Akai S1000

^# 67

Equipboard's ranking is determined by analyzing factors such as professional artist usage, popularity, user ratings, reviews, and more.

$4,119.83 Price Tier: High-end

4.5 (25)

2 Critic Reviews

2 Reviews

This product is Vintage or Discontinued

Find out who is using Akai S1000

2 community setups

19 wishlisted

59 saved

Page last updated Jul 04, 2026

Pricing and availability

We compare 600+ stores and found this item at 1 store. Prices updated July 4, 2026.

Store

Reviews

Price

$4,119.83 1 available Used

View Deal

Average Price: $4,120

High-end/Boutique

$249

$700+

Price Tier

In the Audio Samplers category, Akai S1000 is priced in the High-end/Boutique range. This premium gear is built to very high standards and offers premium features.

Budget

Standard

High-end

^* Product prices and availability are updated by Equipboard every 24hrs and are subject to change. Equipboard may receive compensation for purchases made at participating retailers linked on this site. This compensation does not affect what products or prices are displayed, or the order of prices listed. For more information, please refer to our affiliate disclosure.

Description

Edit description

The Akai S1000 is a 16-bit, 44.1 kHz professional stereo digital sampler, released by Akai in 1988. The S1000 was among the first professional-quality 16-bit stereo samplers.[3] Its abilities to splice, crossfade, trim, and loop sound in 16-bit CD quality made it popular among producers in the late 80s through to the mid 90s. The S1000 used 24-bit internal processing, had digital filters and an effects send and return, and came with 2MB of RAM (expandable to 8MB).[2]

Version 2.0 of the S1000's operating system introduced primitive timestretching, allowing a sound's pitch and length to be altered independently of one another.

Videos

Add video

SynthMania

Akai S1000 - a few old school sounds

SynthMania

How To Make Jungle With AKAI S1000

IJO Sound

The Ultimate Guide to Sampling in the Akai S1000

Groovin in G

Akai S1000 | Old School Sampling

Espen Kraft

IJO Sound

Akai S950 Vs S1000: Which Hardware Sampler Is Better?

TheBizzyBScience

What was revolutionary about the Akai S1000 sampler?

TheBizzyBScience

How I Make Oldschool JUNGLE With AKAI S1000 & Hardware

IJO Sound

Hopes & Dreams (Akai S1000 Oldschool Drum'n'Bass)

IJO Sound

Unleashing the Full Potential of the AKAI S1000: The Ultimate OS v4.4 Upgrade!

TheBizzyBScience

Reviews

Add review

Owner Insights

We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Akai S1000.

Setup and maintenance

0 0

Replacing the PSU in the Akai S1000 is straightforward and easy; swapping the front panel and tact switches may require more effort.
Source

Mods and upgrades

0 0

Owners recommend a new LED display over EL Foils for brighter, more reliable visuals.
Source
0 0

For those with faint displays, an iPhone 6 backlight mod can be a cost-effective alternative under $100, or opt for a new LED display for $120-140.
Source
0 0

Replacing the floppy drive with a SCSI2SD is a recommended modification to streamline sample transfer and enhance usability.
Source
0 0

An external floppy drive with 'omniflop' software can facilitate reading S1000 disks into a PC, useful for archiving and transferring sample libraries.
Source

Features and functionality

0 0

The S1000 supports 16 notes polyphony in mono, which may suffice for most applications despite its limitations.
Source
0 0

The Akai S1000 is praised for its ability to pitch sounds across the keyboard effectively, offering a distinct and appealing tonal quality.
Source
0 0

The Akai S1000 offers stereo sampling with converters praised for their compact, tight sound, providing a more detailed output compared to the S-950's crunchier tone.
Source

Software and compatibility

0 0

Some users connect a PowerBook G3 via SCSI for sample editing with Recycle and Bias Peak.
Source
0 0

To integrate S1000 samples into a DAW, options include using its 8 outputs with MIDI control, or transferring samples via an external Atari Falcon with a card reader.
Source
0 0

Conversion software like 'translator' or 'Awave' can convert S1000 samples into soundfonts for use in software samplers, maintaining the unique character of the original samples.
Source

User experience

0 0

The data wheels of the Akai S1000 are appreciated for their solid and satisfying feel during operation.
Source
0 0

Users highlight the S1000's intuitive interface once muscle memory develops, allowing for efficient programming even without visual cues.
Source

Use cases and applications

0 0

The S1000 is favored for creating tracks with authentic, old-school sound textures, especially if users seek a gritty, bitcrushed aesthetic without extensive DAW processing.
Source
0 0

Owners often map each drum hit to a single note, using envelopes and filters to refine sounds, particularly to enhance kick drums with additional 'umphhh'.
Source

Comparisons

0 0

Compared to smaller Akais, the S1000 offers more versatility and sound capacity, ideal for those who require more than 16 sample slots in their workflow.
Source

Critic Reviews

Akai S1000 (MT Dec 88)

muzines.co.uk

The Akai S1000 sets a new standard for samplers with its 16-bit stereo capabilities and flexible output options. Its clean, dynamic sound quality and expansive memory make it a professional studio powerhouse. While the user interface is praised for its operational simplicity, the initial sample disks are underwhelming, and there's a pesky background whine in the review model. Despite these minor flaws, the S1000's comprehensive MIDI features and the ability to integrate with existing S900 libraries are standout features. With promised updates like time-stretching, the S1000 is poised to become an essential tool for serious musicians.

positive

Full Review

Hands On: Akai S1000 Sampler (SOS Feb 92)

muzines.co.uk

The Akai S1000 stands out as a pivotal studio tool that addresses the limitations of its predecessor, the S900, with improved 16-bit resolution, stereo sampling, and expanded memory options. While it doesn't quite reach CD-quality audio, its usability and comprehensive feature set make it a benchmark in the sampler world. Some users might find looping cumbersome compared to older models, and stereo sampling could be better streamlined. However, its robustness in operation and popularity in studios make it a must-know for sampler enthusiasts.

positive

Full Review

Add review

4.5 out of 5

Based on 2 Reviews and 25 Ratings

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star

mikefiction

1264

almost 7 years ago

I love my Akai'sss

Yep. I love them. I want to marry all the Akais. They make the world sound like music and they make drums that kick your pants off. Stretchy digital goodness.

If it were a person, it would be amazing at facilitating original ideas at corperate meetings. Those meetings would never be boring.

Sample movies or your backyard or your kitchen. Sample the world into your Akai and you will smile forever and the world will be an ok place.

Roles:

Guitarist Keyboardist Audio Engineer

Genres:

Electronic Rock Electro-industrial

summedanddot

278

almost 10 years ago

Akai S1000

Akai S1000 still have it in action ........

Artist usage

Add artist

Phil Coxon

Keyboardist, Music Producer

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Verified via Muzines

On stage the two keyboard players have almost identical systems: Ipinson plays a Roland A80 mother keyboard MIDI'd into a rack, an S1000 with 8Meg of memory, an M1R and a D550. He also has a Roland piano module as a safety precaution in case anything else goes down. Coxon's setup substitutes a Cheetah mother keyboard for the Roland and forgoes the piano module.

Nigel Ipinson

Keyboardist

The Stone Roses

Verified via Muzines

Donald Johnson

Drummer, Music Producer

A Certain Ratio

Verified via Muzines

"We're still experimenting with the drum sound in here especially because of the height. I just use a Sonor Lite kit with piezo triggers feeding an Akai S1000. Then there's an Octapad, all of which I put through a Seck 122 12-channel mixer. The sounds are a mixture of my own samples and percussion. Sometimes I'll trigger drum loops manually rather than have them sequenced."

Paul Robb

Keyboardist, Composer

Information Society

Verified via Mixonline

Included in his studio are synthesizers such as the Roland MKS-70, two MKS-50s, a MKS-80 and D-50; Yamaha TX-81Z; four Oberheim Matrix 1000s, E-mu Orbit and Morpheus, and a Casio VZ-10M. Sample players include Kurzweil 1000AX+, Roland U-110, Oberheim DPX-1, E-mu Proformance Piano and Proteus (as well as the Proteus 2 and 3), Alesis NanoBass and samplers, including a Casio FZ-10M, two Akai S-1000s and three Akai CD-3000s. He also turns to E-mu Procussion, Roland R-8M, Alesis DM-5, Roland BD-1 and a Roland SPD-11 for drum sounds.

Jon Marsh

Music Producer

The Beloved

Verified

"We took the original vocal and used the S1000 to sample every line and then time-stretch it up to 118bpm. Jon isn't too happy with it because it's lost a certain human quality from the singing, and I'm not sure if it's something we'll attempt again. It's frustrating sometimes when you come to do a remix and it's going really well and you think you could turn it into a whole new song, but as long as the ideas keep coming we'll keep remixing them."