The Akai S1000.

The Akai S1000. The sampler of choice for the bedroom producer of the 80s

The Akai S1000 was one of the most influential pieces of hardware in electronic music production. It was the first sampler to have a built-in polyphonic synthesizer, different types of filters, and more. This machine helped to shape new genres like hip-hop and techno while also influencing artists like Radiohead and Bjork.

History of the Akai S1000

The Akai S1000 was introduced in 1987 and is the machine of choice for bedroom producers. It was designed by Hirochi Shirota in response to the Sequential Circuits Drumtraks sampler. The S1000 has a 16-bit 40 kHz sampling rate, 4MB of available RAM (expandable to 8MB), and a 2x oversampling digital filter. This machine enabled more precision when editing sample waveforms. It also had advanced features like insert editing, looping, and in-built effects which were very popular in the late 1980s.?

The 4MB of RAM meant that they could store more samples on the machine than ever before. Compared to its predecessor, the Akai S900 which only had 256KB of RAM, this was a huge improvement. The S1000 had 2x oversampling digital filters which allowed for more precise editing of sounds. This meant that it could be used to create detailed and rich-sounding songs without additional post-production work.?

The influence of the Akai S1000 on Electronic music and the dance scene.

The Akai S1000 was popular because it allowed samplers to be affordable for bedroom producers.?

The prominence of sampled sounds in electronic music at this time meant that having access to machines like the Akai S1000 made it much easier for producers to make these sampled sounds, allowing for more professional-sounding songs to be made with less effort. Armed with just an Akai S1000 and an Atari ST the creative bedroom producer had the tools needed to produce a club banger.

Time Stretching. A game changer leading to the creation of New Genres of Electronic music

The S1000's operating system was updated to version 2.0 in 1996, which introduced time-stretching abilities for altered sounds of pitch and length.

This was a game changer for creative electronic music producers who would timeshare samples to be almost unrecognisable but still musical. This was very powerful when used with a voice and the sound soon started to feature in many groundbreaking tracks.

By cutting up drum samples and using time-stretching the S1000 paved the way for jungle music, which later evolved into drum and bass.

It was also at the heart of Hardcore and breakbeat being at the heart of the Prodigy sound as Liam Howlett fused hardcore and Rave with breaks to create powerful beats that still sound as fresh today as they did when first released.