Page 1 STEREO DIGITAL SAMPLER Software version V1.21 WARNING To prevent fire or shock hazard, do not expose this appliance to rain or moisture. Operator’s Manual...
Page 2 Important Notice The material in this document is copyright to AKAI professional M.I. Corp., and may not be quoted or reproduced in any form without written permission from the company. LIMITED SOFTWARE WARRANTY POLICY All the software provided with, or purchased especially for, AKAI professional products has been tested for functionality.
Page 3 The S5000/S6000 is designed to be used in a standard household environment. Power requirements for electrical equipment vary from area to area. Please ensure that your S5000/ S6000 meets the power requirements in your area. If in doubt, consult a qualified electrician or AKAI professional dealer.
Page 4 / s6000 WARNING WARNING THIS APPARATUS MUST BE EARTHED IMPORTANT This equipment is fitted with an approved non-rewireable UK mains plug. To change the fuse in this type of plug proceed as follows: 1) Remove the fuse cover and old fuse.
Page 5 32-En COPYRIGHT NOTICE The AKAI S5000/S6000 is a computer-based device, and as such contains and uses software in ROMs. This software, and all related documentation, including this Operator’s Manual, contain proprietary information which is protected by copyright laws. All rights are reserved. No part of the software or its documentation may be copied, transferred or modified.
Page 6 If the warranty is valid, AKAI professional will, without charge for parts or labor, either repair or replace the defective part(s). Without a valid warranty, the entire cost of the repair (parts and labor) is the responsibility of the product’s owner.
Page 7: Table Of Contents
ABOUT THIS MANUAL ......................3 S6000 FRONT PANEL ......................5 MAIN PANEL ......................5 REMOVABLE PANEL (S6000 ONLY) ................. 5 REMOVING THE PANEL (S6000 ONLY) ..............7 REMOVABLE PANEL CABLE LENGTH ..............7 S6000 REAR PANEL ......................8 S5000 FRONT PANEL ......................10 S5000 REAR PANEL ......................11...
Page 8 USING MULTI MODE TO PLAY KEYSPLITS ............77 USING MULTI MODE MULTI-TIMBRALLY ............... 77 PLAYING LIVE OVER A SEQUENCED BACKING TRACK ........78 USING THE S6000 AS TWO SAMPLERS ............... 78 EDIT PROGRAM ......................80 EDIT PROGRAM ......................... 80 EDIT PART ........................... 80 OUTPUT ..........................
Page 9 / s6000 WARNING SAMPLE TOOLS ....................... 171 GET INFO ....................... 171 QUICKLOAD ......................172 QUICKSAVE ......................172 W/FORM ......................... 173 SAMPLE LIST ......................175 STEREO AND MONO SAMPLES ..................177 RECORD ........................178 RECORD ..........................SETTING RECORD LEVELS .................... 180 NAMING RECORDINGS ....................
Page 10 SCSI IDs ..........................254 SCSI CABLE LENGTH ...................... 254 APPENDIX C ......................... 253 TRANSFERRING DATA BETWEEN THE S6000 AND A PC ..........255 TRANSFERRING DATA BETWEEN THE S6000 AND A MAC .......... 257 USING WINDOWS 95 ON THE MAC ................260 SHARING DISKS BETWEEN AN S6000 AND A MAC/PC ..........
Page 11: Introduction
Akai’s already industry standard samplers with brand new technology, a unique and innovative new user interface and new functionality. Some of it’s key features are: • Unique removable panel allows you to place the S6000 functionality away from the rack and into your work area. •...
Page 12 • Responds to channel or polyphonic aftertouch. • Compatible with S1000 and S3000 series samplers And much, much more..Due to the radical new developments in the S5000 and S6000, some old sound library may need ‘tweaking’. Version 1.21...
Page 13: User Interface
INTRODUCTION USER INTERFACE Perhaps the most physically obvious feature of the S6000 is its large LCD and 16 soft keys giving rise to a unique new user interface. Using what we at AKAI professional affectionately call “Touch and Tweak”, parameter access is...
Page 14: Main Panel
DISK OPTION SLOT This allows you to install a 3.5” removable hard disk such as Zip, Jaz, Syquest, etc.. Please consult your dealer or AKAI professional distributor for details of compatible drives. If you plan to install a drive here, this should be done by an Akai approved engineer.
Page 15: S6000 Front Panel
EDIT SAMPLE and then mapped out across the keyboard in EDIT PROGRAM. UTILITIES This is where you can set certain parameters that affect the S6000 as a whole. SAVE Here, you may save the data in memory to a storage device such as floppy or hard disk.
Page 16 INTRODUCTION F1-F16 Function keys down either side of the LCD give direct access to parameters. Their actual function varies according to the selected page. DATA WHEEL This is used to enter data. CURSOR </> KEYS These are used to move the cursor left or right in parameter fields.
Page 17: Removing The Panel (S6000 Only)
INTRODUCTION REMOVING THE PANEL (S6000 ONLY) To remove the S6000 front panel, turn the two chrome ‘thumb screws’ found top left and right of the panel counter clockwise until they feel very loose. Using the recessed finger grips either side of the panel, with a gentle but firm action, pull the top of the panel forward: Try not to use too much force.
Page 18: S6000 Rear Panel
S6000 only. They both output the same signal. OUTPUTS 1-16 These are the S6000’s outputs. They can be used as 8 x stereo pairs or as 16 individual outputs or any combination of the two (e.g. you could have stereo sounds appearing at outputs 1/2 and 3/4 with, say, bass appearing at output 5 and kick drum, snare drum and hi-hat appearing at outputs 6, 7 and 8 respectively).
Page 19 SCSI TERMINATOR This should be switched ON when the S6000 is the last device in a SCSI chain. If the S6000 sits somewhere in the middle of a SCSI chain, it should be switched off. Failure to observe the correct switching of SCSI termination may result in unpredictable results.
Page 20: S5000 Front Panel
S5000 FRONT PANEL Although laid out differently to accommodate the ergonomics of the S5000’s 3U panel, the keys and controls on the S5000 are almost identical to the S6000’s except that the S5000 omits the USER KEYS. Another difference is that the S5000 does not have rear panel analogue audio inputs so the ones found on the front of the S5000 are the main analogue record inputs.
Page 21: Connecting The S6000
Connect the MIDI output of your MIDI controller (in this example, an Akai MX1000 master keyboard) to MIDI IN A of the S6000. Connect outputs 1/2 to a stereo amplifier, a stereo input channel on a mixer (or to two mono channels of a mixer remembering to pan each channel hard left and right to take full advantage of the S6000’s stereo outputs).
Page 22: Mounting The S6000
If you are using the S6000 with a hard disk device of any kind, the disk drive MUST be mounted horizontally. If the disk drive is at an angle, even a slight one, you may have unreliability problems and even data corruption.
Page 23: Switching The S6000 On
(this is good practice when turning the S6000 off as well). Now turn on the S6000. You will see the following LCD screen as it boots up: The icons appearing at the bottom of the screen indicate what hardware is installed.
Page 24 Your S6000 is now ready to use. Press any of the mode keys to continue. You can check that the S6000 is receiving MIDI data by looking at the front panel - the selected mode’s key will flash on and off whenever a note-on/off is received.
Page 25: Key Conventions
INTRODUCTION KEY CONVENTIONS The following are the different types of keys and parameters: This is a parameter down the left of the screen. This is a parameter down the right of the screen. To select them, simply touch the key to their left or right.
Page 26 INTRODUCTION Other parameter conventions are: The downward pointing arrow indicates that the parameter has a WINDOW function. When you land on the parameter for the first time, the parameter is selected and is immediately available for editing as described above. However, pressing the WINDOW key (or pressing the selected parameter’s key again - i.e.
Page 27 INTRODUCTION The various function key types are shown below: This is a typical ‘go to page’ key characterised by the border within the key. This is a typical ‘do it’ key and usually generates a YES/NO/CANCEL type prompt.
Page 28: Pop-Up Windows
INTRODUCTION POP-UP WINDOWS Throughout the user interface, you will encounter various ‘pop-up’ windows and prompts. These override the current page’s functions (which become ‘greyed out’ in the background) and use further function keys to decide the outcome. There are ‘alert’ and ‘warning’ prompts. For example...
Page 29 INTRODUCTION Progress bars are also used throughout the user interface to indicate status. For example, during off-line sample editing functions or during record (in fact, any process that takes time), you would see these progress displays..Some progress displays (such as the sample processing window above) also show animated icons as a further indicator of activity.
Page 30: Tools Menus
INTRODUCTION TOOLS MENUS In most of the pages, you will find a ‘tools’ key on F9 that offers a drop down menu with further functionality. For example, in MULTI mode with a part selected, you have a PART TOOLS menu. Pressing this would cause this drop down menu to appear: In all cases, you will see that there is a certain consistency.
Page 31: Numeric Keypad
A name can consist of up to 20 characters. NOTE: Although it is only possible to enter up to 20 characters on the S6000 itself, long filenames are supported if you are using files created or named on a PC.
Page 32: Mark/Jump Keys
The MARK and JUMP keys can be used to switch between any two pages in any mode. USER KEYS (S6000 ONLY) These allow you to assign the pages and functions you use most often for quick, convenient access. For example, if you find yourself always going to the FILTER, AMPLITUDE ENVELOPE and REVERB 1 pages, these may be assigned to each of the USER KEYS.
Page 33: Structure/Terminology
The raw audio data used in any sound is a SAMPLE. This is denoted by this icon: Samples may be extensively edited in the S6000 using a variety of different editing tools and functions such as TRIM, LOOP, NORMALISE, FADE UP/DOWN and DSP processes such as TIMESTRETCH, PITCH SHIFT, BPM MATCH and DIGITAL EQ.
Page 34 As well as mapping samples/keygroups across the keyboard range, programs also allow you to apply envelope shaping, filtering, LFO modulation (vibrato, etc.) and much more and such is the flexibility of the program’s sound shaping functions that the S6000 can be used as a very powerful synthesiser as well.
Page 35 / s6000 STRUCTURE Once you have one or more programs in memory, these are then placed in a MULTI where they can be played either singly or in combination with other programs. The multi mode allows up to 128 programs to be played simultaneously.
Page 36: Voice Architecture
Whereas on a synthesiser, you have oscillators with preset waveforms (or preset samples contained in Read Only Memory - ROM) which you cannot change, the S6000 allows you to record any sound you want which can be then used as a waveform in any of the four keygroup zones for an almost unlimited range of sounds.
Page 37: Assignable Program Modulation (Apm)
S3000 series samplers and subsequently in the S2000 and S3000XL range and now, of course, in the S5000 and S6000. Basically, APM allows you to route any of the controllers (128 MIDI controllers, LFO1, LFO2 and envelopes) to pitch, filter, amplitude and panning - even back to the LFOs themselves.
Page 38 / s6000 STRUCTURE Routing controllers to destinations on the S6000 is easy. Down the right side of many of the EDIT PROGRAM pages, you will see the modulation inputs. For example, the FILTER: OUTPUT, KG PITCH/AMP and the LFOs are similarly laid out for consistency between pages.
Page 39: Load
/ s6000 LOAD LOAD Probably the first thing you will want to do after booting up your sampler is to load some sounds (if you wish to record your own sounds first, then skip to the section that describes recording). When you press LOAD, you will see something like this screen: Here, you see a list of folders (or ‘directories’).
Page 40: Load Folder
/ s6000 LOAD LOAD FOLDER When you press LOAD FOLDER, you will see this pop-up prompt window: The ‘check boxes’ on F6, F7 and F14 allow you to disable certain items from loading. For example, you may just wish to load only the programs and samples from a folder in which case, you could disable the loading of multis by pressing F6.
Page 41: Loading Multis
/ s6000 LOAD LOADING MULTIS It is possible to load a multi complete with all the programs and samples associated with it. Simply select a multi and press LOAD MULTI. You will receive this pop-up prompt window: Again, a series of ‘check boxes’ appear and you can, if you wish, select all multis in the current folder if you wish and/or you may choose to load the multi(s) with or without the associated programs and samples.
Page 42: Loading Samples
/ s6000 LOAD LOADING SAMPLES When a sample is selected, F14 changes to LOAD SAMPLE and if you press this, you will receive this pop-up prompt window: Using the check boxes, you may choose to load just the selected sample or all the samples in the current folder.
Page 43: Autoload
“Autoload 1” would not. When you power on, the S6000 will scan the SCSI bus to identify the drive(s) connect and will then do a quick search to see if it can find the AUTOLOAD folder. If it does, it will automatically load its contents (including the contents of any sub-folders) as normal.
Page 44: Open/Close Folder
/ s6000 LOAD OPEN/CLOSE FOLDER These keys allow you to open and close folders. In the event of you trying to open or close an item on disk that is not a folder, you will receive the following prompt:...
Page 45: Selecting Disks
/ s6000 LOAD SELECTING DISKS If you have more than one disk drive attached, you may select the one you want to load from using the DISK LIST. This is accessed by pressing F8 in the main LOAD page and you will something...
Page 46: Disk Tools
/ s6000 LOAD DISK TOOLS Back in the main LOAD page, there are other functions you may use. The DISK TOOLS drop down menu on F9 shows this: DISK INFO This will display a pop-up giving information on the currently selected drive. For example:...
Page 47: Multi
Of course, a combination of these is possible and some parts may be on unique MIDI channels whilst others share the same channels for layering and/or key splits. Some parts may be routed to the internal effects processor in the S6000 whilst others are sent out via the individual outputs for processing on the mixing console.
Page 48 / s6000 MULTI Assuming you have loaded a multi and its associated programs, pressing MULTI will show something like this: If you have more than one multi loaded, they are selected using F1 and the DATA wheel (or can be selected in the MULTI LIST).
Page 49 / s6000 MULTI Or you may view 18 parts: And you may revert back to 6 parts: Version 1.21...
Page 50: Selecting Parts
/ s6000 MULTI SELECTING PARTS Parts are selected simply by pressing one of the function keys F2-F7 alongside it. For example, pressing F2 would select Part 1 - DRUMS 1: The part’s parameters appear down the right hand side of the screen where you may set level, output assign, FX send level, etc..
Page 51 / s6000 MULTI When a part parameter is selected (e.g. LEVEL), the whole part box is highlighted: • In this situation, you can use the SCROLL UP/DOWN keys to select another part if you wish to edit the same parameter for that part. For example, if, in the above screen shot, you wanted to balance the levels for Parts 6, 7, 8, etc., you could use SCROLL DOWN very effectively:...
Page 52: Creating A Multi
MULTI CREATING A MULTI If you have just switched the S6000 on (or you loaded only programs and samples in the LOAD mode) and no multis are loaded, pressing MULTI will show this screen: To create a multi, you must first press CREATE MULTI (F16). You will receive this prompt: A default name is provided by the S6000’s autoname function.
Page 53: Assigning Programs To Parts
/ s6000 MULTI ASSIGNING PROGRAMS TO PARTS If you already have some programs loaded into memory, these may be assigned to parts very quickly and easily. First, touch the key to the left of the part you wish to assign the sound to. E.g..
Page 54: Editing Parts
/ s6000 MULTI EDITING PARTS Once you have one or more programs assigned to parts, you may want to edit them. MULTI mode allows you to edit parameters such as part level, pan/balance, output assignment, tuning, effects send, MIDI channel, etc.. We will use the following multi as our example: Let’s imagine we want to edit Part 1.
Page 55 / s6000 MULTI For example, to set the part’s level, simply press PART LEVEL (F10): The parameter highlights and is immediately available for editing. You will also note that the whole of the part field is highlighted to show clearly which part you are editing.
Page 56 / s6000 MULTI EFFECTS SEND This sets the effects send level of the part. NOTE: On the S5000, the EB20 effects processor needs to be installed. FINE TUNE This allows you to tune the part +/-50 ‘cents’ or +/-1 semitone.
Page 57: Window Functions
/ s6000 MULTI WINDOW FUNCTIONS There are times when you will want access to further functions. These are available using the WINDOW function. Any part parameters have the ‘window’ icon ( ) in them indicating that further functions are available and these can be accessed by pressing the yellow WINDOW key.
Page 58: Effects Send Window
/ s6000 MULTI EFFECTS SEND WINDOW The parameters are: EFFECTS CHANNEL You may select OFF, FX 1, FX 2 (the two multiFX channels), RV3 or RV4 (the two reverb only channels). EFFECTS SEND This is a duplication of the main EFFECTS SEND parameter.
Page 59: Fine Tune Window
/ s6000 MULTI FINE TUNE WINDOW FINE TUNE This is a duplication of the main FINE TUNE function. TRANSPOSE This allows you to tune the part in semi-tone steps. NOTE: You will note that the TRANSPOSE parameter is not a pitch shift function but a MIDI transpose function - this overcomes the problem of playing back samples out of their range.
Page 60: Edit Part
/ s6000 MULTI EDIT PART Whilst it is possible to edit level, pan, effects send, tuning and other ‘superficial’ program parameters within a part, sometimes you need to delve further into a sound. Maybe a string part’s attack is too slow and it’s not sitting well in the track or maybe its release is too long causing it to ‘blur’...
Page 61: Multi Tools
/ s6000 MULTI MULTI TOOLS With the cursor on the multi name (i.e. press F1), pressing MULTI TOOLS on F9 shows this: The functions are: GET INFO Shows how many multis and programs are currently in memory and how memory is used/ available.
Page 62: Quickload
/ s6000 MULTI QUICKLOAD In the MULTI TOOLS menu or in MULTI LIST, QUICKLOAD allows you to load multis quickly and easily. Pressing QUICKLOAD would show something like this: This is showing you all the multis in a folder called “MINIMOOG STUFF” which is on a removable hard disk called “S5000 DISK”.
Page 63: Quicksave
/ s6000 MULTI QUICKSAVE Pressing QUICKSAVE will show this screen: The currently active multi is selected to save. You see its name and the folder it will be saved to. You also have the option to save all the multis in memory if you prefer (or just the currently selected one) with or without the associated programs and samples.
Page 64: Multi List
/ s6000 MULTI MULTI LIST Once you have some multis loaded, you may view them in MULTI LIST: The currently active multi is highlighted. You may select multis to play from this page. Simply scroll down to the multi you want using F15/ F16 and either press CLOSE LIST or press the main MULTI mode key.
Page 65 / s6000 MULTI COPY MULTI Pressing COPY MULTI will pop-up this prompt: The multi is given a default ‘autoname’ but you may enter a new name if you prefer in the normal way. DELETE MULTI Pressing DELETE MULTI will pop-up this prompt: You can use the check boxes to select whether or not the programs and samples associated with the multi will also be deleted.
Page 66 / s6000 MULTI EXPAND MULTI This allows you to change the number of parts in a multi. Pressing this will pop-up a prompt and you have the option to expand the currently selected multi to 64- or 128-parts (or to cancel). If the multi already has 64- or 128- parts, you will be prompted accordingly.
Page 67 / s6000 MULTI Pressing SET ALL TO OFF will (not surprisingly!) turn all program numbers off. This way, you can clear all program numbers so that it is easier and clearer to renumber just those that will be affected by MIDI program change.
Page 68: Selecting Multis Remotely Via Midi
/ s6000 MULTI SELECTING MULTIS REMOTELY VIA MIDI If you have numbered multis to select them remotely via MIDI, you also need to specify which MIDI channel will be used for the multi’s program change command. This is set in the UTILITIES mode in the MIDI page: First it is necessary to enable remote selection of multis by switching MULTI SELECT (F3) to ON.
Page 69: Part Tools Menu
/ s6000 MULTI PART TOOLS MENU When a part is selected, F9 is labelled PART TOOLS and, like MULTI TOOLS, it is a drop down menu which offers further functionality. Pressing it displays this: The functions are: PROGRAM LIST This takes you to a page where you may see the programs currently loaded into memory: This is not unlike MULTI LIST and you may rename, copy, delete and create programs.
Page 70 / s6000 MULTI COPY PROGRAM This pops up a prompt and you may copy the selected program: You may use the name automatically generated by the copy process or you may enter your own. DELETE PROGRAM You may delete the selected program: The SAMPLES checkbox on F14 allows you to select whether you also want to delete the samples associated with the selected program.
Page 71 / s6000 MULTI PURGE This useful function deletes all programs and samples not currently being used by any multis in memory (these programs are referred to as ‘orphans’): You may end up with ‘orphans’ in memory when you load several sounds to try out.
Page 72 / s6000 MULTI CONVERT -L/-R This allows you to convert ‘old’ Akai -L/-R stereo samples into interleaved stereo .WAV samples. Pressing this pops-up this prompt: To continue, press YES (or NO to cancel). The process will examine the program and convert each -L/-R sample into a single stereo file.
Page 73 / s6000 MULTI **** NOTES REGARDING CONVERT -L/-R **** The process is looking for identically matching pairs. Because it is not possible to have separate start and end times of left and right loop points in an interleaved stereo sample, both samples have to have identical settings. This is normally the case with stereo samples as any difference in start times, loop length or position will result in the stereo imaging being inaccurate.
Page 74 / s6000 MULTI CONV OLD MULTI This allows you to convert ‘old’ Akai ‘multis’ or layers into new, S5/6000 format multis. For newcomers to the S5/6000, to understand this function, a quick history lesson is required! On the S1000, S1100 and S3000, multis and layers were achieved by setting several programs to the same program number.
Page 75 / s6000 MULTI You can confirm this by pressing RENUMBER: In either screen, you can convert such a setup simply by moving the cursor to any program sharing the same program number and pressing CONVERT OLD MULTI. You will receive this prompt:...
Page 76 There is another problem too! The range of MIDI program numbers is 1- 128. However, it is possible to load many more programs than this into the S6000’s memory and, theoretically, you may have hundreds of programs loaded. However, there may only be a handful of programs you need to change within a multi using MIDI program change.
Page 77 / s6000 MULTI To renumber a program (or programs), move the cursor to the program you want to renumber and use the DATA wheel to set the appropriate number (or switch it to OFF). Once they have been renumbered, simply leave the RENUMBER page - the new numbers will be set.
Page 78 / s6000 MULTI If you try any of the above routines and no programs are loaded, you will receive this prompt: You are offered the option to create one. To cancel the prompt, simply press NO (F8). Version 1.21...
Page 79: Quickload
/ s6000 MULTI QUICKLOAD QUICKLOAD allows you to load sounds from disk directly into parts. Imagine we want to add a new sound to Part 7 in our existing multi. First, we need to select Part 7: Next, press PART TOOLS followed by QUICKLOAD. You will see this screen display: Here you are taken to a variation of the main LOAD mode.
Page 80 / s6000 MULTI Next, open the folder: The QUICKLOAD screen is much like the normal load page except that, because you cannot load samples or multis into a part, you only see the programs in the selected folder. You need to select the sound you wish to load (for example, VOXY PAD): Now press LOAD INTO PART (F14).
Page 81 / s6000 MULTI As the program and its samples are being loaded, you will see a progress display: You will see the program and its associated samples being loaded in turn. Version 1.21...
Page 82 / s6000 MULTI At the end of the load process, you will be returned to this screen display: As you can see, the program VOXY PAD is now loaded into Part 7. A feature of QUICKLOAD is that you may immediately audition this sound by sending MIDI data on the appropriate channel. If the sound is not to your liking, you can repeat the QUICKLOAD procedure until you find a sound you like.
Page 83 / s6000 MULTI By pressing F2, you may select the next part you wish to load into using the DATA wheel or +/- keys on the numeric keypad: To move the cursor back to the list of programs to load (or folders to open), press SELECT DOWN (F16) to return you to the list then proceed as described above.
Page 84 / s6000 MULTI NOTE REGARDING QUICKLOAD: It is possible to use QUICK LOAD even if you have not created a multi first. In the blank multi page, select the part you wish to QUICKLOAD into. Now press PART TOOLS followed by QUICKLOAD.
Page 85: Quicksave
128 programs or as little as one and each multi may contain a different combination of programs. Basically, the MULTI mode is the S6000’s ‘play’ mode and is where you can play programs singly or in combination and is designed to be flexible enough to cover a wide range of applications.
Page 86: Using Multi Mode To Play Single Programs
The MULTI mode can be used to play single programs simply by assigning just one program to a part. In this way (especially with 128 multis available), the S6000 can be used as a simple playback module for playing single sounds.
Page 87: Using Multi Mode To Play Keysplits
(the EB20 is optional on the S5000). However, when using the S6000 in this way, certain parts may be set to the same MIDI channel so that some parts will be layered (for example, in the above screen shot, Parts 10 and 11 both play SLAP BASS #1, presumably detuned for a rich, chorus bass sound) whilst other parts just play single programs.
Page 88: Playing Live Over A Sequenced Backing Track
By connecting one keyboard to MIDI input A and the other to MIDI input B, you may effectively use your S6000 as two samplers! For example: In this example, one keyboard would play the GRAND PIANO sound whilst the other plays the huge layered pad combination.
Page 89 / s6000 MULTI These are just a handful of examples of the flexibility of the S6000’s MULTI mode. No doubt you will find your own applications. NOTES FOR EXISTING AKAI SAMPLER USERS. The S6000’s MULTI mode replaces all other playback modes of Akai’s previous samplers.
Page 90: Edit Program
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM EDIT PROGRAM Pressing EDIT PROGRAM will show this screen: This is ‘main’ EDIT PROGRAM page where you may select whatever it is you want to work on. Pressing any of the keys takes you directly to that ‘section’. We will look at these in turn.
Page 91 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM As you can see, the ‘entry pages’ for EDIT PROGRAM and EDIT PART are essentially very similar except... • In EDIT PART, you hear the selected program within the context of the selected multi (in EDIT PROGRAM, you hear it in isolation).
Page 92: Output
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM OUTPUT Pressing this key (F2) will take you to the main OUTPUT page: This page sets parameters that affect the final output level and pan position of the program. The parameters are: LOUDNESS This sets the basic working level of the program. 100 is maximum. For some degree of velocity sensitivity, this should be set to less than 100 (a value of 80 is about ‘average’) but this may be varied (in conjunction...
Page 93 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM AMP MOD 1/2 These two parameters allow you to set the level for the controllers assigned to these inputs. It is also possible to assign any of the sampler’s controllers (MIDI controllers, LFOs, envelopes, etc.) to the two amplitude modulation inputs.
Page 94 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM GOTO SOURCE When the cursor is on either mod input field (controller or level) of any of the modulation inputs - for example: Pressing GOTO SOURCE will take you directly to that controllers page. In the above example, you would go straight to LFO2: Here, you may tweak and edit the LFO 2 parameters.
Page 95 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM GOTO DEST Pressing GOTO DEST in this page will pop up this window: You may return to the OUTPUT page (or any other destination) immediately. If the cursor is not on a valid modulation input (for example, if the...
Page 96: Midi/Tune
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM MIDI/TUNE Pressing MIDI/TUNE in the main EDIT PROGRAM page will show this screen: The parameters are: PROGRAM NUMBER Sets the MIDI program number for the selected program. This allows you to select programs remotely via MIDI within a part in a multi.
Page 97: Edit User
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM EDIT USER Pressing EDIT USER shows this screen: Here you may tune each semitone. To return to the MIDI/TUNE page, press F16. To return to the main EDIT PROGRAM page, press MAIN (F8). If you edit the tuning of each semitone in this page, you will see the changes in the graphic representation of the keyboard in the MIDI/TUNE page.
Page 98: Pitchbend
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM PITCHBEND Here you may set pitchbend and other related parameters. Pressing PITCHBEND in the main EDIT PROGRAM page will show this: The parameters are: PITCHBEND UP This sets the limit for pitchbend up - the range is 24 semitones PITCHBEND DOWN This sets the limit for pitchbend down - the range is 24 semitones.
Page 99: Lfos
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM LFOS Pressing LFOs shows something like this screen: The parameters are: RATE Sets the speed of the LFO. The range is very slow (at a setting of 0, it takes over a minute to complete a full cycle) to very fast (around 100Hz).
Page 100 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM SQUARE A ‘bi-polar’ square wave that moves above and be- low the note you are playing. SQUARE + This square wave only moves above the note you are playing. It is suitable for trills and octave jumps, etc..
Page 101: Lfo 2
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM MODWHEEL Sets the amount of modulation that will be introduced by the modwheel. AFTER TOUCH This allows you to introduce vibrato using aftertouch. GOTO DEST This pops up a list of destinations the LFO may be assigned to for quick and easy access to their pages.
Page 102 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM SQUARE A ‘bi-polar’ square wave that moves above and below the note you are playing. SQUARE + This square wave only moves above the note you are playing. It is suitable for trills and octave jumps, etc..
Page 103 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM However, there are occasions when you want the LFO to be free running in the background. For example, on filter or panning sweeps where you want the effect to be gradual as you play, you will want to switch...
Page 104 • You do not have to be receiving MIDI clock for LFO 2 to work and if the S6000 is not receiving MIDI clock, the LFO will run at the tempo it last received. So, for example, if the...
Page 105: Keygroup
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM KEYGROUP So far we have seen functions that affect the program as a whole. The KEYGROUP pages allow access to edit the individual keygroups. Pressing KEYGROUP shows this screen display: The parameters are: MUTE GROUP This allows you to group several keygroups together so that they are essentially monophonic.
Page 106 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM OPEN HI-HAT CLOSED HI-HAT (or triangle, etc) (or triangle, etc) OPEN AND CLOSED HI-HAT WITH MUTE GROUP ON In the first diagram, the open hi-hat continues to sound even though the closed hi-hat is played. In the second example, however, the open hi- hat is shut off by the closed hi-hat thereby creating a more natural effect.
Page 107: Selecting Keygroups
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM OVERIDE FX This allows you to send individual keygroups to the effects by overriding the main program’s effects routing. The default will be MULTI (i.e. the routing uses the effects buss selection set when the program is placed in a MULTI) but you may also select OFF (i.e.
Page 108: Keygroup Zones
This restriction no longer applies. However, please note that ‘old’ Akai sound library will transfer directly when loaded into the S6000 with the -L and -R ‘legs’ of the stereo sample appear- ing in their respective zones exactly as they were saved on the older model sampler. However, it is possible to convert these ‘old’...
Page 109 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM ZONE LEVEL This sets the level for the selected zone. PAN/BALANCE If the sample in the selected zone is mono, this parameter controls pan to move the sound around the stereo image. If the sample in the selected zone is stereo, this parameter works as a balance control.
Page 110 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM HIGH VELOCITY This parameter set the high velocity range for the selected zone. LOW VELOCITY This parameter sets the low velocity for the selected zone. For normal playback, you would normally set a zone to have a velocity range of 0-127.
Page 111: Zone Level Window
Other stereo instruments or groups of instruments could appear at other stereo outs - all your Latin percussion sounds appearing at, say outputs 7/8, for example. And so on. This has never been possible on previous Akai samplers and is a great advance in output routing flexibility.
Page 112: Fine Tune Window
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM FINE TUNE WINDOW The parameters are: KEYBOARD TRACK Allows you to switch the keyboard off so that the zone plays at a constant pitch of C3. USEFUL TIP TO DRUM SAMPLISTS! Sample all your drums on C3 and assign them to any key you like in the program and simply switch KEYBOARD TRACK to OFF for all keygroups.
Page 113: Playback Window
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM PLAYBACK WINDOW The parameters are: VELOCITY START This parameter allows you to determine the way in which velocity affects the playback starting point for each sample in a keygroup. The higher the positive number, the earlier in the sample playback will start relative to the key velocity (i.e.
Page 114: Selecting And Editing Zones
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM A positive setting is the normal selection and this effect is particularly useful for simulating percussion instruments (try it with a bass drum) because if you play hard, you hear the initial attack but if you play softly, you don’t.
Page 115: Keyspan
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM KEYSPAN This is where you set the note ranges of the keygroups to map them out across the keyboard as you want. Pressing KEYSPAN shows something like this screen display: A more complex program such as an intricately multi-sampled piano would look like this: You may set note ranges in two ways - manually or via MIDI.
Page 116: Keygroup Crossfade
Sometimes, when mapping samples out across the keyboard range, there can be abrupt tonal changes from one sample/keygroup to another. In such circumstances, you may overlap adjacent keyspan ranges. The S6000 will automatically crossfade the two keygroups for a smooth transition between the keygroups. E.g.:...
Page 117: Kg Pitch/Amp
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM KG PITCH/AMP Pressing KG PITCH/AMP in either the MAIN or KEYGROUP pages will show something like this: The parameters are: SEMITONE TUNE This allows you to tune the keygroup in semitone steps. FINE TUNE This allows you to fine tune the selected keygroup.
Page 118: Filter
The filter plays a key part in any sound and is responsible for some of the most dramatic real-time effects available on the S6000. Amplitude can change level and panning can move the sound around in the stereo image and, of course, you can add vibrato from LFO 1. The filters, on the other hand, can totally transform a sound (especially with 26 to choose from!).
Page 119 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM These harmonics combine to create more complex waveforms or sounds and the rule of thumb is that the brighter the sound, the more harmonics it has (and/or, they are louder in respect to the fundamental frequency). By manipulating these harmonics with a filter, you can transform the tone or timbre of a sound.
Page 120 FREQUENCY This is the equivalent of selecting one of the S6000’s lowpass options with cutoff set to 100. However, if you lower the cutoff frequency, some of the higher harmonics will be filtered out: FREQUENCY With the loss of upper harmonics, the sound will be more muted and duller in tone.
Page 121 In the case of the BANDPASS, moving the cutoff frequency moves the band up or down the frequency range thus lowering the cutoff would give this: FREQUENCY Another type of filter is the NOTCH filter: FREQUENCY The S6000 offers these and many more types of filtering options. Version 1.21...
Page 122 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM Another aspect of filters, however, is RESONANCE. This emphasises the harmonics around the cutoff frequency so, in the case of a lowpass filter, you might have something like this: FREQUENCY You can see that as well as boosting harmonics around the cutoff frequency, other harmonics are also attenuated.
Page 123 ‘punch’! Some synths offered a switch to choose the cutoff frequency’s response slope. The S6000 offers both options and a wealth of other filter types besides. So, with the theory out of the way, let’s now look at the filters’ parameters.
Page 124 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM FILTER MODE Here you can select from one of the 26 different resonant filter types. These are: 2-POLE LP This is a 12dB/Octave lowpass filter with resonance. 4-POLE LP This offers a 24dB/Octave lowpass filter with resonance.
Page 125 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM 2-POLE BP+ This is a bandpass filter with a 6dB/Octave roll-off slope either side of the band but with enhanced resonance. 1-POLE HP A 6dB/Octave highpass with resonance. This allows high frequency unaffected but attenuates low frequency harmonics as the cutoff frequency is raised from 0 to 100.
Page 126 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM NOTCH 1 A notch filter with a single notch that attenuates harmonics. The cutoff control sets the point of attenuation whilst resonance simultaneously increases the depth of the notch and narrows its width. NOTCH 2 A notch filter with a two notches spaced two octaves apart.
Page 127 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM PEAK 1 A peak filter with a single peak that can be used to emphasise a band of frequencies much like a single band of EQ. Resonance increases the intensity of the peak. PEAK 2 A peak filter with a two peaks spaced two octaves apart.
Page 128 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM PHASER 1 A phase shifter created with a notch and peak filter at around the same frequency. Resonance increases the intensity of the peak and the depth of the notch. PHASER 2 A phase shifter created with a notch and peak filter with offset frequencies that has a slightly ‘swirlier’...
Page 129 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM VOWELISER This is a special filter configuration that is able to produce certain vowel sounds and articulations (EE- OO, EE-OR, EE-AH and OO-AA, OO-EH, OO-OW) with certain settings (see the examples below). NOTE: Because of the way that the FILTER ENVELOPE interacts with the filter and the special way the VOWELISER works, it is recommended to set FILT ENV DEPTH to +000.
Page 130 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM CUTOFF FREQ Sets the initial cutoff frequency for the selected filter type. RESONANCE This allows you to sharpen the point at the cutoff frequency thereby emphasising the harmonics at that point in some way (the exact effect depends on the type of filter selected).
Page 131 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM GOTO SOURCE This will take you directly to the selected controller’s page. Of course, a mod input needs to be selected for this. Because each of the filter types have their own very distinctive characteristics, you may have to adjust CUTOFF, RESONANCE and MOD INPUT settings as you switch from filter to filter to get the best results.
Page 132: Amp Envelope
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM AMP ENVELOPE This is an ADSR envelope that is used to control overall amplitude: The parameters are: ATTACK This sets the attack time of the envelope. High values produce a long attack time (several seconds).
Page 133: Amp Envelope Window Functions
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM AMP ENVELOPE WINDOW FUNCTIONS As always, behind certain parameters is access to lesser used functions: In the ATTACK window, parameters are: ATTACK Reproduced in the ATTACK window for convenience VEL>ATTACK This allows you to use velocity to control attack time. Setting a positive value here will result in heavy keystrikes making the attack time faster (and light keystrokes making the attack time slower).
Page 134: Filter Envelope
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM FILTER ENVELOPE Pressing FILTER ENVELOPE in either the MAIN or KEYGROUP page will show this screen: The parameters and window functions are identical to the AMP ENVELOPE described on the pervious pages except..FILTER This takes you directly to the FILTER page.
Page 135: Aux Envelope
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM AUX ENVELOPE Pressing AUX ENVELOPE will show something like this screen: The parameters are: RATE 1 Sets the time it takes for the envelope to get to LEVEL 1 RATE 2 Sets the time it takes for the envelope to get to LEVEL 2...
Page 136: Aux Envelope Windows
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM AUX ENVELOPE WINDOWS RATE 1 and RATE 4 have window functions: The parameters in the RATE 1 window are: RATE 1 RATE 1 is duplicated here for convenience. VEL>RATE 1 This allows you to use velocity to control RATE 1’s time. Setting a positive value here will result in heavy keystrikes making RATE 1 faster (and light keystrokes making the RATE 1 slower).
Page 137: Creating Programs
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM CREATING PROGRAMS In the main EDIT PROGRAM page, F15 is CREATE PROGRAM where you may create a brand new, empty program. Pressing this pops up this screen: An auto numbered name is automatically assigned using the currently selected program name as a ‘seed’.
Page 138: Prog Tools Menu
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM PROG TOOLS MENU Pressing PROG TOOLS shows this drop down menu: The functions are: GET INFO This shows the sampler’s current status regarding memory and items loaded, etc.: Version 1.21...
Page 139: Program List
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM PROGRAM LIST This takes you to a page where you may see the programs currently loaded into memory: Here, you may rename, copy, delete and create programs as well as perform other program related functions. These functions are:...
Page 140 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM COPY PROGRAM This pops up a prompt and you may copy the selected program: You may use the name automatically generated by the copy process or you may enter your own. DELETE PROGRAM You may delete the selected program: The SAMPLES checkbox on F14 allows you to select whether you also want to delete the samples associated with the selected program.
Page 141 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM CREATE PROGRAM You may create a new program: This is the same as the CREATE PROGRAM function found on the main EDIT PROGRAM page. Version 1.21...
Page 142 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM PURGE This useful function deletes all programs and samples not currently being used by any multis in memory (these programs are referred to as ‘orphans’): You may end up with ‘orphans’ in memory when you load several sounds to try out.
Page 143 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM CONVERT -L/-R This allows you to convert ‘old’ Akai -L/-R stereo samples into interleaved stereo .WAV samples. Pressing this pops-up this prompt: To continue, press YES (or NO to cancel). The process will examine the program and convert each -L/-R sample into a single stereo file.
Page 144 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM **** NOTES REGARDING CONVERT -L/-R **** The process is looking for identically matching pairs. Because it is not possible to have separate start and end times of left and right loop points in an interleaved stereo sample, both samples have to have identical settings. This is normally the case with stereo samples as any difference in start times, loop length or position will result in the stereo imaging being inaccurate.
Page 145 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM CONV OLD MULTI This allows you to convert ‘old’ Akai ‘multis’ or layers into new, S5/6000 format multis. For newcomers to the S5/6000, to understand this function, a quick history lesson is required! On the S1000, S1100 and S3000, multis and layers were achieved by setting several programs to the same program number.
Page 146 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM You can confirm this by pressing RENUMBER: In either screen, you can convert such a setup simply by moving the cursor to program sharing the same program number and pressing CONVERT OLD MULTI. You will receive this prompt:...
Page 147 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM The multi will now contain all programs of the same number and the MIDI channels, levels, pan position, output assignments, tuning, etc., used in the ‘old’ multi/layer will automatically be set and the new format multi should play pretty much the same as the original would on an S1000, S3000 or whatever.
Page 148 There is another problem too! The range of MIDI program numbers is 1- 128. However, it is possible to load many more programs than this into the S6000’s memory and, theoretically, you may have hundreds of programs loaded. However, there may only be a handful of programs you need to change within a multi using MIDI program change.
Page 149 / s6000 EDIT PROGRAM KNOWN PROBLEMS WITH MIDI PROGRAM CHANGE This scheme is far from foolproof and there are some problems associated with program change. Some are unique to samplers whilst others are common to all sound modules. These are listed here: •...
Page 150: Quickload
/ s6000 EDIT PROGRAM QUICKLOAD This takes you to a simplified version of LOAD where you may load programs and their associated samples into memory quickly and easily: Being a ‘quickload’ function, it only shows the programs available for loading.
Page 151: Edit Sample
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE EDIT SAMPLE Whilst MULTI is where you can set superficial attributes to a sound such as level, pan, FX send, etc., and EDIT PROGRAM is where you have access to deeper levels of sound editing, EDIT SAMPLE is where you edit the raw samples that make up a sound.
Page 152: Master
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE MASTER This gives access to certain ‘general purpose’ sample editing functions: The sample’s waveform is shown at the bottom of the screen. The inverted/highlighted area is the sample’s loop. The parameters are: ORIGINAL NOTE Here you see the sample’s original note - i.e. the note it was recorded on.
Page 153 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE Pressing MAKE MONO will show this progress display: A progress bar will move left to right and a percentage of progress is also shown. An animated ‘waveform processing’ icon is also used to further indicate sample processing activity.
Page 154 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE A new ‘autonamed’ sample will be created. You may rename this if you want in the usual way using the CURSOR </> keys and the DATA wheel or an external QWERTY keyboard (if connected). You can use PLAY ORIGINAL and PLAY NEW to compare the two samples.
Page 155: Trim
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE TRIM Pressing TRIM will show something like this screen display: Here, you can set start and end points and discard audio either side of them. The waveform display is slightly different to that shown in the MASTER page in that the upper waveform shows...
Page 156 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE FIND START/END Pressing either of these pops up a window: You should set a threshold level at which to find the start (or end) point. The above example is probably not a good one but in the case of a drum sound with a lot of ‘dead space’...
Page 157 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE PLAY TO This allows you to play to the currently selected edit point (i.e. with the START parameter selected, it will play to the start point; with the END parameter selected, it will play to the end point).
Page 158: Chop
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE CHOP Pressing CHOP shows something like this screen: This is similar in many ways to TRIM except that edits are done within the START/END region and you may erase a portion of the sample (i.e. remove it and keep the gap) or you may cut a portion from the sample (i.e.
Page 159 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE Pressing CHOP SAMPLE will show this pop-up menu: EXTRACT allows you to mark a section of a sample and extract it to a new sample. For example, this may be used to extract a snare drum or kick drum from a drum phrase. For example, you may...
Page 160 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE CUT will remove the area marked by the START and END points and will butt the remainder together: E.g.: Original After CUT CANCEL will, of course, abort the action. Pressing EXTRACT, ERASE or CUT will initiate the selected function. You will see the usual “Processing sample”...
Page 161: Loop
The parameters on the LOOP page are: LOOP START/END These set the start and end of the loop. Unlike previous Akai samplers, these are set independently of each other. Loop START and END times cannot be set beyond the TRIM page’s START and END times.
Page 162 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE LOOP TIL REL This will play the sample and will loop for as long as you hold the key but, as soon as you release the note, the loop will stop playing and the rest of the sound (if any) will play through the release phase of the program’s envelope.
Page 163 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE XFADE LENGTH This sets the length of the loop crossfade. What this function does is to crossfade a portion of the sound before and after the loop according to the time set in the XFADE LENGTH field. This will (should!) smooth out any glitches you may have.
Page 164 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE ZOOM IN/OUT This allows you to view the right hand waveform display in greater detail when trying to match waveforms. AUTO FIND Pressing this will cause the sampler to look for the best match point for a loop.
Page 165: Setting A Good Loop
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE SETTING A GOOD LOOP The first thing to do is to set the START and END points, referring to the overview waveform on the left of the screen. You want to set the START and END at points which match in amplitude. For...
Page 166 This is not a fault of the S6000 but something that cannot be avoided. AUTO FIND and CROSSFADE are probably your best allies in looping. AUTO FIND will automatically look for good points of equal amplitude and good waveform matches whilst CROSSFADE will ‘smudge’...
Page 167: Join
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE JOIN Pressing JOIN will display this page: This (and MIX described next) are the only two sample editing pages that don’t conform to the normal page layout due to the fact that you are working with two samples.
Page 168 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE XFADE LENGTH This allows you to set the crossfade length. The longer the crossfade, the more the second sample is pulled back into the first. For example: No crossfade SAMPLE A SAMPLE B 6 seconds...
Page 169 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE NOTE: It is not possible to join two samples that have different sample rates. If you do, you will receive the following prompt: There is nothing that can be done to overcome this. Even if you try to re-sample one of them to a different sample rate and try JOIN again, you will be prompted: Version 1.21...
Page 170: Mix
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE Again, the MIX page does not conform to the usual page layout: As in JOIN, use F1 and F9 to select the samples you want to mix. The process will merge the two samples, effectively ‘layering’ them into one composite sample.
Page 171 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE NOTE: If one or both of the samples is already stereo, you will receive this prompt should you press MAKE STEREO: Pressing MIX SAMPLES (F16) will pop-up the usual progress display followed by the PLAY/KEEP ORIGINAL/NEW/BOTH and RENAME...
Page 172: Fade Up/Down
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE FADE UP/DOWN Pressing the FADE UP/DOWN key will show this display: The parameters are: FADE UP/DOWN These parameters set the length of the fade. NOTE: If the sample has a loop, you cannot set FADE UP or FADE DOWN times within the loop.
Page 173: Timestretch
Timestretch allows you to alter the length of a sample, shortening it or lengthening it, without changing its pitch. Before we look at how to operate the timestretch functions on the S6000, let us first look briefly at how timestretch works.
Page 174 Sampler users require no less and so the DD1500 timestretch process has been ported directly into the S6000 to offer high quality, phase coherent stereo processing as well as a range of easy to use presets for setting the timestretch parameters.
Page 175 +/-10% (i.e. 90%-110%) will yield excellent results most of the time. PRESET Instead of a complex array of incomprehensible parameters, the S6000’s timestretch algorithm uses a series of 18 presets optimised for certain types of sounds as described by their name. So, instead of sitting there...
Page 176 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE Furthermore, the PRESET parameter has a ‘window’ function that provides access to an ADJUST parameter. Sometimes, our presets may not quite satisfy your needs and some kind of ‘manual override’ is required. This is the ADJUST control. The ADJUST parameter gives access to the key parameters in any one preset and allows you to ‘tweak’...
Page 177: Pitch Shift
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE PITCH SHIFT Pressing PITCH SHIFT will display this screen: This process is a variation on timestretch. However, the ‘stretch factor’ in PITCH SHIFT is described in terms of transposition. For example, if you have a sample in the key signature of C which you want to use during a key transposition of a song where everything is transposed up a tone to the key of D, set a SEMITONE TUNE value of +02 semitones.
Page 178: Bpm Match
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE BPM MATCH Pressing BPM MATCH will show something like this screen display: This is another derivative of the timestretch algorithm. The parameters are almost identical to the TIMESTRETCH function with the addition of the SOURCE TEMPO parameter.
Page 179: Re-Sample
D-A convertors as the bit-rate they were sampled at. Because of the high quality 20-bit D-A converters used on the S6000, setting a low bit-rate using the RESOLUTION parameter may not automatically result in the ‘lo-fi’ effect you are after. However, selecting a low bit resolution here AND setting the lowest RE-SAMPLE FREQ(uency) will produce a suitably grungy, muddy, lo-fi sound.
Page 180 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE Pressing EQ shows this screen display: Here you have access to three bands of parametric EQ. Each band has variable frequency and gain and the ‘window’ function in the GAIN parameters down the right hand side of the screen offer further functionality.
Page 181: Sample Tools
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE SAMPLE TOOLS In all pages (except JOIN and MIX), F9 shows SAMPLE TOOLS. Pressing this pulls down a menu of further options: The functions are: GET INFO This shows information about the currently selected item:...
Page 182: Quickload
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE QUICKLOAD This takes you to the sample QUICKLOAD function where you may load samples directly into memory: The screen only shows samples making loading very quick and convenient as you don’t have to wade through other file types.
Page 183: W/Form
Logarithmic waveform display The same sound with a linear waveform display Previous Akai samplers used a log waveform display only. Both display types have their uses. Linear is useful for seeing the signal’s true envelope when editing but the problem is that low level signals are sometimes not seen. Thus in the linear display above, there is no indication of the low level reverb between each beat - however, you do see the beats more clearly defined.
Page 184 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE Another example of where a LOG display is more useful is when looping a sound: With LIN selected, the waveform display in the loop view box to the right of the waveform overview is very small making precise looping difficult if not impossible. However, select LOG as the waveform display and you would see this: As you can see, even though the waveform display is not a true representation of the sound’s...
Page 185: Sample List
/ s6000 EDIT SAMPLE SAMPLE LIST This takes you to this page: Here you may rename, copy, delete and otherwise manage your samples. At the top of the display (next to CLOSE LIST) you will see the icons that show whether the currently selected sample in the list is mono or stereo and/or looped, etc..
Page 186 / s6000 EDIT SAMPLE CONVERT -L/-R This will convert ‘old’ S1000, S1100, S2000, S3000 and XL series ‘stereo’ samples that are appended -L and -R and will create a stereo .wav file with -S appended to the name. For example, STRINGS C3 -L and STRINGS C3 -R will become STRINGS C3 -S.
Page 187: Stereo And Mono Samples
STEREO AND MONO SAMPLES There is little or no distinction made between mono or stereo samples on the S6000 and stereo samples are treated as one ‘file’ thus you don’t even really need to know what you are editing most of the time.
Page 188: Record
/ s6000 RECORD RECORD Pressing RECORD will show something like this screen: The parameters are: RECORD LEVEL This sets the record level. This is a software control which is used instead of a front panel control. You will note the icon in the parameter.
Page 189 / s6000 RECORD THRESHOLD This sets the threshold level for any of the THRESHOLD or AUTO options. MIDI TRIG CHAN Sets the MIDI channel when MIDI NOTE-ON is selected as the record trigger. RECORD TO Here you may select where the recording will go - in RAM or direct to disk (recording ‘virtual’...
Page 190: Setting Record Levels
/ s6000 RECORD SETTING RECORD LEVELS In the centre of the screen are two level meters. These are accurately calibrated to show level precisely. As signal is input to the sampler, so these meters will move. At the far right of the meters is a small box that indicates clipping.
Page 191: Making A Recording
/ s6000 RECORD MAKING A RECORDING Once you have set the parameters described above as appropriate, press ARM (F8). You will see this screen: The sampler is waiting for the signal to exceed the threshold level (or receive a MIDI note on). You may start recording using MANUAL START if you prefer.
Page 192 / s6000 RECORD If you keep the recording, a new autonamed recording will be created (if you renamed the sample from NEW SAMPLE N to one of your choosing, the name you chose will be used as the ‘seed’...
Page 193: Overwriting An Existing Sample
/ s6000 RECORD OVERWRITING AN EXISTING SAMPLE Using F1, you may select an existing sample to record over. If you do this, you will, of course, receive a prompt warning you of this. You should take the appropriate action. If you press NO, the process will be aborted and the existing sample will remain intact and unaffected.
Page 194: Re-Recording The Sampler's Outputs
Likewise, if you wish to re-record a multi, set that up as appropriate and, from the MULTI mode, press RECORD. NOTE: This is a very general process and basically, the S6000 will record anything from the last playback mode you were in (EDIT PROGRAM, MULTI or even EDIT SAMPLE). It has to be said though, there is little benefit to be had re-recording a raw sample.
Page 195: Record Error Messages
/ s6000 RECORD RECORD ERROR MESSAGES If you try to record using one of the digital inputs and nothing is connected to it, you will see this dialogue: You should either record via the analogue inputs or connect the appropriate digital device.
Page 196 / s6000 This gives access to the S6000’s internal effects. The EB20 is a 4-channel effects processor. Two channels (MULTIFX1 and MULTIFX2) offer multi- effects that include (simultaneously) distortion, ring modulation, EQ, modulation effects (such as flanging, chorus and phasing, stereo pitch shift, autopanning, rotary speaker simulations) plus delay/echo and also reverb.
Page 197 / s6000 In the multiFX channels, you also have control over the direction of the effects and the modulation and delay effects can be placed before the final reverb, in parallel with the final reverb or after the final reverb making it very flexible. Furthermore, RV3 and RV4 can take as their input source their own effects send or can be fed from the two multiFX channels.
Page 198 / s6000 NOTE: If you try to enter the FX ‘mode’ when no multi is created (i.e. immediately after power up), you will see this prompt: You cannot access the FX pages without there being a valid multi. For S5000 owners, if you press the FX key when the EB20 is not installed, you will receive this...
Page 199 / s6000 You can see the block diagrams for the two multi effects channels, MULTIFX 1 and MULTIFX 2 . Underneath those are the two reverb-only channels, RV 3 and RV 4. F4 and F5 allow you to set...
Page 200: Editing The Effects
/ s6000 EDITING THE EFFECTS To edit MULTIFX 1 or 2, press F2 or F3; to edit any of the reverbs, press F10, 11, 12 or 13. Selecting one of the multiFX channels (in this example, MULTIFX 1), you will see this screen: Here you have access to the individual blocks in the chain.
Page 201 As a result, the concept of effects files does not exist on the S6000 and S5000 and old effects files from the S2000, S3000 and XL series cannot be used in the S6000.
Page 202: Ring Mod/Distortion
/ s6000 RING MOD/DISTORTION Pressing RING MOD/DISTORTION in the main MULTIFX page will show this screen: A ring modulator is a device with two inputs and one output. One input carries the audio source and the other a sine wave signal of variable frequency. The two signals are modulated to produce sum and difference frequencies.
Page 203 / s6000 Pressing EQ in the main MULTIFX page will show this screen: The EQ section of the two multi-effects channels is a four band EQ offering lowpass control over a low frequency, two bandpass mid frequencies and a highpass high frequency control. I.e.:...
Page 204: Eq Templates
/ s6000 The frequency of each of the four bands is variable and may overlap if you wish and you may selectively boost these frequencies if you wish to enhance certain aspects of the sound. Furthermore, you can modulate the frequencies of either of the two mid range sections to create auto-wah effects such as you find on a wah-wah pedal.
Page 205: Eq Modulation
/ s6000 EQ MODULATION Pressing EQ MODULATION (F16 in the EQ page) shows this screen: The LOW MID and HIGH MID bandpass filters of the EQ are able to be modulated by their own independent LFOs. The LMID and HMID LFO RATE parameters set the speed of these LFOs and the LMID and HMID MOD DEPTH parameters set the amount of LFO modulation.
Page 206: Modulation Effects
/ s6000 MODULATION EFFECTS A variety of modulation effects are also available. Pressing MODULATION FX will show something like this screen. Using F2, you may select the various modulation effects. CHORUS The first of the modulation effects is CHORUS.
Page 207: Phase
/ s6000 PHASE The next modulation effect is PHASE. This uses a single short delay line to produce certain phase shifter effects. The parameters are identical to those found in the CHORUS and FLANGE effects. However, please note that stronger phase effects are created with the DEPTH parameter set to low values.
Page 208: Rotary Speakers
/ s6000 ROTARY SPEAKERS The next modulation effect available is ROTARY SPKRS. SPEED 1 This sets one of the rotary speaker speeds. Typically, this will be used to set the speed of the slow rotary speaker effect but it may be used as the fast rotary speaker effect if you wish.
Page 209 / s6000 CONTROL MODE Depending on the MIDI controller selected in the MIDI CONTROL parameter, you may select whether crossing a threshold level of 64 that will cause the speed change or a switch action that will cause the speed change.
Page 210: Freq/Amp Mod
/ s6000 FREQ/AMP MOD The next modulation effect shows the following screen: This effect type allows you to modulate frequency and/or amplitude for a variety of vibrato, autopan, tremolo and Doppler Shift effects. The parameters are: FMOD RATE This sets the speed of the frequency modulation.
Page 211: Pitch Shift
/ s6000 PITCH SHIFT The next modulation effect type is PITCH SHIFT: This is a stereo pitch shifter with independent control over the left and right channels. The parameters are: LEFT SEMITONE Sets the left channel’s pitch shift in semitone increments.
Page 212: Pitch+Feedback
/ s6000 PITCH+FEEDBACK This is the next and final modulation effect. It is pretty much the same as PITCH SHIFT except that there is a delay line in the feedback path: FBK L DELAY L SHIFT LEFT FBK R...
Page 213: Modulation Effects Templates
/ s6000 RIGHT SEMITONE Sets the right channel’s pitch shift in semitone increments. RIGHT FINE Allows you to fine tune the right channel’s tuning. RIGHT DELAY Sets the delay time for the right channel’s feedback. RIGHT FEEDBACK Sets the amount of feedback for the right channel.
Page 214: Delay Fx
/ s6000 DELAY FX Pressing DELAY FX in the main MULTIFX page will give you access to the various delay/echo effects. The delay line in the multi-effects is dual channel allowing you to create ping pong and many other stereo delay effects. It can also operate in a mono mode and this has the advantage of doubling the available delay time.
Page 215: Mono L/R
/ s6000 PING PONG This allows you to create stereo ‘ping pong’ echo effects that bounce back and forth from left to right. A setting of 00 creates a mono echo effect. A setting of +50 will create a ‘ping pong’ echo effect that goes from right to left and back again.
Page 216: Xover L+R
/ s6000 XOVER L+R This is a ‘pseudo’ stereo effect that takes the left and right outputs of the mod effects sections and feeds them through separate delay lines, the feedback paths of which crossover and feed each other.
Page 217: Reverb Effects
/ s6000 REVERB EFFECTS The EB20 offers four channels of stereo reverb, RV1-4. RV1 and RV2 are associated with the two multiFX channels and these may be accessed in the main FX page by pressing REVERB 1 (F10) or REVERB 2 (F11) or via the main MULTIFX page. RV3 and RV4 are two ‘spare’ reverb-only channels accessed in the main FX page on F12 and F13 respectively.
Page 218 / s6000 The parameters are: REVERB TYPE You may select from seven different reverb types - LARGE HALL, SMALL HALL, LARGE ROOM, SMALL ROOM, GATED 1, GATED 2 and REVERSE (the parameters change slightly for the two GATED and the REVERSE reverb types - these are described separately).
Page 219 / s6000 When either of the GATED reverb types are selected, the screens change slightly: The parameters for both gated reverb types are identical: PRE-DELAY Sets the time between the original sound and the onset of the gated reverb effect.
Page 220: Output Mix (Multifx1 And 2 Only)
/ s6000 OUTPUT MIX (MULTIFX1 AND 2 ONLY) Pressing OUTPUT MIX in the main MULTIFX page shows this screen: Here you may balance the various multiFX sections. The parameters are: DIST/EQ LEVEL Sets the output level of the RING MOD/DISTORTION/EQ block of effects.
Page 221 / s6000 PATH CONTROL This parameter allows you to set the flow or direction of the effects. Most multi-effects processors follow a ‘traditional’ path for the effects: DIST/EQ MOD FX ECHO REVERB However, there are times when you want to have the modulation and echo effects in parallel with each other or to be able chorus, flange or phase the reverb to add a shimmer or a ‘swoosh’...
Page 222: Effects Tools
/ s6000 EFFECTS TOOLS F9 of every effects page shows FX TOOLS. Pressing F9 will show this drop down menu: Here you may selectively mute the effects channels. This can be useful when editing effects as it allows you to hear the effect you are working on in isolation by muting the other channels.
Page 223: Copying Effects
/ s6000 COPYING EFFECTS It is possible to copy effects from one multi to another. In this way, if there is a particular effects combination you like, it can be used in another multi. On the main FX page, F16 shows COPY EFFECTS: This allows you to copy all four channels of effects to another multi.
Page 224 / s6000 As well as copying all four channels of effects, you may also copy individual channels. For example, in the main MULTIFX page, F16 shows COPY MULTIFX1 (or 2 depending on the selected channel): Pressing this will show this prompt: You should select the multi you wish to copy the multiFX chain to and press YES (or CANCEL if you change your mind).
Page 225 / s6000 Similarly, it is possible to copy individual reverbs from one multi to another. F16 in all the reverb pages shows COPY REVERB n : Pressing this will pop-up this prompt: You should select the multi you wish to copy the selected reverb to and press YES (or CANCEL if you change your mind).
Page 226: Save
/ s6000 SAVE SAVE Once you have done work on multis, programs and samples, you will no doubt want to save them. This is done using the SAVE key. Depending on what you are working on, pressing SAVE will show something like this screen: In this example, you were working on the multi BACKING TRACK 2 when you pressed SAVE.
Page 227 / s6000 SAVE The window shows you the contents of the root directory or the currently open folder and you can use OPEN and CLOSE FOLDER to navigate your way around your disk to set where the item (multi, program or sample) will be saved. For example, opening SMF FOLDER: The selected item will be saved to that folder.
Page 228: Notes Regarding Save
Whilst you can load data from an S1000, S1100, S2000, S3000 or XL series hard disk, it is not possible to save data to these or other Akai formatted disks. NOTE: Similarly, you cannot record ‘virtual’ samples to anything other than an MS-DOS formatted disk.
Page 229: Utilities
Sets the overall tuning of the sampler in semitones. Please note that this is a MIDI transpose function and not a tuning function as such. For example, if you transpose the S6000 up by 2 semitones using this parameter, when you play C3, a 2 semitone offset will be added to that and you will actually play the sample on D3.
Page 230 DAT or other stereo digital recorders which record at 0dB and playback at 0dB, the S6000 records at 0dB but has to play many voices simultaneously (the other recorders only need to play exactly what they recorded). Each voice you play adds extra gain to the output so, if you were to set 0dB and play many voices, you would get distortion.
Page 231: Set Clock
UTILITIES SET CLOCK Here you may set up the S6000’s internal clock. Pressing it displays this screen: The time you entered this page is captured in the centre of the screen (the actual time the sampler was previously set to keeps ticking away in the top left corner). You should set the various parameters accordingly to set the time and date and, at an appropriate moment, press SET (F16) to actually set the time.
Page 232: Preferences
This sets the speed of the internal fan, used to cool any hard drives that may be installed. The options are SLOW or NORMAL. NOTE: The FAN SPEED control is only applicable to the S6000. This parameter does not appear on the S5000.
Page 233: Midi Setup
/ s6000 UTILITIES MIDI SETUP This sets up how the S6000 will respond to MIDI. Pressing MIDI SETUP shows this screen: The parameters are: PROGRAM CHANGE This applies to remote program selection of programs via MIDI within parts. It may be switched ON or OFF...
Page 234: Midi Filter
AFTERTOUCH This is a ‘system-wide’ parameter that allows you to select whether the S6000 responds to CHANNEL or POLYPHONIC aftertouch. With channel aftertouch, pressing harder on one note will affect all notes that are held. With polyphonic aftertouch, pressing harder on one note affects only that note.
Page 235: Fx In/Outs
This sets how much of the input’s direct signal is passed to the outputs. If you are using the S6000 as a standalone effects processor with an external mixer via the mixer’s AUX sends, this should be set to 0 otherwise set the levels as appropriate.
Page 236: Disk Utils
/ s6000 UTILITIES DISK UTILS Pressing DISK UTILS will show this screen: This is not like LOAD to look at except that F13 allows you to rename the selected item and F14 allows you to delete the selected item.
Page 237: Deleting Items From Disk
As a result, you could have a situation where you go to delete a particular folder that appears to be empty but which, in fact, contains non-Akai data. In this case, you will receive the prompt shown above and you will not be able to delete that folder on the S6000.
Page 238: Formatting Disks
F6 and F14. FULL FORMAT is required if the disk is brand new or has maybe been used with some other device (for example, a disk that may have been used on an older Akai sampler). The FULL FORMAT takes much longer of course but sets the disk up properly. QUICK FORMAT can be used if you are re-formatting an existing MS-DOS disk.
Page 239 / s6000 UTILITIES Pressing PROCEED pops up this prompt: You should respond (with caution) as appropriate. ***** WARNING ***** RESSING AT THIS STAGE WILL CAUSE ALL DATA ON ALL PARTITIONS ON THE DISK TO BE COMPLETELY ERASED Please proceed with caution and abort now (press NO) if you have the slightest doubt.
Page 240 Because a half formatted disk would be totally unusable (and may not even be able to be re- formatted), the S6000 does not offer an abort function during format - you’ll just have to sit it out. **** IMPORTANT NOTE ***...
Page 241 The disk is now ready for use. NOTE: The S6000 will divide the selected drive into 2Gbyte partitions. Thus if you try to format a 4Gb drive, it will have two x 2Gb partitions. It is not possible to set the partition size or name the disk or partitions in this version of software.
Page 242: Unlock Disk
‘wake up’ and play the sample(s). Therefore, when ‘virtual’ samples are loaded, the S6000 overrides the drive’s ‘sleep’ function so that the disk is always ready to play from disk instantly.
Page 243: Memory Test
This test is mostly for service engineers for diagnostic purposes but you may find it useful to check how much memory is in your S6000 (especially if you have just installed some SIMMs and want to check they are correctly seated and recognised by the system). If a slot doesn’t have a SIMM installed, it will show NOT AVAILABLE;...
Page 244: Show Hardware
/ s6000 UTILITIES SHOW HARDWARE This is a useful utility for checking what hardware is and isn’t installed or connected. Pressing it shows something like this screen: After which..At a glance, you can see how many voices are available to you, how much memory is installed, whether the effects processor EB20 is installed (S5000 only), whether the ADAT option is fitted, whether the keyboard is attached and what drives are connected.
Page 245: Set Play Key
This is normal and is not a fault with the S6000. To overcome it, switch FX OUTPUT to OFF in the FX IN/OUTS page.
Page 246: Save O/S To Flashrom
/ s6000 UTILITIES SAVE O/S TO FLASHROM This allows you to save the system settings and preferences to FlashROM or floppy disk. Pressing SAVE O/S will pop-up this prompt: By saving to FlashROM, your sampler will boot with your settings every time.
Page 247 / s6000 UTILITIES As the FlashROM is erased (to make room for the new OS), you will see a series of dots move across the display followed by “OK”. Then the O/S will be written to FlashROM: A series of dots fill up the prompt line by line and the display will scroll up the prompt window as the O/S is written to FlashROM.
Page 248: Save O/S To Floppy Disk
Creating a boot disk may be useful to back up your settings but also if you are likely to be using another S6000 or S5000 and you want it to have the same system settings and preferences as yours.
Page 249: Loading Operating Systems
/ s6000 UTILITIES LOADING OPERATING SYSTEMS There will be occasions when you want to install an operating system. This may be to re-install a backup O/S created using SAVE O/S described on the preceding page or to install a new operating system as they are released.
Page 250 / s6000 UTILITIES If you respond YES, you will see this sequence of screens and progress displays: As the FlashROM is erased (to make room for the new O/S), you will see a series of dots move across the display followed by “OK”.
Page 251 Ejecting the disk during load may also damage the disk. • AKAI professional frequently release new versions of the S5/6000 operating system. These are available upon request from your local AKAI professional dealer but, you have Internet access, you may download them from Akai’s website: http://www.akaipro.com/...
Page 252: Virtual Samples
NOTE: In these two cases, it is possible to be playing the S6000 at the same time as recording to disk. If, however, the sampler is playing back virtual samples at the same time as recording you may experience problems if the disk bandwidth is exceeded.
Page 253: How Does It Work
(or less) if every one was transposed an octave. Finally, virtual samples use the S6000’s voices to play (this is how they can be played in programs using the filters, effects, etc., just like any ordinary sample). However, because it is not possible for...
Page 254 None of the above is a deficiency on the part of the S6000 as all devices that play audio back from hard disk are faced with similar problems but the fact that you can transpose virtual samples and...
Page 255: Recording Virtual Samples
/ s6000 VIRTUAL SAMPLES RECORDING VIRTUAL SAMPLES To record a virtual sample, select DISK in the RECORD TO parameter (F6): However, before you make a ‘virtual’ recording, you need to select where on the disk you are going to record to. This is done in D-D SETUP (F14) which will display something like this screen:...
Page 256 / s6000 VIRTUAL SAMPLES Once you have selected where the new recording will be placed, return to the main RECORD page (press RECORD SETUP - F14 - or the main RECORD mode key), set the record parameters as appropriate and record as normal. The whole process is exactly the same and you will receive...
Page 257: Loading Virtual Samples
/ s6000 VIRTUAL SAMPLES LOADING VIRTUAL SAMPLES No special distinction is made when loading virtual samples. If you load a multi that contains programs that use virtual samples, they will load as you would expect and as saved. If you load a program that contains virtual samples, it will load as you would expect and as saved.
Page 258: Converting Sample Types
/ s6000 VIRTUAL SAMPLES CONVERTING SAMPLE TYPES Using the OVERIDE TYPE key described on the previous page, it is possible not only to load virtual samples as normal RAM samples for more convenient editing but you may also load RAM samples as virtual ones.
Page 259: Editing Virtual Samples
/ s6000 VIRTUAL SAMPLES EDITING VIRTUAL SAMPLES There is no distinction made between normal RAM samples and ‘virtual’ samples. However, there are a few things to be aware of when editing ‘virtual’ samples. • You may experience some delays in playback when editing, particularly when setting start and end points for ‘virtual’...
Page 260: Specifications
: 100 - 240 V AC 50/60 Hz 60 W, without option 35W - S6000/28W - S5000 Dimensions : 483W x 177H x 410D mm (EIA 4U size) - S6000 483W x 133H x 410D mm (EIA 3U size) - S5000 Weight : 11.2kg - S6000/8.9kg - S5000...
Page 261: Appendix A
/ s6000 APPENDIX A MIDI CONTROLLER LIST The following is a list of the controllers that may be used as an EXTERNAL controller within a program. The selected controller is set in EXT APM CONT field in the MIDI page in UTILITIES.
Page 262: S5000/S6000 Midi Implementation Chart
/ s6000 APPENDIX A S5000/S6000 MIDI IMPLEMENTATION CHART Version : V1.20 Date : June, 1999 FUNCTION... TRANSMITTED RECOGNISED REMARKS BASIC Default: 1-16 CHANNEL Changed: 1-16 Memorized (disk) Default: MODE 3 Multi Mode MODE Messages: MODE 1 Program/Sample Mode Altered:...
Page 263: Appendix B
The S6000 has a switch on the rear panel that allows you to switch termination on or off very conveniently. If the S6000 is at the end of a SCSI chain, termination should be switched on. If the S6000 is positioned anywhere else in the SCSI chain, termination should be switched off.
Page 264: Scsi Ids
IDs. Some, however, have fixed SCSI IDs which cannot be changed. Again, please consult the documentation that came with your device. The S6000’s SCSI ID is set in UTILITIES - SYSTEM SETUP using the SYSTEM SCSI ID parameter SCSI CABLE LENGTH The SCSI specification states that the total length of the SCSI chain must not exceed 6 metres.
Page 265: Appendix C
Because the ‘native’ file format for samples is .WAV and because the disk format for the S6000 is MS-DOS, it is possible to take a disk from an S6000, take it to a PC and work on it there. This offers the ability to organise your sound library efficiently into folders and sub-folders more conveniently simply by dragging them around in Windows Explorer.
Page 266 • You can use commercially available or shareware sample editing applications to edit the samples on an S6000 disk on your PC. These can be saved and then transferred back to the S6000 where they may be loaded as normal.
Page 267: Transferring Data Between The S6000 And A Mac
Because the Mac can read MS-DOS disks as well as its own HFS (Hierarchical File Structure) or HFS+ format disks, it is possible to take S6000 disks and hook them up to an Apple Macintosh. You could have something like this on your Mac desktop: Here, a disk containing S5000 sound library has been taken to a Mac and opened on the desktop.
Page 268 The same will happen if you move any items into the wastebasket on the Mac - in the S6000’s filelist you will see a folder called TRASH which will contain any multis, programs and samples you may have dragged to the wastebasket.
Page 269 / s6000 APPENDIX C IMPORTANT NOTES REGARDING TAKING DISKS TO A MAC For the Mac to read MS-DOS disks, it is necessary for the PC EXCHANGE control panel to be installed and active (which is the usual default following a MacOS installation). However, there are a few things to bear in mind.
Page 270: Using Windows 95 On The Mac
• Macintosh disk utility applications such as Norton Utilities and Apple’s own Disk First Aid cannot be used with S6000 disks as these only allow analysis and repair of Mac formatted HFS or HFS+ disks, not MS-DOS disks.
Page 271: Sharing Disks Between An S6000 And A Mac/Pc
APPENDIX C SHARING DISKS BETWEEN AN S6000 AND A MAC/PC By far the safest way to transfer material between your S6000 and a PC/Mac is to have separate systems with a compatible removable disk format (e.g. Zip, Jaz, Syquest, MO): Fig.
Page 272: Appendix D
/ s6000 APPENDIX D CONNECTING THE SAMPLER TO A MAC/PC VIA SCSI It is theoretically possible to connect your sampler to a Mac/PC and share the disk drive as follows: However, great care must be taken because you can potentially damage your drive and lose data irretrievably.
Page 273 / s6000 APPENDIX D The kind of ‘real-world’ things that can go wrong are..A. You delete some files on the disk using the sampler - they are deleted, the sampler’s disk cache is updated, the files don’t appear in the LOAD filelist and everything is fine.
Page 274 SCSI connection as described on the previous pages, please be aware that you do so at your own risk and AKAI professional M.I. Corp. cannot be held liable for any problems you may have on your PC/Mac and/or S5000/6000 or for any damage to equipment or loss of data that may result if an S5/6000 is connected directly to a Mac/PC.
Page 275: Appendix E
LP) so there is no direct translation possible to 18dB/Octave. Also, the S3000 series (including S2800 and S2000) had the option to install a second filter board, the IB304F. The S6000 does not have this option and so sounds that rely on the second filter will not sound the same when loaded into the S6000 (in much the same way as the same sounds loaded into an S3000 without the IB304F installed).
Page 276 S6000. The two cymbals, however, have no individual output routing on the original and so, on the S6000, these will be assigned “AS MULTI”. What this means is that if the program is not yet assigned to a multi part, the cymbals will appear at the default outputs 1/2 (thereby conflicting with the kick and snares).
Page 277 S t a r t 15 samples The S6000 takes care of this automatically and leaves 15 samples between the two end points but WAVs that have been edited on another system so that the sample end and the loop end are the same (or where the sample end is less than 15 samples away from the loop end) may exhibit random clicks in the loop when transposed.
Page 278: Appendix F
Because SIMMs boards can differ, it is not possible to say “Install them with the components facing the front of the S6000” or anything like that because some SIMMs boards have the memory chips mounted on both sides sometimes. However, the boards can only be inserted one way so you shouldn’t have any problems but be very careful not to force them into place otherwise they...
Page 279: Notes On Buying Memory
/ s6000 APPENDIX F There are many different types of SIMMs available. The S6000 uses 72-pin SIMMs and both ‘fast page’ and EDO memory can be used, even in combination. Parity or non-Parity can be used. NOTE: SIMMs from S2000, S3000XL and S3200XL can be used in the S5000 and S6000 so if you are upgrading, you may like to retain the SIMMs from your S2000 or XL to use in your new sampler.
Page 280 M.I. Corp. does not guarantee against the unit’s malfunction, damage or any loss resulting from user installation of memory boards. Neither can AKAI professional be liable for damage caused to memory boards or the S5000/S6000’s circuitry by user installation.
Page 281: Appendix G
20kHz. The S6000 samples at 44.1kHz (the same as compact disc) and at 48kHz (the same as DAT) so you can be sure you are getting the highest quality sound from your sampler.
Page 282 On the S6000 we have four velocity zones that allow us to use playing technique to switch between these different samples so that you could, for example, use velocity to switch between a slow legato viola and an aggressively bowed viola.
Page 283 - all of this can be overcome in a program. Furthermore, because of powerful synthesiser functions, the S6000 can be used to play and process samples much like an analogue synth. With two low frequency oscillators (LFOs), envelope generators, resonant multi-mode filters, panning and more, the S6000 can radically transform any sound offering the creative musician and programmer almost endless possibilities.
Page 284 / s6000 APPENDIX G After that, of course, it’s anyone’s guess what the next level may be but it could be something like this: Here we have 17 keygroups in one program - some are assigned to individual keys whilst some span an octave or so.
Page 285 MIDI, a synthesiser or sampler could be coaxed into playing several different sounds together so that only one synth/sampler was required to play several parts. With the S6000’s 128- voice polyphony, (64-voice on an unexpanded S5000) complex multi-part arrangements can be performed using the MULTI mode.
Page 286 If you have already owned an Akai sampler, then you will probably be familiar with a lot of what is described here but, if this is your first time with an Akai sampler, it is worth taking the time to get a fairly good understanding of these basic principles if you are going to get the best out your sampler.
Page 287: Index
/ s6000 INDEX (APM) 26, 27 Data Wheel 6 Active Switch (Delay FX) 206 Decay (Amp Env) 122 Active Switch (Distortion/RMod) 192 Delay (LFO 1) 89 Active Switch (EQ) 194, 195 DELAY FX Page 204 Active Switch (Mod FX) 203...
Page 288 Monitor (Edit Sample) 141 Key Repeat Dly (Prefs) 222 Mono L/R (Delay FX) 205 Keyboard Track (Filter) 121 Mono Left (Delay FX) 204 Keyboard Track (Zone) 101 MOUNTING THE S6000 12 KEYBOARD>R2/R4 126 MULTI 37 KEYGROUP 95 MULTI LIST 55 Keygroup Crossfade 106...
Page 289 / s6000 INDEX (Cont) Mute Effects 212 Play To/From (Chop) 148 Mute Group 95 Play To/From (Trim) 146 Mute Part 47 Playback Mode 104 Playback Modes (Zone) 99 Playback Window (Zone) 103 POP-UP WINDOWS 18 NAMING 21 PREFERENCES Page 222...
Page 290 Sample A/B Level (Mix) 160 Undo Key 6 Sample A/B To (Join) 157 Unlock Disk (Disk Utils) 232 Sample A/B To (Mix) 160 USER KEYS (S6000 only) 6, 22 SAMPLE LIST 175 UTILITIES Page 219 SAMPLE TOOLS Menu 171 Save Multi 216 SAVE O/S (Utilities) 236, 238 Vel>Attack (Amp Env) 123...
Page 291 / s6000 INDEX Zone Level 99, 101 Zone Xfade 100 Zones 102 Zones 1/2/3/4 98 Zoom In/Out (Chop) 148 Zoom In/Out (Fade) 154 Zoom In/Out (Loop) 151 Zoom In/Out (Trim) 147 Version 1.21...
Page 292 1-3, Hiranuma 1-chome, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan 000922-4 Printed in Japan...

This manual is also suitable for:

S5000

Akai S6000 Operator's Manual

Introduction

Structure/Terminology

Load

Multi

Edit Program

Edit Sample

Record

Fx

Save

Utilities

Virtual Samples

Specifications

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Appendix E

Appendix F

Appendix G

Index

Quick Links

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Summary of Contents for Akai S6000