AKAI MD280 QUICK DISK DRIVE FULL

To produce infinitely sustained sounds it's necessary, as on all samplers, to loop the sound, and this can be done in a number of ways.

AKAI MD280 QUICK DISK DRIVE FULL

In the 'One Shot' mode, the sample is played through once, as long as a key is held down for the full duration. When these faders are reversed, the sound is also reversed - it all adds up to very easy manipulation of samples. Once the sampling rate has been chosen by pressing an appropriately high or low note on whatever MIDI keyboard you're using, and the sample has been recorded, the start and end points can now be quickly trimmed to requirement using the two horizontal faders.

This is explained quite thoroughly in the handbook, which, incidentally, is one of the best I've seen for any keyboard or effects unit, and in any case the length of sample isn't critical once the Akai's easy to use looping and editing facilities are brought into play. What this means in practice is that most sounds need to be sampled within the 2 second range in order to retain enough top - even a bass drum needs highs to cut through. the sampling rate is 32kHz, dropping to 4kHz at 8 secs. Because it was so quick to use, more studio time was available for the actual playing, which is just as it should be! (It also had the guitarist looking over his shoulder.)Īccording to the maker's specifications, the S612 is a 12-bit sampler with a maximum sampling time of 8 secs. The actual sampling took about ten minutes, and this was spent getting the right sort of sound for the Akai to sample. Using a Yamaha KX5 remote keyboard, I was then able (through the wonders of MIDI) to play a Duane Eddy (don't actually remember him just heard the records) (oh, yeah? - Ed.) type bass solo, using the pitch bend ribbon and modulation control on the KX5 to produce the effect of those bendy bass strings! This new layered sample was then transposed down one octave, using the Transpose function, and we ended up with a sound like a rather twangy bass. Recently, while recording with a band called Bach to Bolivia, we sampled a Fender Strat and then, using the overdub facility on the Akai, added to the original sample another note, one octave higher. To illustrate the versatility of this new sampler, I'll give you an example of its use. If this keyboard is touch sensitive, the sample can be played with dynamics - and of course pitch bend and modulation can also be transmitted to the Akai. Once sampled by the machine, your sound can be played at any pitch, either monophonically or in 6-note polyphony, by means of a MIDI keyboard (any make will do). All the user has to do is set the record level so that it doesn't peak above 43 on the meter, press the Record Mode button, and make the sound - the Akai does the rest. Standing 2 units high it will, by means of microphone or line input, sample any sound you care to feed into it. The Akai S612 Digital Sampler is one of the most recent additions to the ever-increasing range of rack mounting, MIDI-controlled units aimed specifically at keyboard players.

Akai md280 quick disk drive