Akai AX-60

This thing is simple to use. The presets that came in it sound great, but surely don't represent it's capabilities.

triangle, saw, square, triangle/square, 6 voice, typical keyboard action, ADSRD, flexible routing, chorus, arppegiator, multimode lfo, and a boat load of options for a synth in it's price range (200-500)and even for a synth in the 500+ price range.

I give this an 9 for sound rating, only for one reason. The filter, if used improperly, can be VERY harsh. Honestly, though, with the proper control of it I was quickly surprized at how GREAT it sounds, although I completely understand peoples perspective as to this matter.

ALTHOUGH. I had this thing running in a tb303 style sequence and with it's resonance set at about 20% and with tweaking the ADSRD I can get damn good 303 style bass out of it. With unison running, thing sounds aggressive as a chainsaw. I own several keyboards, incl. a polysix, and honestly I am kind of leaning toward this thing sound wise, and not just for the flexibility (which is obviously in every facet more capable) but even with tone.

Well mine is fairly new to me, but granted that it's about 20 years old now I take it's got a good lifespan in it.

Massively underated. I hate purists who find comfort in their 303/juno/prodigy/poly sounds. Get one, be careful with that resonance, and you should find that these things are quite the gem.

I've had mine for about 20 years with not problems at all. Very simple to figure out. I still use it for pads and effects.

Has six voice polyphony. It has a very basic chorus. Not expandable as far as I know. No velocity or aftertouch. Does respond to midi volume.

If your an electronic musician and you find one of these for less than about one hundred dollars I would recommend buying it or a similar synth. I've been looking for the rack mount version for a long time. A good addition to the usual sample based synths.

I've had mine for twenty years with no problems.

If lost or stolen I would try to get the rack mount version or a similar item.
I've been playing many years and I own a ton of gear.
Like I said before, it or a similar product would make a good addition to a studio that has alot of modern gear. Blends well with modern sounds. Try layering one of its sweeping pads underneath sampled strings or a hammond organ patch. If you can find one for a hundred dollars buy it!

I don't have a manual. I think few people have a manual. And, frankly, you can't rely on Akai (hey, that's a great rhyme!) to supply one on their website or for purchase. Akai is among the WORST companies when it comes to customer support. Too bad.

Anyway, even though I don't have a manual I've been able to figure out most functions - the system buttons near the middle are still a little cryptic but I believe I understand what they do. It's very easy to use if you have any experience with other synths.

6 CEM 3394 voices. No velocity or AT. 61 keys. Something like 21 sliders, some knobs, and a lot of buttons. Pretty neat! All synths should have a complete UI like this. Basic MIDI, enough to get the job done - although there may be more to the MIDI capability that I'm unaware of since, again, I don't have a manual. The arp is nice, you can split the keys and set it up with two zones with two different sounds. Well built. They keys feel pretty good.

The sliders are okay, more on that later, although they are cheap and at this point in its life could stand to be replaced with nice, new sliders. Some should have been audio taper sliders, frankly, to expand the range of sounds you can tweak out of this machine.

Nice. Wholly under-rated IMHO. You have your classic CEM sound on the cheap here with real time control using a very comprehensive UI. Yeah, yeah, yeah - "it's like a 106" - well, no, not really. On the surface, perhaps, but it's not at all like a 106. A 106 has quicker envelopes, sub bass, and a bass boost which are very important characteristics the AX60 does not have. This means the 106 gets much more phhatt than the AX60. However, the 106's unison mode sounds horrible. The AX60's unison sounds awesome.

Phhaattt bass aside, the AX60, IMHO is a more versatile synth than the 106. You can not escape the 106 sound no matter what you program into it. It always has that "106-ish" sound. The AX60 does not suffer that problem - although if you can spot a CEM VCO sound then you'll always hear it with the AX60 (which isn't a bad thing at all). One more comparison - the 106 has one EG - the AX60 has TWO. This is another very important distinction.

Okay, so, it sounds great - for what it is. This is not a synth for bass and not a synth for bread and butter sounds. This is REAL VCOs with sliders, knobs, and buttons galore for not a lot of money. Pads, gongs, screaming analog oscillators, SOME nice bass sounds, good leads, it's all there. You MUST play with this synth for a while and really explore it. It can be deceptive - you have to learn it and understand it before passing judgment. It does not respond to programming the way your Polysix or 106 will. It has its sweet spots (thanks to the sliders). If the sliders were better, again some need to be audio taper, all need better sensitivity - it'd be easier to find the sweet spots, but they're there.

The VCF mod is awesome. The PWM mod is awesome. You really will get sounds out of this you won't find too easily elsewhere. The envelopes aren't all to musical so you have to work with them (the ADSR sliders are those that need to be audio taper IMHO). The LFO is nice and flexible. Others have said the volume levels can be extreme from patch to patch and this is true. I think I need to investigate some simple mods - improve the bass response, increase the amp gain, some new sliders - then I think in terms of the sound you'd forget your Polysix and Junos.

I almost forgot to mention the chorus. The chorus is not noisy - it just has a lot of gain. I like the chorus on this better than the Polysix's effects, and maybe equally if not slightly better than the Juno. It's got a phas-y quality that sounds better to me; I think it enhances a patch in more agreeable way than a Juno's does - whereas the Juno is almost obnoxious and intrusive, the AX60's chorus is "in addition".

Overall, it CAN sound big, but maybe not all too juicy (until you turn on the chorus). It CAN sound sweet, and it can indeed get pretty evil.

Very well built. I haven't dug into mine yet, but on the outside it seems just as well built as a Juno, although as I keep mentioning the sliders are definitly lesser quality. Otherwise it's on par with a Juno.

Akai. Sucks. For. Customer. Support.

EVERY time I tried to contact them via email or phone I HAVE NEVER RECEIVED A RESPONSE. Awful. And their website is amateur.

A VERY GOOD, albeit simple synth. Something different. After you get used to the way it responds to your "commands" then you'll start finding the sweet spots - of which there are many (in my experience). Again, sliders, buttons, knobs, REAL VCOs, VCF, VCA in a stury package with MIDI. It's a no-brainer.

I'm used to synths with a single data entry slider (like my old DX-7 and my JX-10), so having a single slider or button for every function is a nice departure for me. I'm not too sure if the original presets are on this, but I don't really care, since I want to program my own patches.

The AX-60 has 6-voice polyphony, which IMO, is decent for a mid-80's polysynth. It has a chorus effect (which is very noisy), and a unison mode that stacks all 6 VCOs for a fat sound. It has MIDI, but since it doesn't have any SYSEX capabilities to speak of, the implementation is very basic. It also has an arpeggiator, but it's not that useful because you can't have the arpeggiator go over multiple octaves with a single key and such. It also has a sampler input so you can plug in an S-612 sampler and run it through the AX-60's filters.

This is an analog synth, so this isn't a synth for realistic sounds. Most AX-60 owners say the synth is very gritty, and I agree, but it can do silky-smooth strings and pads as good as a Juno-106. The keyboard doesn't have aftertouch, and the keys aren't velocity-sensitive.

Although the synth uses VCOs, they're actually very stable. I've never had to use the auto-tune button yet. The synth also has a metal case, so I can definetly depend on this synth. I might use my JX-10 as a backup however, in case the AX-60 decides to go out of tune.

Akai doesn't support the AX-60 anymore.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd track down the thief and kill him! I also own a Roland JX-10, a Casio CT-670, and an Alesis SR-16, and the AX-60 manages to fit in with my setup. I had to get rid of my DX-7 for the AX-60, though. I'll definetly miss the DX-7, but I'm having so much fun with this synth, that I've pretty much forgotten about the DX. Overall, the AX-60 is a very underrated synth that doesn't go for much. Get one if you can, as they were only released in the U.S. and as a result, they are very rare!

Very easy to operate. buttons and sliders for every function. Manual was tough to find at first, but is available from Rogue Music. I don't think mine had many presets left by the time I got it.

6 voice polyphony. key action is O.K. It is not a piano afterall. The Buile-in chorus effct has two types, non adjustable. As this synth was released in about 1984 it has basic MIDI, no sequencer. I'm giving it a 10 here just because it is so darn easy to use.

I have made some very unruly sounds on this machine. No it does'nt do realistic sounds very well, other than organ. You can make some usable organ sounds. This will work for alot of different types of music. Here, as with most electronic instruments, you are limited more by yourimaginationthan by the machine itself. I have read elsewhere about notes dropping out on he AX-60. That you might have two loud notes and four soft notes in sequence as you play up or down the keyboard. I was apalled to find that mine started doing this very thing and the AX-60 page at Synth Zone said this was caused by an oscilator going bad. I have discovered that many problems in older gear like this is caused by dust. I opened the unit and blew it out with canned air, cleaned the ribbon connectors and the sliders and the problem was solved. The thing is still a bit noisey, but too not bad.

I am not a gigging keyboard person so- no opinion. But since I cleaned it up it has had no problems.

I have'nt had to contact Akai for any reason so I don't know.

If it were stolen I would find another. It has a DIY quality that is missing from all modern instuments both hard and soft. I love that you can just tweak the sliders and discover something wild or subtle without digging through sub-menus or manuals until you forget what you were trying to do in the first place. This is something that all of the synth companies have lost sight of in the rush to build in more and more features. They have taken away the fun. The companion sampler S-612 is a hoot. It requies a special 13-pin connector to run it through the AX60's filters and envelopes. The cable is avaiable from the Redmond Cable Corp. 10 ft for about $50.00.Pagan

The only problem with this baby is that using it live, the sounds tend to be so unpredictably varied in terms of level that it is probably best to limit the use to the presets you know the best, or to route it through a decent compressor. I've done gigs tweaking the controllers extensively with the result that I could see parts of the audience actually holding their ears...
Otherwise it is a beauty to work, intuitive and reliable

The arpeggiator must be one of the best for its time and price, but I've noticed that it tends to drift out of time if filters and oscillators are tweaked too much. Also, the lack of touch-sensitive keys makes its uses limited, especially for novice players. A friend of mine actually gave this wonder to me since he has owned it for a couple of years and tried to learn how to play keyboards on it- not reccomended as the result will be discouraging given the lack of reverb or velocity, being a jazz musician myself, I find that I really need to use the filters actively while playing to make it work. As an effect producer it has some nice qualities and playing around with the oscillators, noise generator and filters is a lot of fun and you are likely to come across sounds you had no idea you were going for. For instance experimenting with the tempo of the VFO from slow to extremely fast while moving the cut off and resonance sliders produce interesting results, as do making arpeggios and going bananas with the sliders. If you are looking for cold, clean synth sounds, this is also the machine for you, although I have reprogrammed the sucker and have no idea what the original presets sounded like. I would really like to get my hands on a 612 sampler with the right 13-pin cable to filter samples through the AX 60. This feature IMO is what makes this toy REALLY OUTSTANDING. Without it, the rating would be slightly lower, probably a 7.

As I said before, don't buy this one if you are looking for realistic sounds. It works a beauty for electronica, techno, drum and base and the likes of it, but I attempted to use it in a pop-band and found it incredibly limited and in fact too "cold". To produce unpredictable electronic noises, it equals most of what's out there and is far easier to use than more vintage synths. The lack of velocity on the keys makes it a bit sterile though, and you really need to work on the filters to say perform a decent jazz-solo. It is not really the best synth for this sort of use. If you can get your hands on a 612 sampler, there seems to be no end to the possiblities. Imagine running small samples of words through the arpeggiator and then going crazy with the filters. Aphex Twin could call it a day... Without this sampler (they are like siblings removed at birth), the rating would be slightly lower, probably a 7. As for the sound quality, it is not really quality in terms of hi fi-ness that is the issue here, but rather expressiveness and noise and brrrilggarrssshhhwwwwggrrriiiiiouuuuuuu

The arpeggiator seems to jump out of tempo if you are overdoing the effects manipulations. This makes it difficult to synchronize with modern bpm- oriented gear. I have broken a couple of keys, which were pretty easy to fix, and never had any problems with it although I've used it extensively on gigs, even gone on tour with it- without a case!

I used this synth extensively during recording sessions for the album "Electricity" by the norwegian electronica group GET ON (www.antrokult.net/geton) on Happy Few Records- listen to some of the audiotracks on the audio pages and start guessing which tweaks originate from the AX 60. One reviewer said "imagine aliens landing", and the AX 60 definitely had something to do with the overall sound of the album...

With weighed keys or velocity, and with the matching 612 sampler, it would be more than a gem. As the policy of Get On is recycling, I am proud to say someone actually gave this baby to me as a gift (in return I set the person up with a MOTIF). In fact all of the equipment used on that recording is second-hand, including a rhodes I bought off a guy on the bus for US $ 50 !!!

Ahhhhhhh. An analog synth with sliders. I meen it sounds so much better that his cousin DX7 and actually it CNA be intuitive, unlike that darn DX7.

Ther are some abstracts features on this synth. Like "whats that button for" and when I touch it it makes a different reaction each time.

I love the Unison feature. You can make good phat sounds. The split mode is helpful live.

Kinda FM sounds and metallic noisy textures are the best with the AX60. Also, you can make good strings and cool sythbass. but I never use my AX60 for basses, unlike everybody on this page, I can't make very fat and deep bass sounds.

It weights so much. I mean I don't wanna make another concert with it cuz it's too heavy. So I use it in my home-studio and never never he will go out again. You know, be drunk after a gig with it... no fun.

And I don't want to hurt him again!! I mean three years ago, he stopped. The lights were on but no signal would come out. He was dead. I was desperate. And the local musical repair services was not interested in fixin it: "too tough to handle", "gotta order stuff from Akai to fix it, it will cost ya big bucks" ... Anyway, like some weeks after, I turn it on again and it was ok. Since then it works fine. So he seems fragile.

Like I said, no repair services want to fix it. So I don't know what Akai can do. Like send it to them by mail, it will ruin you.

I dont' know if I would be it again. But if it dies I will be very sad. I love it very much but if it dies and I got the cash I would try something else I think.

The presets are crap, but they are over writable, its very simple to use, it has PILES of sliders for ever parameter. the maual is useful i guess, but you wont really need it.

There are already several people who have covered most of it's features so i'll just skip that (no sence in repeating the same things over and over). Suffice to say it has PLENTY of features to make very original sounds that only these mid-80's analog akai synths can make. i would give it a 10 here, but the unison (chorus) is very noisy, much like other analog poly synths of this era. Also the VCO (analog voltage controlled oscillators) drift much more than others do.. Still better sounding than DCO's tho.

gut ripping squeels & growels is what sets this synth apart from the other synths of this era. People seem to have this notion that it's simmilar to Roland's Juno-106... ITS NOT. The 106 is much cleaner sounding, and has a far less sonic capability. the range of sounds this synth produces is amazing. Exellent for really evil distorted expirimental music, industrial, and even harder forms of electronica. It makes one-of-a-kind screaming/groweling distorto noise, Nice deeeep bass's, ripping leads... If you want a Pad synth or nice mellow sound go for the juno-106 tho, because this beast is much ruffer. But much more original too.

Very sturdy metal case. Its built pretty tuff and weighs a TON! I would have preferred knobs over sliders (for dirty contact reasons), and because of its age, most of them need a good cleaning/internal battery replacement/etc...

dunno

This was my 1st synth i got when i was 14 years old back in '89. i got 2 more of em in the late 90's, so having (had) three of em, i have a pretty good idea what their all about. And i would DEFINATLY buy another one!! NO other synth on earth has the same character and sound this synth has, im not saying its the greatest synth, im just saying its an exelent very original sounding synth..

I guess it's only realy comparison is the:
Akai AX-73 (lacks all the parameter controllers that makes analog soo fun, has DCO's not VCO's),
Akai VX series (also lacks the sliders and DCO based)
Roland Juno-106 (same general lay-out many same parameters, but wimpyer sounding, and DCO)
But like i said, this is a one-of-a-kind beast!

Bought this 2nd hand in 1994 so I've got no idea what its original presets sounded like, but editing is a snip. Like a true analogue there are sliders all over the show - I still don't really know what some of them do, but getting weird & wonderful textures out of this synth is not a problem! There is a manual available on-line which I downloaded a few years ago. Not very long but did clarify quite a few points - especially using the keyboard's split function & appeggiator modes. Also learnt how the pitch wheel can be used to activate the cut off frequency for the resonant filter - VERY handy live.

The AX60 is 6 voice polyphonic - the unison control allows all 6 voices to be stacked for a big fat monophonic sound. Usual ASDR envelope. Weird multi-pin sampler input connected to an early Akai sampler. Internet sites exist showing how this input can be modified to take any sound input (vocals, other keyboards, drum machines - imagine running those through the AX60's resonant filter! No "effects" like reverb (except a quite noisy chorus which nevertheless has its uses) - rather a bunch of sliders such as VCO mod, noise, etc... which can be used to create neat timbral shifts. Midi in-out-thru. No velocity or key pressure. No sequencer. Don't think of this as your studio master keyboard, it's not a workstation but rather a great sound effects generating machine. On board memory stores 64 patches. Probably looks rather primitive compared to these flash new virtual analogues, but compare the price! For the era (1985-86) it is a respectable instrument. Lovers of classic electronic instruments should have few complaints.

This is an analogue synth so leave it alone if you want "realism". Still , what IS realism anyway? Some vastly over-sampled & over-produced string section played on an equally plastic Korg Triton or the like - or an Akai AX60 making some other-worldy electronic shriek that sounds like nothing else but an AX60? There are some nice electric organ, synth-string sounds & synth-bass sounds that this keyboard can conjure - but what most impresses me are those noises that sound like nothing else on the planet. I've mucked around with ambient/industrial & electro-acoustic musics over the years - for intriguing electronic textures I've never found the AX60 to be wanting. Every time I switch the damn thing on it's a new experience! In a live setting the sliders don't allow perfect real-time control (they must be taken briefly to the limits of their travel for the AX60 to recognise that a new slider is being accessed after a previous one) - but if you just want to make some improv electro-mayhem this isn't a problem! Although somewhat noisy by modern standards, the AX60 is capable of generating sounds from the deepest bass to shining, crystalline, metallic chimes. In practice I tend to play mainly with the cut of freq, resonance & VCO mod controls in a live setting. It's not at all difficult to surf on this machine.

Totally reliable. All-metal construction & very sturdy. Mine's had a few knocks over the years (I've finally bought it a case!) & still goes fine. I reckon it will out-last my much newer Ensoniq ASR10 - although the Ensoniq IS a much more complex beast.

No experience here, although I gather Akai will help with getting a manual etc... No opinion for this category.

This was the first genuine musical instrument I ever owned. I was totally ignorant about what it was & what it could do when I bought it (compared to a genuine synth fanatic I'm STILL buck-ignorant). I didn't even know what polyphony was for god's sake, let alone the fine distinctions between digital & analogue keyboards, between keyboards with preset sounds & those able to generate completely new sounds from scratch. I was really lucky to find it. I have to admit that I bought this beast because it had lots of controls, pretty LEDs & was black & solid looking - lousy reasons for purchasing what remains one of my most cherished musical possessions (I'm also very fond of my Ensoniq ASR10, but it & the AX60 aren't really comparable). I have only glancing experience with what seem to be the AX60's peers - the Juno 6, 60 & 106 - others have waxed more eloquently on this topic. I would say, however, that many synths do appear to have their own distinct character & that side-by-side comparisons may not always be helpful. Have a play, if possible, before buying & if magic happens then go with that feeling. I don't think I will ever exhaust the AX60's potential - especially in conjunction with external samplers & effects. It's a very easy instrument to get to grips with initially - but also rewards patient tinkering. It would be nice to have more memory patches (the AX60 has 64 to the Juno 106's 128) & it would be nice to restore the factory settings (just to assuage my curiosity) without having to remove internal batteries or the like. These are minor quibbles however. The AX60 is a fabulous machine, unjustly overshadowed by its Roland competitors - of course this also means that, if you are lucky enough to find one, a better price. Don't make me any offers though - I'm not selling, ever!

Knobs & sliders for everything. There is a bit more going on here that I first thought. I have played plenty of analog boxes but this one has a few crazy routings that take a bit of time to figure. Like I said, knobs and sliders!

See the other well written descriptions below.

This is a super rowdy noisemaking mamojama! Everyone compares this to the Juno 106, in my opinion this is like the 106's drunken crackhead cousin from Mars!. The AX60 is the prince of analog mayhem. Complex, sizzling, throbbing full spectrum sound at your fingertips. Oh sure it's not a Jupiter, but you get so much punchy electrical excitement with the AX60 you will not care! It has a sound of it's own.
I did a simple mod and converted the input to the filter to accept a quarter inch input. The filter is exceptionaly nasty and resonant. Super fun on any source!

Owned the AX60 for a year, I bought this in mint condition and have not had a single moment of grief. Built massive and tough.

Ooops! Not much to be expected here...

What can I say. This is one of the great analog synths of our time. Not a Jupiter, not an Andromina, it has it's own charactor. If this was offered new today, it would cost a pile of loot. I would never part with mine. I like the Junos, but find that I get bored after awhile with their tone. The AX60 provides something fresh & nasty.
I like nasty!!