Bad Gear - Akai S2000
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
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Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world's most hated audio tools. Today we are going to talk about the Akai S2000 Stereo Sampler. Is there still some use for this 90s sampling workhorse or has it been surpassed by newer plugins and grooveboxes? Is it really that boring?
Chapters:
00:00 Intro tune
01:10 Overview
04:59 Hate
05:26 Jam 1
06:24 Jam 2
07:22 Finale
07:53 Verdict
8:56 Patreon "Vocoder" Shoutout (more like vocal mangling shoutout;) - Hudba
The menu diving in this thing has defeated me. Now the only purpose of the S2000 in my setup is to make other small gear sit 9 cm higher.
You found a use for it!!!
this comment is gold. (:
@@serial_sequence2k I used to have test program, west program, lest program - you get the idea :)
Gah, noooob, wachawannado is.... get a computer with a PCI slot, note that I said PCI, not PCIe. Most modernish xeon workstations will fit the bill. Now, score a SCSI card off eBay, Apdec is going to be the best bet. Once you get all of this together, you'll need the old 32 bit ASPI SCSI drivers (forgot where I got this, but it was sketch, and convoluted), and now you can finally install MESA 2 (this is somewhere on the wayback machine). Make sure MESA opens in XP compatibility mode, and BLAM. You now have a buggy program with all the controls for your S2/3XXX and a way to remotely manage samples. Also, get yourself an ancient cracked version of recycle to chop up breaks and load the directly into your sampler.
It is actually nice (did I mention buggy and prone to randomly crash?), but god damn I forgot how much of a pain this was to get working. Needless to say I had a ton of free time during the height of COVID.
@@serial_sequence2k 😂 NEW SAMPLE, MEW SAMPLE, LEW SAMPLE, KEW SAMPLE
I've posted a number of comments before where I marvel at your editing and music production skills, but man I want to sincerely thank you for making the funnest synth videos I've seen. I struggle with depression (and the resulting lack of motivation), but whenever I want a little pick-me-up that can also maybe get me motivated to screw around with music, I know I can always count on your channel, Florian. Even if I still can't get going, I know without a doubt I'm gonna at least feel better while I'm enjoying your work. I'm broke as shit, or else I'd be putting my money where my mouth is. It's priceless, what you deliver, but I'm at gear-selling levels of destitute right now (DFAM just sold ;-( ...Mo-32's next), so I hope you can at least really sense what I'm trying to say here. Thank you.
I feel you!!!
hi , i m fighting like u with that fucking depression ,, these videos are welcome,, have a great life!! guiom
Hang in there, Music is love :)
Hope one day you feel better! I have the same problems with depression and motivation, even for the smallest things. Try hypnosis videos on youtube for long time, this helps lot more then Clinics or psychiaters. But take the pills (anti depressiva) is also helpfull. And a lot vitamin D. This can maybe help you also. And good loud music.👍🎶
He edits his own videos, I thought he’d keep a gimp editor in a trunk under the stairs!
Your visual references are so unique. I love it.
There's no one else on CZcams who would feature a clip from Terry Gilliam's Brazil and a picture of Zig and Zag, in the same video.
Thank you!!!
I agree. A sonic and visual treat every time
I thought all the floppy video collection was a lot of work, finding them must have been challenging. In general all the tropes are well met. Professional show !
DAW aka Tamagochi brought tears to my eyes, and the video had barely started! :'D
Bad Gear FTW!
The second track you made with the amen break was really nice. Not really due to the sampler but just because it was a good track. The sampler itself has more features than I'd have imagined. I bet if it had a more hands on interface like s612 it wouldn't be so bad...
Thanks!!!
I bought one under the impression that I'd like the workflow. Boy was I wrong.
There's a workflow?;)
Yeah. It reminds you why in the 90s we used to wish for a computer with a sampler in it!
My dad had one when I was coming up in the 90s(I'm 38). It's was good for what it was designed to do. Now he has a Akai MPC 61, Roland juno, Yamaha Motif 6, Roland drum machine and so much more!
I remember when we would make songs and he would record us on his ADAT with the vHS 8 ch tapes. So long ago, man those was good times!
Me, myself only use MPC BEATS with A MPK249. The beats I have on my channel was made with FL studio with a cheap Casio. We both use Cubase to record tho, I might stay with MPC Beat and FL studio for now on!
Dope channel! I love the content! BTW he still has Akai Sampler
Thank you so much!!!
So many classic albums were made with this affordable sampler back in the day, one of my favourites is probs the Avalanche's Since I Left You . It's basically a S-3000XL with the cut down face plate and some other minor bits (They use the same mainboard) You need to fux with it more to get it's lo-fi goodness out of it, there are tricks to get the gritz out hahah
Yup, you really need to tickle that one a bit
Exactly
the best Akai ever made.
You forgot about the 'resample' function which does actually add a bit of dirt!
i kinda like the S2000, hey!
(was my first sampler, so it has a special place)
(:
That's what uses to do. Half then resample half. Was good for trash drums
Your insight about products now being designed to be social media friendly is spot on, imo.
Yeah, I did some rack gear in the early days of the channel and it just didn't work when it came to aspect ratios and stuff
The S2000 was from an era when touring acts would have multiple maxed out Akai’s in racks to cover all the parts. It was envisaged that you’d use the big brothers in the studio and take these smaller, cheaper units out on the road with you. If you were tempted to buy one for the much lower price to use as your main machine… well… caveat emptor and good luck! 😵💫 I still own and love my S3200XL, the filters and fx board are still awesome! It was my main “synth” sound design tool for over 20 years.
Nice, you got the FX board!
This episode was a real banger!
Please review more samplers, I like how you sample the voice and demo the sampler's feature like this while narrating!
Thank you!!! More samplers to come!!!
i 100% agree with this statement
The S2000's limitations is what made me get the best out it. I had the effects and 8 outs boards installed and managed to make my best ever tracks on it!
Nice!!!
It is actually also possible to create a kind of "highpass filter" by putting the same sample, with both the phase and filter response inverted, in zone 2.
One of these tricks that people used to squeeze a bit more functionality out of these machines :)
gotta try that some time!
Nice technique!!!
This sampler changed my musical trajectory back in 1999. I had a SCSI interface that allowed direct editing and sample transfer, and had no idea about its limitations. To me it was pure inspiration. One of those Wile E Coyote "Don't look down" phenomena. And the chorus FX is crazy
I was in a synthpop band in the '90s and all we had was this sampler and a Roland XP-10 (I think? The cheapest one?)
This brings me back.
Dude I love this channel. Thank you for providing fascinating content during these dark times. I look forward to every new video!
Thank you so much!
I think a lot of people needed this video today.
❤️❤️❤️
Polyend Tracker showed up again, that’s how you know he thinks its actually not bad gear :p
Trackers and Amen break go together well;)
Most (if not all) of his videos show gear that was previously featured in an episode. :D
and what is this orange thing inserted into the floppy disk compartment? Thank you
@@user-sx2iw2hq3l it's a usb thumb drive
@@Jamslerr that's just his way of telling his fans how much he despises them.
AWESOME episode!!! I adore Samplers and that final jam was phenomenal. Loved that Hamtaro clip too
XD
That third jam… legit can be a track at some festival in the Thailand Jungles. You are a marvel sir!!
I had one of these at launch and it had a weird glitch with the jog wheel where numbers would change on their own. I took it back to the shop and the next one had the same issue... and the next one. In the end the shop gave me a Roland MT32 to make up for all the inconvenience. I eventually got one that worked and I just gave up on all the menu diving within about a week and sold it.
The jog dial is a major PITA
That MT-32 was the real prize. Those go for mad money now, enough that people are starting to make alternatives for it.
I got a S3200 a few years back to see if I could get THAT SOUND again. I forgot it took about 200 key clicks, massive neck and knee ache crouching down trying to read that screen, but hey, after 10 minutes I'd loaded up a drum kit!
So glad you did a video on this my homie. I see these and always want to pull the trigger just to try. This might be one of your best vids!
Thank you!!!
I'm always delighted by anime footage in Bad Gear videos.
Nice timing. I'm re-archiving my KLF collection while watching this. I realized they credit using an Akai S900. I had always thought it was an S1000, but the liner notes tell me I'm wrong.
Big KLF fan here!!!
Ahhh yes, those S P A C E i-fied Ancients of Mu- m... _Honk!_
Your penchant for subtle visual artistry & detail is superb, you even synch the blinks light of the USB flash drive in your groove from this plaque stained discarded paperweight.
To think that I was considering getting behind on my rent and bills to purchase one of these back in my foolish youth days. Reality dawned on me the following day!
Thank you!!!
I appreciated the obligatory I learned something today. You truly inspire that there are no limitations with gear! Keep up the good work
Thank you so much!!!
You make that thing shine !! Your talent makes anything sound good.
Great video as usual.
Thank you!!!
Once again, Florian's hellishly intense life as a content master has produced another gem.. thank God he didn't drown in that menu.
❤️❤️❤️
So much respect for the OG producers making killer tracks with these obnoxious UX / workflow machines (and in parallel you for the amazing demo track as always). I've bought a Yamaha A4000 back then to jump into the world of sampling and gave up because it felt like a data entry job
By the time you made your sounds it was whatever for a groove lol
Akai samplers actually had good UI + workflow which is why they were so popular
The beginning with Brasile is genial! 😎😎😎Great video as usual! Thx🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
Your videos are real treasures ! As I like to say, look forward to the next !!! :)
Bad Gear is not only ironic, and hilarious but very informative, and hugely inspiring. thank you again man. if youtube had a download all button, we can have a forever copy of Florian doing sick shit with techno robots.
❤️
I love these old Akai samplers. I also love the finale song, it's a bop!
Thanks!!!
i think that was the best equipment review video i have ever seen, so much information and great art work of the video
Thank you!!!
I make it a sport to hit the "like" button before the video even starts playing. Your uploads never disappoint!
I got an S2000 for 5 dollars from a junk shop and when I got it home released why. You need an OS disk to actually use it. It took me a year to find one, then I started using it and realized it’s a nightmare. I thought it would be fun for getting into an “old school workflow” but there really was no upside to the pain it gave me. Still though, good to have that experience and realize why software samplers completely took over. Somebody could have told me but I wouldn’t have listened until I went through all that.
Hated the workflow so much when I actually still HAD to use it ;)
YES finally, I have been waiting for this! Thank you so much for the cool videos. The S2000 was my first sampler, but I upgraded it with a S3000XL (basically the same but with a big screen and some of the upgrades installed from factory)
Thanks for watching!!!
Thank you, your videos are very entertaining and make my Fridays better.
Hopefully you'll mark 60k followers with a banging album! Sick beat dude!
I owned this in the 90s when I was in an industrial band and I thought it was the best thing in the world =D
Certainly nice for a little reduced bandwidth fun!!!
Thanks 🙏 for all your awesome videos god bless you and yours much peace ✌️ love ❤️ unity and respect ✊!!!
❤️❤️❤️Thanks!!!❤️❤️❤️
Wonderful like always+ all that oldskoolnes
Magic inside only for the master wizard . Amazingly deep instrument . shockingly mundane package . I took on look at this and thought of the dentist office , and maybe the Fairlight. Very enjoyable show today . Thank you for being you !
I have been glued to the TV screen watching horrible news . I am very Very grateful for your youtube channel to break me out of my downward spiral of happiness . Thank you .
Great content as ever, thanks-! when I was a Trainee Studio Sound Engineer I had to learn on the s2000. I hated it then, very uninspiring and fiddly.. I love how you mentioned the blender in that I recently saw an Akai MICROWAVE in a shop and asked what the sample rate was- They did not understand my joke.
Had plenty of old Akais at my former job at the theatre - nobody wanted to work with them;)
Last year I bought an S2000 with CD-Rom-Drive in flawless condition for 100€. This is a really beautiful sounding sampler, I like it a lot. The menu diving is the actual problem which provides this AKAI from being a cult item. Soundwise it would have the potential for it.
Yeah, the menu diving can be quite a buzzkill
Geiles Teil zu seiner Zeit. Danke für die gut recherchierten Infos.
one of the best comedy channels on CZcams!
Thank you so much!!!
I like your reviews even i'm not familiar with 99% all of them. I just know them all from 90th advertisments, and really want to know if they were so much under or overrated. Keep up the great work!
Thanks! Stick around!
I LOVE THE OLD AKAI RACK SAMPLERS THEY MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS
Found one for 20€ 10 years ago. Back in the 90's, the rack samplers were so enviable, I didn't hesitate !
Kudos for the hard work!! Only for the brave!! Nice to see you kept the tracker, me too, seems it's a keeper....
Thank you so much!
You always find a way to make Bad Gear sound good!
I have a 2800 and it’s my favorite machine i own the customization for each sample is amazing, and I love the sound it has my favorite sound out of anything I own and it is better than any software I’ve tried
Nice! gotta try the 2.8K
Don’t know what you’re talking about. This was a highly functional beast that created many classics.
Well, the struggles you went through resulted in some amazing tracks so there's something to that beast. I'm adding it to my Musical Inspiration playlist. 😎👍
Thank you!!!
In its time, it was a great Sampler. If you knew what you were doing this was a quality piece of kit. I spent 1000s of hours using mine.
Yeah, it becomes second nature once you invest enough time
@@AudioPilz there was no DAW back in the day, got mine in 1996, ran it via my Atari 1040st along with my synths, etc using midi, sync24, and cv/gates... plus tr606 tom trigger for the Juno 6 arpeggio. Sample, resample, sample again and sample some more, the kit is a tool and a slave to creativity, not the other way around. I find a lot of the comments below annoying as there are so many armchair experts on these threads who haven't got a clue!!
Gotek disk drive is love.
Pro tip: you can add a buzzer to it that clicks when the head position moves, imitating the stepper motor. Just in case you were missing that floppy disk sound. Which i know, ideally it's not something you want to have in a music instrument, but aren't you sometimes tempted to make the gear a little... worse? badder?
E5000?
Another great episode. Very interesting observation about social media and 19" rack mount equipment.
The look on your face while using the Space Echo during the last Patreon shout out is priceless! 😂 So serious 😂
It's a serious matter;)
I was always kinda wanting to get one of these back when they were sub-$100 on ebay but I'm glad I didn't with all that menu diving. Seems to me like the much further cut down S01 would be more fun because it's so much simpler.
ive been thinking about getting an s2000 to go alongside my s3000xl cuz ive seen so many for low prices, it seems like a great backup to have around
@AudioPilz - OMG this video was so great - I was laughing so hard as I have one of these (bought in 2000?) and never, ever, figured out how to use it! It still has the original floppy disc drive (thank God I have the boot disc) but daaaamn I never could get my head wrapped around how to use the thing. Now it just sits on a shelf (with a sticky note that says $100 on it so I know how much it is worth on Reverb, lol) The one thing I will add, is the reason I bought my unit was the 8 INDIVIDUAL outs (expansion card?) as this was the only sampler I ever saw that would allow me to output indv samples on separate tracks - which I romantically envisioned myself making live remixes with a mixer - ha ha. I only recently realized it was also a synth (after desperately looking through the 900pg user manual - well it felt like 900 pages anyway) but your video saved me the headache of even bothering to use it in that manner. Thanks for the deep dive and awesome video editing! I got more entertainment out of this video than I ever did with the S2000...almost worth it! Cheers.
The mighty Brazil as the intro film AND a syntechno teebee in an oven? You just won CZcams ❤
❤️
Bought one for £20, sold for £50. That's good gear in my view!
Stonks!!!
I had an S2000 until one day it decided to pack and not even power on. It went to the dump and has been replaced with an EMU ESI4000 now, complete with SCSI2SD. It (the S2000) was functional, without being anything special. The Flash RAM is as rare as rocking horse poop too.
Yeah, I didn't find any flash RAM either
@@AudioPilz Flash ROM! It's pretty handy and there's a lot of storage but you can't delete files without formatting the whole thing.
Those Akai samplers are the reason for my sampler addiction. I couldn't afford one when they hit the market back then.
Loved the jams and more usage of the tracker for breaks.
Thanks!!!
Not sure who does the editing and overall production of this channel, but it is of the highest caliber....up there with Captain Disillusion's channel.
Thank you so much! That's actually me;)
I often wondered what happened to 19" rack modules. Nowadays modules are desktop devices of all kinds and sizes. How do you want to integrate that in a live setup? Bring the 19" rack modules back!
As I said, it just doesn't look good on Insta;)
@@AudioPilz I know. But where would you put all those crazy desktop boxes? A 19" rack with a good masterkeyboard looks a lot smoother and is a whole lot handier.
@@doordedeur I'll probably get a big flat flight case so that everything is held in position.
@@AudioPilz But there's nothing sexier than a sexy rack full of dope rack modules :(
Probably my favourite CZcams channel. And I watch a few.
Thank you so much!!!
Love your content!
Thank you!!!
I remember seeing this at NAMM in the 90s and thinking how clunky it would be to try to get any use out of it.
It's like filing a tax report;)
This was my first piece of vintage gear I buy, 2 yrs ago (and 1 of the 5 audio tools of bad gear I own) not knowing ANYTHING about MIDI, LFOs, samples and what not... Thanks to this hard-to-operate sampler, I went down the rabbit Hole chasing for synths, vintage gear and even start my own home studio for producing music as a hobby.
I found this sampler on my local marketplace for about US$40 and the previous owner even gave me for free a Sound Canvas 88, just because I was very thrilled. I personally Love my S2000, even tho it took me months learn how to use it properly
The S2K is quite a rabbit hole. Love the sound canvas - great strings!!!
Great episode..would have killed for that sampler back in the day!
Thanks!!! Yeah, these really opened up a lot of possibilities back then
very interesting as all your videos, thank you
Thanks!!!
One day when I'm rich I'll mount server/networking gear and audio stuff in a rack and watch my visitors descend into the abyss as they try to figure out how any of that makes sense.
😂😂😂
Happy to make you laugh, this marks one to your hundreds by now :)
If you search your local Craig's List for 'Akai,' you are damn near guaranteed to find a listing for this, 35 days old, and the seller will almost assuredly take your ridiculous lowball offer.
Yeah, these are heavy and take up a lot of space;)
I had one in the late 90's & absolutely loved it despite the extensive menu diving. It did have its own character though, I recently found some ancient demos i made with it back then & was shocked at how good the drums sounded.
it is weird, you are slowly reviewing one by one all my home appliances. btw nice episode👏👏👏
Thanks!!!
loved the amen stuff with floppy vids and the space echo 😉
Great tunes as usual! Love that floppy disk themed main jam. Sounds great! I don’t know what it is but rack gear like this just doesn’t get my GAS flared up. 😎
Thanks!!!
Akai S2000 was my first real bit of gear bought around 1997. Bought it fully expanded with the EB-16, 8 x individual outs and extra RAM. Was running Cubase on Windows 3 on a barebones PC. It had no audio and no VSTs or plugins. Just a joystick port used for MIDI i/o. Had a small Spirit 16 channel mixer and some Echo and Reverb FX over the auxes. It was rock solid. Had a few Zero-G Jungle Warfare sample CDs and that was all that was needed. Made bangin Jungle and Techno/Electro tunes for 8 years with that set up. Good times
Simpler times!!!
@@AudioPilz Sampler times!!!
Looking forward to a future episode featuring the Behringer Pro VS!
That thing already got quite some criticism;)
I rescued one from a dump a couple of years ago, it was covered in mud but I cleaned it up completely, checked the inside and it was sparkling clean. Sampled a friend's tr8 and made some 707, 808 and 909 disks for it. An 808 kick through that input with the gain all the way up was some kind of mind expanding moment
I since parted in place for an emu 5000 but it'll always have a place in my heart. If I had a scsi CD drive I absolutely would have used it as a "vintage synth" player for Moog and OB samples
HOWEVER having to trim\loop practically by ear was extremely frustrating when I also had to turn my headphones volume up to make sure I was trimming as close as possible, then I was worried I was going to go deaf!
Definitely have to join Norton in the praise of your videos. Level of comedy, editing everything, just sits right with me.
Now, tread carefully with this video. Akai S FOREVER!!!! Even if flexing sounds like grain of needles under nails, even if disks go bust, even if you load up all of the memory, your midi goes bonkers .... this is probably one of the most important line of gear ever. Still have my S3200. And i learnt to love this screen, especially blue background - on S3200, as well as neon eyesore from jv 1080. for me those screens scream "this sounds great, but you will pay the price, using us ho ho ho"
Thanks! I am aware of the dangerous territory I'm passing through. Would never say a bad word about a 950;)
@@AudioPilz TBH high end samplers were a big deal at that point and It was something we couldn't really afford. S 1000 and that line was something we could sport at home studios.
Bonus thumbs up for Brazil footage in the opening
Thank you, great movie!!!
And now I've watched enough of these to recognize your jackn demoscene house writing style
It's a blessing and a curse;)
Great video. I have great memories of my original s2000. The band I was in (Fleece 1998, so close to famous) we had an s2000. I had a box of floppy discs I had to load pre every gig. It was kind of nice. They bought me the upgraded memory but just a floppy disk. I miss it now though. I got another s2000 but that box of disks is long gone :(
Great Work. I would like to see a Good Gear complimentary series...
I have extensively used every incarnation of Akai S-series samplers, over a period of nearly 30 years. As you've said and shown, they're one of my favorite "synths" in the game, and have a synth character and sound all their own. I find them really very pleasant. Cheers!
Cheers!
Thank you so much!!!
Solid, and I do appreciate that this video did NOT make me nostalgically replace my old s2000 😹🙏💸
Thanks! Gotta get an S3K;)
Great show!
Thanks!
the vibe in the finale! love it.
Thanks!!!
Great Sampler I have one for a good few years and still delivers
God, that last track was great. Top stuff, I imagine it in that club scene in the first matrix or something.
After watching your video editing I am convinced your crazy but I like it . Your editing is very creative like on a professional level. You probably edited videos for Duran Duran back in the day.
Thanks!!! TBH I didn't have any video editing experience prior to starting this channel
You delved deeper than I did.
Well, it's my job;)
i'm sure i'm not the one who loves hardware samplers, great video as ever!!!
Thanks!