Just got a s950!!!!!!!

Wassup guys i just got a s950 (wanted it for years) at a bargain price...150$. It doesnt have the max memory but im gonna be using it mostly for drums and bass sounds. I wanted to know what would be the best thing to do if im not looking to upgrade it now (because of financial reasons) in order to saev memory space.

JaxMusik wrote:what would be the best thing to do if im not looking to upgrade it now (because of financial reasons) in order to saev memory space.

- sample in mono
- reduce the bandwidth when possible (e.g. when sampling kick drums, bass, dull sounds)
- trim tightly

record your samples pitched up

JaxMusik wrote:Wassup guys i just got a s950 (wanted it for years) at a bargain price...150$. It doesnt have the max memory but im gonna be using it mostly for drums and bass sounds. I wanted to know what would be the best thing to do if im not looking to upgrade it now (because of financial reasons) in order to saev memory space.

congratulations

Ive been wanting one for years as well...ever since i heard mecca and the soul brother and the main ingredient, and a ton of the ditc stuff, ive wanted it to filter basslines. Idk if its just pete or Diamond but they got their basslines sounding grimey from that piece. Although i think pete used a fender rhodes for some of the bass on main ingredient.

let us know how it makes ur drums n bass knock!

Thanks for the replys!!!!!

That's right the S-950 will make you sound just like DJ Premiere and remember always sample in mono on the 950

vinyl_junkie_1620 wrote:That's right the S-950 will make you sound just like DJ Premiere and remember always sample in mono on the 950

Who said i wanted to sound like premier???? So your one of those retarded smart ass blog guys as i can see. Ok... i get it!!!

JaxMusik wrote:

vinyl_junkie_1620 wrote:That's right the S-950 will make you sound just like DJ Premiere and remember always sample in mono on the 950

Who said i wanted to sound like premier???? So your one of those retarded smart ass blog guys as i can see. Ok... i get it!!!

My s950 samples in STEREO!!!

mine does dolby surround sound

Yes this is funny but don't lol too much. I've heard a line in a track from Lewis Parker I think it was Scribbla who said it :" My 950 with the 16bit sound". I thought : damn how can they not know that the 950 is a 12bit machine. Is there some deep meaning in this line or what?
Then I saw a list of optional boards for the Akai samplers and there is a 16bit option for the 950

The 950 is a great sampler and it can color the sound very nice (hot or "super hot" input, pitch down samples etc) but I don't know why peaple always metioned the filter. Sure it sounds nice but its also not a filter to really filter out all the high/mid frequencies. The filter steep is soft so even at filter setting 0 the low mids are still there. On the MPC2000 for example you will hear nothing but subbass if the filter is set to 0.
When I want to sample a bassline in the 950 I filter it before sampling with an 10 band graphic EQ. Raise the bass frequencies and lower the mids/highs. AFAIK PR did this too (this is not the reason I do this )

peace

Hahah yes the Marion Systems (Tom Oberheim's company) expansion for the S-950 which made it 16bit, that had to be the strangest thing I saw on an Akai

The 950 sounds good, no doubt... It's digital filter is also "warmer" sounding than lets say the S-1000 but none of this has to do with it being 12 bit imo.
Bit rate is relative to headroom/noise floor

More important as we all know is the sampling rate, convertors and software... Actually the software is often overlooked and yet it plays a critical role in how the sampler will sound especially when playing back the sample and transposing it, how it deals with interpolation and so on.
An ex Akai engineer told me that's one reason the S-1000 sounded better than the S-3000, by the time they released the S-5000 that had a quality interpolation algorithm

Yes this is funny but don't lol too much. I've heard a line in a track from Lewis Parker I think it was Scribbla who said it :" My 950 with the 16bit sound". I thought : damn how can they not know that the 950 is a 12bit machine. Is there some deep meaning in this line or what?
Then I saw a list of optional boards for the Akai samplers and there is a 16bit option for the 950

It's from the track "Communications" on Lewis Parker's "It's All Happening Now". It was Jehst who said that line, he's a dope emcee but that line always puzzled me...

I'm sure I read somewhere that although it was 12-bit, it had 16-bit processing whatever that means... and then there's that expansion that vinyl_junkie is on about.

Anyway back on track, the S950 is dope. If you're having trouble with RAM/sample time, sample it at 45+8 on your turntable then pitch it down, also mess around with the bandwidths and see how you like the sound. Remember that you can always half the bandwidth on the sample menu too! It can add some nice-sounding grain but be careful because it can also sound muddy.

Just experiment and find out what works for you. Try sampling the same break a few times at different bandwidths and see how the sound differs. Try sampling at 33 then at 45+8, if you're using vinyl obviously. Let us know how you get on.