AKAI + LINN – from the Linn Drum to the Akai MPC – The analog 80s era of Akai Synthesizers

02 Mrz 2008 - 00:4304 Jul 2024 - 12:45 moogulator akai, drum machine, groovebox, linn, mpc

AKAI + LINN
SYNTHESIZER + DRUMMACHINE/GROOVEBOX

AKAI – SYNTHESIZERS AX / VX Analog Series..
Drums and beats: mpc series
the linn drum / akai and history..
sampler S + Z series

Akai	Akai Synth overview / überblick..
Linn	Linn Drum/Synth overview / überblick..
LINN DRUM by roger linn who also made the MPCs..invented the mpc, so heres his work: Roger Linn invented this nice 8bit @28khz to 35kHz sample rate dum machine which made lots of ppl happy.. midi wasn’t „part“ of theLINN DRUM but here it can be retrofitted.. look at those ind. outs!.. LINN DRUM open.. image thanks to Monty Rock	click image to enlarge – image thanks to Monty Rock click image to enlarge – image thanks to Monty Rock click image to enlarge –
Linn 9000the hi-end Linn 18 digital Sounds at 40khz (8bit) with midi (1984 midi was only 1 years into real products), has trigger inputs and smpte also. there is a modder for the Linn (called Forat), and check it here: the DIRECT Link to the Los Angeles based Bruce Forat: http://forat.com/ http://www.forat.com/sampler/ http://www.forat.com/drummachines/ http://www.forat.com/sequencer/	pic: thanks to „jimmy bonez„!
akai synthesizers? yes! Akai did interesting analogue Synthesizers in the past.. the AX and VX series.. AX Series VX Series analogue synths click image to enlarge –>all ax pics by synthetico.xail.net the ax73 / vx90 are quite interesting ,too because it has a special connector to use the s900 and s950 samplers and x7000 and s612 as another oszillator (samples!!) and filter it with the analogue filters of the VX/AX! the ax60 has also those sample input plug.. the AX80 / 90 doesnt. the ax90 was never released. so if you read about it: think AX80 ;) more details: Akai Synthesizer section. the AX80/90 are quite „juno’ish“ dual OSCed synthesizers with the best display ever: it shows you the parameter setting as a bar graph above the parameter, the AX60 is the smaller and knobbed 6voices version of the AX80 (8voices).. of course it lacks the cool „kenwood“ kind of display but has knobs.. ;) it has 3 LFOs and ENVs dedicated to the filter and each of the 2 VCOs, there is Xmod and a subOSC in there ,too.. also a „roland“ type hpf (non dynamic, resonance-less), the first VCO has PWM. if you find an ax60: you might prefer it, because it has sliders instead of the (cool) display bar graph.. split function. both have midi . built in 1985/86 AX80 very nice display: all ax pics by www.synthetico.xail.net	–>Akai vx600 the Akai vx600 is a modmatrix synthesizer quite comparable to the oberheim matrix 6 / 1000 and marion synthesizer series.. in a very tempting 3oct-keyboard version.. VX600 also has VCO mod by VCO2 (FM) or VCF mod by VCO (filter fm), the VCOs are the same as the xpander, but to my ears it sounds different…is also analogue and has a mod matrix, FM and: a high pass filter its advantage: the envelopes are faster than any of the others but it is a bit thinner ,cleaner and it’S filters do not sound as warm and nice as the oberheims and marions do. 2 LFOs, quite rare these days. but I’d say: the akais did never sound as warm as the oberheims, possibly it could be YOUR sound.. pic thanks to plasmatron the matrix does not offer the ENV parameters to be modulated, but some of the most important parameters CAN be moded of course!! VX600 also has VCO mod by VCO2 (FM) or VCF mod by VCO (filter fm), the VCOs are the same as the xpander, but to my ears it sounds different… there are 18 destinations in the matrix , some say it is „xpander“ like – I say: it has a matrix, therefore it is a bit like a matrix 6, but not the xpander.. it has NO sysex implementation and was made for the wind instruments (EWI, EVI) VX600 pic thanks to plasmatron it is a small synth looking a bit like a nord modular in white with a small 37 note keyboard (3 oktaves) of course you should not expect controllers or something ,but thats the same with the oberheim/marion stuff. VX600 pic thanks to plasmatron find more and cool infos and pics here: kunst.phlimburg.be/vx600 the AX80/90 are quite „juno’ish“ dual OSCed synthesizers with the best display ever: it shows you the parameter setting as a bar graph above the parameter, the AX80 is the smaller and knobbed 6voices version of the AX80 (8voices).. of course it lacks the cool „kenwood“ kind of display but has knobs.. ;) it has 3 LFOs and ENVs dedicated to the filter and each of the 2 VCOs, there is Xmod and a subOSC in there ,too.. also a „roland“ type hpf (non dynamic, resonance-less), the first VCO has PWM. if you find an ax60: you might prefer it, because it has sliders instead of the (cool) display bar graph.. split function. both have midi . built in 1985/86 AX80 very nice display: the ax73 / ax90 / vx90 are quite interesting ,too because it has a special connector to use the s900 and s950 samplers and x7000 and s612 as another oszillator (samples!!) and filter it with the analogue filters of the VX/AX! the ax60 has also those sample input plug.. the AX80 / 90 doesnt. the ax90 was never released. so if you read about it: think AX80 ;) and: it has filter FM!! (mod filter cut by VCO), one OSC’ed and subOSC.akai synthesizers have no syncable OSCs.. AX80
Akai MPC60 the first one..Akai MPC-60	Roger Linn made the Akai MPC series what they are now.. the first one is the MPC60: click image to enlarge – image thanks to Monty Rock
AKAI MPC2000 + MPC2000XLfilter module MFC42 ENGLISH: the mpc „eats“ 44.1khz/16bit wav files and akai SND files. the format is old-school DOS/PC joliet, so you can have 8 chars plus 3 extension names like on old DOS. the format is FAT16 / FAT12 but no FAT32! maybe use a ZIP file and just mount it on the mpc or pc/mac.. on a mac: use the pc format!! there is an application available to put programs together but be careful of not exceeding 32MB! but it may be cheaper to just use your hands ;) the mfc42 is a 19″ 1rack spaces high unit to filter monophonically.. well it sounds quite clean to my ears.. but it makes a lot of sense to add it to the somewhat „§§$§%$%& sounding filters of the MPC ;) hmm, in fact it adds a lot.. but it can not be compared to things like the sharman filter bank , soundwise.. live: well you have to unmount it or carry it with the special rack mounting and it is .. well.. quite big then.. so: better not loose the screws then.. osunds negative? well it looks cool but it is not very easy to handle mechanically.. but it doe its job.. not bad..	MPC2000xl pic thanks to plasmatron akai mpc & computer: german – datenaustausch: am besten sollte das per zip klappen.. die mpc formatiert im FAT format, also kannst du die FAt auch mit dem mac lesen.. die mpc nutzt aber nur dos namen (8zeichen,3extension) mit FAT mein ich FAT16 und FAT12, kein fat32 (wie xp). akai snd und wav files mit 16bit/44.1khz liest sie dann!! damit ist das geheimnis gelüftet konvertieren: ist nicht nötig, es GIBT aber ein programm,das das tut.. Akai Synth overview / überblick..
the most known one.. AKAI MPC2000XL 32 MB RAM simple 12 dB/oct LPF but velocity pads.. the sequencer is the ASQ10, which was available as a separate sequencer more on the mpc series: scroll down.. 2 midi ins and outs, SCSI port	MPC2000XL back side – click image:
AKAI mpc1000	quite close to the z series samplers, but has no delay.. isn’t that strange? and still no TR-type LED-sequencing like the electribes..but it is a good alternative to the 2000 / 2000xl imo.. if oyu do not want delay..
Akai MPC2500 ..more..off. Info Akai Sampler/Synth overview / überblick..	new Akai MPC2500 with 128MB RAM max, this time with delay: 2 x Chorus, Flanger, Bit Grunger, 4-Band EQ, Compressor, Phase Shifter, Tremolo, Flying Pan, Reverb, Delay 2 x 2 Pole Filter 16MB Standard RAM, up to 128MB, USB and Cardslot compatible with: MPC 1000 SEQ, WAV, PGM MPC2000/2000XL SEQ, WAV, SND, PGM (not any but most pgm data will work) Akai MPC2500 SEQ, WAV, PGM (DRUM program, Note Assign + Tune) MPC3000 SND (via Computer) Z4/Z8 WAV (no more..) S5000/S6000 WAV (via Computer) S1000/S3000 Not compatible
SamplerS1000 S1100 the classics S2000 the cheap one S2800 S3000 expanded.. S5000 S6000 even more expanded Z Series USB and more expanded.. btw: the guy who did these samplers were David Cockerell (EMS) and Chris Hugget (EDP/OSCar) Akai Sampler/Synth overview / überblick..	the first one: S612 with sliders to set sample start + end but ,well 0,8secs of samples with multi-Os installed (a later expansion by a 3rd party company „multi expansion“) an extra 2.8″ disk drive (2 rack spaces high) was the way to store the sounds.. the later X7000 also had this format, with the S900 and S950 they changed to more „common“ 3.5″ disks later, the 9XX series had drum trigger inputs, so it was quite cool for drummers to have.. then the S1000 showed up, bad kind of menus but good quality, evil filter sound with 12 dB/oct only, whilst others had more to offer but they had cool time stretch algorithms.. the S2000 was a cheap sampler for beginners to be controlled by the MESA software (mac/pc) via midi / scsi.. 32MB ram, it was a smaller offspring of the S3000/ S2800 series, which added more ram, more synthesis but still had quite „plastic“ filters.. they changed to more flexible S5000 and S6000 series and later the Z series, the S5k/6k had an optional USB card!! so it was the first easier to dump samples into – sampler.. S3200 pic thanks to plasmatron the Z series had much better synthesis features (so they in fact catched up with kurzweil and emu who were ahead in synthesis things a lot..) Z Series Sampler by Akai – Z8: pic thanks to plasmatron german / deutsch: (D) über Sampler..

Ähnliche Beiträge