Akai Professional S6000

The Akai s6000 has enough sounds on it to last you for a long time to come. You will be amazed in what the Akai s6000 can do, Akai always surprises me with the products that they put out from these to all of the mpc’s.


UTILIZATION

Even without reading the manual (which i still recommend) it's very intuitive and easy to use.. thanks to the detachable big screen (you can just replace the cable with a longer one with a rs-232 connector, but it has to be a straight through cable, NOT a null modem cable) you can have the sampler optional with HD somewhere in your rack and control everything from the screen.. You will love being able to do everything with a screen on the Akai s6000


SOUNDS

sounds are great, i havent had it for a long time, but so far everything was fine.. it's steady built, but i've heard that the intakes that keep the screen in place when attached can break i never have my screen attached to the sampler (i have a 3m extension cord, so i would have to unplug/plug it back in each time, so i rather have the screen lying next to me on my working area all the time for fast access)


OVERALL OPINION

Overall , Mine is maxed as far as it can go with 256Mb ram which you can choose to install but it doesn’t come with it like this right out of the box. i have a 4.32 Gb SCSI HD attached usb-card (optional), standards: 16 outs, FX board, 2 separate midi in/thru/outs, ;virtual hard disk sampling enables you to play long samples directly via hd.. i don't have a zip drive built in, because of the HD (eventually i will get one though) there have been quite a few bugs in OS 1.0 , that's why the s6000 wasn't THE sampler when it came out, but now at OS 2.14 everything runs smoothly

The Akia s6000 is built tough and its built to last, this unit will last you a long time which is good because its not a cheap unit. Most of Akai’s units are pretty expensive but you get what you pay for and Akai has branded them self by creating high quality equipment and samplers that are the best on the market. All of Akai’s products have a great quality and great sound that anyone can appreciate. If you have used Akai’s products before than using this wont be too hard for you. But if you need the manual its not hard to understand at all and you will be up and running in no time at all.

UTILIZATION

The Akai S6000 has 26 different filter types with 4 and 2 low pass, bandpass and highpass plus man more. All filters can be controlled by all of the assignable program modulation and knobs and you can use and patch up to 14 controllers and tune the sampler into an extremely powerful synthesizer.

SOUNDS

Sounds are great and so are the effects!! I recommend just playing around with it first before even touching the manual. That’s a good way to learn how to self navigate through all of the options and sounds and then if you get stumped you can go back and look in the manual to figure out what to do. So after doing this you will really see the possibilities of the dynamics and options.

OVERALL OPINION

Overall I am a Akai user to the fullest, I love their products and this one is just as great as all of the rest of them. I paid around 1500 and used it for about a year. This product can be compared to the MPC’s with the powerfulness of its sample capabilities. Also with the synth creation of the 5000 , this is a flat out great machine.

Mine is maxed with 256Mb ram (optional), i have a 4.32 Gb SCSI HD attached (optional, i read in forums, that others have 50Gb hd's in theirs), usb-card (optional), standards: 16 outs, FX board, 2 seperate midi in/thru/outs, "virtual hard disk sampling" enables you to play long samples directly via hd.. i don't have a zip drive built in, because of the HD (eventually i will get one though) there have been quite a few bugs in OS 1.0 , that's why the s6000 wasn't THE sampler when it came out, but now at OS 2.14 everything runs smoothly

UTILIZATION

Even without reading the manual (which i still recommend) it's very intuitive and easy to use.. thanks to the detachable big screen (you can just replace the cable with a longer one with a rs-232 connector, but it has to be a straight through cable, NOT a nullmodem cable) you can have the sampler (optional with HD) somewhere in your rack and control everything from the screen.. if you have a kid he will want to trade your screen with his gameboy

i don't have it for a long time, but so far everything was fine.. it's steady built, but i've heard that the intakes that keep the screen in place when attached can break or "fall in".. i never have my screen attached to the sampler (i have a 3m extension cord, so i would have to unplug/plug it back in each time, so i rather have the screen lying next to me on my working area all the time for fast access)

SOUNDS

In my opinion the sound quality is incredible.. i loaded some of my (good quality) kicks into memory and i have never heard them with such pressure..

OVERALL OPINION

In my opinion this is THE sampler (thats not only my opinion, that's what a lot of people say in different forums) and with an internal or external HD and usb board its an ultimate sampling machine

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: baggysound ( 6-, 2005)

Oh Lord where do I even begin? The USB adapter option with the Aksys software package is a MUST. With the recording setup I described above Aksys allows simple drag-n-drop between my PC and the sampler. I drag my recordings to PC and import to Sound Forge, Acid and Cubase. In the PC the multitrack song is built, mixed, and then rendered. The rendered mix dragged back to the sampler for final listen. Playback from HD is a great feature and allows playback of a sample that is the stereo mix of an entire song. 16 analog outputs plus stereo mix. Superb signal routing flexibility here. VERY powerful onboard synth engine with a myriad of superb filters and modulations. I can take a single-cycle sample of a basic waveform and synthesize fat basses and beautiful pads. Programming is excellent using Aksys which provides a graphical UI for all parameters. Makes for a great synth!!! Control panel becomes a wired remote and can sit atop the midi controller keyboard for changing patches and editing while playing live. How cool is that? There are too many other great features to list.

Price paid: $1495.00 USD

UTILIZATION

Without using the PC software it is a breeze to operate the S6000 from it's control panel. After years of not referring to the manual I realized it had been lost. Oh well. I can take samples and edit them just as quickly using the controls as I can using Sound Forge. Getting around the OS is greatly simplified by the HUGE graphic display screen and never having to go more then 2 submenus deep. Now, loading Aksys and controlling the sampler from the PC is really a no-brainer. Even the most technically challenged individual can competantly control this complicated and powerful instrument in no time using Aksys. If you can't figure it out with Aksys I'm sure Carlos Mencia would give you 1st place in his DE DE DE awards

SOUNDS

Hmmm, sound quality? Real simple, the S6000 is THE recording front-end for my studio. All the soundcards I've tried in my PC go back to the store because they DO NOT compare at any sampling rate/bit depth. I now only have an el-cheapo sound card for monitoring purposes. I use the S6000 to record vocals, guitar and organ in addition to my other synths. The setup is simple but functional: Mic > TubePre > S6000 > PC Results are fantastic!

OVERALL OPINION

Dropped the control panel on the floor several times with no ill effects to the display or controls. Build quality is very high. Design is 1st rate and well thought out. Nice amenities such as headphone level control and sampling inputs on the front. All controls, buttons and connectors have a good solidity. Built to last. Mines been with me since I bought it new in 1999. Still looks like new and everything functions like new. Only complaint I have is about the difficulty of installing the internal hard drive. Takes a steady hand!

Can't live without it. I might actually choose it over my wife if it came to that. What else can I say???

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: Somnium7 ( 6-, 2006)