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akai s-950 VS. emu sp-1200

youngEINSTEINyoungEINSTEIN 2,443 Posts
edited May 2007 in Strut Central
i'm only talking sound here. not ease of use and/or functions.i prefer the s-950. peace, stein. . .

  Comments

  • BsidesBsides 4,244 Posts
    fo rillz? i thought the sp had that legendary grit?
  • spelunkspelunk 3,400 Posts
    Are the converters on the 950 different than the MPC 60? I know they are real similar but I've heard people describe a difference. I don't think I could pick one over the other, they just have very different sounds. Akai machines are very intuitive to me, and cheaper than the SP, which is how I ended up choosing.
  • Imperial_MaoImperial_Mao 1,119 Posts
    Are the converters on the 950 different than the MPC 60?

    I'm pretty certain that I read that it's the S900 that has the same converters as the MPC60 and not the S950. All are nice machines though...

    However if I had to choose between the S950 and the SP1200 I would vote for the SP1200 but I think they both sound best when used in conjuction with each other...
  • caicai spacecho 362 Posts
    Are the converters on the 950 different than the MPC 60?

    I'm pretty certain that I read that it's the S900 that has the same converters as the MPC60 and not the S950. All are nice machines though...

    wow interesting.. i have a 900 and just assumed that it was the same as a 950. Can anyone confirm?
  • spelunkspelunk 3,400 Posts
    Vintage Synth AKAI S-900

    My understanding is that the 950 has 16-bit converters, not 12-bit, and they still "crunch" but do sound different from the 12-bit non-linear ones in the 900 and MPC 60. I know a lot of cats rock both, which sounds like a killer combo.
  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,473 Posts
    SP-1200. But I've never fucked with an S-950.
  • edpowersedpowers 4,437 Posts
    950
  • fredfadesfredfades 584 Posts
    i got a SP1200, love the sound, havent tried a 900/950 yet.
    i want to get one to combine it with the sp1200 for more sampling time.
    black moon - enta da stage: is this album made with a sp1200 & a 900/950 ?
    is the filtred samples filtred on the 900/950 or did they use extra gear?

    how do people hook these two machines (sp1200 & 900/950) up together?

    i feel pretty limited right now with 10 secs sampling time.
    thats why i only make loop based stuff on the SP. and the "complicated" beats on the mpc2000xl.. but i want to do more variated beats on the sp1200, gotta cop a 900/950

    fuck


    peace


    fred
  • BeatnicholasBeatnicholas 1,005 Posts
    I've got both in the studio at the mo. Much, much prefer the sp12 just because it's easy to write with, it's really quick and intuitive once you get your head round it.

    I've found the s950 really hard to get into.. sonically it's a cut above (the sp1200 always lacks something in the bass end.. hard to describe).. the main thing that rocks is the low pass filter.

    supposedly the a to ds on many of the Akai rackmounts are the same as on the MPC3000.. I know someone who uses a pad-triggering thing with an Akai s series and can get a very 3000-a like sound for a fraction of the price

    spec stein, my kind of nerd thread

    peace
  • yoigotbeatsyoigotbeats 1,667 Posts
    I still use both - sp for drums, 950 for midrange & treble sounds. plus the 950 decaying loop function is
  • BeatnicholasBeatnicholas 1,005 Posts
    I still use both - sp for drums, 950 for midrange & treble sounds. plus the 950 decaying loop function is



    never tried that

    do you know a good website with some tips for it? unlike MPC, etc, it's not very well written up!

    takes me ages to get it doing stuff.. slowwwwwww
  • yoigotbeatsyoigotbeats 1,667 Posts
    I have no clue, but the trick is to set the loop in edit sample and in edit program turn the one-shot on and length to 99.
  • BeatnicholasBeatnicholas 1,005 Posts
    I have no clue, but the trick is to set the loop in edit sample and in edit program turn the one-shot on and length to 99.

    thanks a lot bro, that's killer. i'll try that later.
  • lambertlambert 1,166 Posts
    I've found the Sp's filters to be a little unreliable in the sense that you're going to get the same feed, but at the same time I love running sounds through it because it's always a surprise. You can never be too sure what it's going to sound like through that chip.

    I use a casio fz10 rackmount (the sampler of choice for famed new age guru 'Kitaro') as a companion module and that's worked pretty well so far.

    I know I've asked this before, but have any sp users figured out a work around for pulling more than one sound out of a sound, rather than recording the same sample three times just to get all 3 individual sounds?
  • BeatnicholasBeatnicholas 1,005 Posts
    I've found the Sp's filters to be a little unreliable in the sense that you're going to get the same feed, but at the same time I love running sounds through it because it's always a surprise. You can never be too sure what it's going to sound like through that chip.

    each of the channels has a distinct sound, plus you've got the whole ring-tip thing.. i like the filter on channel 2, I think you're "supposed" to use that for kickdrums but it doesn't sound right to me.. amazing effect when misused

    as for the "3 different sounds" thing.. well I supposed you could have a longer sound and use the decay thing to vary the length.. then you have the copy function which clones the sound to a different pad.. but yeah, 10 seconds is 10 seconds.
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    Anyone have any thoughts on/experiences with the S-1000? I've got a chance to pick one up pretty cheaply with a Roland midi keyboard thrown in, and I'm tempted to go ahead anyway, but I'd be interested to know what experiences the folks on here may have had with it.
  • Manduro3000Manduro3000 265 Posts
    Anyone have any thoughts on/experiences with the S-1000? I've got a chance to pick one up pretty cheaply with a Roland midi keyboard thrown in, and I'm tempted to go ahead anyway, but I'd be interested to know what experiences the folks on here may have had with it.

    I've used the S-1000 a couple of times, but I never liked the feel of it. I've always used the 950 and feel very comfortable and unlimited with it, Plus I do get a griddy sound when I sample drums on it.

    Used the SP1200 once but never liked it because of the very short sample time it has.
  • TheBeatGoesTheBeatGoes 711 Posts
    i own and S900 and an S950 and don't use them nearly enough. Does anyone know of a cheap/old/reliable hardware sequencer that would have something comparable to the MPC "swing" that everyone is after? I think if i didn't have to use a computer sequencer i'd be more likely to use it.

    also S900 owners should look for the S950 manual, it's written much better and most of the information can be used on both machines.
  • spelunkspelunk 3,400 Posts
    i own and S900 and an S950 and don't use them nearly enough. Does anyone know of a cheap/old/reliable hardware sequencer that would have something comparable to the MPC "swing" that everyone is after? I think if i didn't have to use a computer sequencer i'd be more likely to use it.

    also S900 owners should look for the S950 manual, it's written much better and most of the information can be used on both machines.

    Sounds like you need an ASQ-10: http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/sequencers.shtml#asq10
  • Options
    Unknown
    The sp,and the sequencer on the sp is great i think

    is the sp1200 balanced or un-balanced inputs?
  • Imperial_MaoImperial_Mao 1,119 Posts
    i own and S900 and an S950 and don't use them nearly enough. Does anyone know of a cheap/old/reliable hardware sequencer that would have something comparable to the MPC "swing" that everyone is after? I think if i didn't have to use a computer sequencer i'd be more likely to use it.

    also S900 owners should look for the S950 manual, it's written much better and most of the information can be used on both machines.

    Or you could try to pick up an Alesis MMT-8 as used by Diamond D I believe.
    More info here....

    http://www.mmt8.com/
  • TheBeatGoesTheBeatGoes 711 Posts
    thank you & thank you
  • ericeric 155 Posts
    s950
    i love that sampler,combined with the 2000xl it's my weapon of choice.
  • HawkeyeHawkeye 896 Posts
    Someone wrote the 950 got 16 Bit, but as far as I know the 1000 was the first Akai Sampler with 16 Bit. The 950 is still 12 Bit.

    As far as sounds I would go with both. Drums are allways a SP thing and samples and loops would come out of the 950.

    But to be honest, there are so many other shitty samplers that are ignored but still have a grimey sound.

    Studio 440



    Nice !!!





    Ensoniq Mirage



    That thing got only 8 Bit !!!!!!!!!



    Slabang alarm clock from Ikea






    That shit can sample, see the red button ??? It can sample up to 10 seconds and the sound is grimey as hell.


    I collect those small samplers. I got one from McDonalds which was in a kids menu. Can sample up to 8 sec. I even got postcrads which can sample. You record your voice and send it to someone.



    Peace
    Hawkeye
  • Imperial_MaoImperial_Mao 1,119 Posts


    Studio 440




    I would love to to try one of these out but I believe they are pretty rare and the only one I saw on Ebay was over $1000, supposed to be pretty buggy as well...However wasn't this the machine Mantronix used ???
  • spelunkspelunk 3,400 Posts


    Studio 440




    I would love to to try one of these out but I believe they are pretty rare and the only one I saw on Ebay was over $1000, supposed to be pretty buggy as well...However wasn't this the machine Mantronix used ???

    I want to see the whole signal chain for how Mantronix did their drum programming, cause the sounds they get are out of this world. Sequential Circuits was a Bay Area based company as I remember, I've always hoped something would pop up locally for cheap.
  • spelunkspelunk 3,400 Posts
    By the way, what the hell is this thing?

    British MPC modular rackmount situation doo-hickey?

  • ZEN2ZEN2 1,540 Posts

    I use a casio fz10 rackmount (the sampler of choice for famed new age guru 'Kitaro') as a companion module and that's worked pretty well so far.

    I've been having fun with an FZ1 I copped recently.

  • Mike_BellMike_Bell 5,736 Posts
    I never used either sampler/sequencer but I wanted an SP1200 since I was 15.
    The MPC 3000 looked cool and had more features but I liked the SP1200 because it was more throwback (for lack of a better term). I also was interested in the S-1000. Back then, that was the updated version of the 950. I wouldn't mind having an S-3000 though.

    To answer the question, I vote for the SP even though I never used it.
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