The lightning flash with the arrowhead symbol superimposed across a graphical representation of a person, within an equilateral triangle, is intended to alert the user to the presence of uninsulated "dangerous volts"" within the product's enclosure: that may be of sufficient. magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shack. The exclamation point within an equilateral triangle Is Intended to alert the user to the presence of important operating end maintenance (servicing) Instructions fn the literature accompanying the appliance.
"This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class B limits (a radio noise emissions from digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference Regulations of the Canadian Department of Communications"
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. It took many months of intensive development to produce the S950 and it will take some time and practice for you to master this advanced instrument but the reward for your efforts will be the opportunity to make creative and exciting music using the latest in sampling technology. No-one can deny the impact sampling has had on the way we make music - it could be argued that it is as revolutionary as the invention of the synthesizer itself. The Akai S900 was the first sampler that brought affordable, studio quality sampling in an easy to use and flexible rack mounting format to many musicians and studios the world over becoming an industry standard by which all other samplers were compared. The new S950 !s the successor to that sampler and combines the benefits of improved technology with all the best features and software updates of the S900 plus all those features that people wanted to see on the S900 such as higher bandwidth, expandable memory, etc. We are sure you will enjoy using your S950 for many years. But first, let's take care of the unit. If the unit is going to be kept in a rack full of other equipment in a studio, it's a good idea to make sure there is some ventilation around it if you can. This can be done by leaving a 1U gap on top of the S950- which can be filled in with a blank rack panel. This will prevent any overheating of the unit. If you are going to be transporting the S950, especially if you are gagging with a band, we recommend the use of a sturdy flight case to protect your investment. Once again, if it's in a rack with other gear, leave a gap. If you don't have a flight case, you can use the box the unit came in when transporting your S950. When you are transporting the S950, ensure that either the supplied disk protector or a blank disk is inserted in the disk drive to protect the disk drive's delicate heads. If the unit gets dirty, you can clean it with a warm, damp cloth and some mild detergent but do not use any strong solvents or you will ruin the finish. If your S950 develops a fault, there are no user serviceable parts inside so don't open the unit up in the unlikely event of anything going wrong. This will invalidate your warranty as well as potentially damaging the instrument further. You may also get an electric shock. Please refer the unit to your local Akai dealer who will have it repaired by an authorized repair center. If any liquid is spilled into the instrument, turn !t off at the mains supply do not try to switch it off at the front panel as you may get an electric shock. Do not open it up to try and clean it but take it to your local Akai dealer. Under no circumstances open the unit up if it is connected to the mains supply even if the unit is switched off as you may get an electric shock.

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. Once you have a sample or a collection of samples in the S950, you want to be able to play it from the keyboard (or any other MIDI controller such as a MIDI drum, guitar or wind controller or a MIDI sequencer). To do this, the sample<s> must be placed in KEYGROUPS and these allow you to map the sample out across the keyboard within a PROGRAM.
FIG. 1 Basic sampling architecture of the S950 - samples into keygroups mapped out across the keyboard range within a program
The simplest program you can create is to have one sample that spans the entire keyboard range. Alternatively, you could assign that one sample to dust one key or you could have any number of keygroups assigned to individual keys with separate samples in each of them. You could also have a program which uses two samples, one spanning the bottom two octaves, the other spanning the top three octaves. It is also possible to have two samples in one keygroup each of which are sounded using keyboard dynamics where soft keystrikes plays the one sample and hard keysstrikes play the other - this !s known as VELOCITY SWITCHING. Having done that, each keygroup can have its own envelope shaping, filtering, fine tuning, vibrato and pitch sweep effects, individual output assignment and each keygroup can have its own MIDI channel and even the simplest sample can be radically transformed within a program. Furthermore, because any changes made to an individual samples keygroup within a program do not affect the actual sample data itself but are only sound processing functions, you can have many, many variations of one sample to create an even greater range of sounds which can be recalled at the touch of a button. But, how does all this work? Let's find out.
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. Alternatively, programs can be recalled via MIDI from the connected MIDI keyboard. REC - This is where you do your sampling. There are a number of 'pages' in this mode which you can scroll through using either the CONTROL wheel, the keypad or the PAGE UP/DOWN buttons to the right of the blue keypad. In this mode you can name a sample, set sampling time and bandwidth and set the key onto which the sample is to be recorded. EDIT SAMPLE - This also has a number of pages which are similarly selected using the CONTROL wheel, the keypad or the page up/down buttons. This is the mode where you can tune a sample, edit the start and end of a sample, reverse the sample, loop a sample, splice two samples together and stretch or compress samples. In this mode, also, you can copy, delete and rename samples. EDIT PROGRAM - This !s the mode-in which you can map out your samples across the keyboard as well as add envelope shaping, filtering and fine tuning. You can also add a special pitch sweep feature called WARP and, in this mode, you can set things like LFO,. MIDI channels, individual output assignments, etc. You can also copy, rename and delete programs. This mode, too, has a number of pages which are selected as above. MIDI - As you would imagine, this allows you to set the 'global' MIDI parameters of the S950 such as its basic receive channel, pitch bend and other MIDI related parameters. UTILITY - This allows you to program an Akai ME35T audio/drum pad-MIDI converter for triggering samples. DISK - This allows you to select different disk drive operations such as loading and saving. MASTER TUNE - This allows you to fine tune the S950 to other instruments.

The other controls on the front panel of the S950 include the large grey CONTROL knob. This is used for a variety of purposes depending what mode you are in. It can be used to scroll through displayed programs or it can select pages in the different modes. It can also be used for data entry and for naming samples and programs. There is also a large 0-9 keypad which can be used to input data whilst the 8 buttons to the right of.the keypad enable you to move the cursor around the screen using the ARROW/CURSOR < and > buttons, to select pages using the PAGE UP/DOWN buttons. There are two ON/OFF buttons which also double as +/- keys for certain applications and there are two keys to allow you to name samples and programs. Finally there the ENT button which 'is used to enter data and the PB or 'playback' button which can be used to play back a sample without the need to use a MIDI keyboard or controller.
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.) by pressing the appropriate button underneath the main LCD display. To go to another page, you can either press the PAGE DOWN button located to the right of the blue keypad or you can scroll through the pages using the CONTROL knob. In EDIT SAMPLE, EDIT PROGRAM. MIDI, UTILITY and DISK, because the pages are actually numbered, when the cursor is in the top left hand corner of the LCD display (i.e. flashing on the page number), you can type in a two digit number on the blue numeric keypad which will take you straight to the page you wish to work on. To further help you with this type of page access, there is a chart underneath the mode buttons which list the most commonly used pages in EDIT SAMPLE, EDIT PROGRAM and DISK. As you become more familiar with the S950, you will be skipping back and forth between pages almost instinctively. To further help you with programming and editing, there is a button marked 'Space' to the right of the keypad. This has two functions. In the 'letter' mode, it is used to enter a space into a name (see ENTERING NAMES) but, when you are in any of the main modes of operation it allows you to switch between two positions very quickly. This is done by going to a page-in any of the modes and making some form of data entry.' Now move to another page and make another data entry. By pressing the space button, you will be taken back to where you made your first data entry and pressing the space button again will take you to the place where you made your second data entry. Data entry in all modes can be made in any number of ways. Some functions require a numeric input - this can be done using the CONTROL knob or the blue 0-9 keypad. Some functions allow only keypad entry of data whilst others require that you use the ON(+)/OFF(-) buttons. To get to any of the data entry fields in any of the pages, you use the CURSOR > button located to the top right next to the keypad to move -left to right across the LCD display. You can also use the CURSOR < button to move back a field (i.e. right to left). When you are in the field in which you want to make your change, you enter data using any of the methods described above. Don't worry if this all seems complicated as this manual will take you through these functions step by step and soon you will discover how easy it is to create your own samples and programs on the S950.

where ## is the currently selected value (the default value is C3). 17
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. 2 = sampling begins when you press a footswitch connected to the S950's REC/PB footswitch input on the front panel. 3 = sampling begins when the incoming signal exceeds a threshold level set on the next page. The most commonly used mode is 3 - Audio level and, as the default is set for this, you do not normally need to change anything so you can go to the next page which will read: KNOB SETS TRIG LEVEL. ANY KEY WHEN READY T. In this page, the lower half of the display now serves as a bar-graph input level meter to indicate the incoming signal level. The 'T' Is the THRESHOLD level and is set using the CONTROL knob. The idea is to set the threshold relatively low so that, as soon the incoming signal exceeds the level set by the 'T', sampling begins but be careful not to set it too low so that sampling is falsely initiated by background noise or whatever. Similarly, do not set it too high as you may miss part of the sounds attack, especially if the sound has a slow attack. You must now set the record level. To do this, play the sound you wish to sample and adjust the REC LEVEL control on the front panel. You ideally want to set it so that the bar-graph display is just touching the series of dots in the bottom right of the display. These dots indicate overload and driving the signal too far into this region of the display will cause distortion. To hear the incoming signal, adjust the MONITOR LEVEL control on the front panel. (NOTE: YOU WILL ONLY HEAR THE INCOMING SIGNAL THROUGH THE S950 IF THE MONO MIX OUTPUT IS USED.) Once you are satisfied with the incoming signal level, hit any key on the blue keypad and play the sample. As soon as signal level exceeds the threshold, sampling will begin. When you do this the display will change. The top half of the display will be filled with arrows as sampling time elapses. Note that the 'T' also changes to a '#'. Once the sampling is completed, you will be returned to the above display. You can now play the sample by playing a note on the connected MIDI keyboard or controller. If you don't have a keyboard or controller connected, you can go to the next page which will display: HIT ENT TO PLAY and pressing ENT will cause the sample to sound for its entire duration. You have just successfully sampled a sound. 18

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. The first page you encounter when you press EDIT SAMPLE reads: >01 #Select. Copy ########## SAMPLE #Rename, Delete (-) ############# where ########## is the currently selected sample name. This page allows four options and you can select a sample for editing, copy a sample, rename a sample and delete a sample. To select a sample, press the 'cursor >' button (found to the right of the blue keypad) once so that the cursor is flashing on the top line on the first letter of the sample name. Using the grey CONTROL knob, you can scroll through the samples present in the S950's memory. Once you have found the sample you wish to edit, press ENT. To copy a sample the cursor must be at the same' place as above and all you need to do is press the LETTER button and name a sound as described in REC and ENTERING A NAME. Once this has been done, press ENT. To rename a sample, select the sample to be renamed as described above and press ENT then, by pressing the 'cursor >' button once, move the cursor so that it is flashing on the first character of the sample displayed on the bottom line of the LCD display (this should be the same as the sample name in the top line). Now press LETTER and give the sample its new name as described above. When you have done that, press ENT and the top line will change to display the new samples name. To delete a sample, making sure the cursor is on the too line; first select the sample to be deleted and press ENT. Now move the cursor to the bottom line using the 'cursor >' button and press the '-' button followed by ENT. This will delete the currently selected sample from memory. (Note that this procedure is destructive and unless you have saved the sample to disk, this sample will be lost forever. We suggest that, unless you are absolutely positive about deleting the sample, you save it to disk before deleting it from the S950's memory just in case.) You can now move to the next page using the 'page down' buttons. The next page will display: >02 Select program Monitor This is the same as the page we found in the REC mode and it allows you to monitor either the sample directly or in context with a program. The most common mode is 'monitor' but, if you want to edit the currently selected sample in conjunction with the program in which it is placed, press the 'cursor >' button to move the cursor one position and scroll through the programs using the CONTROL wheel (refer to the ADVANCED APPLICATIONS GUIDE for more information on this).

By controlling these parameters, it Is possible to recreate the envelopes of a wide range of acoustic instruments as well as create some unusual synthesised effects.
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. The display reads: >il VLCTY Loudness 30 (Attack 0 #KG# SENS Filter 10 #OFF* Release +00 where # is the current keygroup selection. The parameters function as follows: LOUDNESS: This allows you set the amount with which velocity will affect a keygroups volume. With a setting of 00, velocity will have no effect whilst a setting of 99 will make that keygroup extremely sensitive to velocity. Default is 30 and gives an average range of velocity extremes. FILTER: This allows you to modify tone using keyboard velocity. It is common on most acoustic instruments that their tone will be brighter if played harder. Similarly, tone is usually softer if the sound is played quietly. Using this parameter, you can duplicate this effect using keyboard velocity. As above, 00 represents no effect and 99 represents the most sensitive. (Note: If the FILTER setting !n Pages 06 and 08 are set to 99, this parameter will have no effect, however high you set it. To hear the effect, reduce the FILTER setting in Pages 06 and 08). ATTACK: This allows you to control the envelope generators attack time using velocity. This can be especially useful on woodwind and string sounds where attack time varies with dynamics. With a setting of 0, no effect will be heard whilst a setting of 99 will have the most effect. (Note., If attach times are set to 00 on pages 09 end 10, this parameter will have no effect. To hear velocity control of attack time, set the envelope generators attack times to around 20 et least). 39

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. This is particularly useful for natural vibrato effects if yuu are not able to use the modulation wheel. DESYNC: There are no less than 8 LFO's in the S950, one for each voice. When DESYNC Is ON, these LFO's run slightly out of phase with each other allowing you to create more natural ensemble vibrato effects. With DESYNC OFF, the LFO's are phase locked and so produce LFO effects more like those found on synthesizers that normally only have one LFO to affect all voices. DESYNC is switched on or off using the ON and OFF buttons.
The next page, Page 14, is also to do with the LFO and looks like this: >14 LFO DEPTH #Aftertouch *Mod wheel IKG# where # is the current keygroup selection. This page allows you to add vibrato and other LFO effects over and above those set in the DEPTH field on Page 13 using aftertouch (if your keyboard generates it, of course) and/or the modulation wheel. The display shown is the default and so will not require much, if any editing. As you would assume, higher values on either of these parameters increases the amount of effect either aftertouch or the mod wheel will have on the introduction of LFO effects. The next page allows you to control tone over the keyboard range as well as turn the keyboard off and looks like this: >15 *Key-filter ;Const pitch *One-shot *KG# 50 OFF OFF where, once again, # !s the current keygroup selection. KEY-FILTER is similar to the 'keyboard track' control available on every analogue synthesizer and this allows you to vary the tonal balance across the keyboard. This can be useful when using certain samples that 'screech' in the upper reaches of their range or samples that are noisy when played a few octaves down. By setting a higher key-filter setting, the sound will get mellower further up the keyboard. A setting of 00 has no effect on the sound. The default is 50 and can usually be left. The CONST PITCH field allows you to effectively turn the keyboard off so that it will have no effect on the pitch of the sample. This can be useful in a number of ways. Far example, with a drum program, it is often desirable to place certain drums over a small range of notes in order to play rolls and fill more easily. Unfortunately, if you do this, the pitch of the drum changes so by switching CONST PITCH to ON, the pitch of these drums will remain constant regardless of what note you play. 41

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. Of course, for normal playing of programs. It could be that you don't need to change a programs MIDI channel so Page 16 can be often ignored and the programs overall MIDI channel can be set in the main MIDI mode. (For further information on setting the 5950's main MIDI channel and for setting OMNI refer to the section on the MIDI mode.)
The last page in EDIT PROGRAM is concerned with keygroups to separate outputs. The display shows:

assigning

individual
>17 (OUTPUT Al1(00), Mono (01-08) IKG# VOICES) Left(09), Right(10) 0 where * is the currently selected keygroup. To assign a keygroup to an output, move the cursor one position to the right using the 'cursor >' button so that it is on the KG field and select the required keygroup. Press 'cursor >' again so that it is on the output assign field and make your data entry using the CONTROL knob or the keypad. This will assign that keygroup to the chosen output.
As in nearly all the various modes in the S950, there are many default settings which have been sensibly chosen to optimise the units performance. Because of this, it is often possible to create a program from scratch ignoring many of the pages thereby making program editing and creation far quicker and easier. With more familiarity with the unit, you will soon discover the versatility of the S950 and how important EDIT PROGRAM is in the creation of good sounds.
That concludes our look at EDIT PROGRAM. As you can see, there are a lot of advanced features contained within it that allow you to get the best out of your samples. We will look at other uses for EDIT PROGRAM in the ADVANCED APPLICATIONS GUIDE which will show you how to~layer sounds, create split keyboard programs, use the LFO and WARP functions and how to use the individual outputs to the full.
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

All these pages' parameters are selected and edited in the usual way. Move the cursor using the 'cursor 7.and/or <' buttons to the appropriate field and input data using the CONTROL wheel or the blue keypad. All parameters set here can be stored to disk along with the samples, program and MIDI information. Note: for further information on the hfE35T's parameters, please refer to Its manual.
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. The 5950 allows you to use both double density (DD) and high density (HD) disks. The basic 5950 without memory expansion allows you to store a complete memory's worth onto one DD disk. If you have a memory expansion board fitted, you will either have to spread the memory's contents over 2 or more DD disks. This is quite an acceptable practice but it can become tedious when you have to load as many as three disks to fill the 5950's memory. Better still would be to use HD disks with their extra storage capacity, Of course, the best method of storing sounds is to use a hard disk drive. Not only would this allow you to store vast amounts of sounds but loading and saving samples takes a fraction of the time of a normal floppy disk. As well as being possible to load any disk from the large 5900 library, it is also possible to load S1000 disks into the 5950 so that you can use the fabulous library created for that instrument. Insert a disk into the disk drive and press the DISK button and the first page displayed reads as follows: >01 VOLUME #Slct,create Floppy S#x## fHDcontl #Hdrivel Rename Floppy 76% This page does two things. Firstly, in the top right corner (S####> it shows whether an S900 or SI000 disk has been inserted and the bottom right hand of the display shows that disks contents as a percentage-of the Sg50's memory capacity. Note 1: If a disk is not Inserted when you press DISK the display will show: OOPS! Disk not mounted.
end ail red lights above the mode buttons will flash. To stop this, either press another-of the mode buttons CI, e. PLAY, EDIT SAMPLE, EDIT PROGRAM or whatever) or insert a disk end press DISK again. Note 2: If an 51000 dish is inserted, the memory percentage display may show a percentage value higher than 100x. This will indicate that the contents of the disk are larger than the S950's internal memory capacity. You can 1 oed such a disk but not ell the contents will 1 oed end when the 5950 Is full, the display will show: OOPS! Memory sample space is full..

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.
MASTER TUNE Without doubt, this is the easiest mode to understand and it is here that you can tune the S950 to different instruments. To tune the S950, press MASTER TUNE and use the CONTROL knob to adjust pitch up or down so that it is tune with other instruments. And that's it! ,Vote: If the tuning range in this page is not wide enough, you. can tune samples up or down in either Page 03 of EDIT SAMPLE or in Page 06 of EDIT PROGRAM end these tunings can be saved to disk.

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. Take e sample at your seler,ted bandwidth and play it back from the MIDI controller comparing it with the original. If it sounds at ail muffled, try a higher bandwidth but if it sounds good, save that sample end try taking another at a lower bandwidth to see if you can save even more memory. If the results of that don't sound too good, recall the original. Note: to save even more valuable memory in your 5950, don't forget the DISCARD BEFORE START/AFTER END function on Page !0 of EDIT SAMPLE.

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. Of course, this won't always work 100% because of the nature of some sounds but it is something you can experiment with - if it doesn't work, revert to the original end point.
Hopefully, all this should give you an insight to the amazing creative possibilities offered by the Akai 5950 and we hope also that it will act as a catalyst for you to experiment and create and edit your own samples and programs. Naturally, there is a large library of S900 and 51000 samples available from your dealer but these sounds can be personalised to your own tastes and then expanded even further using some of the techniques outlined above.
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 3.5 inch disk drive (DD and HD disks) 750k Byte 99 99
Editing facilities: Sample: Select, copy, rename, delete Replay mode Cone shot, looping, alternating) Start point (with AUTO START POINT LOCATE) End point Loop length (with AUTOLC!OP function) Crossfade looping Resample at half bandwidth Discard before start/after end Sample crossfade/splice Timestretch Cup to 999%) Transpose, tune and loudness Program: Select, copy, rename, delete Individual keygroup copy, delete PUT/GET function allows keygroups to be copied from other programs Velocity switching with variable switch value Positional crossfade Individual keygroup control of loudness, filter, transpose and fine tune Individual filter ADSR envelope generator per keygroup Individual amplitude ADSR envelope generator per keygroup Individual LFO control per keygroup Mod wheel and aftertouch control of LFO Warp - automatic pitchbend per keygroup (with velocity control) Individual keygroup velocity control of loudness, filter ADSR attack time, ADSR release time Individual keygroup control of filter track, constant pitch (keyboard on/off) Individual keygroup assignment to outputs Individual MIDI assignment per keygroup Other: Akai ME35T audio/pad-MIDI converter control Master tune Outputs: Mono mix, left and right, 8 individual assignable outputs Inputs: Mic, Line Other: MIDI IN, OUT and THRU. RS232 or equivalent Record.trigger in Options: Memory expansion board (EXM006> X 2 Atari/Supra-CD/RDAT hard disk and digital audio interface Dimensions: 482.6CW) X 132.6(H) X 410 <D>mm <EIA rack mount - 3U> Weight: 10.8kg

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. At the same time, the keyboard sent out a pulse (known as a trigger or gate pulse) to devices known as envelope generators which also produced a rising and falling voltage which would sweep through a voltage controlled filter and open and close a voltage controlled amplifier. A device known as a low frequency oscillator also generated rising and falling voltages and this could be routed to the oscillators, filter and/or amplifier for pitch, tonal and amplitude sweeps. Most synths at that time were only monophonic - that is they could only play one note at a time and so it was easy thing to stick four sockets on the back of the synth. One socket had the keyboard voltage output, another had the gate pulse output whilst the other two sockets were for voltage and gate pulse inputs. Using these sockets, it was possible for one synth to play another and it all worked rather well. The problem was that different manufacturers used different methods of triggering the envelope generators and so, without using special interfaces, it was not possible to have a Moog synth playing a Roland or ARP synth or vice versa. Neither was it possible for a Korg synth to play a Moog or a Sequential synth. This was also true with the simple sequencers that were around in those days and, similarly, it was not possible to use a Moog sequencer with anything other that Moog equipment - likewise with Korg. This problem was further complicated with the advent of polyphonic synths such as the Prophet 5, Oberheim OBX and Roland Jupiter 8 and compitcated even further with the advent of digitally controlled synthesizers. In 1983, Dave Smith, president of Sequential Circuits, put forward a proposal to the Audio Engineering Society (AES) which suggested that as most manufacturers were using microprocessors at the heart of their synths, sequencers and drum machines, a standard digital interface could be used that allowed any manufacturers equipment to be used with another with no interfacing problems. The Musical Instrument Digital Interface or MIDI had been born and over the following few years, the specification of MIDI changed quite radically to the powerful interfacing system it is today. But what is MIDI? MIDI is basically a digital communication system. At the heart of every synth, sampler, drum machine and sequencer is a microprocessor. By getting the microprocessor from one instrument to directly 'talk' to another instruments microprocessor it !s possible to play the two instruments. as if they were one. The most basic use of this is to layer two instruments sounds on top of each other to create a richer, bigger sound. If you refer to Fig. 1, you can see the layout of a typical synth or sampler. As you can see, at the heart of this is the microprocessor or Central Processing Unit (CPU) and this is controlling practically every aspect of the instrument from keyboard control to sound editing - some even allow sequencing and other facilities. Observe the position of the MIDI outputs. If the MIDI OUT is taken to the MIDI IN of another instrument, anything you do on the controlling synth is duplicated on the other.

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. Simplified layout of a typical synth or sampler
But there !s more to MIDI than dust layering synths and samplers together. For example, there are 16 different MIDI channels you can work on. You can think of this rather 1 ike a TV set. This too has a number of.channels and coming down the aerial are all the TV channels simultaneously and you simply select which channel you want to watch on the TV using the channel select button. Similarly with MIDI. Going down the 5 pin MIDI lead are all 16 MIDI channels and you have to select which channel you want your synth to receive. For example, if synth i is transmitting MIDI channel 3, then synth 2 must be set up to receive MIDI channel 2 otherwise it won't sound. Having said that, there is a MIDI mode known as OMNI ON which sets your synth or sampler to receive MIDI on all channels so it is not always necessary to match your instruments MIDI channels up and some instruments. default to OMNI ON when you switch it on.
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. All these parts could be sent down the MIDI lead to a variety of synths and samplers and each instrument would play its own part with its own sound on its own MIDI channel. As you can imagine, this can get quite expensive having 5 or 6 or more synths or samplers lying around so a lot of synth and sampling modules and keyboard synths can be MULTI-TIMBRAL - that is, each of their voices can be set up to receive a different MIDI channel and play a different sound. This can be as many as 8 whilst some allow the maximum of 16. Of course, when sequencing tike this, none of the synths must be set to OMNI ON otherwise they will play ALL the parts thrown at it!! So now we know about the MIDI IN and the MIDI OUT and MIDI channels, what about the MIDI THRU socket? This socket is simply a parallel tap of anything coming in through the MIDI IN and you can 'daisy chain' any number of synths by connecting them- to MIDI THRU as in Fig. 2a. Having said that, connecting a whole pile of synths, samplers or drum machines using only MIDI THRU could give rise to slight delays so it is best to use a MIDI THRU box such as the Akai ME30P11 Programmable MIDI Patchbay and connect the equipment as shown in Fig. 2b. This will stop any delays as well as allowing you to patch any instrument to any instrument at any time.