Aztec Camera's Slow Build from Musician, November 1990 by Scott Isler

At home he has a Yamaha DX7 and Akai S-900

"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.”

In a user-uploaded photo on Johannesschmoelling's website, Johannes Schmölling is shown using the Akai S900 MIDI Digital Sampler, highlighting its role in his setup.

As well as the Emulator II, Hague favours the Akai S900 and is particularly interested in stereo sampling. Multi-layered sounds, like the bass on 'West End Girls' tend, however, to come direct from various synthesisers and be concentrated in one channel of the mixing desk rather than being sampled and used as a single sound.

Quoting Ronny Moorings in an interview with Clan Of Xymox:

"I started out in 1984 with a four-track TASCAM recorder, a few Yamaha synths,and guitars.... Later, with money from records sold, the studio grew with the Korg M1, Juno-106, Akai S900, a bigger mixing board from Yamaha, Oberheim DPXs for sample playback, a MIDIed Minimoog, an Atari computer using Creator, an Oberheim Matrix 1000, newer guitars and amps, and a Shure mic.”

"I continued to use the Akai S9000 sampler for a few more years for electronic music but as soon as computers became fast enough for sample based editing inside the sequencing software, it too became a dust collector on my studio shelf along with other outboard gear which were replaced by VST instruments and Plugins."

"Onstage, LeBlanc triggers an Akai S900 from Simmons pads, Wimbush and McDonald play through a plethora of digital effects equipment, and Sherwood performs a live mixdown in stereo for every piece, quashing an instrument here, adding an impromptu sampled overdub there. Reception to the live Mafia has been mixed."

In the studio at 1:45 you can see a akai s900 between other rackmount equipment.On the right to the s900 is the Roland tr909.

In an audience Q&A for Red Bull Music Academy, Public Enemy producer Hank Shocklee describes using the Akai S-900 (among other samplers) for drum sounds:

"So, you know, a [E-mu SP] 1200 is not the only drum machine, and you’ve seen a lot of articles that we’ve been quoted about using the 1200. No, the 1200 was one of them. The other one we would put drum sounds in the S-900 as well."

And for bass:

"Another thing that we used which was for bass, the S-900 has a tone. Everybody knows probably a trick that, you know that trick came from us. When you take the 1000 Hz tone before you put a disc into the machine, you turn it on, and if you play the keys you know how you get that one tone. Well, if you play that in a lower register, you get the bass. And we used that bass sound for everything because it sounded like no other bass instrument that we could get.

AUDIENCE MEMBER

Was it the bassline or a kick drum?

HANK SHOCKLEE

Both, yeah, we used it as both. We used it as a kick drum, we just truncated and added an attack piece into it so that would be the kick drum. We would take it and elongate it, add a little attack and elongate it and that’s the 808 bass that we feel. And when you listen to the Public Enemy records and you listen to the 808 on those records, well that 808 is not an 808 that we have taken, like Marley Marl… going back to Marley again.

TORSTEN SCHMIDT

Poor Marley. [audience laughs]

HANK SHOCKLEE

No, it’s not a diss or anything. I’m just trying to – so you have something to differentiate from – is that he would take the 808 and pretty much use the 808 from the TR-808 drum machine, you know? I didn’t want to do that because there is an inherent, distinct tone that comes from that that identifies that particular machine. And I didn’t want you to identify that particular machine so I wanted to use the tone isolated from the S-900 was my bass on the records..."

"It was an Akai S900"

Dominic confirming the sampler used for Doctor Who.

The Akai S900 MIDI Digital Sampler is confirmed to have been used by composer Luca Anzilotti, as it is mentioned on the inner sleeve of the Off – "Electrica Salsa (Baba Baba)" single, according to Discogs.

In a photograph capturing a moment in the studio, Cold 187um is visibly positioned near an Akai S900 MIDI Digital Sampler, located between him and Dr. Dre. This image serves as evidence of Cold 187um's use of the Akai S900 MIDI Digital Sampler in his music production process.