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Akai s2000
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| GlobalTeknician |
| Right, i got this akai s2000 thats been lying under my bed, un used for about 2 years now. Could somebody tell me how to use it as i aint got the slightest scooby doo on how to use hardware. I can work my way around reason and cubase but really dont know where to start with this bad boy. Cheers guys :tongue3 |
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| IDarkISwordI |
Hey. Sure, I can help you out. Send it to 626 Anthony, Clay Center, KS 67432. I'll make sure it gets a good home where it isnt shoved under a bed :whip: :stongue:.
Seriously though, it works fairly similary to any other subtractive synth (software or hardware) with some very nice extra features. Heres a link to the manual. Have fun with your sampler. Dont stash it under the bed ever again. Its much more cool than that ;).
Cheers,
Zac |
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| Axolotyl |
You'll need a midi interface for it and midi cables. The Akai samplers also use SCSI interfaces for dumping samples from your PC to it also so you'll need to look into one of those options unless you want to use the 3.5 inch floppy drive. (trust me.. you dont)
The LCD screens on them are e to use aswell, so you might want to look into a PC editor to adjust all the parameters. That can be found on the Akai website I'd imagine.
You do however get access to the wide range of akai format samples out there which were pretty popular at one stage.
The S2000 was the entry level sampler and didnt have fx onboard either, so unless yours has the optional fx board upgrade, your looking at a very basic (by todays standards) hardware sampler. Theres nothing it can do that you really cant do with a soft samplers. Good if your playing live I suppose, but have a good look at it vs soft samplers before you go buying all the cables and interfaces to get it up and running. |
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| Freak |
I know tonnes about Akai samplers- I have always used them and have been the backbone of my work for as long as I can remember- ive tried others but nothing comes close- and that includes software!
Very unusual to find a pro studio without one too!
Here are two of mine:
S3000xl (32mb) and an S1000HD (20mb+510mb internal factory hard drive).
I have an s900 too but its buried under some boxes in storage at the moment.
The s2000 came in its basic form- you had to expand the memory, the outputs, and the effect-these reasons and also and the screen were the main reason it was a hell of a lot cheaper than the ones higher in the range.
Your s2000 may be basic in its factory form, but its still a great sampler, and has the guts of my main two buried inside it without the add ons. It also has resonant LPF filters which I dont for example have on my s1000 (non resonant lpf).
-Download this v2.0 operatiing system if you dont have it:here
-And if you have a pc (mac version is also available and better) then use mesa 2.2: here.
Connect your s2000 to a pc via scsi (50 pin micro dee on s2000) and you can edit everything grapically- which is better than using that screen! I use this software on my 3000 and it works very well. Using this software with it will also enable you to use a pc to edit/store samples, and also enable you to sample directly from cd without having to play it in.
-Buy some cheap memory- you need 32mb of 72 pin simms (dirt cheap) which will max out the memory and give you loads more sampling time. Standard 2 mb will give you approx 40s of mono sampling (20s stereo)@44.1kz
The memory really is dirt cheap and makes a huge difference.
The manual on these things can be v confusing to someone not familiar with a sampler, but I will try and break it down simply for you. Its hard to describe like this- and ive just had to think about it, as its second nature to me now- I dont even have to think how to operate them.
-You sample into it which gives you the sounds you want.
You then create a program and then you create things called 'keygroups' to which you assign whichever samples you want. You can choose which notes trigger which samples, and also whether its just one note, or whether its several notes or mapped across the keyboard which can change the pitch of the sample ( 'keyspans' ).
You can layer up to 4 samples per note, and trigger thamn at once or have them set so different velocities will trigger them and crossfade between them.
Load the 'test program' (which is factory default) and play it via midi (or pressing the ent button on the edit page).
This will default load as a pure sine wave mapped out over the entire keyboard. Great sub bass!
To get a feel for it, then try sampling something else, and replacing the 'sine' sample on the 'edit prog' page with either your own sample or one of the other built in waveforms (sine square pulse and sawtooth).
Then try modulating it with the built in LFOs, timestretching it, pitching it, filtering it or editing the eq on it. Try the looping too.
Not sure if the s2000 manual is as good as the 3000, but in the 3000 they break it down and show and describe it as a modular synth and how it behaves as one complete with diagrams. Check that out and also the s1100/1000 manual which may be some more help in getting started samping on it (the technique is the same as they share common parameters). All the manuals are in the archives section of www.akaipro.com ('support' then scroll down, -->'archives' )
Its a very very powerful tool you have!
Anything else you need help with post it up and i will try my best to translate akai-->english, as it can be very confusing and a bit of a headf*ck at first.
Once you get your head around using it and the terminology, you will love it and may find it extremely useful.
My 1000 is just stuffed full of drum samples, and as it has 10 outputs (11 if you cheat a bit and abuse it ;) ), I can have each drum on its own channel on the desk- ditto for the 3000 which also has 10 outputs. Nothing wrong with having 2 though- still very usable! |
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| GlobalTeknician |
guys ur legends, cheers
(that music production course taught me sweet F.A!!!) |
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