Akai S700

The S700 is probably the most user-friendly device in my rack. You just set the level, press the New button, and trim the sample with the big friendly wheel. You can have a sample up and running in seconds (as opposed to say the S2000, where hours of scrolling through menus are the norm). The manual is a bit skimpy but really comes in handy for two things: MIDI setup, and DIN plug pin diagram (which you can use to build a six-chennel breakout box).

If you're using it as 12-bit drum sampler, it's got all the features you'll ever need. If you want to sample something other than drums and short stabs, forget it. I'm not sure of the polyphony, but as the sample time is about half a second of mono(!), you'll rarely use it up. The only onboard fx are a very smooth non-resonant low-pass filter, which is mostly useful for removing hiss from sound sources and dubbing out synth stabs. There's a memory expansion board for the S700, but it's useless as it doesn't actually extend sample time (it just adds more sample banks).

Classic 12-bit crunch, with some really low bandwidths available. Perfect for hip hop, drum n bass, hardcore, electro, industrial etc, but not so good for cleaner styles like trance, ambient etc.

Rock solid, and samples are retained in flash memory even when it's turned off (tho' you should use quick disks as a backup).

No customer support available as it's way out of print. Even getting a manual will be really hard.

My favourite instrument... as a drum sampler, the only downside is that it weighs seven kilos.

Very easy.

Old school sampler. Very Limited.
Only a few seconds of sampling time.
Midi.

THE warm and dirty 12-Bit sound. You can get amazing hip-hop drums.

Solid.

If you find one (very rare). Get it. You won't be disapointed.
And, it's very cheap (around 90 dollars).
Amazing value for the current market price, but you can save more to get the better s900 or even better s950 if you're after that 12-bit sound.

Software is in rom. Dont know what version. There are no preset sounds...this is a sampler! All settings are very easy to do, no submenus and a small but clear green LCD display. Editing samples are easy made. This is how a sampler should work, _allways_. Well done is the word for the user interface. The manual are okay, could have been some more information about the hardware and sysex midi dump.

midi in/out 6 voices polyfony. 6 banks of sampling memory (extendable to 16 with the memory board ASK70, mine have the expansion). 12bit sampling. I think the memory are 128kB or possibly 256kB, not really shure. One nice thing is the overdub function. Press the overdub button and make a monster sample! Another really cool function is audio trigg. Just input a sound from your drummachine and the sampler plays the sampled sound totally without midi. (The Akai S612 has this lovley function too). There are only stereo out, no separate outputs. Has a special connecton for connecting Akai AX60 and using the AX60 as an external filter.

Well. Sound is good. The samping rate can be adjusted from 16kHz to 1.6kHz. This is nice. 1.6kHz gives that nice Lo-Fi feeling! Effects on board are LFO, Filters, Resonance and they are quite okay. Use it as a drum sampler or as a audio trigged sampler unit without midi.

The weight of the sampler is 7 kg. Pretty much. Touring with this thing demands a car, you dont just take it under your arm. No crashes som far what I have found.

Bad support. I have sent mail to akai professional but they dont answer at all. I called them and they did not have the broken part.

The way I use the sampler now is sampling a sound and playing it back with the audio trigg function. No midi here! When I turn the sampler off the sounds are gone by the wind due to the broken diskdrive.
Let me say this. There is only one thing wrong with this machine: the 2.8" diskdrive 'quickdisk'. The disks are hard to find, and the drive moves around driven by a small rubber band. This little rubber band tends to get untighte and must be replaced, unfortunatly this part is impossible to find. I have been in several VCR repair stores to find the right dimension but it seems to be special-akai-dimensions. I took contact with Akai support and they could not find the right rubberband to repair the diskdrive. If my S700 suddenley where gone I would go looking for a S950 instead, not because Im not satisfyed but because of the 2.8" diskdrive. To have a 'regular' 3.5" diskdrive is not a must but definitly a good thing. One funny thing is that there are a Z80 processor inside the machine (the same processor as in the microcomputer Sinclair ZX81 and Spectrum) and the eproms are easy to change. If someone would like to re program the software or add new features it should be simple to do. (I would really like to se someone add a real 3.5" diskdrive to the unit, hint hint!)
Summary: A nice thing, if you get your hands on one at an affordable price and the diskdrive are working. By it!