I've posted a number of comments before where I marvel at your editing and music production skills, but man I want to sincerely thank you for making the funnest synth videos I've seen. I struggle with depression (and the resulting lack of motivation), but whenever I want a little pick-me-up that can also maybe get me motivated to screw around with music, I know I can always count on your channel, Florian. Even if I still can't get going, I know without a doubt I'm gonna at least feel better while I'm enjoying your work. I'm broke as shit, or else I'd be putting my money where my mouth is. It's priceless, what you deliver, but I'm at gear-selling levels of destitute right now (DFAM just sold ;-( ...Mo-32's next), so I hope you can at least really sense what I'm trying to say here. Thank you.
Hope one day you feel better! I have the same problems with depression and motivation, even for the smallest things. Try hypnosis videos on youtube for long time, this helps lot more then Clinics or psychiaters. But take the pills (anti depressiva) is also helpfull. And a lot vitamin D. This can maybe help you also. And good loud music.👍🎶
Your visual references are so unique. I love it. There's no one else on RU-vid who would feature a clip from Terry Gilliam's Brazil and a picture of Zig and Zag, in the same video.
I thought all the floppy video collection was a lot of work, finding them must have been challenging. In general all the tropes are well met. Professional show !
The second track you made with the amen break was really nice. Not really due to the sampler but just because it was a good track. The sampler itself has more features than I'd have imagined. I bet if it had a more hands on interface like s612 it wouldn't be so bad...
So many classic albums were made with this affordable sampler back in the day, one of my favourites is probs the Avalanche's Since I Left You . It's basically a S-3000XL with the cut down face plate and some other minor bits (They use the same mainboard) You need to fux with it more to get it's lo-fi goodness out of it, there are tricks to get the gritz out hahah
My dad had one when I was coming up in the 90s(I'm 38). It's was good for what it was designed to do. Now he has a Akai MPC 61, Roland juno, Yamaha Motif 6, Roland drum machine and so much more! I remember when we would make songs and he would record us on his ADAT with the vHS 8 ch tapes. So long ago, man those was good times! Me, myself only use MPC BEATS with A MPK249. The beats I have on my channel was made with FL studio with a cheap Casio. We both use Cubase to record tho, I might stay with MPC Beat and FL studio for now on! Dope channel! I love the content! BTW he still has Akai Sampler
It is actually also possible to create a kind of "highpass filter" by putting the same sample, with both the phase and filter response inverted, in zone 2. One of these tricks that people used to squeeze a bit more functionality out of these machines :)
The S2000's limitations is what made me get the best out it. I had the effects and 8 outs boards installed and managed to make my best ever tracks on it!
Your penchant for subtle visual artistry & detail is superb, you even synch the blinks light of the USB flash drive in your groove from this plaque stained discarded paperweight. To think that I was considering getting behind on my rent and bills to purchase one of these back in my foolish youth days. Reality dawned on me the following day!
This sampler changed my musical trajectory back in 1999. I had a SCSI interface that allowed direct editing and sample transfer, and had no idea about its limitations. To me it was pure inspiration. One of those Wile E Coyote "Don't look down" phenomena. And the chorus FX is crazy
I got a S3200 a few years back to see if I could get THAT SOUND again. I forgot it took about 200 key clicks, massive neck and knee ache crouching down trying to read that screen, but hey, after 10 minutes I'd loaded up a drum kit!
So much respect for the OG producers making killer tracks with these obnoxious UX / workflow machines (and in parallel you for the amazing demo track as always). I've bought a Yamaha A4000 back then to jump into the world of sampling and gave up because it felt like a data entry job
Nice timing. I'm re-archiving my KLF collection while watching this. I realized they credit using an Akai S900. I had always thought it was an S1000, but the liner notes tell me I'm wrong.
Bad Gear is not only ironic, and hilarious but very informative, and hugely inspiring. thank you again man. if youtube had a download all button, we can have a forever copy of Florian doing sick shit with techno robots.
I had one of these at launch and it had a weird glitch with the jog wheel where numbers would change on their own. I took it back to the shop and the next one had the same issue... and the next one. In the end the shop gave me a Roland MT32 to make up for all the inconvenience. I eventually got one that worked and I just gave up on all the menu diving within about a week and sold it.
Great content as ever, thanks-! when I was a Trainee Studio Sound Engineer I had to learn on the s2000. I hated it then, very uninspiring and fiddly.. I love how you mentioned the blender in that I recently saw an Akai MICROWAVE in a shop and asked what the sample rate was- They did not understand my joke.
YES finally, I have been waiting for this! Thank you so much for the cool videos. The S2000 was my first sampler, but I upgraded it with a S3000XL (basically the same but with a big screen and some of the upgrades installed from factory)
I got an S2000 for 5 dollars from a junk shop and when I got it home released why. You need an OS disk to actually use it. It took me a year to find one, then I started using it and realized it’s a nightmare. I thought it would be fun for getting into an “old school workflow” but there really was no upside to the pain it gave me. Still though, good to have that experience and realize why software samplers completely took over. Somebody could have told me but I wouldn’t have listened until I went through all that.
I have a 2800 and it’s my favorite machine i own the customization for each sample is amazing, and I love the sound it has my favorite sound out of anything I own and it is better than any software I’ve tried
Last year I bought an S2000 with CD-Rom-Drive in flawless condition for 100€. This is a really beautiful sounding sampler, I like it a lot. The menu diving is the actual problem which provides this AKAI from being a cult item. Soundwise it would have the potential for it.
One day when I'm rich I'll mount server/networking gear and audio stuff in a rack and watch my visitors descend into the abyss as they try to figure out how any of that makes sense.
Magic inside only for the master wizard . Amazingly deep instrument . shockingly mundane package . I took on look at this and thought of the dentist office , and maybe the Fairlight. Very enjoyable show today . Thank you for being you ! I have been glued to the TV screen watching horrible news . I am very Very grateful for your youtube channel to break me out of my downward spiral of happiness . Thank you .
I like your reviews even i'm not familiar with 99% all of them. I just know them all from 90th advertisments, and really want to know if they were so much under or overrated. Keep up the great work!
This was my first piece of vintage gear I buy, 2 yrs ago (and 1 of the 5 audio tools of bad gear I own) not knowing ANYTHING about MIDI, LFOs, samples and what not... Thanks to this hard-to-operate sampler, I went down the rabbit Hole chasing for synths, vintage gear and even start my own home studio for producing music as a hobby. I found this sampler on my local marketplace for about US$40 and the previous owner even gave me for free a Sound Canvas 88, just because I was very thrilled. I personally Love my S2000, even tho it took me months learn how to use it properly
I had an S2000 until one day it decided to pack and not even power on. It went to the dump and has been replaced with an EMU ESI4000 now, complete with SCSI2SD. It (the S2000) was functional, without being anything special. The Flash RAM is as rare as rocking horse poop too.
Gotek disk drive is love. Pro tip: you can add a buzzer to it that clicks when the head position moves, imitating the stepper motor. Just in case you were missing that floppy disk sound. Which i know, ideally it's not something you want to have in a music instrument, but aren't you sometimes tempted to make the gear a little... worse? badder?
I rescued one from a dump a couple of years ago, it was covered in mud but I cleaned it up completely, checked the inside and it was sparkling clean. Sampled a friend's tr8 and made some 707, 808 and 909 disks for it. An 808 kick through that input with the gain all the way up was some kind of mind expanding moment I since parted in place for an emu 5000 but it'll always have a place in my heart. If I had a scsi CD drive I absolutely would have used it as a "vintage synth" player for Moog and OB samples HOWEVER having to trim\loop practically by ear was extremely frustrating when I also had to turn my headphones volume up to make sure I was trimming as close as possible, then I was worried I was going to go deaf!
I was always kinda wanting to get one of these back when they were sub-$100 on ebay but I'm glad I didn't with all that menu diving. Seems to me like the much further cut down S01 would be more fun because it's so much simpler.
The S2000 was from an era when touring acts would have multiple maxed out Akai’s in racks to cover all the parts. It was envisaged that you’d use the big brothers in the studio and take these smaller, cheaper units out on the road with you. If you were tempted to buy one for the much lower price to use as your main machine… well… caveat emptor and good luck! 😵💫 I still own and love my S3200XL, the filters and fx board are still awesome! It was my main “synth” sound design tool for over 20 years.
Definitely have to join Norton in the praise of your videos. Level of comedy, editing everything, just sits right with me. Now, tread carefully with this video. Akai S FOREVER!!!! Even if flexing sounds like grain of needles under nails, even if disks go bust, even if you load up all of the memory, your midi goes bonkers .... this is probably one of the most important line of gear ever. Still have my S3200. And i learnt to love this screen, especially blue background - on S3200, as well as neon eyesore from jv 1080. for me those screens scream "this sounds great, but you will pay the price, using us ho ho ho"
@@AudioPilz TBH high end samplers were a big deal at that point and It was something we couldn't really afford. S 1000 and that line was something we could sport at home studios.
I often wondered what happened to 19" rack modules. Nowadays modules are desktop devices of all kinds and sizes. How do you want to integrate that in a live setup? Bring the 19" rack modules back!
@@AudioPilz I know. But where would you put all those crazy desktop boxes? A 19" rack with a good masterkeyboard looks a lot smoother and is a whole lot handier.
If you search your local Craig's List for 'Akai,' you are damn near guaranteed to find a listing for this, 35 days old, and the seller will almost assuredly take your ridiculous lowball offer.
I have extensively used every incarnation of Akai S-series samplers, over a period of nearly 30 years. As you've said and shown, they're one of my favorite "synths" in the game, and have a synth character and sound all their own. I find them really very pleasant. Cheers!
I've got one of these. And after a long learning curve, it became my powerhouse, the main thing in the studio. For some reason I like it very much. Upgraded it with an 8 out card a few years ago and it's amazing.
@@AudioPilz Such a same, really. Perfect for early jungle, Photek style. Or house, techno. As Bizzy B suggested, it uses the same components as the 3200. I hear an amazing A/D converter because I sample everything directly, a good lowpass filter, and the original akai timestretch. That's what I need, really. I'm planning to get it into the mix with the emu 4000 turbo now. With the z-plane filters.
Remember learning a weird form of English in order to understand the manual. This thing was impossible to use, but paired with Recycle and a Mac SE.. Jungle was born!
Had an S2000 for a while. Got it for free (about a year ago), changed a blown fuse, made an OS floppy, added some extra RAM (from my parts drawer), and while I like samplers (had a Yamaha A5000 for years), I couldn't get on with it really well, so I ended up selling it after a month or two.
Still have mie since back then! With 8 Ouputs, the Effectboard some more RAM and an IOMEGA Zip Drive 100MB connected to it! Will use it again soon, just to timestretch things! It was a blast!
@AudioPilz - OMG this video was so great - I was laughing so hard as I have one of these (bought in 2000?) and never, ever, figured out how to use it! It still has the original floppy disc drive (thank God I have the boot disc) but daaaamn I never could get my head wrapped around how to use the thing. Now it just sits on a shelf (with a sticky note that says $100 on it so I know how much it is worth on Reverb, lol) The one thing I will add, is the reason I bought my unit was the 8 INDIVIDUAL outs (expansion card?) as this was the only sampler I ever saw that would allow me to output indv samples on separate tracks - which I romantically envisioned myself making live remixes with a mixer - ha ha. I only recently realized it was also a synth (after desperately looking through the 900pg user manual - well it felt like 900 pages anyway) but your video saved me the headache of even bothering to use it in that manner. Thanks for the deep dive and awesome video editing! I got more entertainment out of this video than I ever did with the S2000...almost worth it! Cheers.
I had one in the late 90's & absolutely loved it despite the extensive menu diving. It did have its own character though, I recently found some ancient demos i made with it back then & was shocked at how good the drums sounded.
That's more like it; I loved the floppy disk song, bravo. Now racks are on the table time for the Roland V-Synth XT, which imho will still look (and sound) great on social media after 20+ years. Cheerio.
I got my S2000 ~ 1998, and mainly used as sample playback machine. 10 years ago I got an Akai CD3000i for $100. I have since upgraded the floppy drives a to emulators and both Akai samples are networked together via SCSI to access built in CD3000i CD-ROM and SCSI flash drive. BTW, S2000 boots OS from floppy emulator. Now, I don’t sample on these units but import WAV files via flash drive. With these two samplers together I have 64 voices multi timbre via MIDI. Love the filters and ADSR on these, and editing-screen on CD3000i
These things are on a ton of classic albums! I bought one off ebay for $100 back in 2004 after reading that Mike E Clark used 2 of these and 2 MPC2000's along with a Korg M3R to make the majority of ICP's The Great Malenko. Used to take a ton of LSD and use this thing all the time. Made some good jams and really learned how archaic samplers work. Editing your samples on that tiny little screen was a real chore but once you try editing a patch for 45 minutes while tripping you start to get the hang of it! Sold it in 2007 and never looked back. Ended up finding a S5000 for $100 in perfect working order with the USB.
