Akai SG01v

I`d buy that little akai together with an alesis nanopiano and a small oberheim organ expander for playing at party sessions without the "real" equipment - and thats what it is good for at an absolute low price. sounds sound as they should - on those little keyboard amps one carries to those party gigs. up to now i did no editing - just played. and wasn`t that the real meaning of music?

30 voices "with effects" are absolutely enough, the effects are ok even i have some inbuild ones in my small behringer mixer, no expansion but whatfor? no inbuild video games, no mp3 ... ;-)

The sounds are ok - for that 99 euros i`d pay for it. remember: even the sounds in the emu vintage keys can sound very "dead" or lifeless. in a studio situation this unit would be at the wrong place, `cause there are so many - even free - software synths ... but how unsexy ... carrying a laptop to a party where the girlzzzz are ;-)

yes. yes. yes.
i`d never make the "spilling-some-beer-into-it" - test, but it seems that there is not much which can go wrong.

....

yes it is worth the money, and if the "beer-into-it" test would bring the unit to fail i would look out for another one.

The front panel is simple enough, but using buttons to adjust settings is more tedious than a dial. Best to do it all via (N)RPN's and control messages from a sequencer.

32 note poly/ 30 with reverb. 30 preset reverbs (no tweaking at all) only selectable via NPRN. Midi implementation is fair. The Cakewalk misc.ins file has a template, which helps, but you cannot vastly vary the presets.

This is where it shines! Choosing 256 samples from the classics must have been tough and there are some I would have loved to have swapped out (I never use fifth patches). But some evoke such fond memories of the heyday of analogue. The string synths are so lush, the basses deep and the digital 4 pole filters are convincing enough. The drum kits are variable: The Simmons and 808's are great, but the 727 samples are neither realistic or synthy.

Velocity and aftertouch are good.

No issues so far (I have owned it for less than a week).

Hopefully I will never need to find out!

This is one of the most recent pieces of gear I own! I have a Kawai K4 (which does some pretty convincing replication of some of these sounds), a Yamaha TQ5 (FM module) and a XG sound card.

For an analogue rompler it is the bees knees. If you find one at a reasonable price then buy it.

I bought this unit second hand and it has a bit of finger fungus on it, which indicates to me that the previous ower was tweaking it via the front panel. So far I haven't touched it except to turn it on and off!
I downloaded a Logic Environment for it from www.swiftkick.com and control every parameter for it from there. I did have to study up on setting some basic controller settings to preload in my songs as sysex but that was easy enough. The manual has a comprehensive MIDI spec and is well documented. This unit is designed to be used from a computer, which it does very well. It would be annoying to use it without a computer. I love the free Logic environment as it makes it a breeze to use.

it has 32 note poly, or 30 with the reverb on. It seems to have about
15 reverbs and the other 15 are duplicated. It's not expandable - completely standalone. A very pragmatic instrument. I wouldn't mind if a vendor could come out with sample chip updates for it but I bought it for the sounds and the MIDI implementation. Practically every feature is available via MIDI controller, Sysex or NRPN. The filters, Reverbs, LFOs, portamento are all MIDI accessible. It is very simple to use and configure, provided you use that fantastic Logic environment.

The sampled synth sounds are terrific. It has a slew of stuff - junos, jupiters, 2 303 samples, Moog, PPG and so on. All the patches are very usable. It is a rompler, so you cannot change the presets as such, but the MIDI control gives it a whole lot of expression that takes it out of just being a simple playback device. The 2 sound banks meet all kinds of music, given they are all based around classic synth and keyboard sounds. The reverb is very glassy and I use it sparingly. The unit is 16 part multitimbral and the reverb is applied globally but that's OK for a budget unit - you can adjust or turn off the reverb for each part. Each preset is either mono or polyphonic depending on the type of synth eg a 303 sample is mono while the junos are 6 note poly, which is what you would expect.

It seems to be very robust. A steel box with a plastic fascia panel
and solid platic buttons. I wish it was in 19" rack format though.
I think it is more a studio box for this reason, but it is pretty giggable nonetheless. No noise from the stereo outputs even with the main volume up full.

I haven't dealt with support. I hear Akai Australia is very good.

I bought this instrument on the recommendations in this database and
based on the Sound On Sound review. It got very good remarks. A synth doesn't have to be expensive to be good. I am recommending this instrument to everyone. I have seen them around and about the place for sale. I probably would've ignored it previously because of it's very plain packaging and 1/2 rack format but you cannot judge a synth by it's control surface! My only wish would be for a "Super" model to be released, with a ROM expansion ability to add your own samples for instance, a 19" rackable format and perhaps individual outputs. I do not think there are any shortcomings though. This very muscial instrument is bound to be a next generation classic - the samples are well thought out and the MIDI control is great for a sequencer lab!
As someone else said on the net somewhere (SOS?!): "Buy it first and then think of a use for it"

An excellent module with sampled/synthesised analogue sounds: Moog/Prophet/PPG types, etc. Plug and play! Simple MIDI module, with deeper control facilities for those interested, but I just use it to beef up my rack with extra analogue sounds. Editing can be done using various easily available computer editing programs, over MIDI. Limited editing on the front panel (essentially: filter cutoff, envelope, resonance - only limited control)

30 voice polyphony, down to 28 I think if the reverb is used. Decent reverb, which can be edited over MIDI. Responds to after-touch and velocity - excellent for the brilliant Moog bass sounds. No sequencer.

Not for simulations of real instruments, but purely for a collection of vintage analogue synths. First-rate Moog basses, plus lots of pads, including Solinas and the like for those who want them. Very good PPG emulations, and a lot of nice OB and Prophet pads. Some interesting special FX sounds, but not something I use. Superb for old analogue pads and leads, including a couple of old Wakeman solo sounds.

Very solid - nothing to go wrong unless you drop it out of a window. Has been very reliable, like most AKAI gear.

Never needed support, but Akai have a good web site and customer support.

Well worth considering as a cheaper alternative to EMU and Roland Vintage Synth modules. It doesn't have all the electric pianos or convincing B3s, but it is just as good for all the analogue synth sounds, and possibly better for Moog basses. Also, it's a half-rack, so takes up less space! Excellent value for money - they can be got for really quite low prices, if you can find one. A little-known gem.

I just bought it used 9 hours ago! It sounds as professional as all Akai hardware does. I got two PC editors, since you can edit almost nothing from the hardware interface.

I didn't get a manual, as I bought it dirt cheap used. I found an full manual on the web...

You can propably read this in the other reviews, but I can tell it's a good box with all the sounds I needed from it. It doesn't sound anything special when plugged in alone, but when you start making music with different gear added in, samplers etc. you notice that the preset sounds are 'there'...

I'm producing Hip Hop, and I found some nice strigs and some eery sounds in this box... value for the money definately! The onboard reverb is ok, but nothing special... I wish they'd thrown in a delay..

It's Akai, so it can't be broken. (?) Too bad the user tweaked presets aren't saved. They vanish when you turn the box off, however you'd save the tweaks in your MIDI file anyhow, right!

Well I found nothing at Akai for this, no manual, nothing... However the user support from other users was overwhelming - Two Editors and a scanned manual! Wow!

It's a good lil box. If you get it as cheap as I did, go get it!
It's a basic box and a good add-on for any system..

The sounds are very clean, well-chosen, and to my ear, very realistic. There is little editing capability, this is not really a synthesizer, however, basic sound control is offered via three midi controllers, the effect these have on the sound is not always the same but it is usually appropriate for the sound in question. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble in setting this box up.
Further editing can be done using NRPMs.
The manual is short, but has everything you need in it and is reasonably clear.

16 part, 32-voice (30 if using reverb), it is nowhere mentioned whether patches use 1 or 2 oscillators. There are 20 or so reverbs, they are very clean, but nothing amazing. Can only be selected using sysex. There are no expansion facilities and no sequencer and no keyboard.

The sounds are all re-creations of vintage synth sounds, no accoustic sounds. Most patches are velocity sensitive, for instance the TB303 patches increase in resonance, whilst a pad will have a sharper attack the harder you bash the notes. I don't know about aftertouch.

Like all the Akai stuff I own it seems to be built like the proverbial brick shithouse.

Akai always seem to be helpful, though that may only be a local phenomenon

This is a superb little box. It sets out to do one job, and does it well. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who is looking at the various analog synth retro-boxes (classic keys etc).