The official AKAI S series thread

mp3 wrote:

jimmie wrote:I've never been too impressed with the sound of my mpc2500. I mean, I also use a Casio FZ-1, and whenever I use the FZ-1 I love the sound of it, but the mpc2500.... it's ok but does anyone know of an audio circuitry mod you can do to it?

Mods are possible but not practical, and probably won't make much difference, so I've been told. Basically that's because the opamps are biased to run in Class AB. In a nutshell, that means that swapping in opamps won't make a noticeable sound quality difference. Plus the opamps (and resistors) are SOIC, which is hard as hell to solder. The capacitors are thru-hole, however, which means that they are a good candidate for upgrading/bypassing (note, by bypassing, I DO NOT, repeat DO NOT, mean removing or jumpering). I'm gonna try that one of these days, but I don't wanna deal with downtime, I need my MPC... Maybe I'll get an extra analog/digital I/O pcb and experiement wit that.

I'd suggest getting some high quality outboard. I did that, and I have no inclination to get any more samplers for 'sound quality' reasons. Not when outboard is so much better, easier and faster. No, outboard will not turn your 2500 into a 60. It will make your 2500 bang, however.

What about deoxit?

I don't think it sounds bad by any means... Maybe I shouldn't have said owt, but I was mainly thinking about whether there was any chance of any mods because there is little talk about it. Cheers for the info regarding that.

I can get it to sound decent but it just takes a bit more work, hehe.
I re-route my kit a fair bit and just haven't settled on an audio path for it yet. Atm I put the main mix through a dbx386 (not top quality I know) tube amp with mullards, dbx118 compressor or Urei/JBL 7110 compressor x2 on inserts and through my Allen & Heath GS3. I vary this when using the mpc's separate outs into my GS3, and I have a fair bit of other kit... a dbx120A, dbx119, PCM70, sh09 ext in, ms20 ext in, RS09 ext in, etc, etc, etc with an RME Fireface 800... But yeah, I can get it to bang... I guess it's the 'grass is always greener' syndrome, and the fact that I want an SP1200 sooooo badly, so I'll say no more

In fact, I'm after that sp1200 sound so badly, I made this tune by banging my samples through an Amiga1200 and putting them in my mpc2500. Gonna experiment with this more because I love the sound. Just an extremely quickly-made ruff tune:

jimmie, do you know the "crossfadeloop trick" on the FZ1 that add more dirt??
Simply set the crossfade parameter in the loop menu to 1.
Work even better with speed up samples that will be played a few semitones lower.
Add resonance between 60-80 at fequency between 98-112 (Filter Step 1 Level at 0) and it really gets dirrrty

peace

peterpiper wrote:jimmie, do you know the "crossfadeloop trick" on the FZ1 that add more dirt??
Simply set the crossfade parameter in the loop menu to 1.
Work even better with speed up samples that will be played a few semitones lower.
Add resonance between 60-80 at fequency between 98-112 (Filter Step 1 Level at 0) and it really gets dirrrty

peace

Yeah, I know that one. Also, tricks from this site-> http://hem.passagen.se/highpuls/index.htm. Samples on the FZ sound really nice when played lower down the keyboard too.

There are hardly any sites out there about the FZ-1. I've got two of them, just in case one breaks... also have three floppy drives. I want to know if the SD HxC floppy Emulator will work.

jimmie wrote:

peterpiper wrote:jimmie, do you know the "crossfadeloop trick" on the FZ1 that add more dirt??
Simply set the crossfade parameter in the loop menu to 1.
Work even better with speed up samples that will be played a few semitones lower.
Add resonance between 60-80 at fequency between 98-112 (Filter Step 1 Level at 0) and it really gets dirrrty

peace

Yeah, I know that one. Also, tricks from this site-> http://hem.passagen.se/highpuls/index.htm. Samples on the FZ sound really nice when played lower down the keyboard too.

There are hardly any sites out there about the FZ-1. I've got two of them, just in case one breaks... also have three floppy drives. I want to know if the SD HxC floppy Emulator will work.

That would be really cool cause the drive in the FZ is kind of special AFAIK. I also got a second FZ for spare parts but it doesnt have the original diskdrive. It has a modded one but that wont read the disks from the original drive. It also is slower. AFAIK the drive of the FZ works with a special rpm of the motor that was used mostly in Japan or so (300 vs 360 rpm). Which spare drives do you got? original ones?

I really like the FZ but its OS is something I hate sometimes.

peace

peterpiper wrote:Which spare drives do you got? original ones?

Aye. One came out of my spare fz-1 and the other one I bought on ebay.

jimmie wrote:What about deoxit?

I can't lie. Deoxit makes your ish grimy dog... I mean grimy.

Just got s6000 for 200 usd ))
The only bad thing is that there is no eb-20

great price

post a photo.

Lord Toranaga wrote:great price

post a photo.

Yes - the price was great... I forgot to say that there is 192mb ram and the usb card is already there...

Guys I have some neewbie's questions...- I searched few forums but I am still confused about few things and I would appreciate if some who is more experienced than me would help me...

1) Is there any way to install IDE hard drive? (I want to get rid of that crappy scsi one...) - someone says yes and someone says that I need some scsi to ide convertor...- when I dismantled the case, I saw an ide connector called (IDE OPTION) - can be the hdd connected directly there? Is there any easy way how to put there an IDE hdd at all?

2) The cable to the control panel is too short - its a (standard) 9pin serial laplink female <-> female cable?

3) I have downloaded some of the cd's in AKAI format but my osx won't recognize the so I can't burn them

4) There is already 1gb hdd installed in the sampler but I can't see him from the menu - the only listed device is a floppy drive

5) Is there any way how to fastly change numeric values? I am used from my mpc that when I am holding a SHIFT button and turn the jog the values are being changed by a bigger values... Is there something like this???

6) Will the sampler work if there is no internal hdd installed? (probably it will but I want to make sure...)

7) Can I install any card reader to the slot next to the floppu drive? - I would'n need any hdd when I have a cf card reader....... Will be for example 16gb cf card supported?


Thanks!!

I can sell you a 25 foot extension cable if you like.

I can ship to europe no problem.

Lord Toranaga wrote:I can sell you a 25 foot extension cable if you like.

I can ship to europe no problem.

Thanks but 25 feet is too long...


Today I bought 3 meter 9 pin cable but it is not working - the screen is flickering, butons are blinking and its not working at all... The second cable I had at home is doing the same...
The original short cable is fine...


Could anyone sell me or past me a link where to buy 2-3 meters log cable which will work?

Thanks

just won an auction for another s2800 $26.95.

fitted with scsi and digital, I don't know how much ram

clint246clint wrote:Is the S-900 screen a direct replacement?

The S-900 Screen is a direct replacement for the S-950.

I parted-out a messy old S-900 and grabbed the screen for my S-950.

I'd like to thank eBay seller saint_baz (AKA Matt) for hooking me up with a FREE backlight EL foil for my S-950.

I know dude lurks around here from time to time!!

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/saint_baz/m.html ... 4340.l2562

All the remaining internals of the S-900 are available (UK), PM if interested in any parts.

easy, i just copped a s900 dirty and a little beaten for 10GBP (bargain i know) and i got no manual or access to a PDF atm so please humour me if i ask somethin frustratingly easy to source but ive read all prior pages with no avail.
So was wonderin (im young) i have never even heard of DD floppies haha. I use HD floppies in my 2kxl so, what will i need to know about memory to make it usable? And what are the limitations that this may place on my ability to use sound from the 900 on my xl? Thanks for any replies, couldnt pass up chance to get a classic for that price, peace

You can trick the S-900 or MPC-60 into reading HD floppies, cover the small holes (not the write protect hole) on the HD floppies with some selotape and bob's your uncle

I think you can download the S-950 manual from the Akai website, they are essentially the same other than the 950 has time stretch, more ram, higher sample rate and some other things perhaps that I can't remember...other wise the OS is pretty much the same.