Shores

Here is an Akai and Buchla. God I love the Neve desk - theres a whole world of tonality I never knew existed before

Velour

I just got a vintage Akai ME20A MIDI Arpeggiator (from 1985) and here are my first tests with it. Its great! Its more like a basic note sequencer, as it will record whatever notes you play in and then replay them at its internal clock. But it will also arpeggiate held chords, but not in real time like a normal arpeggiator, you have to load the chords in first. Also there is no external clock sync, so to integrate this thing into a larger system would mean recording the MIDI data into the computer sequencer and using that as an editor and clock source for other devices

The synth is the mighty Sequential Prophet T8 - velvety and lush. The Effects are various Roland 80s rack units, the DEP5, SRV2000 and SDE3000

And yes, I am wearing a velour tracksuit today

Akai, Akaii Or Akais?

Here is a short video of me playing two Akai synths. What is the plural of Akai? Is it possible that the word is a MASS NOUN, such as RICE or AIR? Who cares! This film shows me hooking up the S612 sampler to the AX60 using the special SAMPLER IN socket on the AX60, which routes the sampled voice through the AX60's voice architecture polyphonically. Its pretty cool and really opens up the potential for both units. Also theres a nice quirk on the AX60 that is a result of one of its limitations. It seems that any panel adjustments with the sliders only take effect AFTER a note has been triggered, and this means that moving the envelope amount fader while, for example, running the arpeggiator results in the notes having a full envelope retrigger on each note. I'm not sure I have explained that very well, but do you see what I mean? Anyway, I like exploring quirks

Odd Thing

A strange composition on the Arp Od(d)yssey and the matching Arp 1601 sequencer, alongside an Akai S612 sampler. I'm using the 1601 to trigger and pitch the Odyssey as well as the Akai (via a CV to MIDI converter). Its the same idea as this video. I love this patch! I shall call it THE REANIMATOR patch

Re-Animator

Re-animating an Akai S612 with the amazing Hideaway Studios Front Panel Animator modification. Here I am playing the Buchla Easel into the S612 and using the Emu Modular to sequence notes. I am also sending sample start and end modulations from the Emu sequencer to the Akai via the Kenton CV to MIDI converter

Out Of The Box

I love it when something just works, right OOTB. For example, I just bought this Kenton CV to MIDI converter. I took it out of the box, plugged CV and Gate cables from a Roland SH101 into it, then plugged a MIDI cable from it to my Akai S612, set up a sequence on the 101 and BINGO it played the Akai perfectly! Clever box!!