Akai SG01p Piano Expander

A very straightforward litte unit to operate with a minimal number of clearly labelled buttons, a volume control and a numerical display, it certainly isn't rocket science.

Realistically your likely to use the stereo presets which brings the polyphony down from the quoted 32 to 16. However with reverb this becomes 15. As a result some sweeps or long passages up and down the keyboard result in unhealthy note clipping. The 'Room' reverb is selected as standard though you can change this with only a minor understanding of programming in fluent binary hex code!! Surprisingly for such a small unit it comes with three midi ports (in, out, thru) instead of two as you might get on other smaller units.

This module is all about the Pianos. Patch no 1 (Stereo Grand) is a well balanced, well sampled piano patch that has an authentic resonance to it and is a nicely rendered patch by the kings of sampling. There follows 9 other stereo pianos, some softer, some brighter and including a remarkably in-tune Honky Tonk that reminds of the piano sound from 'Hold The Line' by ToTo. The next 10 patches are mono versions of the 10 Stereo patches. I would not use any of the E.P sounds from this unit unless I was looking for am E.P that sounds like a cheap sample. I dont mean that in a slating kind of way as its often the case that a thin or short sampled instrument can make a track 'happen'. However all of the E.P's on this to my ears are easily outdone by cheaper home keyboards and were pretty much even back when I bought one of these units during the year of release. The 10 Clavs are smooth and nicely done but I dont think these would carry in the mix. There is not enough bark & bite on the clavs in this unit. As I said earlier. This unit is all about the Piano's. The only improvements that could have been made are bigger polyphony, some user selectable velocity curves though most controller keyboards have these anyway to be fair. A smaller selection of E.P's but using better quality samples would have been more sensible, perhaps a Rhodes, a Wurli and a DX. I'll rate this unit on Acoustic sounds only and give it an 8. One thing to note is that it is not difficult to clip the reverb on this unit. With maximum reverb volume on and the master volume set too high you do hear the Reverb overloading which I think is an unfortunate error but by no means a major problem.

The only thing I can forsee going wrong with this unit is the power supply unit failing or me spilling my traditional glass of red wine (possibly the 3rd one during that evenings gig) over it. Definately a worthy addition to the set up.

None of the manuals for any of the Akai SG01 range feature on the Akai Pro website for download. I await Akai's response on where I can locate a copy.

If lost or stolen I would locate another or go for something a bit more recent. Its a basic no frills piano module and a good one at that.

The AKAI SG01p Piano sound module comes in a 9.5" half-size rack case with clearly laid out controls. The unit is extremely easy to use and I had it unpacked and up and running within a couple of minutes. The instructions provided also include a detailed description of how to edit the various sound parameters, add reverb etc.
The front panel features a main volume control and up/down switches for selecting the various instruments. Other switches allow you to select preset programs and to edit the instrument parameters (Select Prog, Shape, Tone, Special and Level). A clear three digit red LED display is included to show the various programs, settings etc.
The rear panel features three standard 5 pin DIN sockets for MIDI In, MIDI Out and MIDI Thru. 6.3 mm stereo output jacks, a 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack and the power connector and on/off switch are also included on the rear panel. The external power supply is also included.

The AKAI SG01p is a 16 bit linear sampling synthesizer with 8Mb ROM and 32 polyphonic sounds (reduced to 30 if using reverb simultaneously). The SG01p features 50 awesome instruments - ranging from grand pianos, through electric pianos to clavinets. 30 different styles of reverb may be applied. The samples are all of very high quality and are based on the technology implemented in the larger AKAI S-Series samplers.
The SG01p does not have any expansion facilities, but then it is itself an expander and priced as such. An external master keyboard and sequencer are required - but then the SG01p is generally intended to be used as an addition to an existing setup.

The SG01p sounds are of very high quality and offer a broad spectrum of piano sounds. The stereo piano samples are particularly authentic - the grand pianos being my personal favourites. I also use the electric pianos regularly, but the clavinets are not that useful to me.
The individual sounds can be edited using the switchgear provided on the front panel, but I haven't felt the need to edit much. Usually a bit of reverb is all that is required - the samples themselves to not really need any modification.

The AKAI SG01p appears to be well built (in China). The switches feel solid and the unit generally has a good quality feel. I've never had any problems with an AKAI product yet and don't expect to either.

I've never had any dealings with AKAI Deutschland, except for brochure requests which have always been fulfilled promptly.

Right now, the AKAI SG01p has got to be the best value MIDI piano expander on the market. The most amazing thing is the heavily discounted price: I bought my SG01p NEW recently for less than a third of the original retail price. For this money - you simply can't go wrong ! I think they stopped making SG01p's sometime in 1997 and the last stocks are now passing through the retail channels at rock bottom prices - so grab one while you can.
If my SG01p got lost or stolen within the next few months, I would do my best to get another new unit. By the beginning of next year however, I doubt that there will be many new units remaining in the stores. If I couldn't locate a brand new SG01p, I would maybe go for a Kurzweil MicroPiano instead. Another option I would consider, depending on finances at the time, would be to upgrade directly to a AKAI S-2000 sampler with 32 Mb ROM option and software bundle which has currently been slashed in price.