Forum for all other samplers & synths such as Maschine, MVs, Akai S & Z series, Roland, Korg, OP-1, analog synths etc.
By 12bithead Sun Feb 09, 2014 11:32 pm
I had this dilemma in buying an Akai S700. Just found it on an auction for a quite affordable price.

The problem is if yall know it needs some hard to find Quick Disks 2.8". I dont have any, probably never gonna get even one piece, so I think its not worth to set up a Midi connection between the S700 and my MP (actually never used midi, so correct me if im wrong).
As I know it has the same engine as the S900. Also heard about that those who have the S900 keep the drums in it for the sound. So if I playback a sound on the 700 and sample that into the mpc, it will not give that punch for my drums in that way in the S700.

The ? is, is it true that i just pointed out above. Will I lose that punch of the drums by sampling it into the Mp? If yes, than still is worth to buy the 700 by any other reason?

Please, answer me asap (auction wont last forever). Thank you in advance!
By forknspoon Mon Feb 10, 2014 12:34 am
personally I would say F'it and save up and get a s950... you only get like 5 seconds sample time and 1 out on the s700 if I remember correctly... ( correct me if I am wrong)...

Unless you can get it for under 80 I wouldn't even bother... thats my 2 cents

Edit: I dont think you'll loose any punch of the drums... If anything they should sound punchier... my friends got one but he hasnt touched it in awhile i'll see what he says
By 12bithead Tue Feb 11, 2014 8:18 am
You're right, an S950 would be much better, but actually I dont like to order from abroad for hundreds of dollars, while I can get this one at home for less than 50 bucks.

It has 2 outs (1 in the front, 1 in the back) and also a 13-pin DIN socket which outputs 6 voices independently (but i do not really know how it works).
Speaking of the 5s, if I just sample, then resample it into an other device, i think it will be enough, especially if I sample it at 45.

Anyway, thanks for your reply. If it dont lose any of its signature sound after resampling, it will be a pretty good, useful sampler in my opinion.
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By mr_debauch Tue Feb 11, 2014 8:33 am
with 5 seconds you can make an entire drum kit without needing to sample at 45rpm...

sometimes you see quick disks on ebay, but the problem is the disk drive too... those things have a few problems they suffer with. I would keep a look out for an s900 too... if you find one for cheap then you can at least use normal floppy disks and you get 12 seconds or so.. in fact some more if you do some of the tricks the box has.


I think it may be cool at first doing the resample thing but that sampler may not be worth doing that with in the long run. I think maybe you should look at some pluggins to put samples through if you sample from the computer before an s700.
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By damien907 Sun Feb 16, 2014 10:29 am
i would say for 50 bucks, get it if you have the extra money laying around!

couldnt hurt to have another sampler, and one that produces banging drums to boot!

i would sample into my mpc all day with something like this!
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By MPC3013 Sun Sep 13, 2015 3:35 pm
How to send samples from S700 to S900 or other sampler (S, MPC)? Which button from the front panel S700 start sending?
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By richie Mon Sep 14, 2015 5:21 am
Play the sample.
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By motosega Mon Sep 14, 2015 12:09 pm
I like old samplers, synths, drum machines, I even like scsi, floppies cdroms etc. hell, I even save stuff using the cassette interface on some of my synths.

but for me anything with a QD drive is a bridge too far.

I'd love an akai s612 but untill there is a USB quickdisk emulator I'm staying away.

from what I gather the QD drive is nasty and unreliable , supposedly it has more in common with fsk tape storage formats than real floppy disks.

of course you can use sysex MIDI dump to save samples. for low memory samplers its. actually quite fast. the problem though is that probably the only software that supports the s700 is Steinberg Avalon. which only runs on the Atari st.(it does work with emulators) and being abandonware is available to download.


annother thing to be aware of with the s700 is that it's memory is split into two parts. you can't use it all for one long sample.


I wouldn't say don't buy an s700 but I would say, don't buy one without knowing what your getting yourself into.
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By mr_debauch Tue Sep 15, 2015 5:49 pm
motosega wrote:probably the only software that supports the s700 is Steinberg Avalon. which only runs on the Atari st..


i should see if i have that software.. i have some software like that (the dx/tx patch editor for example)
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By Wal Martian Tue Sep 15, 2015 6:16 pm
12bithead wrote:if I just sample, then resample it into an other device, i think it will be enough, especially if I sample it at 45.

I do this all the time with my s900, sample sounds into it at 45 assigned to a high note such as A4 then play back with a lower note say D4 and sample into my MPC2000. The stretching occurs in the s900 so you get the nice lofi crunch. I can't be bothered to mess with keygroups and I leave my s900 low in my rack and use a foot pedal to sample. It also saves time chopping the start and end off the sample because I can decide when exactly to start sampling by hitting start (not using the threshold trigger).
medearis wrote:Sampling from another sampler.... the real gangster's metagame :lol:
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By mr_debauch Mon Feb 13, 2017 4:32 pm
yeah for sure.. i have a pile of original software disks that still work fine like notator, cubase and that..
Last bumped by 12bithead on Mon Feb 13, 2017 4:32 pm.