loops (Ministry was a big fave at the time). I really should pull it out of storage to see if it boots up.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Hell yeah that's awesome! You definitely need to dig it out. They are amazing things.

  • @gooneybird808
    @gooneybird808 Жыл бұрын

    Such an honest answer...this shit looks so cool! That daws are so damn boring. It’s cool sometimes when you have people around you challenging you and pushing your creativity but otherwise it’s a struggle to want to make anything for myself in a daw alone.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Yeah man. I use Logic for recording/mixing and adding effects, but like you said - it's ultra dull for creating. It feels and sounds too wooden. I much prefer working with external sequencers and gear hooked in.

  • @rikkshow
    @rikkshow3 ай бұрын

    You can just get an Emu ESI with OS3 and you get access to a huge library, all EMAX, EIII, and the Proteus CD-R, and all the Z-plane filters. The Emu sounds are better than Akai, but you can of course read Akai anyhow.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    3 ай бұрын

    I'm not seeing 16 outputs or a detachable screen on the ESI!!!

  • @lanmichaelmix2818
    @lanmichaelmix28186 ай бұрын

    Since daw was a thing,the topology of making music has changed.Hardware synths were no longer needed as they can be simulated and analog mixers were no long needed because software would do the job.I see no reason to own hardware audio devices anymore but for some reasons that sometime things can go wrong with software and PC and having hardware synths whose independent sounds can be a good backup.

  • @LUCIDLINES_MIXED_MEDIA
    @LUCIDLINES_MIXED_MEDIA Жыл бұрын

    It's really sturdy and well build, it's an exclusive machine. I love the old samplers.

  • @audiolego
    @audiolego Жыл бұрын

    I was going to o get one but went with EMU E6400 Ultra w. Hard drive back then. A few years later I was going to get Akai Z8 because it's the MPC4000 sound in a rack. It's 24 bit for that Z8 w. Hard drive too. I still have my E6400 and right now I'm about to record to Renoise so I can arrange. My Akai MPCX and E6400 ultra are theee samplers then recorded to Renoise DAW. I just sample what I ever I come up with on Pro 1 synth and Access Virus TI2 and then layer them. It's fun and it doesn't get old.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Mpc X and Virus sounds like a dream combo! Do you still have the emu 6400?

  • @BinauralBae
    @BinauralBae7 ай бұрын

    I bought one of the new MPC One retro editions to use with my Legion Go Windows tablet to make kind of a franken S600One thing. It's going to be fun for me at least

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    7 ай бұрын

    Nice!!

  • @bmgklein520
    @bmgklein5204 ай бұрын

    I believe Underworld used this sampler back in the 90s, back when they did improvised live shows. Such a beast

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    4 ай бұрын

    Aw nice, I didn't know that!

  • @xpez9694
    @xpez9694 Жыл бұрын

    its fun to see you go all in in this old gear. I have an Akai cd3000 and the mpc 2000. It has been dormant in a travel case for awhile. If I am not mistaken there are some old apps to run on mac or PC that let you set up the programs. there is a possibility you can make it work on a PC. Think the Kurzweil samplers were on the same level.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Hell yeah. I'm an old gear fanatic. There are definitely some older bits of software that you can use to manage things, though for the S6000 it's thankfully less necessary thanks to how much you can edit on the machine itself. :)

  • @mas3974
    @mas39742 ай бұрын

    Like your video. Subscribed.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    2 ай бұрын

    Why thank ye!

  • @Strafuzz
    @Strafuzz Жыл бұрын

    I love recording drum breaks into the Akai S5/6000 especially when experimenting with mic line level. Squashes any distortion VST. If you have the fx card the delays can sound extremely wild with very short delay values. Reverbs are smooth too, albeit a bit dark. The modulation routing is OK but nowhere near as flexible as the Emu Ultra series. Filters are great too. 👍🏾

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Ohhhh. You mean recording them in and over-driving the input? That's an interesting idea. I'll need to give it a bash!

  • @Strafuzz

    @Strafuzz

    Жыл бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod yes. But when you record at the two higher recording levels especially ‘mic’ you don’t even need to clip…. 😅 . Layer one of those under your clean break. 🔥😣

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Strafuzz Now there's a pro-tip!

  • @DonSolaris
    @DonSolaris7 ай бұрын

    Still I think you should try S1000. Depending on the input level after certain value it will start adding additional harmonics rather that distort immediately as other samplers. I don't know of any other hard soft sampler that does that.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    7 ай бұрын

    I think the S950 would be next on my list, since it's 12 bit... but they are so pricey every time they do appear. The S1000 is 16 bit I believe, but not sure if it can be switched down to 12. If it can, that might be a contender...

  • @DonSolaris

    @DonSolaris

    7 ай бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod BTW I forgot to say, S1000 uses sinc interpolation, so definitely will sound different to S6000 which afaik is linear, I just hope the prices haven't gone insane like S950 and S1100. Also forgot to mention - regarding the keymapping, it takes 30 seconds to map 61 keys on S1000, it's really super fast.

  • @LabRatWarfare
    @LabRatWarfare Жыл бұрын

    Some classic AMFAS quotes there in the beginning!! 😁 This sampler is amazing really, l love how you did all the mods for it! And I definitely know what you mean when referring to that 90s sample sound too, I think the Volca Sample is killer for that actually! Just wish it had a lot more memory! lol 🎹🐀

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    I really need to play about with my Volca Sample more!!

  • @shawnmcandrew6923
    @shawnmcandrew692310 ай бұрын

    The Z series were the last of the akai samplers The z4 and z8 series rack mount samplers. I prefer to use hands on hardware ill be far more engaged and creative. Humans are tactile critters.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    10 ай бұрын

    Amen!

  • @cozmikbuddahbeats1480
    @cozmikbuddahbeats148010 ай бұрын

    And they sound good too!

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    10 ай бұрын

    Hell yeah!

  • @LUCIDLINES_MIXED_MEDIA
    @LUCIDLINES_MIXED_MEDIA Жыл бұрын

    Ohh Check the Ensoniq samplers. They have much more to offer in a sample mangling terytorium compering to the Akai samplers. Especially the EPS16+ or the ASR10. It is still difficult to find a DAW or a propper VST to compare with the Ensoniq machines.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    I'll keep an eye out for them! They do tend to be muuuch more expensive mind you.

  • @geecen
    @geecen Жыл бұрын

    Love old samplers. You should get an e-mu e4 range machine and do some videos on it :) I had the e6400 which was great: lots of interesting stuff going on sound design wise, but came across the same thing you mentioned where it doesn't support wavs - only the ultras do. It worked well with the scsi to sd though, and the cool thing with those is you can do scsi 'through' or whatever it';s called, where all chained devices can access the same scsi drive.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Oh that's awesome I forgot about SCSI through. I'd love to try out the emu devices, but that's a particular rabbit hole I am scared to fall down ha. They seem to be pretty pricey, buuut I will keep my eye out!

  • @LabofmusicRecords
    @LabofmusicRecords6 ай бұрын

    it's 2024... I bought a S3200XL and today a S6000 both like brand new :) Why... I NEED THEM 😂

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    6 ай бұрын

    Nice!!! The S6000 is awesome. I love it.

  • @corrosiveabuser
    @corrosiveabuser Жыл бұрын

    I've still got most of my old Akai units, 2x S950, 2x S3200xl, S3000xl, S6000, MPC60ii, MPC2000xl se1, ASQ-10 and recently an MPC1. - Yeah, the S6000 is pretty cool, but personally the S3200xl is my all time favourite S-series sampler. For drums I usually sample into an S950, save the samples to floppy, then load the floppy into a S3200xl - which converts the file - and take it from there, that way I get all that grit and crunch from the AD converters of the S950, but all the extensive editing, etc available in the S3200xl I've kept the S6000 purely as a collector's piece, it's actually been sealed up in its flight case for over a decade now - if I'm honest, I never really gelled with the workflow, - too many options for me, it's really powerful, but for just drum machine samples, breakbeats, bass tones and spoken word, which is all I've ever really used samplers for, I personally found the S6000 to be overkill. That said, if you're also going to be using an Akai for evolving pads, atmospheres, and massive libraries, modular loops, etc - it's the best hands down, as the filter and envelope options are superb. - love to ALL, feel no hate

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the thoughtful and in depth comment! I've taken a look at the S3000XL before, but not the 3200XL. That seems like a beauty. It's awesome you've got the S950 too! I know I said my goal here wasn't to get the old crunchy Akai sound, buuut if I managed to get my hands on an S950 for a reasonable price I would jump at the chance. Using them to grit samples up is a great idea.

  • @LisaSchuyler
    @LisaSchuyler Жыл бұрын

    Eager for a demo video of this thing!

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Ohhhh it's coming.

  • @audiolego
    @audiolego11 ай бұрын

    Very cool. I do use hardware samplers. EMU E6400 ultra and MPCX. If I'm to get another one, for nostalgia reasons it's the Akai Z8 from 02.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    11 ай бұрын

    Akai Z8!! What a classic.

  • @audiolego

    @audiolego

    11 ай бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod I was time stretching for the first time on the EMU . A drum loop at 160 bpm to time correct to 125. My goodness it's grainy.. the Akai did a better job. A little grainy but better. Acid Pro daw I remember just does it smoother.

  • @danielortizdecaracas
    @danielortizdecaracas7 ай бұрын

    I LOVE THIS SAMPLER

  • @wiggesobk
    @wiggesobk Жыл бұрын

    Great video. Hardware rules! 🍻

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Hardware4lyfe

  • @mckrisbo
    @mckrisbo Жыл бұрын

    Can you actually run 8 outputs from the s5000/s6000 with ADAT? I thought it was just the stereo out.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Apparently so, though I've had a hard time getting my interface to recognise it at all sadly

  • @channelite
    @channelite Жыл бұрын

    Workflow is important. Bitwig is really awesome with all it’s features, but it’s more fun mess around with hardware.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Definitely. I'm a big believer in changing your workflow to get different results.

  • @variousdispositions
    @variousdispositions Жыл бұрын

    Sounds like it is going to be a fun setup!

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    It better be! Cost enough damn money!!!

  • @bartleyrob
    @bartleyrob Жыл бұрын

    just rebuilt an old vista box with an adptec scsi card and got mesa running on a remote desktop from my mac ha ha

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Amazing! Maybe I'll need to source one...

  • @dannymaher664
    @dannymaher66418 күн бұрын

    Had my Akai s6000 from new and its always played an integral part in my studio. I would never sell it. Absolutely not. SHhhhhhhhh!!!! Between me and you, i couldn't sell it even if i wanted to........it knows way too much!!

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    12 күн бұрын

    Now I want to know what samples are on there...

  • @johncarter2741
    @johncarter2741 Жыл бұрын

    My glasses also keep slipping off end of nose. I may use some glue. JD800 red glue!

  • @mpcsmpcs4354
    @mpcsmpcs4354 Жыл бұрын

    Are all akai S samplers 16 bit to get that gritty distorted sound? Looking for one to use with mpc 62

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    They aren't all 16 bit, no - and the gritty sound is more associated with the 12 bit samplers from the S Series, but they get reeeal expensive. I actually just put together an article looking at the different ones that might be interesting - www.perfectcircuit.com/signal/akai-s-series-samplers

  • @LUCIDLINES_MIXED_MEDIA
    @LUCIDLINES_MIXED_MEDIA Жыл бұрын

    The main argument for having an old rack sampler in 2023 is the slowed down sample sound. When you do it in Ableton it sound like shit...on the Emu ESI sampler series or Akai MPC or S series it sounds great, interesting full of flavour.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    The old streeeetch effect is particularly cool.

  • @randomguy0047
    @randomguy0047 Жыл бұрын

    blud done bought the Akai microwave 💀

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    I actually have a microwave that looks suspiciously like an akai product...

  • @randomguy0047

    @randomguy0047

    Жыл бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod Whoa! What model is the microwave?

  • @fischergreen4134
    @fischergreen4134 Жыл бұрын

    Up in my loft I have a ASR 10 keyboard sampler; sadly the power supply has given up the ghost 😢

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    You need to dig that out and get it repaired! Those are meant to be awesome.

  • @leewightman8619

    @leewightman8619

    Жыл бұрын

    Dam I was looking for one of them

  • @fischergreen4134

    @fischergreen4134

    Жыл бұрын

    @@leewightman8619 Hopefully One day I will get it repaired. It was at the heart of my live setup back in the day. 8-track sequencer that was rock solid It used to trigger my Juno and Novation Drum Station. Played a many all nighter with that rig. Those were the days

  • @fischergreen4134

    @fischergreen4134

    Жыл бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod Yes, it is and I agree as I'm coming out of the box after 20 years. It would sit nicely in my new rig. I need to track someone down that can repair it. I even have the outboard expander which is pretty rare. Gives you 6 outs It's expanded to 16 meg of memory for about 40 seconds of sample time. Learnt how to chop on that machine. Great live, the Sequencer was rock solid, as tight as the Atari St. . It needed to be at some of the gigs I did 😵‍💫

  • @digitalsouthofficial
    @digitalsouthofficialАй бұрын

    "look cool as fuck". yeah! and 10 of them in a rack looks 10 times fucking cool:) you are so right with what you´ve said! thanks for your very cool, Inspiring videos!

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    16 күн бұрын

    Hell yeah. Better than some boring VST...

  • @digitalsouthofficial

    @digitalsouthofficial

    16 күн бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod yeah totally , please go on with your videos and thanks

  • @alyctro8158
    @alyctro8158 Жыл бұрын

    Where did you buy it?

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    eBay

  • @dmomcilovic9185
    @dmomcilovic9185 Жыл бұрын

    why on earth not the MPC X ??

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Double the price. Not as many outputs... For a start!

  • @richiejohn3679
    @richiejohn36793 ай бұрын

    mate you forgot the best thing -- you can have different fIlter / envelopes /velocity setttings for each key group-- (you cant do that on the crap logic sampler! ) ,,,

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    3 ай бұрын

    I didn't actually know that! Awesome stuff.

  • @viennabonaparte
    @viennabonaparte Жыл бұрын

    128 poly voices!!!! Holy moley!

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Insanity!!!

  • @SonicVibe

    @SonicVibe

    Жыл бұрын

    Yeah the 256 🐏 I was like that was a lot in 98” but 128 poly crazy

  • @timburlingame5893
    @timburlingame5893 Жыл бұрын

    6:10 caught me off guard lol

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    The stuff of nightmares

  • @emanuelwhitehead6039
    @emanuelwhitehead6039 Жыл бұрын

    Work flow over sound!!!! That’s crazy never

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Huh

  • @Harzurner
    @Harzurner5 ай бұрын

    If you're going for the best sampler ever, you might as well get an ASR-10, it's better in every way.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    5 ай бұрын

    Quite a different beast mind you. Not least in price. :)

  • @Harzurner

    @Harzurner

    5 ай бұрын

    @StephenMcLeod If you ever do, get the keyboard, not the rack. The hipsters bang on about the rack unit, but it lacks keys, sequencer, comfortable top button access and restrictions that make the ASR-10 what it is.

  • @kiercronin1442
    @kiercronin144210 ай бұрын

    S1000 for Screamadelica I think

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    10 ай бұрын

    oooh nice

  • @HOLLASOUNDS
    @HOLLASOUNDS Жыл бұрын

    If it works for you that's great.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    It does

  • @amonster8mymother
    @amonster8mymother7 ай бұрын

    Ive got a Mesa2 with a powerbook g3. 👍

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    7 ай бұрын

    sexy

  • @amonster8mymother

    @amonster8mymother

    7 ай бұрын

    Oh aye.

  • @amonster8mymother

    @amonster8mymother

    7 ай бұрын

    Wee tiny screen? Ach no I've got Mesa.

  • @amonster8mymother

    @amonster8mymother

    7 ай бұрын

    Uh ye can drop wav files to a s2000 in Mesa I've just done it.

  • @amonster8mymother

    @amonster8mymother

    7 ай бұрын

    S6000 uses aksys.

  • @andrewverran3498
    @andrewverran349811 ай бұрын

    Roland MC909 is pretty TASTY..

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    11 ай бұрын

    Don't give me more things to buy!

  • @andrewverran3498

    @andrewverran3498

    11 ай бұрын

    @allmyfriendsarejpegs don't know how much free time you have but I recently got this WAV sound set..pretty DOPE ! Peace kzread.info/dash/bejne/YqNop65-mMu0eNY.htmlsi=hTlWpk6GK9DJlkg4

  • @CrusaderGeneral
    @CrusaderGeneral11 ай бұрын

    I thought the EMU 4xt was the greatest:)

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    11 ай бұрын

    I'll need to investigate it!

  • @sammadden5540
    @sammadden5540 Жыл бұрын

    Nothing has come close to the last gen or rack samplers. Although every time I went to buy an s5000 or s6000 the idea of an EMU XT4 always temped me away

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    I'd love to try an emu but scared of falling down that particular rabbit hole!!

  • @amonster8mymother
    @amonster8mymother7 ай бұрын

    MESA 2. ❤

  • @amonster8mymother
    @amonster8mymother7 ай бұрын

    Oh aye!

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    7 ай бұрын

    oh aye

  • @KidLoveWax
    @KidLoveWax Жыл бұрын

    1:05 🤘

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha no point sugar coating it.

  • @amonster8mymother
    @amonster8mymother7 ай бұрын

    Ive got a s2000.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    7 ай бұрын

    s2000 ftw

  • @amonster8mymother
    @amonster8mymother7 ай бұрын

    Uh the s6000 is a bit yucky wheras the s900 is a gem.

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    7 ай бұрын

    I'd rather an S950!

  • @amonster8mymother

    @amonster8mymother

    7 ай бұрын

    @@StephenMcLeod ok you're a s950. Done.

  • @amonster8mymother
    @amonster8mymother7 ай бұрын

    S1000 kills.

  • @briannhinton
    @briannhinton Жыл бұрын

    More buttons to break!

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    I do have a habit of breaking things.

  • @mezzafinook
    @mezzafinook Жыл бұрын

    go plastic by squarepusher

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    I had no idea they used an S6000 for that. That's awesome. Thank you!

  • @mezzafinook

    @mezzafinook

    Жыл бұрын

    allmyfriendsareshrek

  • @amonster8mymother
    @amonster8mymother7 ай бұрын

    Opamps.

  • @djtomoy
    @djtomoy11 ай бұрын

    Why would you buy a hardware sampler in 2023? Are they not completely redundant? Why don’t you use a sample library on your computer?

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    11 ай бұрын

    indeed

  • @saren6538

    @saren6538

    8 ай бұрын

    Computer computer that’s all we fkn hear. As a pastime working on old hardware is a great experience… doing all this on a computer as a pastime is like playing a fkn computer game Hardware all the way

  • @patricksandage1550
    @patricksandage1550 Жыл бұрын

    Emax SE HD

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Good? Bad?

  • @joee6014
    @joee6014 Жыл бұрын

    Why would your s6000 be in Iraq ??? 🤔🤔

  • @StephenMcLeod

    @StephenMcLeod

    Жыл бұрын

    Whit

  • @mauriziomauricone

    @mauriziomauricone

    20 күн бұрын

    7:13 😂