Atop the pyramid, the Akai s950 MIDI Digital sampler can be seen.

Used on The Renaissance, as stated in this April 19, 2009 Moovmnt interview.

The one thing that always told me something was a Q-Tip production were the drums. What kind of equipment did you use?

The SP(1200) for drums and for the loops the (AKAI S)950. That’s something that Large Professor put me onto (the AKAI S950). I just liked the snap of it. For me… I was always into the big drums with the tin like smack of it

The SP(1200) for drums and for the loops the (AKAI S)950. That’s something that Large Professor put me onto (the AKAI S950). I just liked the snap of it. For me… I was always into the big drums with the tin like smack of it

In a studio tour video on YouTube, Mark Mothersbaugh is seen using the Akai S950 MIDI Digital Sampler.

At minute 1:50 he said that the Akai was one of his first equipment.

The item can be seen 2:08

Andy C (RAM Records) Talks Influences, Inspiration, Jungle, Drum and Bass - Dubspot Interview

In the article, Geir Jenssen is quoted as saying: "My two favorite instruments in the ’90s were the samplers from Akai: S950 followed by S3000. I could use these almost blindly. The lowpass filter on the S950 is so unique that I acquired another S950 on the used market this week. The filters are the most important part of all the instruments for me. I have read a lot about filters lately and found out that Roland SH-5, an analog synth from 1975, should have the best lowpass filter ever. So when this came up for sale on the second-hand market here in Norway recently, I just had to purchase it. Roland has also recreated the SH-5 filter in the Eurorack module SYS-505. That’s why I’ve also invested in Roland’s System 500 Complete Set, a Eurorack version of System 100M from the ’70s. So even though I do not fully master these instruments yet, the SH-5 and System 500 are my favorite instruments at the moment. Otherwise, I just have to say that I can not work with many of the new instruments that have a lot of LEDs. It looks ugly and destroys concentration. System 500 and SH-5 are perfect in that respect and remind me of my old Sony shortwave radio from the ’70s."

At 1:04 in this video, Ski Beats proclaims that he uses "The MPC, and the SP, and the 950. Those are my main number one pieces."

"What do you remember of the hardware setup you had in the early days?

Andy: We had an 808, 303, 202 and 101, a monophonic digital synth, Akai 950 sampler and a few other analogue keyboards. We hired in an Akai S1000 to record the first EP.

Ed: Also the Oberheim Matrix 12 and Matrix 1000, which were pretty important. Sequencing was initially an Alesis MMT-8 then Dr T’s on Commodore."

In the interview "Watermark recording process". The Music Magazine (Australia) July/August 1989

THE SET UP:

They use a variety of keyboards but the mainstays are a Yamaha KX88master Yamaha DX7 Emulator 111 Oberheim Matrix synths and Akai S900 but particularly Roland's D50 and Juno 60.

Enya: "The Juno is one of our favorites. We had intended to replace its parts with better sounds but we couldn't find better substitutes so we left them in. It's not always possible to have all the sounds I want for a song at the time of composing .I'd usually start with the D50. But most often, sounds suggest parts and the ones I use then are usually used on the final recording. Like on Storms in Africa... that arpeggiated line on the Juno 60 was the basis of the piece."

Mentioned by fellow producer/rapper Q-Tip in his April 19, 2009 Moovmnt interview.

The one thing that always told me something was a Q-Tip production were the drums. What kind of equipment did you use?

The SP(1200) for drums and for the loops the (AKAI S)950. That’s something that Large Professor put me onto (the AKAI S950). I just liked the snap of it. For me… I was always into the big drums with the tin like smack of it

Video footage around 04:07