The 1986 Akai S900 / S950 MIDI Digital Sampler Complete Walk-through

video upload by TONELAB

"Well, here it is, finally.. I’m terribly sorry for those that have been waiting patiently, but the ‘lock-downs’ have caused some unforeseen issues that have threw a few hurdles my way. It feels like the S900/S950’s are having another day in the sun and there appears to be a lot of questions being asked about the features. So, while in this very strict lock-down, I decided to put everything I have into a #viewtorial on the S900, a lot of these functions should also work on the S950, but this is in no way a dedicated S950 tutorial, as much as it is 'a sharing of knowledge' for the features that appear on both.

I hope this helps to dispel some rumors and show you how to get around your S900 ..or perhaps, if you’re considering purchasing one, then I hope this helps you understand the kind of workflow you may be getting yourself into. Either way, here’s hoping you can turn confusion into creation with this walk-through of the amazing #S900.

Index
0:00 Intro / History & Specs
4:40 Workflow Concept
5:40 Navigating the S900
9:20 Record Section
9:47 Sample name
10:23 Monitoring
11:00 Sample Type
12:02 Audio Bandwidth
13:10 Recording Time
13:45 Pitch of Sound
14:10 Start With
15:05 Trigger & Rec Level
17:30 Pre-Trigger
18:51 Record Soft Sample
20:30 Record Loud Sample
21:40 01-Edit Sample
22:11 02-Select Program
22:57 03-Loudness Pitch
23:30 04-Replay Mode
23:55 05-Time Direction
24:15 06-Start Point
25:20 07-End Point
26:01 08-Loop Length
26:51 09-Discard
28:00 10-Splice Xfade
29:20 11-Xfade Time
29:38 12-Splice Order
31:54 13-Xfade Loop
33:45 14-VX Time Skew
36:10 15-Create VX
37:55 01-Edit Program
38:45 02-Key Loudness
39:55 03-Keygroups
41:20 04-Vel X-Fade
42:39 05-S Key Range
45:10 06-Filter, Pitch
46:36 07-L Key Range
47:29 08-LFilter, Pitch
47:48 09-Amp Env
50:20 10-Vel Sens
53:44 11-Warp
56:00 12-LFO
57:50 13-LFO A/T Bender
59:09 14-One Shot
1:01:29 15-MIDI Keygroup
1:03:00 16-Output Voices
1:04:24 17-VCF Env
1:06:33 01-Omni
1:07:09 03-MIDI Test
1:08:42 04-Pitch Wheel
1:09:23 RS232
1:10:15 Disk Section
1:12:05 Master Tune
1:12:12 Play Mode
1:13:00 RAM Check


Additional notes worth mentioning:
PB Trigger - I forgot to mention you can connect your compatible Pedal to the bottom right of the front panel. Tapping the Pedal will trigger the Play-Back button the same way as pressing the PB button on the S900s keypad.

The MIDI Section channel offset is an oddball feature..you OFF SET the MIDI channel numbers …that you would be receiving on via the Key-group channel number on the right.


I'm yet to find out what practical use the 'Voice-Out' connector on the rear is about. If anyone has any information on this.. please leave a comment 🤓"