it's not there
The legendary S900 rack sampler.... they are just a budget item, and a great little budget workhorse..... Anyhow, 12 bit sampling, 750Kb memory, Stereo + 8 mono outs, ok library, & not much to do with the sounds once in the unit synthesis wise. But they played their part did they not readers?....You will be sorry if you get this and not an Emax......there, I said it again ...but props out to anyone using one...or any others , just do it..... click the title to go to the S-900 page... where you can add your comments.... and any links to resources etc...
Now the S-900 is actually a tad more expensive secondhand than the mighty Emax..... so I'd have to recommend the Emax, FZ, and Roland S series above the S-900, due to those samplers synthesis features which are distinctly lacking from the old S-900...... However, it's a good little unit for sampling, looping etc, and will certainly do the job, with lots of 12 bit gusto....
The Akai S900 is 8 note poly, 12-bit sampler, featuring a maximum of 11.75 seconds of sample time at its highest sampling rate of 40kHz, or even more with sampling rates as low as 7.5kHz. Ram memory is 750KB and is not upgradable.
You get 8 pages for editing.... (Play, Record, Edit sample, Edit program, MIDI, Utility, Disk, and Master) which are accessed by pressing one of the eight buttons along the bottom of the good-sized display screen. To the right of these buttons is a numeric keypad, curser control buttons, and a playback button (plays back a sample after recording it, which is well useful when editing !!).
On the right side, there's the control wheel, mic and line inputs, input and output level knobs, and trigger input for triggering recording start or play-back.
Editing on the S900 gives you looping, and you get crossfade looping in Version 2.0 of the operating system. There is also a few analog-like editing parameters including a filter (non-resonant) controlled by its own ADSR envelope generator, an additional ADSR controlling amplitude, and an LFO.
There is also a function called "Warp" which is a very basic envelope controlling pitch, causing the sound to slide up to pitch. Velocity switching of two samples was also available.The S900 is equipped with a mix out, a left/right pair, plus eight separate voice outputs (one for each voice). Options for the S900 included the IB-101 A/S HD interface, and Marion Systems' MS-9c which changed the S900 from 12-bit to 16-bits. When it's successor, the S950, was released, Akai offered a software upgrade for the S900 that added many of the S950's features....... Don't know anything about these upgrades tho....
So..... not my first recommendation for a s/h sampler in this budget, but for loops and general sampling, it's a good little unit.... I did a remix of a track once where the client was using one of these, dunno how well it sold, but it got played on one of the top UK TV shows...... quality is fine....But apart from the spec's above, I don't know alot about them, as I chose the Emax for my first sampler....
S-900 SPEC'S
Sampling System | 12 bit linear |
Sampling Rates | 40.0 kHz -- 8.0 kHz |
Memory | 750 kB |
Polyphony | 8 voices |
Maximum Samples | 32 |
Maximum Programs | 32 |
Filters | Digital moving low-pass filter (-12 dB/octave) ( v4.0 operating system only) |
Envelope Generators | 2 |
LFOs | 1 |
Display | Back-lit 40 x 2 characters (640 x 60 dots) |
Storage Devices | 3.5-inch 2DD floppy disk |
Standard Inputs | 1/4-inch phone jack (unbalanced) x 1 |
Optional Inputs | 1/4-inch phone jack (unbalanced) x 8 (ASK-90 drum trigger board) |
Standard Outputs | 1/4-inch phone jack (unbalanced) x 3 |
Assignable Outputs | 1/4-inch phone jack (unbalanced) x 8 |
Footswitch | 1/4-inch phone jack x 1 |
MIDI | DIN-5P IN x 1, OUT x 1, THRU x 1 |
So.... the S-900 workhorse..... eventually upgraded by the newer S-950, which retained the 12 bit system, but added better facilities from the S-1000 OS such as time-stretch..... I've no idea what the s/w updates for the s-900 gave the user....... So.... comments please !!!.......
the s900 rox
I worked some time with the 900. Loved
it. the 12bit stuff and low khz sampling
combined with the good filters did give
an analog sort of feel(very good
filters, try playing a 4khz sample on
your soundcard, the s900 does it way
better!) lower khz settings (for bass
for example) also saves memory. did some
nice things with it. Still use the 900
samples on my s/h s-1000 (scsi with
zipdrive, 10MB ram (never get it full!)
and 10 outputs.) my choice for a 1000
was more ram...but the 900 was m
Great sound and the alternate looping function is sorely missed on my newer samplers. Makes a great drum machine
xcvhbx
I have one to sell ultra cheap
Get me on above email
xxxx
have an akai s900 1.2 model for sale [england]call01432344587 or e mail if intrested.......cris.
i just bought an mpc 2000 it came wit the boot disk but no pmreoarmgd sounds i have midi cables and rec cables i cant seem to get my comp to sync wit the midi or my record in to record if any 1 has advice i would appriciate any positive feed back socoolwitit@ gmail.com
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