WARNING Precautions Power requirements FOR CUSTOMERS IN THE UK Power requirements for electrical equipment differ from area to area. Please ensure that your machine meets the power requirements m your area. If in doubt. consult a qualified electrician. 120V. 60Hz for USA and Canada 220V. 50Hz for Europe except UK 240V. 50Hz for UK and Australia IMPORTANT FOR YOUR SAFETY What you should know to protect yourself and the Akai S950.
AKAI S950 SAMPLER MANUAL - INTRODUCTION Welcome to the Akai S950 Digital Sampler. This versatile instrument provides the flexibility associated with more expensive machines yet is easy to use once you become familiar with its operation.
There are a variety of options available for the S950 which are discussed later. To fit these, please take your instrument to your local Akai dealer who will either fit them for you or will arrange for an authorized service center to fit them. Trying to fit them yourself will invalidate your warranty. Similarly, any modifications you might make to your S950 will also invalidate your warranty.
3
GETTING STARTED You are probably impatient to hear your new sampler so let's connect it up. Referring to Fig. 1, connect the MIDI OUT of a suitable keyboard to the MIDI IN on the S950 using a standard 5 pin DIN cord. Preferably, to take full advantage of the S950's expressive capabilities, the MIDI keyboard should have pitch bend, modulation wheels and touch sensitivity but don't worry if it hasn't.
CAUTION: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES MUST YOU REMOVE THE DISK WHILE THE RED LIGHT IS ON AS YOU MAY DAMAGE THE DISK OR THE DRIVE. NEITHER MUST YOU TURN THE S950'S POWER OFF WHILST A DISK IS LOADING. After the disk has loaded, you are ready to play your S950 so turn up the volume on the amplifier and play a few notes on the keyboard - you should now hear a sound. To see what other sounds are in the S950, simply turn the grey CONTROL wheel anticlockwise to scroll through the programs.
S950 - AN OVERVIEW The S950 is a digital sampler that has 16-bit processing and 12-bit sampling with a maximum sampling rate of 48kHz. As well as allowing you to use any of the large library of S900 sounds you can also use sounds from the S1000 sample library and double density or high density disks can be used for storing samples. The S950 enables you to sample and play sounds with astonishing clarity and dynamic range and because the bandwidth is variable up to 19.
The most important thing about the S950 is that, despite the incredible versatility of the instrument, it is very easy to use and won't interfere with your music making. Naturally, you would rather play with your new instrument than read a manual but please, read the manual sometime. Even if you've been an S900 user for some time, there is still information in here which will be new to you and there may even be a few surprises.
S9500 - BASIC SAMPLING ARCHITECTURE Before we explore the workings of the S950, let us first see how it functions as there are n few things you need to know about which will make your understanding of the instrument a lot clearer. There are basically two things you can have in the S950 - SAMPLES and PROGRAMS. A sample is a digital recording of a sound. The sound can be anything from a car crash to a flute.
USING THE S950 - THE BASICS There ere 8 basic modes on the S950 which are selected using the 8 buttons that run underneath the display. These are PLAY, REC, EDIT SAMPLE, EDIT PROGRAM, MIDI, UTILITY, DISK and MASTER TUNE. These are all fairly self explanatory and their basic functions are as follows: PLAY - This selects the program you wish to play. Different programs can be viewed using the large grey CONTROL wheel and selected by typing in the appropriate number on the blue keypad.
GETTING ROUND THE S950 Behind the deceptively simple control panel of the S950 lies a wealth of features. As we have seen, the main functions of the S950 are accessed simply by pressing the required button. After that, each mode (with the exception of PLAY and MASTER TUNE) have n number of 'pages' or sub-modes which give you access to further functions. Accessing any of these pages is simple: select any of the page driven modes you wish to work in (i.e. REC, EDIT SAMPLE. EDIT PROGRAM, MIDI, etc.
Of course, there's more to it than that and so we will take you through each mode, control and function in greater detail so that by the time you have read through all this, you will have a greater insight to the fantastic creative possibilities offered to you by the S950.
USING THIS-MANUAL This manual has been written to provide you with all the information you need to fully exploit the facilities on your S950. The sections are not dealt with in any operational order but deal with the eight basic modes of operation as the buttons appear from left to right. Of course, this may not necessarily be the order in which you wish to use the S950 so simply refer to the mode you wish to learn about. At the end of the manual are 'KWIKREF' charts.
ENTERING NAMES You will need to name samples and programs sounds. The S950 allows you to name sounds using ell letters in the alphabet. Numbers and you can also include certain symbols possible to insert spaces in a name. when you begin to create your own of up to 10 upper case characters 0-9 can be used in a name as well such as #, + and -. It is also You will need to name a sound in the REC mode (i.e. when you create a new sample), in EDIT-SAMPLE and in EDIT PROGRAM.
PLAY MODE This is probably the easiest mode to get to know and as good a point to start as any. Basically, it is the mode where you can see what programs-are in the S950 and it is where you can select any one of them. To view all the programs, simply turn the large grey CONTROL wheel - this is called 'scrolling' and will effectively move the programs in memory across the display. You can now select the required program by typing in a number on the blue keypad or via MIDI.
TROUBLESHOOTING There can be occasions where something you do on the S950 does not select the required program. This can be for a number of reasons. For example, it could be that you have ten or more programs in memory and you only typed in a one digit number in which case the S950 will stay on the last selected program. It could be that you select a program correctly but there is no sound. This can be for a number of reasons.
SAMPLING ON THE S950 - USING THE RECORD FUNCTION This is the mode where you actually sample your own sounds into the S950. Many people are frightened by the process of sampling but it is not very difficult as you shall see. To sample on the S950, plug either a microphone into the MIC input or, if you are using a line level signal such as a synthesizer, another sampler, a tape or cassette deck or electric guitar, use the LINE Input. Now press the button marked 'REC'.
The default setting for this page is 1 - Analogue input (l. e. the MIC or LINE input socket on the front panel of the S950). If you are using the IBI05 HARD DISK/CD DAT INTERFACE board, you can select 2 or 3 which will allow you to sample directly from the CD or RDAT's digital or fibre optic output (please refer to the IB105 documentation for information on this).
You can now change this parameter if you wish by simply pressing the appropriate note on the connected MIDI keyboard or controller. You can also use the CONTROL knob but keypad entry is not possible. When you have done this, go to the next page which will read: START SAMPLING WITH - Any key (1) Footswitch (2), Audio level (3) where # indicates the current selection (default is 3). Here you can use the keypad to enter a number as follows: 1 = sampling begins when you hit any key on the keypad.
You will have noticed from all this that most of the pages are set up with the most sensible option as the default setting. You always have to give a new sample a new name but, apart from that, the only main things you will probably need to change are bandwidth, sampling time and the pitch at which the sample is to be recorded. In this way, you can sample your own sounds quickly and easily, often ignoring many of the pages.
5. If the sound is distorted, check that it wasn't overloading the S950. This can be done by returning to the functions that dealt with level setting and play the original sound again to check levels. 6. If 5 checks out o. k., !s the S950 overloading the mixer and/or amplifier or is the amp overloading the speakers? Of course, to check for distortion, remove any effects such as EQ, echo or reverb that may be present on the mixer and/or amplifier.
EDIT SAMPLE The next button along is marked EDIT SAMPLE and. not surprisingly, this is the mode in which you edit your samples and where you can change the start and end points of a sample, reverse the sample, loop the sample, splice two samples together and compress or stretch a sample. You can also copy, rename and delete a sample as well as tune a sample and change its basic pitch. This is all' accomplished using a page driven system as in the REC mode.
Move to the next page using the 'page down' button. It will display: >03 #Loudness #Nom pitch #Fine pitch +00 C3 60 +00 This page allows you to adjust a samples level, its basic pitch and its fine tuning. LOUDNESS: This is where you can adjust the level of the sample so that it matches the level of other samples taken.
To select the mode, move the cursor one position right using the 'cursor >' button and make your selection using the CONTROL knob or the keypad. Now go to the next page using the 'page down' button. This will display: >05 #TIME DIRECTION Normal (1), Reverse (2) # where # is the current setting (default is 1). This page allows you to set whether the sound is played normally or backwards. Try setting it to '2' to hear the sound reversed.
Assuming you have edited the start point to your satisfaction (remember, however, that it is not obligatory to change the start point - if the sample sounds good, leave it alone), you can now move to the next page which will reads >07 END POINT #Coarse #Fine (000,100-###,###) 0,000 where ###,### is the maximum position to which the end point can be adjusted. This is very much the same as page 6 except that here you can edit the end of a sample.
The art of looping is to find two points in the sample which ere of a similar level so that the end of the loop and the start of the loop are matched (see Fig. 2) - this 1s called a ZERO CROSSING POINT. Sometimes, this can be easy to achieve, sometimes it is impossible. To help you with this sometimes tedious task, the S950 has an AUTOLOOP function where the S950's computer will automatically look for a good zero crossing point and loop the sound for you.
CROSSFADE LOOPING allows you to fade out the glitches that may be present In a loop. Basically, when you employ crossfade looping, the sound plays to the end of the sample and then, instead of the sample jumping back to the start of the loop, the sound begins to fade away as the start of the loop fades in. At the end of the loop, the loop again fades away whilst the start fades in (see Fig.
The various functions in Page 08 are as follows: 'Coarse' allows you to set a rough loop length and 'Fine' allows you to set a finer resolution of loop length. The autoloop function is selected using the ENT button when the cursor is in the AUTO field. To set a loop, first move the cursor to the Coarse field by pressing the 'cursor >' button once - the cursor will flash on the first number underneath Coarse.
Note: Because the crossfade loop function requires that you create a new sample, if the S950 already has a memory full of samples, this may not always be possible and the display will tell you that memory space is full. If this occurs, delete some samples (ensuring that they hove first been saved to disk, If necessary! so that you make room for the new crossfade loop sample. The field marked MEM on Page 09 will tell you how much memory the S950 has available for the creation of a new sample.
You can now move to the next page which displays: >12 #Splice crossfade time, (points) (0 0> 1000 This allows you to set (in sample points) the length of time over which the crossfade will occur. To achieve this, move the cursor one position to the right using the 'cursor >' button and enter a suitable value using the keypad or CONTROL knob.
Move to Page 14 using the 'page down' button and the display will read: >14 STRETCH #New name NEW SAMPLE #200% D-time 1000 #Auto D_ 4Monl/Pol2 2 #Do_ As with crossfade looping and splice crossfade, it is necessary to create a new sample so move the cursor one position to the right by pressing the 'cursor >' button and enter a new name in the usual way and hit the ENT button. Now move the cursor one more position right and select the' percentage by which you want to stretch or compress a sample. Note:.
That concludes our examination of EDIT SAMPLE. As always, the default settings in this mode have been well chosen and it is probable that, in the majority of sample editing situations, you will only need to edit start time, end time and looping with the rest of the functions being used for special applications. Having now seen how to sample a sound and edit it, we can now move on to EDIT PROGRAM where we can further refine the sample (s) we have taken.
EDIT PROGRAM Once you have your sample(s) In the S950, you will want to organize that they are properly laid out across the keyboard. All this and done in the EDIT PROGRAM mode using KEYGROUPS. We have already had look at what a keygroup is in the S950 BASIC ARCHITECTURE section manual but before we go on to see what EDIT PROGRAM has in store for us first find out what a keygroup actually is. them so more is a brief of this us, let A keygroup is something into which you place a sample within a program.
When you hit the EDIT PROGRAM button, the first page displayed reads: >01 PROGRAM #Select, Copy #Rename, Delete(-) ########## ########## where ########## 1 s the program name. As in EDIT SAMPLE, this allows you to select a program for editing and to copy, rename and delete a program. if you wish to select a program, move the cursor one position to the right using the 'cursor >' button so that the cursor is flashing on the first letter of the program name.
out resulting in a more consistent tonal change between keygroups. To switch positional crossfade on, move the cursor to where it says OFF end press the ON button. Fig. 1 - Positional crossfade You can now move to the next page using the 'page down' button. This will display: >03 KEYGROUP: #Select ( 0 to #) ^ #Put- #Get_ #Copy (+>, Delete <-> where # is the number of keygroups in the selected program and t is the currently selected keygroup.
To copy a keygroup, simply move the cursor to 'Copy (+>, Delete <->' using the 'cursor )' button and press the ON(+) button - this will copy the currently selected program (note: if your selection is ALL, this function will not copy ell the keygroups). To delete a keygroup, simply press the OFF(-> button and this will delete the selected keygroup. The PUT/GET function available on this page is invaluable in making or editing programs that have similar parameters to other programs.
Note: A setting of 128 will only play the soft sample since 1t is not possible to play a herd sample with a velocity value of more than 128. Similarly, a velocity switch threshold of 000 will only play the hard sample as it is not possible to play a soft sample softer then 000. Now move to Page 05 which will display something like: >05 fSoft sample TONE *KG# at C3 60 Low key CO 24 #Hi key GS 127 where # is the currently selected keygroup.
In this way, you could, for example, transpose the whole program up an octave or any other interval or you could fine tune the program so that it is in tune with other programs in memory. You could also turn the whole program up or down in level to balance the program against other programs. Note: The loudness parameter is a MIDI velocity based parameter. If it is set to +50, keyboard velocity dynamics will have no effect on the keygroups loudness.
Variations on those should be experimented with for a wide range of filter effects. Let us now move to Page 10, the amplitude envelope settings. This page looks like this: >10 ENV ;Attack *Decay *Sustain (Release #KG* 0 80 90 30 where # is the current keygroup selected. This page. is similar to Page 09 except that this envelope generator affects the overall amplitude of the keygroup.
Furthermore, most, if not all acoustic instruments exhibit tonal envelope changes where the tone varies during the course of a note. By providing a separate envelope generator for the filter, we ere also able to imitate these effects as well as set up some interesting, electronic effects. The next page is concerned with the velocity parameters of a keygroup ° l,e how keyboard dynamics will affect the sound.
RELEASE: This allows you to control release time using keyboard velocity. A setting of +00 will have no effect whilst settings of +50 will give the effect that releasing the keys quickly will give long release times. Values of down to -50 will have the reverse effect and release time will be shorter when you take your fingers off the keyboard quickly.
DEPTH: This sets the amount of LFO sweep. 0 = no effect with modulation depth increasing with higher numeric values. With any value higher than 1, the LFO effect will be n permanent part of the sound. RATE: This sets the speed of the LFO pitch sweep. 0 = very slow and the LFO rate gets faster as you increase the settings (note: the ranges of 30-45 are recommended for typical vibrato effects). DELAY: ,This sets the time it takes for the LFO to fade in with its effect.
The ONE-SHOT function caters for use of the 5950 with certain drum machines whose note on message is so fast, it cannot trigger samples in the 5950 properly. If you have such s drum machine and don't get a sound even though everything seems to be working o. k., switch this to ON as this may cure the problem. If it doesn't, you may have some other problem.
Using this page, it is possible to set up whole multi-timbral configurations and these can be saved to disk for instant retrieval. You can also have the individual Instruments within this program available as separate programs for normal playing on the same disk giving you extra flexibility. Note: If OMNI is switched to ON In the main MIDI mode. the MIDI ch field on this page will show 'ALL' For multl-tlmbral sequencing as described above, OMI must be switched to OFF In the MIDI mode.
MIDI FUNCTIONS Next to the EDIT PROGRAM button is the MIDI button and here you can set the basic 'global' MIDI parameters for the 5950. To access the MIDI pages, press the MIDI button and the display will read: >01 *Basic MIDI channel (O1 to 16) 1 *Omni on/off ON These are the default settings if you turn the S950 on with no disk inserted. It tells you that OMNI is switched to ON (i.e. it will receive all MIDI channels and so will operate with the MIDI controller regardless of its setting).
controllers MIDI channel, she 'Key' field will display the note played and the 'Velocity' field will display the velocity value with which the key was struck. The uses of this page are many. You can use it to troubleshoot, checking that the 5950 is actually receiving MIDI, what notes and velocity the MIDI controller is sending and whether it corresponds to the MIDI channel settings of the 5950.
The next page is concerned with the 5950's ability to be controlled using the RS232 muitipin port found on the rear of the unit. This allows the S950 to be controlled by computer for sample editing, etc., instead of MIDI. The display for this page rends: )05 Control by MIDI (1) RS232 (2> 1 tRS232 Baud rate 9600 ACTUAL: 9615 This is the default setting and the display shows that the 5950 is set for MIDI operation.
If the 5950 is not responding to program change over MIDI, check that it is set to respond to this on Page 04. I f i t is not, switch i t to ON. I f the problem still persists, then, once again. the fault lies in your MIDI controller. Alternatively, it could be that the MIDI program number has not been correctly matched in Page 02 of EDIT PROGRAM (see EDIT PROGRAM for more information). If you are sequencing the 5950 (but not multi-timbrally) you may get the following problems. 1.
UTILITY MODE This button allows access to programming the Akni ME35T Audi-MIDI converter which allows you trigger samples from audio sources or drum pads. The most common application of this is to use microphones on a drum kit to trigger drum or percussion samples. This would necessitate each drum having its own microphone each of which would be used to trigger the samples. Another similar application is to use drum sounds on a multitrack tape to trigger samples in the 5950 to replace drum sounds on tape.
V-Curve: This allows you to choose from between 8 velocity response curves to match your own playing technique to the ME35T's triggering functions. Page 03 displays further parameters: >03 #Input 1 #Capture time 3 mS #Recovery time 20 mS These parameters relate to the following functions: Input: This selects the required audio/pad input channel for editing. Capture time: This sets in milliseconds the time before another input signal can retrigger a sample.
DISK LOADING AND SAVING - THE DISK DRIVE This is a very important part of the Akai 5950 as it allows you to load sounds for playback and editing. It also enables you to save the fruits of your labours onto disk. Because the-S950 will lose the contents of its memory when power is switched off, we cannot stress the importance of saving your work to disk. Also, it's a good idea to periodically save your work to disk in the event of accidental power loss or unforeseen problems.
Note 3: The 5950 loads ell programs first. If you use en S1000 disk, it could be that the 5950 will load all the programs but the samples relating to those programs may not be loaded. If this happens, when you go to PLAY, you will be able to choose any of the many programs but not all of them will make a sound because the samples contained within them are not present. Note 4: If the memory expansion boards are fitted, the percentage display changes as appropriate.
The next page allows you to load either an individual program or an individual program with its relevant samples. Press the 'page down' button and the display will show: >03 LOAD PROGRAM (ENT) #PR only _ M Ox *name *########~R APR 3 samples where ########## is the currently selected program name. This page is invaluable as it allows you to use a program off disk and load that without its samples to use as a template for a program using the samples currently in the 5950's memory.
This page also allows you to load all the samples on a disk into memory but without the program information. To do this, move the cursor one more position right to the 'All samples' field and press ENT - this will load all the samples on that disk into memory. Once again, if there is insufficient memory space in the S950, the display will give you the usual 'OOOPS! Memory sample space full' message. The next pages are concerned with SAVING data onto disk.
It is also possible to erase samples or programs off disk and this is done on Page 08. >08 ERASE FROM *Sample VOLUME (ENT) *Progrm ~~at~R~ Vol 76% To erase a program or sample, simply move the cursor to the appropriate field using the 'cursor >' button and, using the CONTROL knob, scroll through the programs or samples on disk until you find the one you wish to erase and then press ENT which will erase it from the disk.
In any of the pages 05 to 10, when you try to save anything onto a disk or format a disk that has been write-protected the display will read: OOPS! Disk is write protected. Take it out and close the switch in the corner and all the mode lights will flash. This is telling you that you cannot save onto this disk because the tab in the bottom left of the disk has been opened. By closing this tab, you will be able to save to disk and format.
DISK HANDLING Disks are very important pieces of equipment for anyone who owns a sampler and they represent many hours of work. As a result, it is important that you take good care of your disks to ensure reliable operation. Always use branded, high quality disks. Failure to do so may result in corrupted data on the disk preventing it from loading properly. Cheap disks can also damage the heads and we cannot guarantee reliable operation.
Note: If your disk is damaged in any way and the disk drive is unable to load the data, the 5950 will display: OOPS! Bed data from disk .............. and ell the red mode lights will flash. If this happens, I t may not be as bad as you think because 1 t is quite possible for gust the lest sample or the lest few samples on a disk to be" corrupted end the rest of the disk may have loaded sucessfully.
APPENDIX
5950 - K4IIKREF PROCEDURE CHART. As we have seen throughout this manual, every mode within the 5950 has a default value. All of these have been sensibly chosen so that you can get on with your work with the minimum of button pushing and data entry. What follows now is a quick reference chart that will guide you through the most important functions in any of the S950's moaes of operation.
FOR MORE SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS IN ALL THESE MODES, PLEASE REFER TO THE RELEVANT SECTION OF THIS MANUAL 62
5950 - OPTIMUM BANDWIDTH KWIKREF CHART The 5950 has a continously variable bandwidth. As a result, it is possible to sample each and every sound with a different bandwidth thereby optimising the sound quality and available memory. This KWIKREF chart lists the optimum bandwidth of a variety of commonly used sounds. Using this as a guide to your own sampling will enable you to get more samples into the S950.
You will note that these bandwidth figures are approximate. Of course, you may require higher or lower bandwidths than those shown for certain instruments - it all depends entirely on the tone of the instrument you are sampling. If it is bright, It may require a higher bandwidth than the one recommended but if the sound is relatively mellow, you might like to try a lower bandwidth setting. The best thing to do is experiment.
ADVANCED APPLICATIONS We have now covered the basic operation procedures on the 5950 but there is so much more that we can do with samples and programs once they are in the instrument. This section will take you through some of the more advanced possibilities available on the 5950. In EDIT PROGRAM you can create all sorts of keyboard splits and layering effects and the various processing possibilities allow the creation of chorus and other effects.
For example, with a simple string program with gust one keygroup, to thicken the sound, simply make a copy of that keygroup in Page 03 and then detune it in Page 06. In a more complicated mufti-sample program that has, for example, four keygroups, copy KG1 to create a new keygroup, KGS, copy KG2 so the you create another new keygroup, KG6, copy KG3 so that you create another keygroup, KG7 and copy KG4 to create KGB. Now detune keygroups 5-8 slightly.
For example, say you have a sample but the loop is not that good and, despite your attempts to improve it, you still can't get rid of a slight glitch or tremolo effect, you can use the LFO to disguise the effects of this loop by adding some vibrato to that sample. You will probably want to set the LFO so that it is having effect constantly so you will want to set the LFO Depth to around 3 or 4 for a hint of continuous vibrato.
It is also possible to control attack time using velocity and this can be put to a number of expressive uses. For example, you may have n flute sample with a very percussive 'blowy' attack but you may not always want that attack to sound on every note.
This technique can be extended by layering the same sample on top of itself and then transposing one sample up two octaves and setting the transposed sound to fade in slowly. Alternatively, you could layer guitar feedback effect on top of a distorted guitar sample and. have the feedback fade in slowly. As you will have guessed.
Of course, you may not have access to a mixer and so you will want to use the MIX output. If this is the case. you can mix the various instruments and control tone in Page 06 of EDIT PROGRAM. Note: however you sequence your 5950, ensure that total polyphony never exceeds B voices at any time. In particular, take care if you are using-any layered programs as these will reduce the available polyphony of the sampler.
USING MIDI VOLUME CONTROL ON THE S950 There exists in the MIDI specification a special MIDI control code number 07 which allows you to remotely control the volume of the 5950 from another MIDI controller. This can be switched in and out using Page 04 in the MIDI mode. This has a variety of uses. Firstly, you can use a MIDI footpedal to control volume. Assuming your synth or MIDI keyboard has such a facility, you can simultaneously control the volume of both the 5950 and the synth using the fOOtpedal.
Note: before you can do this, the program has to have been created and the sample name used in REC or the sample currently selected for editing has to have been placed within that program. For example, if the sound you are sampling or editing is called SNARE 1 but the program DRUMS 1 does not contain that name in any of its keygroups, you will not be able to effectively monitor the sample you are working on.
You can also edit the end point on looped sounds without affecting the loop in some cases. Let us say that you are editing a sample and have effectively looped it in Page 08. You can now go back to Page 07 and move the end point back. Play the sound repeatedly as you edit the end point and you will find that you will be able to edit out quite a large chunk of the sound before the loop is affected. You can now go to Page 10 and discard the unwanted portion of the sample.
5950 - SPECIFICATIONS System: Sampling rate: Bandwidth: Sampling time: Polyphony: Data storage: Internal memory: Max number of samples: Max number of programs: Digital sampling (12-bit sampling/16-bit processing) 7.5kHz - 48.OkHz (continuously variable) 3kHz - 19.2kHz (continuously variable) 9.89 sets - 03.3 sees 8 Voice 3.
MIDI DIGITAL SAMPLER Nodes 5950 MIDI Implementation Chart Transmitted Recognized Function ... Basic Default ~ X 1 Channel Changed ~ x 1 - 16 Default ~ Mode x Mode 1 Mode 1 - 4 Messages X Omni on/off.
WHAT IS SAMPLING' Sampling is a method of digital recording but, unlike digital tape recorders, a sampler can only record a short amount of sound. Basically, a sampler is a bit like a movie camera. As you know, a movie camera does not take one continuous photograph of a moving object but takes a whole pile of snapshots which, when played back at the right speed, gives the illusion of motion. Similarly with sampling.
FIG. 2. Digitising an analogue waveform with a low sampling rate But this needn't concern you too much because you can rest safe in the knowledge that the 5950's sampling rate is up there with the big boys sampling away at 48kHz giving you a maximum bandwidth of 19.2kHz - it's only when you want to sample longer sounds that you may have to compromise on audio quality by bringing the sampling rate down and hence the bandwidth.
So, once those numbers are in the sampler, you can EDIT the sample. Here, you can instruct the computer to mess around with the data rather like you can use a word processor to edit text. The most basic thing you tell it to do is to actually play the sound.
You will notice that as you transpose the sample more than a few semitones up or down, the tonal characteristic starts to sound, well.. weird! This !s especially true of voice samples where playing higher up the keyboard produces a sound not unlike some cheeky cartoon character whilst playing it lower on the keyboard, your voice sound like a space alien with indigestion! This happens because certain sounds have unique resonances in certain frequency ranges and these stay constant on the real thing.
WHAT IS MIDI? Back in the early days of synthesizers, a system known as voltage control was used. Basically, when you played a note on the keyboard, you sent a voltage to voltage controlled oscillators and the value of that voltage determined the pitch of the oscillators.
For example, play a note on the keyboard and the other instrument will play that same note. Use the pitch bend wheel or modulation wheel and the other synth will also respond. Furthermore, select a different sound on the controlling synth and the other synth will change its sound also. Of course, sometimes this is not always desirable and so it is possible to switch off certain MIDI functions if you wish. This is MIDI at its simplest and allows you layer two or more synths to create a richer sound. FIG. 1.
But why have 16 MIDI channels? Well, the real power of MIDI is in sequencing. A sequencer can record MIDI information on all 16 MIDI channels and it is possible for a sequencer to record a drum part on MIDI channel 1, a bass part on MIDI channel 2, a piano part on MIDI channel 3, a string part on MIDI channel 4, a brass part on MIDI channel 5 with maybe a leadline melody on MIDI channel 6.
FIG. 2b Connecting a MIDI sequences to MIDI synths using the Akal ME30PIl But there is even more to MIDI than that. At its simplest level, you can layer one instrument on top of another to create a richer sound. At a slightly higher level, you can use a sequences to control as many as 16 synths or samplers and to synchronise drum machines where each instrument plays a different musical part. There's an even higher level known as SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE.
ADDENDUM FOR S950 MANUAL The 5950 is not capable of recognizing sounds that were defined as soft samples on an 5950 (i.e. any samples that have the "j<" symbol after the sample name). What happens is that the S950 places the start point at the end of a soft sample so that it cannot be heard. This is not a fault of the 5950 and your 5950 or disk is not defective in any way. To rectify this, go to EDIT SAMPLE and select the soft sample (i.e. GTR DI X) and go to the "EDIT START POINT" page.
ADDENDUM TO THE OWNER'S MANUAL AKAI S900 DIGITAL SAMPLER INITIATING SAMPLE DUMP FROM THE FRONT PANEL OF THE S900 A feature of the S900 which is not covered in the owner's manual is its ability to send and receive samples through MIDI. This will allow you to transfer sounds from one sampler to another device (sampler, computer, etc.) directly through the MIDI interface, instead of sampling the audio output. Note: The S900 does not support the MIDI Sample Dump Standard (SDS).
