Akai s2800 Sampler

[bid]

Hi,

I've just hooked up an Akai s2800 Sampler to my Mega ST4, and Im looking for the best software and tips to use this sampler with the Atari from experienced users.

1. The Akai sampler uses a unique disk format, so my step one is to upgrade the Ataris DD disk drive as I believe that there is a program for Atari called AkaiSeX to edit 1.44MB sample disks.

2. Im also wondering about uploading samples via MIDI using Zero-X or similar?

3. I dont have an SCSI board just yet. But Im considering that Iomega Zip Drive is the way to go?

4. As the sampler is 2nd hand, I dont have any sample libraries for the Akai Sampler. I hear it can use Akai S1000 to s3000 samples. Does anyone know where I can get some disk images, and perhaps how I can format them.

5. I have already discovered that Windows7 is useless for accessing the sampler. There are DOS and PC programmes to do this, but they all crash in Windows7 due to Micro$ofts crapness. However, Im sure that the Atari will be reliable once I get the system worked out.

Does anyone currently use anything the same or similar who can give me some tips to get going?

Im supposed to be writing a song with my girlfriend tomorrow, and I've got the Atari's set up in the loft with keyboards, sampler and some other vintage kit. Please dont make me have to use a PC laptop and some crumby modern software. That no fun!

Answers please!! (",)

Bid

[Mal7921]

There are a number of things you can do, like get Avalon and zeroX to edit samples from your Akai on your ST, both of which are reviewed and available over at the Atari Music Network, and also try out a few different sequencers. Some people recommend notator, others Cubase and others like dr t's omega, but best thing is to try some out and see what you are comfortable with.

Akai sample libraries are still available on the Internet and google can be your friend there, and yes the S2800 can load samples from the generations that went before it, including the 12 bit S900/950 and 16 bit S1000 onwards. For some software there are a few members here with FTP servers and there is also http://www.atarimusic.net


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bid]

Cheers Mal. Thanks for the great info.

My primary modus operendi at the moment is being able to get the software and samples from my windows and internet enabled PC to the Mega4 and im feeling a pinch with the 720kb disks and 40MB hard drive in it.

Im considering a SatanDisk or UltraSatan, and being as though the SatanDisk is half the price I might go for this. I have heard it is slower? But I want to mount internally to MegaST and also this would be ideal to transfer files to the Atari from PC.
... note. I have spent days trawling ebay for a SCSI Zip Drive, but they command quite a price and are seemingly popular and rare, and are especially useful for samplers so they go for £50 plus.
This kind of makes SatanDisk or UltraSatan a bit more justifyable? I assume its quicker and easier than Zip disks. (I used to use a parallel post Zip with my first PC and it was painfully slow).

The other option is to upgrade to 1.44MB floppy. But this is still small when your trying to set up a ton of proggys and files. I've asked Simbo about the chip upgrade for the floppy, and gonna order one asap. The 1.44MB disk should then hopefully read the Akai s2800 floppy disks with AkaiSeX.
... But I will try out your advice with the Avalon, and Zero-X and I am really blown away by the power of these tools. I had never imagined that the humble Atari would have these kind of powerful software. Thank you Atari Music Network!

I just know that the Atari and the Akai are going to be a dream team. I've got a cool recording desk on the way, that I picked up for £50 and generally sell on eBay for over £200. Combined with some nice samples, and synth. Im also dying to try Maximyser out, so perhaps this is a use for an older ST to plug in and try out some weirdness.

Any tips on SatanDisk or UltraSatan?

[AtariSince1989]

bid, I have a S2000. I just received a Iomega ZIP 100 Plus + 5 disks this week, all for £41 from eBay. There always ZIP units at eBay. I think is a good price, especially considering that I can use it on my Falcon too.

As for AkaiSeX, my experience has not been great. I cannot read Akai disks. I can format disks, but when I try to read disks used on the S2000 I just get an error. I ended transferring samples through MIDI. It's very slow, but does the job. There is a software provided by Akai called Mesa, but apparently only works on W95.

IMHO, best thing would be to get HxC Floppy emulator to work on the Akai S samplers, as has been done on some Korg, Ensoniq, E-mu and Roland keyboards, but I have not a clue about how to achieve that.

[Mal7921]

I know there is an internal cable option for ultrasatan, which is viable for the mega ST as there is an internal connector just behind the hard drive port which is the same as the Stacy and the mega STe. I. Theory you could add a Stacy hard drive adapter and have an internal scsi drive.

May be worth popping the lid open just to be sure though, the internal connector should be just below he battery housing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AtariSince1989]

I've found this software called OmniFlop. I haven't tried yet, but it claims to be a multi format floppy reader for Windows (inlcuded Vista and 7) and can read AKAI S-series floppy image files, Atari ST disk image files (.st) and 150+ other formats. Maybe worth to try it.

[bid]

Yes!!!! I modified an old Mitsumi D359D6 with a soldering iron, and made the following changes.
http://www.fixya.com/support/t73575-sol ... dification to the solder pads, and the VL1772-02 chip in my TT reads HD Disks!!!

Ive just copied some HD files over, and I cant wait to try with the Akai Disks and AkaiSeX first!! I've not flicked pin7 on the TT yet. But it seems that the VL1772-02 chip fitted to some early TT's and possibly on some ST's will read/write HD disks!!! What a discovery! I feel like a pro now!! I will upload all my pics and soldering and mods to a blog I think to document this journey!!

[tamprecision]

there is a known problem with scsi ports on akai samplers

basically there is a SCSI fuse inside the sampler which is all too easy to blow

It manifests itself as a sampler that wont mount a zip drive and will display a "hard drive not ready" type message upon power on

You can buy the scsi fuse on ebay and it shouldnt be too hard to do but be warned if you buy a zip drive you may run into this problem

have you looked at http://www.mpcstuff.com/ ???? they have all the bits you might need including CF card adapters that either replace the floppy drive or connect via scsi

The sad truth is that its often cheaper to buy another (working) akai off the bay than it is to resurect an ailing one

I have replaced the backlight on one of my akais and it makes a big difference.

If i had the choice i would get the CF card adapter in place of the floppy drive, zips were always a bit of a poo (theres the mysterious clicking sickness for a start)

OR buy an s6000 which connects over USB.....

another cheap method of backing up but not transferring is DAT backup, you can get a DAT for probly 10quid these days. I tried to use my DAW in place of the dat but it didnt work.
someone explained to me that there is some sort of "third data channel" on a DAT tape which obviously my soundcard doesnt have which is why this failed

Anyone here clever enough to solve this??

[bid]

The sad truth is that its often cheaper to buy another (working) akai off the bay than it is to resurect an ailing one

Aint that the truth! I bought the 1st one I saw, and now I keep seeing bargins with the SCSI Card fitted!!!

I have replaced the backlight on one of my akais and it makes a big difference.

Yeah, mine is fine. I dont think my s2800 has had much use.

If i had the choice i would get the CF card adapter in place of the floppy drive, zips were always a bit of a poo (theres the mysterious clicking sickness for a start)

Now this is interesting??? Are you saying I can remove the FDD and add another device?!?! What a great idea!! Has anyone done this?

Might be ideal for a FDD emulator, and hence end that stupid disk swapping once and for all, and the loooong loading times for the OS. And the SCSI does look at little fiddly. Especially with a display that gets dimmer every year!!! No fun at all!!

What is the best FFD emulator to use? There are some that you can slap an SD card into are'nt there? Or would as LS-120 drive fit in there, or anything else? This could be an essential mod!

[tamprecision]

Now this is interesting??? Are you saying I can remove the FDD and add another device?!?! What a great idea!! Has anyone done this?

Might be ideal for a FDD emulator, and hence end that stupid disk swapping once and for all, and the loooong loading times for the OS. And the SCSI does look at little fiddly. Especially with a display that gets dimmer every year!!! No fun at all!!

What is the best FFD emulator to use? There are some that you can slap an SD card into are'nt there? Or would as LS-120 drive fit in there, or anything else? This could be an essential mod!

to be honest i dont know the full details of how this is done or how it works but i know its possible

[nativ]

Now this is interesting??? Are you saying I can remove the FDD and add another device?!?! What a great idea!! Has anyone done this?

Might be ideal for a FDD emulator, and hence end that stupid disk swapping once and for all, and the loooong loading times for the OS. And the SCSI does look at little fiddly. Especially with a display that gets dimmer every year!!! No fun at all!!

What is the best FFD emulator to use? There are some that you can slap an SD card into are'nt there? Or would as LS-120 drive fit in there, or anything else? This could be an essential mod!

to be honest i dont know the full details of how this is done or how it works but i know its possible

MPC solution

http://www.theslot.spirythm.com/

These guys do one too apparently...

http://www.mpcstuff.com/


this looks like a good site for info:

http://www.mpchunter.com/

[bid]

http://www.mpcstuff.com/

Oh God! The MPC 2000 is amazing! Jeeze, I need to see if I can pick or one of these babys for cheeps!!

Man, its large and cranks out grimey 90's samples and has a needless large number of buttons and flashy retro lights. How could anyone imagine making music without one of these?

Great links. Could not find a replacement drive for the s2800 yet. I have seen people on here with ST's with some kind of floppy disk emulator hanging out of them? Would one of these do??

Man I need a MPC 2000 so bad right now.

[tamprecision]

heres a s3200 with a card reader:
http://www.mpchunter.com/s3200xl/akai-s3200xl-sampler-with-32mb-ram-internal-card-reader/

there used to be a site called scsi for samplers which after a little searching i discovered has been sold to mpcstuff

the guy who makes the CF card readers (that sold the domain) is called JD wilson and his site is this:

http://www.scsicardreaders.com/compatibleproducts.asp

[nativ]

http://www.mpcstuff.com/

Oh God! The MPC 2000 is amazing! Jeeze, I need to see if I can pick or one of these babys for cheeps!!



Great links. Could not find a replacement drive for the s2800 yet. I have seen people on here with ST's with some kind of floppy disk emulator hanging out of them? Would one of these do??

Man I need a MPC 2000 so bad right now.

http://www.theslot.spirythm.com/


Man, its large and cranks out grimey 90's samples and has a needless large number of buttons and flashy retro lights. How could anyone imagine making music without one of these?

It's the same principle as using a drum trigger over MIDI or on a keyboard. Just the interface is different. Which is why they sell the pad strip for use with PCees these days!


I don't see why this won't work for the S series too. I have an S3000XL which probably features similar spec to your 2800?

Still suffer the expense of a SCSI IDE bridge with the other, though saying that 'SCSI' harddrives sold for audio still command a large amount of money ! .... Sometimes.

[tamprecision]

life is empty without an MPC

they are the funk

this guy has the replacement drive for the 2800:

http://www.scsicardreaders.com/compatibleproducts.asp

[bid]

life is empty without an MPC

they are the funk

this guy has the replacement drive for the 2800:

http://www.scsicardreaders.com/compatibleproducts.asp

This is a superb website! And I am emailing the guy with my query. Yeah, the MPC looks great!! lol. Its not that the s2800 wont do what I want, it will, and I cant wait to get to grips with the 'old timer' time-ssstttrrreeeeeeeetttcccchhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiii - iiiiiiiii - iiiiiiiii - iii - iii - iii - iii - nnnngggggggg !! Pweuwwwwww. Bab bab bab ba ba ba ba. Dah dah daah!

Its the great big funky buttons on the MPC and the fact that it is as big as a bus. With lots of lights and buttons. I cant imagine its much fun getting creative on an I-Pad even with touchscreen. Give me some grimey beige with sharp rectangular corners anyday!!!!

If anyone knows where to get an MPC for silly cheap please tell me, if one crops up.

[tamprecision]

i deffinitely can reccomend the purchase of an MPC2000.

also the 2000XL is cool, then obv the MPC3000 is nice or even the original MPC60.

im not so keen on the new ones though tbh

[bid]

Hi, I cant find an MPC for less than £500

Is there anything else fun, that I can use, and perhaps also have some other functions, and at a cheaper price!!

[matt]

I picked up my sampler up (see sig) for peanuts.

[Foxxy74]

I bought an Ensoniq ASR 10 (rack cased).. costted me around 400 Euro's and is Akai compatible .. but still standing on my attic due to lack of time..

buggah, reading this topic I definatly getting itchy to try it out ... Already have Cubase Audio Falcon, Zero X , Steinberg Midex , Notator Logic , Cubase 3.x , some devices from SoundPool etc still waiting for me to be explored ... (all including dongles etc )

Funny thing is, it is cheap to obtain all programs/devices these days while back in 20 years lot's advanced studios used all this ..

Probably will be somewhere around Autumn to start with all that .. but still reading myself into lots of it, nice topic !!

[Shredder11]

I picked up my sampler up (see sig) for peanuts.

Wow these normally go for just under £300 on Ebay and the expanded ones even more. I like Yamaha stuff and most of my studio is.

[matt]

Well mine was about half of that a couple of years ago. I think!

[bid]

If anyone sees an MPC or similar going about for peanuts, please tell me!!

[bid]

Oh, and I am looking for a SCSI card for the Akai S2800

I think that the part is called "Akai IB-301S SCSI Card for S2800, S3000 Sampler"

and it looks like this


I have not been able to find one so far, and I want to use this to interface with both the Atari, and also to hard drive and CD-Rom

Can anyone help?!

[belzrebuth]

Akai samplers and Atari ST should be an awesome pair for old school music making.Atari is super tight midi-wise and old Akais sound incredible.
I'm also picking up a SCSI Zip drive for my S1100 (my S2800 unfortunately doesn't have a SCSI interface and they go for insane prices if you find one).
The price was right (10€) so I ordered the drive and should be here in three days.
I'm a little worried about the SCSI fuse thing.Are there any precautions that i should apply when connecting the sampler with the drive or the fuse could just blow without any particular reason ?
I believe both units should be turned off when connecting them but then again i've never used anything SCSI in the past.