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Akai S900

The S900 was a sampler released by Akai in 1986.

For most musicians in the 1980s, the Akai S900 was the first remotely affordable multitimbral sampler. It wasn't just another instrument you'd add to the mix, it was something you'd combine with a MIDI sequencer and mixing desk to make an entire studio in its own right. Combined with an Atari ST running Creator or Cubase, this was the start of the sound-first workflow. It helped house and hip hop producers segue from DJing and turntablism to creating full remixes and collages.

On a technical level, the S900 occupies an interesting middleground: recent enough to be multitimbral and thus the cornerstone of a studio; yet old enough to actually change the playback sample rate in the DAC, rather than faking it in software while keeping the DAC at a steady rate.

S950

Put it through the S950 then stretch it, to create the great type of shit to fit

— Large Professor, The Mad Scientist, 1996

Three years later, Akai released the S950. This was a minor improvement on the S900, bringing it cosmetically inline with the then-new S1000. Its memory could be increased to a more comfortable amount, and it gained the S1000's most prominent feature: timestretching. Like the S900, it can still perform pingpong loops, something the flagship S1000 can't do. It also improved upon the S900's sample rate, although that was already more than sufficient to begin with.

Quotes

On Voodoo [Ray], you can hear a girl called Nicola singing. We went into a studio in Manchester called Jonny Roadhouse and she sang everything normally and I put her voice into the S950 and reversed it.

— Gerald Simpson (A Guy Called Gerald), 1989

As far as sampling's concerned, there's an Akai S900 for the sequencer sounds — that is, all the shorter samples that are rhythmical or have to be triggered repeatedly by the sequencer: percussive sounds and sampled basslines, things like that. Then we have the S950 which is used for all the keyboard triggered parts, which are the most prominent samples on the record. And that's it, really, but I'm very happy with what we've got. The samplers in particular have been brilliant. Everything's so easy on them, even the S950. They have some brilliant functions, and it's all, basically, pretty obvious. They seem to work in the same way that people's minds work.

— Mike Edwards, Jesus Jones, 1990^[1]

The vocal sample on Playing With Knives is timestretched — about 83%, I think.

— Carl Turner, Bizarre Inc, 1991^[2]

If you want drums tight then get an S950, S900, or any Akai sampler. The S1000 isn't as tight as the 950, but it's still good.

— Gamble, Rhythmatic, 1992^[3]

There's even an argument about Akai S950s and S1000s: some people think that when you play a 950 sample in the S1000 it loses its character. That's why a lot of people do a basic loop on the S1000, and when it comes to the bass drum and snare, they put them over the top on a 950. It has a snappier, brighter quality.

— Jimi Goodwin, Sub Sub, 1993^[4]

The S900 was fairly rudimentary. The S950 you could and still can do pretty much anything you want.

— Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim), 2017^[5]

One of the reasons I stuck with the 950 rather than moving onto an S1000 was it had reverse loop and it was much easier to get a smooth loop because it becomes like a vibrato warble rather than a click click click. You could just move the loop point fractionally by millionths of a second until it sounded right.

— Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim), 2017^[5]

Notable users

S900

• The 45 King (who named his most prominent track, The 900 Number, after it)^[6]
• Juan Atkins^[7]
• The Beatmasters^[8]
• Ian Boddy^[9]
• Bomb the Bass (×3)^[10]
• Enya^[11]
• Front 242^[12]
• Jesus Jones^[1]
• The KLF^[13]
• Renegade Soundwave^[14]
• S-Express^[15]
• Tangerine Dream^[16]

S950

• Bizarre Inc^[2]
• Fatboy Slim (×2)^[5]
• Fluke^[17]
• A Guy Called Gerald^[18]
• Jesus Jones^[1]
• Moby^[19]
• Nightmares On Wax^[20]
• Sub Sub (×2)^[4]

References

1. The Gospel According to Jesus Jones Music Technology, Jan 1990
2. Strange Changes Music Technology, Dec 1991
3. The Rhythm Method Music Technology, Jan 1992
4. Sub Culture Music Technology, Jul 1993
5. Classic Tracks: Fatboy Slim "Praise You" Sound On Sound, Jan 2017
6. 45 Kingdom Music Technology, May 1989
7. Future Shock Music Technology, Dec 1988
8. Beat Generation Music Technology, Jul 1989
9. Ian Boddy Sound On Sound, Dec 1989
10. Bass Studies Music Technology, Oct 1988
11. Enya - Watermark Sound On Sound, Mar 1989
12. Front Line Music Technology, Jun 1989
13. Inside The KLF Sound On Sound, Apr 1991
14. Renegade Action Music Technology, Jan 1989
15. A Night In The Studio Music Technology, Feb 1989
16. Dream State Music Technology, Jan 1991
17. Age of Chance Music Technology, Jun 1990
18. A Guy Called Gerald Micro Music, Oct 1989
19. Recording Moby's "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" Sound On Sound, Feb 2000
20. Waxing Lyrical Music Technology, Sep 1991

External links

Reviews

S900

• Eat your heart out PPG! Sound On Sound, Jul 1986
• Akai S900 Sampler Electronics & Music Maker, Jul 1986
• Akai S900 Sampler International Musician & Recording World, Jul 1986
• Akai S900 MIDI Digital Sampler In Tune, Jul 1986
• Akai S900 Revisited Sound On Sound, Oct 1987

S950

• Akai S950 Digital Sampler Music Technology, Jan 1989
• Akai S950 Home & Studio Recording, Mar 1989

Tips

• Getting The Most From... Mono Mode Electronics & Music Maker, Oct 1986

Downloads

Documentation

• S900 manual Akai
• S950 manual Akai

Samplers: Akai S1000 | Akai S900 | Casio FZ-1 | Roland W-30

Zoë Blade's electronic memory / a one woman wiki