Akai S900 MIDI Digital Sampler

In this image, from the back of Pete Rock & CL Smooth - The Main Ingredient LP, a S900 can be seen.

The photo shows cEvin Key live on tour with Skinny Puppy (1988). There appears to be a Akai S900 mounted in the rack behind cEvin.

In an interview with with The Archivest Dj Lethal said that he used this back in the day.

The AKAI S900 in the video at 3:40

In this photo, Dr. Dre is seen with an Akai S900 Sampler.

Tchami posted this Instagram that features an Akai S900 Sampler.

"We also use quite a lot of old stuff, because I've still got things like a PPG 2.2, and we've used a Prophet 5, Juno 106 and Jupiter 8 because there's a lot of arpeggiated stuff. A big problem with a lot of modern sequencers is that you have to write arpeggiation in yourself- there isn't actually a machine which arpeggiates, which is a shame because it's nice when it's more random. We use S1000s, S900s, and an FZ1. I tend to use the FZ1 as my main sampler just because that happened to be the one that I bought."

In this recent article published by Sound on Sound, Kevin Shields explains his use of the Akai S900 when creating drum samples for My Bloody Valentine's classic album 'Loveless'

"With my pay-off from the Housemartins, I invested in a proper desk, a little eight-track reel-to-reel, and an Atari [ST computer]. Eventually I got an [Akai] S900 and then an S950. The S900 was fairly rudimentary. The S950 you could and still can do pretty much anything you want.”

This article states that Linkous owns an Akai S900.

Vangelis used an Akai S900, according to this book.

"I'll tell you a secret about 'Killing Me Softly'. I wanted a Fender Rhodes piano on that track but we didn't have one. So I took a sound in an S900 sampler and put a delay on it and detuned the sampler and played it like a Rhodes and it sounds like one. We just had to invent shit as we went along."

When asked in this [reddit thread](http://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/1vagak/i_am_optical_ama_virus_recordings/) what kind of equipment Optical uses, he responds: "I have owned (and still do mostly) as best as I can remember: Mackie 32/8 32 channel - (I have had 3 altogether), 3 x [Emu E6400 Ultra](http://equipboard.com/items/e-mu-6400-ultra) (also [E6400 orig](http://equipboard.com/items/e-mu-6400)), Akai S750, S900, [S1100](http://equipboard.com/items/akai-s1100), [S3000](http://equipboard.com/items/akai-s3000xl) samplers, Alesis Quadraverb, [Focusrite Green Eq](http://equipboard.com/items/focusrite-green-eq) x2, Focusrite Green Compressor, [Focusrite ISA430 Producer Pack](http://equipboard.com/items/focusrite-isa430-mkii-producer-pack), [Lexicon Alex](http://equipboard.com/items/lexicon-alex-digital-effects-processor), [Lexicon MPX1](http://equipboard.com/items/lexicon-mpx1), [Alesis MidiVerb4](http://equipboard.com/items/alesis-midiverb4-dual-channel-parallel-processor), [TC Electronics Fireworx](http://equipboard.com/items/tc-electronic-fireworx-multi-effect-processor), [TC Electronics Finalizer](http://equipboard.com/items/tc-electronic-finalizer-plus-studio-mastering-processor), [Joe Meek VC1](http://equipboard.com/items/joemeek-vc1-studio-channel), [Drawmer MX40](http://equipboard.com/items/drawmer-mx40-pro-four-channel-punch-gate), [Sherman Filterbank](http://equipboard.com/items/sherman-filterbank), [CryBaby Wah Pedal Boss Pedals](http://equipboard.com/items/dunlop-cry-baby-wah-pedal) - Too many, [Novation Basstation](http://equipboard.com/items/novation-bass-station), [OSCar](http://equipboard.com/items/oxford-synthesiser-company-oscar-synthesizer), [Sequential Circuits Pro1](http://equipboard.com/items/sequential-circuits-pro-one-synthesizer), [Prophet 5](http://equipboard.com/items/sequential-circuits-prophet-5), Wurlitzer, PPG Wave 2.1, [Neumann TLM 105](http://equipboard.com/items/neumann-tlm-103-condenser-microphone)*, Fender Strat 1972, [Oberheim/Viscount GM1000](http://equipboard.com/items/oberheim-gm1000), [Korg Z1](http://equipboard.com/items/korg-z1), [Kawai K1r](http://equipboard.com/items/kawai-k1), Otari Status 16R Mixing Console with Eagle Automation. [BSS DPR-402 Compressor](http://equipboard.com/items/bss-dpr-402). and more I can't recall right ow ;o)." *The Neumann links to the 103 because the moderator who approved this post believes Optical wrote 105 by mistake. If anyone believes this to be in error, please follow up in the comments section so that we can adjust :)

"A few years ago I picked up 3 AKAI S900s for about 100$ each, and this year I got an AKAI S950 (for the time-stretching option). "

At 0:03, two S900s can be seen stacked on top of one another, and at 1:58, Freddie mentions them.

4th down on list of PSB synths/ samplers

"The Akai S900 is my favourite toy at the moment. I really like it very much - that and the Mac, they're a good pair. I did the whole Swimming to Cambodia score, the Jonathan Demme film, with one drum hit for the entire percussion sampled into the Akai, and it sounds like 50 different things. It's a lovely drum with a lovely sound to it, so I goofed around with it a bit and that's all there is. I don't think you'd ever suspect that it's just that one hit."

""There are three sound sources", he explains. "There's an Akai S900 which has samples transferred from the Fairlight Series III, a Roland Super Jupiter and a Roland MKS20 piano module. All of those go into an Akai MIDI mixer and through two effects: a Yamaha SPX90 and an Alesis Midifex. They're all mapped by a Cooper Electronics MIDI Link, and I play them from a KX5 slung round my neck and a couple of Yamaha pedals. They put out program numbers to the MIDI link and that sends out separate program numbers to everything else. In other words I'll build up an entire patch with sound sources, a mix, effects and a stereo output, and store it. Then, when I send one program number into it from either the keyboard or from the pedal, it'll send the appropriate numbers out."

From the FAQ page found on The Enigma Archive: "From the credits of various albums, it is known that Michael Cretu uses or has used the Waveframe 1000, Audi Frame Workstation, MIDIMoog, PPG System, Korg M1, C-Lab Notator, Takamine 6 and 12 String, Tom Anderson Electric Guitars, Otari DTR-900, Akai 900, Linn 9000, Prophet 2002, X-Pander, EMS Vocoder, DX-7, and Roland Super Jupiter."

"I've got the old bog-standard Akai S900, a Prophet VS which I think is a very under-rated keyboard, a Mirage and an Oberheim Matrix 6", he reveals. "The VS has got some great sounds, although the keyboard tends to be a bit mushy. There's a great function on it where you can make random waveforms and random sounds ad infinitum. It just comes up with some fantastic Dr Who 'dalek sounds' and all kinds of weird stuff. Having said that, I like sampling myself. I like sounds that are real. I never got into programming, I was never very good at that."

BOTH CLIMIE AND Fisher have their own separate home set-ups. These have Fostex B16's, A&H mixing desks and recently acquired D50's in common, but very little else. Climie works mainly with the Sequential Studio 440 linked to a Macintosh run Performer sequencing program, while Fisher prefers the Atari based Steinberg Pro24 driving a combination of DX7, TX802, Akai S900 and LinnDrum. Between them they also have a full complement of effects including the Roland SRV2000 ("thoroughly recommended") and the Yamaha REX50.

Soulbrotha using a S900 when in studio. It is also featured on the covers of "That's it EP" and Soulbrotha's solo "The Golden Era isn't finished".

"The drums on 'Pacific State' were actually from a 909, not an 808, and the clap pattern's quite important on it. It's pretty unusual. Also, to add to the sort of tropical nature of things, we added the bird sound from the Akai library that came with the S900. It's called 'Canadian Loon'. Then the track hung about for a fairly long time until the 101 bass line added a nice feel.”

Mastelotto isn't shy with electronics. He used "a fair amount of samples" for composite snare sounds, including three alone for "King for a Day," played on a Roland Octopad, and the overtone of "a very ringy Ludwig similar to a tube-lug snare" sampled on an Akai S900. The drummer and his tech Paul Mitchell bent the samples with a warp function "to a note that sounded good" for each track. Tabourine-shaker, congas, tablas and other oriental percussion came from Casio FZ-1 samplers. A Yamaha RX5 drum machine crops up on the fade of "Hold Me My Daddy"; elsewhere Mastelotto used an MX8 MIDI patch bay to increase the velocity of a LinnDrum fed into a Yamaha QX2 program. An old Simmons SD55's kicks and snares are on "Chalkhills and Children" and "Poor Skeleton Steps Out." There's a Pearl SC-40 on "Cynical Days" -- "similar to a tambourine but more of a bongo" -- and "Garden of Earthly Delights," "for a low kick that bends up like a tabla." "Garden" also employs a Roland TR727 drum loop. And Mastelotto still uses sticks: Pro-Mark 5Bs or 909s, "butt-end."

Rackmount sampler of the eighties, still widely used for oldschool sonic character