Akai S1100

S1100 is a rework of AKAI's successful S1000 with new A/D D/A boards, faster CPU, built in effect processor and all the options of S1000 (i.e, SCSI board, AES/EBU board, up to 32MB (mine does) of RAM using AKAI's own boards)

Definitely easy to use, but I'd hesitate to say it's intuitive- it's a very advanced piece of synth/sampler so it requires a few days of work to be acustomised with).

It has great, large 240x64 white-on-blue LCD, which, however, fades away in time (backlight), there's, however, plenty of places to get a spare one. Also, you will get graphic representation of waveforms, envelopes, loop points etc.

For editing you will get 8 mode switches, 8 function keys, 12 alphanumerical keys and page mark/jump.

Manual: ah, the manual- it's a good book, full of humorous remarks, but still gives you all you need to know.

My OS: 4.27 (ROM)

16 voice polyphony, which isn't particularly much, in thought over arrangement this is pretty much enough.

The effect processor is simple but offers reverb, chorus, delay and pitch shift, pretty enough for the machine. It's clean, very transparent and the effects are truly good (reverb punchy, very soft chorus, programmable delay with stereo pan).

Except for boards I mentioned above you can work with (max., bigger is waste of space) 510 MB HDD, and floppy drive. Floppy is significantly slower than of never machines (comparing side-by-side with S2k)- you can even fit the HDD inside the sampler.

MIDI implementation is good, however- like in later models, it disapoints with control changes (only 4), you cannot control effect processor with MIDI as well.

It's a sampler, so your mileage may vary soundpalette-wise :), to that you get polyphony assign with priority selection.
Samples can be looped in a way allowing them to have "release" part.
A word about D/A, side-by-side audition confirms that S1100 sounds warmer and softer. While S2k and later can be said to "replicate" the sound, S1100 has a very nice touch to it.

You'll also get 18dB/oct resonant filter. It's far different than S2k, but it's very nice.

The architecture of sound is pretty complicated- you can assign "keygroups" (keyboard spans- max. 99)- also crossfaded, each containing 4 (velocity-switched as well) keyzones.
Each keygroup in zone has an amplifier, filter with separate envelopes, 2 modulation sources. You're also getting two LFOs each. You can also set effect saturation and output as well.

All routing can be modulated by LFOs, keyfollow, velocity, aftertouch or breath controller(!)

AKAI has a very sophisticated "multimode", that allows you to assign and select programs with the same number to be played simultaneously as well as on the same, as different MIDI channels.

Well, since it has its age I'll not tell it's extremly reliable (LCD backlight goes away), but definitely it's well built. It withstood traveling with me in a crowded buss, going to 25 degrees warm home from 15 minute walk in 3 degrees, that means something.

N/A

Well, I admit, it was cheap, and I wanted to "beef up" my S2k which shown to be too expensive to upgrade. But I fell in love with this classy sampler. Definitely I'd morn if it was lost or stolen- and look for another S1100. It's great sounding, it has great feel to it- a classic sampler and legend of its own.

I guess I'm using the latest version of the OS but I'm not sure. No presets, except for the 4 default samples:Pulse, Sawtooth, Triangle and Square (I think Aphex Twin has used one of these for a song on the Come to Daddy EP). Don't know if there's a PC/Mac editor, but remember it does not read wav files, only AKAI formatted disks. Quite hard to get hold of the manual (although you can download the S1000 manual from the www.akaipro.com site, which should be more or less the same).

16 voice polyphony, which is rather limitted, so make sure you set it up right (assign just about enough voice to each program you make). The effects of the S1100 are quite usable: reverb, delay, pitch shift. Individual programs can receive on different midi channels, and can easily be routed to the different individual outputs or the stereo out. The LCD screen of mine is a bit unclear and probably needs replacement (which isn't expensive, if you're doing it yourself). But it's one of the main reasons I wanted an AKAI sampler, because e.g. on the cheaper Emu samplers, you don't get a graphical LCD. It makes editing samples (especially if you're recording them yourself) very easy. Mine has built-in SMPTE and SCSI. Make sure to get a SCSI ZIP drive (they're cheap to find), it will make your life (with the S1100) much more pleasant. Be aware that the S1100 can use only about 60MB of 100MB disks (so no need to buy a 250MB Zip drive). It supports a maximum of 32MB Ram (special AKAI format, no SIMMs or DIMMs), which is kinda limitted. But I don't really mind, because it makes you think a little about what you're going to put inside.

Everyone says it, but it's true, it sounds as nice as the samples you put in it, but I must say I find the recording quality very, very nice. Sampled an 808 (among loads of other stuff) and it sounds super. I've got no other samplers, so I can't really compare. But I've been sampling quite a bit with PC's. Although the sampling process is maybe a bit more extensive than on PC, the quality isn't comparable, unless you buy an expensive audio interface. The quality of the A/D convertors are of superb quality. You can even overload the inncoming signal a bit, which adds very nice analog-sounding distortion/fuzz to the samples.

I quite depend on it. It looks/feels very dependable. But of course, anything with electrical circuits inside can always leave you in the lurge. The buttons and data/cursor wheels are very solid.

Never called.

I bought it because I wanted to get away from the PC for making music. I haven't regretted it a day since I bought it and I'm quite sure I would buy another one if this one disappeared.

last version:OS 4.30
Not ridiculously easy but once you are used to it its Ingenious . Very fast OS, great shortcuts and generally one of the most popular interfaces in the sampling world. D-sound Pro or Peak and SoundDiver can assist the editing but its still good on the classic LCD.

The polyphony is 16 voice. The s1100ex is a wondreful plain no-features s1100 which can be daisy-chained (up to 7 units ) and you re laughing. (16voicesXthe ex's) -ex costs about 100#)
The memory (32mg) also can be increased enormously in the same way (EX)
The AD converters are Absolutely Fabulous and the Digital (AES EBU) out is True Stereo and Crisp !! Its sound is what i love about the thing.
Its velocity & aftertouch sensitive and theres sophisticated midi filtering . Not great on the controllers side (standard).
timestretching is great (done to death thow)

I ve already said everything to be said about the sound of this Tank. Its crisp true stereo ,warm analogue outs and the fantastic converters.. If you dont like the sound of an s1100, you don't like the sample you are feeding it! It is musical Instrument. If you want fat filters and stompy low end buy a new emu. If you hear an ARP or a flute thru this, then you 'll know..
This is clean and very subtly coloured sound.

Its as solid as it gets. Physically and as a system. (may freeze if you re loading s900 samples but just dont do that when you re playing live) I ve left this on for days with two hard drives and two EX and nothing ! you press the button 2 days after and its still there.

never had to deal with akai. I thin i m ok with that.

I sold s3000xl and got two s1100ex and one s1100 (which cost me as much as buying one s5000 second hand.) I am making music professionally and this is an instrument that sounds unique and works like it should. Of course i'd buy another 3 if stolen.

First of all I love this sampler but it took me a while to get to some of the cooler functions and fun quirks.If this is going to be your first sampler you must know two things 1-It's not very user friendly but when you get used to it no other sampler will intimidate you 2-It doesn't normalize or re-scale but it sounds great when you sample a little to loud,clips nicley.The filters are on the slim side only LP offered but sounds fine.The manuals fine but since the machine is so deep feature wise it's kinda' thick.

I can't ever remember running out of voices.The key action is good,not hard to come up whith sofisticated drum sequences,the loop function is priceless really fast.The FXs really shine as well,great dub stuff,stereo delays pannable,rich pich shifters nutty feed back wierdness for creative people.Expansion is a bit expensive for the akai memory chips.The re-sample function will save your butt usually.
Almost every thing on the front pannel sends midi info so you can record knob turns on your sequencer in real time.Cool

It sounds great very clean or not,up to you really.Works well for all types of music.But since there are no really expressive filters the techno crowd will hafta' flip it in other ways LFO,DSP effects loop and envelopes.

A very stable work horse.I've left it on for days-no probs,take it to the gig why dont you.

The s1100 offers great support since the s1000 were a sudio standard for years,it took just a couple of hours to get my backlight and OS prom changed.

I have a lot of other samplers (akai s6000&mpc60,k2500r,EMU sp1200,rolands550 and yamaha tx16w)but im rather close to this one if it were to be stolen(heaven forbid!)I'de probably get another one since I've been using it so long.If there was anything I'de change,it
it would be more DSP editing features- normalize/re-scale,better clip functions in the trim page and HP/BP filters.All the highly tweakable
perameters in the FXs LFO,envelope and loop pages are indespencable.Plus there pretty cheap nowadays-

Software version 4.3(final). Editing is very easy, that manual is good.

The S-1100 is a S-1000 with SCSI-interface, SMPTE reader/generator,
digital master out, effects board, hard disc recording capabilities,
and superior A/D converters! I got the AES/EBU digital interface too.
Memory is very expensive, if you buy AKAI, but there are several
different memory boards wich are much cheaper. Loads of outputs.

Well, it depends on the quality of your samples. The onboard effects
are nice and it reacts nicely to velocity, aftertouch i dont remember.
It is easy so set up multitimbrally(16 parts).

Beware if the floppy drive doesnt work. A new one from AKAI is VERY
expensive! But, it is possible to use an old floppy with the jumpers
set correctly. You just need to know how to set the jumpers...

Nice, just download the final software from the AKAI homepage. Pick
up some free sounds while you are at it. Unfortunately they dont
have the manual online.

I would definitely buy it again, it is much better than the newer
2000/3000. I cant compare to the 5000/6000. If you are planning to
buy a cheap used sampler, do NOT buy the S-1000, go for the S-1100!
The S-1000 uses 80's technology sample circuits, the S-1100 uses
modern delta-sigma converters. To bad MESA doesnt support it, yet(?).