Akai MPC60, S1000 and S1000PB "Hitmakers: Don Henley and Akai" ad, Keyboard 1989

MPC60, S1000, S1000PB "Hitmakers: Don Henley and Akai" colour advertisement from page 23 in the December 1989 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

Artist endorsement ads are as old as the wheel and both are still around because they are good at what they do. Just ask ARP. Or Korg. Or Roland. Or....   :)

And in 1989, Akai did good when they nabbed Don Henley for this long running advertisement. His album "The End of the Innocence" was Grammy nominated for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Album of the Year... and WON for Rock Male Vocalist. Not too shabby.

Although this second Keyboard Magazine ad for the MPC60 didn't appear in the mag for well over a year after Akai's first introductory ad in the February and March 1988 issues, the MPC still managed to pop up every now and then.

For example, right after that first ad ran, the MPC60 appeared the following month in an April 1988 NAMM article.

"The Akai booth was really dancing, with Roger Linn demonstrating the MPC60 ($4,995.95), featuring MIDI sequencing and drum machine sampling. Detailed in-depth in our Summer 1987 NAMM coverage (Keyboard, Nov. '87), the MPC60 (formerly known as the ADR15 Drum Machine/Sequencer) is now available."

And if you read the blog post about that first ad, you'll recall that the MPC60 was also highlighted in Keyboard's November '87 NAMM show article as well. That's right - it received some great double exposure for showing at two different NAMMs.

In November 1988, the MPC60 finally made it into the Review section of Keyboard Magazine. The extensive write-up weighs in at over five pages and covers a lot of ground that included an introduction that wears Keyboard reviewer Freff's uneasiness on his sleeve. Remember - this was really the beginning of what could possibly a whole new market.

"We should admit our own conflicting reactions up front. Our very first thought, upon examining the MPC60, was why? Why even design, let alone try and sell, a three-in-one unit like the MPC60 when the marketplace is awash in inexpensive drum machines, samplers and sequencers (both software- and hardware-based)"

Doesn't sound like its going to go well, eh? That's what I thought, until later into the intro we read...

"Our second reaction, upon using the MPC60 for several days, was Oh, of course - that's why. It is an unquestionably professional piece of gear in its attention to conception, design, and execution. It looks good and feels even better: It is, in fact, a tactile pleasure to play and to program. These are qualities that have been given short shift by manufacturers in recent years, and we're happy to see that the trend might be reversing."

There ya go... I know I feel much better. You?

I'm sure many people at the time popped into the local music store and had similar first impressions upon seeing it, and that same second reaction after playing.  :)

And finally, the MPC60 popped up again in the March 1989 issue of Keyboard. Twice.

The first appearance was that Akai Michael Jackson advertisement that I blogged about just a bit ago.

And the second time was when the magazine tried its darnedest to come up with a way to comparatively test over a dozen different samplers. Although it didn't make the cut for the dozen or so samplers that they did test, there is a great section called "Features Chart" that does include the MPC among 30+ other samplers.

Better than nothing.

Especially since its descendants have outlasted most of pack.

Akai "Michael Jackson Band - Great musicians use great equipment" ad, Electronic Musician 1989

Akai "Michael Jackson Band - Great musicians use great equipment" full page colour advertisement from page 59 in the March 1989 issue of Electronic Musician.

Coincidences are great. I started blogging about the Akai MPC60 back in November and had planned to push out this next ad on Friday. And then Akai suddenly announces their latest extension of the MPC line - the Akai Force. Reverb is a nice Pre-NAMM starting point to learn more about it.

BBoy Tech Report also has a nice intro on the machine. And, just by coincidence, the BBoy site also has a connection to this advertisement. But more on that in a second.

I gotta hand it to Electronic Musician - sometimes they pulled in some great advertising that never made it into Keyboard Magazine. This appears to be one of those ads. And the ad looks to have appeared only once as far as I can tell - in this EM March 1989 issue - making it even rarer.

This artist-endorsement ad compresses one heck of a lot of talent into one 8x11 inch page...

On the left is Ricky Lawson, drummer and Grammy winner, who played and recorded with some of the hottest hit makers including Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie, Eric Clapton, Quincy Jones and Anita Baker. He passed away in December 2013 and there's a nice little write-up on the Modern Drummer Web site. Check out his Wikipedia page it's a who's-who of amazing artists.

On the right, leaning on the 7000, is keyboardist Greg Phillinganes. His Wikipedia page is as jammed packed as Ricky's with some amazing references including touring and recording with the Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Karen Carpenter, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Richard Marx, Paul McCartney, Al Jarreau, Quincy Jones, and Stevie Nicks.

And last but not least, on the far right is Rory Kaplan. Google him and one of top links to come up is his LinkIn page, listing his current position as Executive Producer/Artist Relations with Auro Technologies. And looking back at his post-musician career includes four years in the role of Artist Relations with Intel and Microsoft. Rory is in desperate need of a Wikipedia page. Just saying.

Now - back to coincidences. One of my favourite parts of researching and writing this blog is when I find connections between advertisements and interviews or other historical events. And this ad has a great connection.

If you recall my blog post for Keyboard's first MPC60 advertisement, I linked to a 2013 bboytechreport interview with Akai marketing manager at the time, Mike McRoberts. In that interview, Mike looked back at some of his most memorable moments with Akai and one of them includes this 'lil nugget:

"...at the January 1988 NAMM Show in Anaheim, I was approached by three members of Michael Jackson’s band touring for the BAD album. They explained their touring schedule, which basically was one week in each city. They had some free time every week and asked if they could do a clinic in each city for Akai. I couldn’t say “No” to that, since this was the biggest tour on earth at the time. So, every week I flew to a different city and Ricky Lawson, drummer, Greg Philliganes and Rory Kaplan, keyboard players did a clinic. I was the master of ceremonies, and these guys came up with the whole clinic format."

Nice!

We now take YouTube for granted, but I can only imagine how cool it would have been to have attended one of those clinics.

More MPC stuff to come!

Akai / Roger Linn MPC60 "MIDI Production Center" brochure, 1988

Akai / Roger Linn MPC60 "MIDI Production Center" four page colour brochure from 1988.

As I mentioned in my previous post on the first MPC60 advertisement, I wanted to make sure I covered off the 30th anniversary of the MPC60 before the end of 2018! And that definitely includes this lovely brochure.

Now, before I say anything else, I just have to first point out that this is one of the classiest gear brochures of its time period.

PERIOD.

The paper this brochure is printed on is thick and creamy - like a milkshake! I've seen business cards printed on much thinner paper.

Classy.

And its like I can still smell the high quality ink of the printing press from which this thing flew out of.

Classy.

And those two logos on the cover!

CLASSY!

If I have one small grip about the design of this ad, its probably the small font used on the inside cover page. But then again, there's a lot to be said when you pretty much create a whole new market category - drum machine/sampler/MIDI sequencer (dare I say groovebox?).

Can't read the text? Right-click on the image and open in a new tab. Then magnify to 100%. OR however you do that in your browser.

Read that whole page and I'm sure you will agree.

Yeah yeah... sure, sure... there were a few other tools that came before it that could sample, make beats or whatever. But this thing really brought it all together in a fun and intuitive format.

Point being - and there's no getting around it - if you were at a trade show or in your local music store and the person behind the counter handed you this brochure, you would immediately sense it was something special.

But that cover would only hint at what was exactly on offer, tempting you to flip the page.

[TRAP SET]

And when the victim person opened the brochure and received what amounts to a prefrontal cortex brain-punch by that high quality photo of the MPC60 on the inside, anyone would be hard-pressed not to figure out a way to get the five grand required to take this machine home.

LinnDrum MIDIstudio

Beg. Steal. Borrow. Whatever.

Linn9000 (1985)

Now, a lot of people try to say the MPC60 is a direct descendant of Linn Electronics'  Linn 9000 that came out in 1985. The Keyboard Spec Sheet said as much in my previous post. But in my view, it was the 1986 advertised-but-never-released LinnDrum Midistudio that is the real baby daddy.

And I'm willing, along with a few others, to die on that hill.

The history of the MPC60, the circumstances around Roger Linn's partnership with Akai, and many other interesting nuggets of knowledge can be found all around the Web with a simple Google search.

So to get you started, here's Red Bull Academy's November 2017 article by Lance Scott Walker includes some great history and quotes from Roger Linn as well as many famous users of the MPC60.

Another recent article written by Alexander Acimen for VOX celebrating the 30th anniversary of the machine is also a nice read.

There's tons more. Just Google.

I can't do all the work for ya - I have another MPC60 advertisement to scan.

:)

Akai / Roger Linn MPC60 "A MIDI Production Studio in a Box" ad, Keyboard 1988

Akai / Roger Linn MPC60 "A MIDI Production Studio in a Box" colour advertisement from page 132 in the February 1988 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

Well, we've almost come to the end of 2018, and I wanted to make sure I covered off a few more things before we say hello to 2019. And one of those things is the 30th anniversary of the MPC60.

Although it was much earlier in 2018 that the 30th anniversary technically took place, I got lazy. Not uncommon. But I am a little ashamed it took me this long.

In my defense, even if I had posted this earlier in in 2018, it was actually a tad longer than 30 years ago that we first got a whiff of this iconic machine. So technically speaking the timeline is blurry anyways - or at least that's what I'm going to keep telling myself.  :)

Now, when I say it was tad longer, I'm talking six or seven months at least.

In fact, it was Summer NAMM in June 1987 that it was first introduced to the masses under it's original name, the ADR15 Drum Machine/Sequencer, along with its little brother, the ASQ-10 Sequencer.

Unfortunately I wasn't there (along with many others) to witness this event. But, it would only be a short three more months when readers of Keyboard could find the ADR15 info gleaned from Summer NAMM in the Spec Sheet section of the September 1987 issue.

"Akai and drum machine pioneer Roger Linn have joined forces to produce the ADR15 Drum Machine/Sequencer and the ASQ10 Sequencer. The ADR15 is both a sampling drum machine and a MIDI sequencer. It features a 320 character LCD, and up to 26 seconds of 120-bit sampling at 40kHz with 18 kHz bandwidth. Samples can be loaded and dumped via MIDI. The unit, which has 16 velocity sensitive pads, is 16 voice polyphonic, and 32 drum sounds can be in memory at a time. Ambience and other effects can be added to the drum sounds. The ADR15's sequencer section and the ASQ10 Sequencer share the same specs. Both sequencers record 60,000 notes in up to 99 sequencers of up to 99 tracks. Sequences can be chained together into 20 songs of 256 steps each. The units sync to MIDI song position pointer, FSK, a quarter-note metronome, or SMPTE, and feature two MIDI ins and four MIDI outs. ADR15: $4,999.95. ASQ10: $2,499.95."

And when Keyboard finally came out with there annual Summer NAMM article in the November 1987 issue, it was again given a good deal of real estate in print.  Although there was a lot of duplicate info between the Spec Sheet info and the NAMM article info, there was some new info too. Readers learned that it was a redesigning of the Linn 9000 drum machine/sequencer/sampler. We also learned of the context-sensitive help feature, and that the sequencer included a "variety of editing, quantization, looping, and punch-in/out options" and that "changes in tempo and drum mix, panning, and tuning can be programmed into sequences".

Sweet.

Now, I have to say I originally freaked out when I found out the original name of the MPC60 was the ADR15. I had never about heard this! And I was excited to break the news to everybody on the Internet...

Until I Googled it.

Dammit MATRIXSYNTH!

If you follow the link above, you will find what MATRIXSYNTH rightly refers to in 2014 as "a fascinating bit of synth history". From there you will find a nice synopsis of the history of the ADR15/MPC60 name and a link to a January 2013 bboytechreport.com interview with Mike McRoberts, Akai's product manager for the U.S during the MPC heydays. A fascinating read!

That MATRIXSYNTH page also includes a photo of an ADR15 prototype, which unlike the MPC60, had a fixed LCD display and a foam rubber arm rest.

I love prototypes!

Anyways, Akai finally launched the MPC60 in Keyboard Magazine in February 1988 with this advertisement, which would only run one more time in the following month. And then the ad was gone, replaced with a X7000 sampler ad.

And this ad only seemed to appear once in Electronic Musician in the May 1988 issue.

Akai would wait an astonishing 21 months before advertising the MPC again in Keyboard Magazine.

Akai AX-73 "SYNTHMASTER" ad, Music Technology Magazine 1987

Akai AX-73 "SYNTHMASTER" advertisement from page 47 of the January 1987 issue of The Music Technology Magazine.

Well, if there's one thing this Akai AX-73 ad proves, it's that you can definitely love a synth too much.

Waaaaay too much.

I get it. It was the mid-80s and readers were getting more accustomed to ads that veered towards the artsy-end of the spectrum. Advertisements from across the pond did sometimes take a bit more risk and, let's face it, there were a lot of drugs flowing through advertising agencies around this time period.

But this ad is so unlike any other Akai advertisements that when a friend brought it to my attention last night via a UK eBay auction, I couldn't resist coming out of my winter hibernation to search through my magazine archives and get this thing online pronto. And really - I can't thank him enough for rekindling my blogging passion.

Let's ignore for a second the fact that someone thought this ad would make a good eBay auction and focus on the ad itself.

I don't mind the layout. Again - pure 80s with a large photo, lots of white space and a giant block of run-on text that's a little hard to read.  The one thing that isn't well displayed is the actual name of the synth. Its not in large text anywhere - it's even missing from the photo. It's only written out in the small paragraph at the bottom right of the page.

Also, growing up on the other side of the Atlantic, I find some of the language used in the ad copy slightly exotic. "Velocity sensing" and "For your nearest stockist..." - both stand out to me as a Canadian. And let's not miss "Grasp the energy". Obviously the inspiration for the photo.

I think the Synthmaster is grasping the AX-73 a little to hard maybe.

Now - back to that eBay auction. The description the seller uses is actually quite accurate:

"Retro and vintage magazine advertising is an increasingly interesting subject for framers and collectors. As more and more magazines from the 70s & 80s are discarded , the available stock becomes more and more sought after."

I agree - these awesome magazines are becoming more rare and sought after. Unfortunately, its a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy when many of the magazines are being discarded by people tearing them apart to sell the ads.

Yeah, I don't like it, but I'm not trying to point fingers either. You buy a magazine, you can do what you want with it. And as the available stock dwindles, eBayers will theoretically be able to get more for each ad. That's just good business. Breaks my heart when a magazine like this is destroyed. But that's just me.

My real astonishment is that the seller believes someone will buy *this particular* Akai AX-73 ad. And maybe even more frightening is that someone will actually buy and frame it.

That Roland Jupiter 8 two-page spread or TR-808 ad from their "Understanding Technology Series" ad run?

 

Definitely. Frame those babies on the ceiling above your bed for those lonely nights.

Or can I get a what-what for a sexy Moog ad?

Yup. Times 10.

Or how about pretty much any Sequential Circuits Prophet 10/5/PRO-1 ad from the "Ear Force" era?

You can bet your pants those are replacing the cherished heirloom family photos in the dining room.

But as far as this ad is concerned - do your house guests a favour and save your money for an actual AX-73.

Or better yet - the AX-60.  :)

Akai S-612 "Sample a Sampler" ad, Keyboard 1986

Akai S-612 "Sample a Sampler" one page colour advertisement from page 61 in the July 1986 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

It's hard to believe I can ever forget how thick that July 1986 issue of Keyboard is. That is until the next time I have a good reason to pull it off the shelf again. We are talking over 170 pages of juicy Keyboard goodness  - this time with a big cover photo of Lyle Mays sitting in front of a big-ass Oberheim 8-Voice.

And whenever I do pull it off the shelf, I immediately forget that I have a blog post to write and end up sitting at the end of the bed flipping through the mag. Although I've probably gone through this issue of Keyboard cover-to-cover more than a dozen times, my eyes always find something new.

This time, I notice this one small little descriptive sentence used with the Keyboard News section in the table of contents:

"Synthesizer sales hit new high"

I immediately flip to the news page to find the info. According to the small article, imports of synthesizers, mini-keyboards and organs had increased over 890% over the last five years - from $21 million in 1980 to $280 million in 1985. With over 98% of these instruments coming from Japan.

My immediate thought was - man, the US must be pissed that Japan is importing all this synth-love. But then the article notes that the US industry was keeping up, with exports of American synthesizers and electric pianos rising 19% in number of units and 17% in value when compared to the previous year, "with increased shipments especially to Switzerland and Japan".

The same news page also had another little blurb on Roland gray marketers - something that Yamaha addressed in a full page "Special Announcement to Purchaser" advertisement back in the February 1984 issue:

"The war against gray marketers - unauthorized importers of electronic equipment - stepped up on March 28, when Roland filed suit against ABC International Traders. The suit alleges that ABC infringed the manufacturer's trademark and rights under the custom laws by selling equipment intended for sale in countries other than the U.S..."

Interesting stuff.

But enough about the magazine - how about this ad, eh? 

Finally! Akai's S-612 sampler getting some full-page solo loving. To date it had been relegated to a 1/2 page format - first in 85's black and white "Would you like a sampler...?" ad, and then in the first half of 1986 in the "Finally Sampling Made Simple" colour advertisement. To be fair, it also got to share the stage with it's synth brother the AX60, but this is the first time Akai had decided to give the S-612 its own full page space.

And for good reason to - the price. Sure, its the same $995 as in previous ads. But now the "optional" MD-280 disk drive is not-so-optional and is included WITH the sampler. According to the November 1985 Keyboard Report on the S-612, Akai was selling the MD-280 on its own for $299.00. (And, BTW, you could also get a set of 10 pre-recorded disks for $79.95 and a box of ten blank disks for $49.95.)

But now, that $995 gets you both the sampler and the disk drive. Not too shabby.

The ad itself isn't too shabby neither. We got a really nice to-the-point ad-title. A nice big photo of both the sampler and the disk drive - actually the best photo yet, showing off that legible front panel and all that is simple and great about the S612.

Again, Akai has chosen to (TM) the heck out of the term Sampler. In the ad-title. In the ad-copy. Everywhere. It actually gets a little tedious. But I guess when you are trying to protect a trademark, you can never go to far.

It brings back to mind (but in no way related except that lawyers were probably involved) the recent Jack Daniel's friendly cease and desist letter. If you happen to be friends with any PR people, no doubt they sent you an email with a link to this news item in another tedious attempt to show you how much of a PR expert they are. Oh wait, I sent that email around too. Ooops.   :)

But, as a collector, what I like most about this advertisement is the collateral material available - not just a demo-sampler cassette, but also a T-Shirt! When I see that, I start to drool on my keyboard, and while the keyboard is drying off, I have to add those items onto my list of collectable items.

To me, vintage synth t-shirts are right up there with belt buckets.

Yum.

Akai AX60 "Synth With A Split Personality" introductory ad, Keyboard 1986

Akai AX60 "Synth With A Split Personality" two-page introductory colour advertisement from page 14 and 15 in the January 1986 issue of  Keyboard Magazine.

Akai ads are just getting bigger and better, and this two-page full colour advertisement for the AX60 just knocks my socks off. It had a rather good ad-run too, appearing for a number of months between January and April, and then making a brief appearance again in September 1986.

But, be warned. My objectivity may have taken a vacation today. So, full disclosure - I own an AX60 and I **LOVE** it. Yes, four **asterix** worth of **LOVE**.

It was one of the first synthesizers I bought off the Internet - from a cool dude in the Analog Heaven email list. I can recall the excitement of the transaction, the anxiety of waiting for it to arrive, wrestling with shipping box when it finally did arrive, and sliding it out of the box to reveal this gorgeous beast for the first time.

Yum.

The best thing about this ad is the fact that the front panel of the synth takes up the whole bottom half of the two pages. You can clearly read every control. It's magnificent and gives readers a good indication of EXACTLY what they are purchasing.

A close second best thing about this ad is the inclusion of the $795.00 price tag.

And a close third best thing is its association with the S612 sampler. Up until now, the poor S612 has spent most of its time in half-page ads, usually in the back-half of Keyboard.  But now at least it was getting a bit more air-time with its younger brother. These two peas in a pod even share similar markings, grays with a dash of pastel reds and blues. 

One thing I hardly noticed in this ad at first was what I thought was a lightning bolt down the center of the two pages. But then I realized its the "split" in the "split personality" aspect of the ad. Ha!

There are many reasons to like this advertisement, but there are just as many reasons to love the synthesizer itself. All the controls are located on the front panel, it has an arpeggiator, you can split the keyboard to create two different sounds, I could go on and on...

But for me, the coolest feature of this synthesizer is the VCO MOD control in the VCF section. It makes this synth scream and burble and gargle and gack. The AX60 manual has this to say about it:

"This unique feature produces musically useful timbre shifts when moved; the action is similar to tone control, but more sophisticated."

Yes, yes it truly does.

If you have not heard this sound, I've uploaded a simple arpeggiated saw wave demo to SoundCloud. Its a little distorted (caused by SoundCloud, not the VCO MOD function) so I've enabled the wave download button so you can download the original wave file (11 MB I think) if the audio gets to be too annoying.



Listening to the demo, you can really hear the harmonics/distortion added to the sound with this one simple slider interacting with the cut-off and resonance, and you can see why I used the VCO MOD *a lot* in angry songs I was created in the mid-late 90s. I would ride the slider up and down throughout some songs.  :D

Like the ad, the manual also spends a a fair bit of time talking up the AX60's connection to the S-612 sampler. Six of the 43 pages to be exact, running through the basics of set up, editing sampled sounds, stereo effects, and using the AX60's keyboard split function with the sampler.

But it is the final section - 11F: A Word to Creative Musicians... - that seals the deal for me, and makes me reach for the eBay app on my new NEXUS 7 Google tablet to buy one (nope, didn't get paid by eBay or Google to say that, just wanted to brag):

"The AX60/S612 combination is a powerful one. It will take you some time to master using the two devices together, but practice makes perfect. After you become familiar with the system (maybe even before!), you will be able to produce some absolutely marvelous sounds."

All this writing about the AX60 has me truly excited about this machine again. Now I gotta go play on it some more.

There goes the rest of my lovely afternoon.

Gah!

Akai S-612 "Finally Sampling Made Simple!" ad, Keyboard 1985

Akai S-612 sampler "Finally Sampling Made Simple!" 1/2-page colour advertisement from page 58 in the December 1985 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

After a five or six month run of their rather humorous 1/2-page black and white advertisement, Akai and/or distributor IMC decided to up their game a little bit.

For one, they decided to pay the big bucks and go CMYK on our @ss. Although, I think at the expense of a bit of readability. Actually, looking at this ad again right now, it kinda reminds me of an early 1990's rave pamphlet. It's like Akai already knew that sampling would play such a large role in electronic dance music of the future. Creepy good fun.

But, that rack sampler really does look purrrrdy in colour with its blue and red twiddlies and bitz. 

They also changed their primary message used in that earlier ad from one of cost ("less than a $1000!") to one based on ease of use. A message, I'm sure, that is a direct shot at the Ensoniq Mirage's rather more difficult sampling procedures:

"No longer do you need to be a computer whiz kid to unleash your sampling creativity. Now in just 8 seconds you can sample anything from a Model T to a Boeing 747..."

But it's this next part of the ad-copy that is really wonderful:

"...or permanently store your favorite sounds... from a C.D. to a $25,000 synthesizer!!"

Just to be clear, I'm pretty sure Loop Masters and Time+Space weren't around yet. :) Is Akai suggestingI use there S-612 to SAMPLE music CDs? Like, other people's music? Awesome.

But, like I said - colour at the expense of readability. It took me a while to find that low price of $995.00. And for some reason the designer put a really bright star right behind the price, making it even harder to see. Even if it isn't the main message, its still one of best features of this sampler.

After the introductory black and white advertisement ran from July to November 1985, this colour ad started running in December 1985, and actually continued to run pretty regularly through out the first half of 1986. But still, at a 1/2-page size, I think it continued to have trouble getting noticed over main competitor Ensoniq's full page colour ads for the Mirage. Complicated sampling and all.

But, the S-612 did a get a boost  in November 1985 just before this colour ad started to run in the form of a coveted Keyboard Review by Jim Aikin. After a brief introduction about the pros and cons of sampling in general, he zeros in on two of the S612's cost-cutting measures - no keyboard (played through MIDI), and the fact that you can only hold one sample in memory at a time.

Soon after (and much like this ad's message) Jim points out the obvious - this thing is easy to sample with. In his words:

"The S612 is simplicity itself to use".

After reading this, Akai should have immediately dropped all future marketing plans for the S612 and just put well-respected Aikin's quote above a photo of the S612.

Clap hands. Job done. :D

The review also points out one other feature of the S612 that isn't really mentioned elsewhere - storing sounds with the S612 on its own takes around EIGHT MINUTES BY CASSETTE. Do you know how long eight minutes is? Um... a long time.

But that's why Akai came out with the "optional" MD280 mini-disk drive module.  I put that "optional" in quotes, because it's really not all that optional. This module reduces the time it takes to store a sample from eight minutes down to eight seconds. Aaaaah. Much better.

Jim also rightly makes note of the suannoying 2.8" quick-disk format micro-floppies the unit used. Smaller than Mac's 3.5 inch disks. I hated them on my Roland S10 sampler too. But according to Jim, Akai's reason for choosing the format was because they could "hold exactly 64kb per side, which is what was needed to store one sampled sound and associated voicing information.  64kb? That seems low, no?

Jim also reviews other aspects of the machine, including factory sounds, voice parameters, truncating and looping functions and MIDI implementation (something of great importance in a rack sampler that relies on MIDI to be played).

In his conclusion, Jim once again points out the issue of saving to cassette, calling it "an exercise in frustration". He also brings back the awful memory of how expensive floppies were back in the day and comments "don't forget to budget a couple of hundred dollars for disks". LOL!

Before signing off, he makes one final observation about the future market for samplers:

"At the rate technology is advancing, we can expect to see more units like this one hitting the marketing in the near future, packed with bells and whistles to make them seem superior. But it's hard to see how the basic package found in the Akai could be improved upon."

It's hard to think of Akai as the underdog of sampling. But the company is catching up. Fast.

Akai S-612 "Would you like a sampler for less than $1000.00?" introductory ad, Keyboard 1985 - first ad

Akai S-612 sampler "Would you like a sampler for less than $1000.00?" 1/2-page black and white introductory advertisement from page 87 in the May 1985 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

Work is about to take over my life for the next two or three weeks, so I've decided to enjoy this gorgeous weekend as  much as possible and spend only a minimal amount of time indoors - cleaning, blogging, music, etc. And, in retrospect, it looks like Akai took the same minimal approach both in the design of its S-612 sampler as well as its introductory advertisement.

Right or wrong, much of the early life of the S-612 was probably spent being compared to another relatively new and cheap-ass sampler, and it's main competition - the Ensoniq Mirage. So, of course, I did the same when looking at when exactly each of these samplers started showing up in Keyboard magazine.

The S-612 Spec Sheet appearance looks to be the first sign of life for Akai's sampler in the May 1985 issue of Keyboard. For comparison, the Ensoniq Mirage sampling keyboard had already been showing off its chops for a good five or six months in the form of a full colour two-page introductory advertisement that began running during the December 1984 Xmas season. I would have hoped for a bit more meat in the Spec Sheet from a company trying to play catch-up to the competition:

"Akai's 6-voice polyphonic 612 Sampler is a 19" rack-mount device designed to operate with any MIDI-equipped keyboard. It features 12-bit resolution and can digitally sample up to eight seconds of any sound. Front panel controls enable the user to set a looping point for the sampled sound, set MIDI mode and channel, and externally trigger the device. An LFO and filter are built-in. Price is $999.00. Akai, dist. by IMC, Box 2344, Fort Worth, TX 76113."

Yeah, not a lot of info in that spec sheet... but then again, the Akai S-612 was a simple machine. There wasn't much more to it. Just your basic entry level sampling machine.  And what was probably a really bad case of "coin-ki-dink" (ah... coincidence), competitor Ensoniq managed to slide in a FULL PAGE COLOUR advertisement directly opposite Akai's Spec Sheet promo. And not the Mirage introductory ad - that one had already run for a while and was replace in this May issue of Keyboard with Ensoniq's second advertisement for the machine!

In the words of Martin Q. Blank from the movie Grosse Point Blank: "Dumb fucking luck".

So, I'm thinking. Okay, a slow start. But maybe there is earlier mention of Akai's sampler in Keyboard's semi-annual NAMM tradeshow round-up article. That February 1985 Winter NAMM show article turned out to be easy to find. It was in the same issue as Akai's Spec Sheet - May 1985. 

From the article:

"One of the games that was being played at this NAMM convention was spot the digital sampler, also known as how many sampling machines can you fit inside of one convention center. Kurzweil, Ensoniq, E-mu and Fairlight were all on hand to show off their instruments... ...And everyone was curious about the Ensoniq Mirage (which we'll be reviewing next month in Keyboard Report), the sampling keyboard with a list price under $2,000."

Ensoniq's timing was perfect. A Xmas launch, hitting NAMM at just the right time with a great price-point, and free earned media in this NAMM article with a mention and a photo!

And yet, no mention of Akai. Gah!

So, from a casual reader's perspective, Ensoniq's Mirage had already been on the market for quite a while, resulting in five or six month's exposure in advertisements and articles before Akai even gets their first break with their Spec Sheet promo. Until this advertisement came along, some readers may have thought that the only thing the Akai S-612 rack sampler had going for it was its under $1000 price tag compared to the Mirage's $1700 list price.

You'll probably agree that the S-612 needed to come out swinging with it's first advertisement to get in front of Ensoniq. But Akai or distributor IMC (or whoooooomever) looks like they made the unfortunate decision to make the S-612's introductory advertisement a 1/2-page black and white ad. ON PAGE 87!!!

Not really that confident, were we, Akai?

Or just playing it safe?

It's not all bad. For a half-pager, it is a nicely designed ad. Good layout with a large title, good photo and a very readable large-ish ad-copy font.

Akai knows they have the cheapest sampler on the planet - and use that fact to their advantage in the ad-title:

"Would you like a sampler(TM) for less than $1,000.00."

That "TM" symbol beside the word "sampler" makes me a little uneasy. Did Akai really trademark the term "sampler"? They give the word the "TM" treatment through the ad-copy. I did a quick search and I wasn't the only that noticed this. The Microscopics blog made note of this back in 2009. Interesting.

Also, I just gotta point out the crazy sense of humor in the ad-copy . Underneath the ad-title about wanting a sampler for less than a grand is:

"So would 348,000 other synthesizer players". 

Huh? What? Where does that number come from? Did they just pull that number out of their ass? Or am I missing some in-joke?

Again - we get a little chuckle in the first sentence:

"Now the S-612 sampler(TM) by Akai enables thousands of synthesizer owners the freedom of sampling technology without mortgaging their wife and kids!"

Giggle.

Okay, between the time I started writing this post and the time I finished it, I've done a complete 180 degrees on my thoughts on Akai's first S612 advertisement, and their move into the professional instrument market.

I think Akai has a really shot at this "sampler (TM)" thing.   :D

Akai AX80 "Simply... Awesome!" ad #2, Keyboard 1985

Akai AX80 "Simply... Awesome!" advertisement #2 from page 7 in the May 1985 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

Yup. Not a screw-up. This is a TOTALLY different advertisement than the AX80 "Simply...Awesome!" ad I posted last Monday.  I prefer to call this one "Simply... Awesomer!"

Let me remind you of that earlier ad.

So, I can hear your thoughts. Doesn't look too different from that first AX80 ad, does it?  Well, the difference is significant enough that it may have been the reason the ad was moved all the way up to page 7 in that issue of Keyboard. I'll let you take a bit of a closer look and ponder the significance of the difference between the two ads while reading the rest of the blog post.

And speaking of "significances", back in the 80s, it didn't take long for Keyboard Magazine to realize the significance of Akai breaking on to the synth scene, and Jim Aikin was selected (or volunteered... how would I know?!?!) to write the review of the AX80 in the January 1985 issue.

Side note: I'm not sure why, and please don't find this creepy Mr. Aikin, but for some reason your writer's photo that Keyboard Magazine used for your articles during this time period has never left my memory. When many of the other writers' faces were all looking right at the camera and smiling, you were kickin' the new wave "glow", looking cool as Kraftwerk. Seriously and sincerely. I dig that photo.

Jim starts the review with a sentence or two on the state of the polyphonic synth market - and reading it now gives one a good idea of the confusion keyboard players must have been facing when choosing a polysynth:

"Competition in the polyphonic synthesizer area seems to get tougher every month, with new, affordable, touch-sensitive instruments crawling out of the woodwork at an alarming rate. This is good news for keyboard players because it means prices are coming down, but it does make it tougher to evaluate all the reshuffled combinations of familiar features and figure out which instrument is right for you."

And, without knowing it at the time, Jim really does a kick-ass job at predicting the AX80's future in terms of pricing (that was a hint to the difference between the two ads - more on that later).

As usual Jim gives 100 per cent in detailing the keyboard, controllers, voice architecture, and programming and operations. An enjoyable read - or re-read in my case. And one that delayed me a little in finishing this post :).

In the end, Jim concludes that although he wasn't impressed with the preset patches, he notes the synth does have a "warm, full sound, and can deliver a full palette of musically useful tone colors".  He also predicts the future quite accurately again with his last statement.

"The AX80 is an excellent first entry into the keyboard market by a company that we're sure to be seeing more from."

Okay, before I end this post, I've just gotta say I've left the best for last (well, in my mind anyways   :)

You see, the advertisement actual ran for quite some time between the end of 1984 and well into 1985. So, whenever ads run for that long, I usually go to one of the later ad-runs and do a small comparison check, just to see if, on the off-chance, the company has made little tweaks along the way.

Well, in the case of this Akai AX80 ad, I was NOT disappointed. In fact, in my mind, I hit the jackpot! It seems that the ad change very subtly two times during its year long ride in Keyboard Magazine - and both times it is in reference to PRICE DROPS!

In May 1985, it looks like Akai added text to the ad to let readers know that they dropped the price of the AX80 down three hundred dollars - from $1,695 down to $1,395. That's a pretty sweet price drop - one that I think should have resulted in a bit more attention and promotion in the ad change. Not the small little text addition that they decided on.

Then in September 1985, the ad changed again to show that the price dropped a further FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS - down to $995. WTF? But readers flipping casually through the magazine may not have even noticed. Again, just a small change.

If you haven't found it yet (and I don't blame you), the extra text appeared below the "Simply... Awesome!" promo ad-copy in small black letters. It's like they were trying to hide it or something.

May 1985 - price drop to $1395

September 1985 - price drop to $995

My jaw dropped when I first noticed this. Really? A company drops the price of their synth $700 dollars and then doesn't really give it much attention?!?!?

I'd say that's pretty significant. Heck - it's simply awesome!

Psst - was that ending too predictable?    :)

Akai AX80 "Simply... Awesome!" ad, Keyboard 1984

Akai AX80 "Simply... Awesome!" full page colour advertisement from page 44 in the November 1984 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

It's always a crap shoot when a company tries to break into a new market. It usually takes a lot of money and a lot of balls. I think its fair to say Akai had both in 1984 when they decided to start up their new electronic instruments division known fondly by many as Akai Professional.

Gordon Reid probably said it best in the introductory paragraph of his 1996 AX80 retrospective:

"When Akai turned up at the 1984 Frankfurt Music Fair, they had many people wondering what a hi-fi manufacturer was doing at a show aimed squarely at performing and recording musicians. A new range of speakers perhaps? Maybe an amplifier or two? What the world wasn't expecting was the 'Akai Music Studio System' - an early attempt at a complete MIDI studio that comprised a fully fledged polysynth, the AX80, the MG1212 combined 12-track mixer/recorder, the MR16 drum machine, and the MS08 sequencer. Of the four, it was the synth that garnered the most interest. It was sleek, black, beautifully designed, beautifully finished and, if looks could kill, was set to become The Terminator of its generation."

F*ck yeah! Excuse my language, but that's how you start a retrospective! Man, if I had written that paragraph, I would have just clapped my hands, ended the blog post right there and walked away from my computer. I love the look of the AX80 almost as much as Gordon Reid - even without any knobs.

But, I didn't write it, and now you have to read the rest of this meandering post. :D

Readers of Keyboard were first introduced to the AX80 through the magazine's Spec Sheet section in the September 1984 issue of Keyboard - a month or two before the ad started to appear. The promo provided readers a good little "tease" that included the basics of the machine. It actually shared promo space with the MG1212, basically an analog ADAT, so I've left that part out:

"Akai Synthesizer. The AX80 synthesizer features a 5-octave keyboard, pitch-bend and modulation wheels, and 8-voice polyphony. Each voice has two oscillators a VCF, an envelope generator, and a VCA. The instrument also has 32 preset sounds along with 64 user-programmable memory positions. MIDI in, out and thru connectors are provided. Panel functions are displayed on five fluorescent bar graphs. The rear panel is angled to make connecting cables easier. Distributed by IMC, Box 2344, Fort Worth, TX 76113."

I'm always a little disappointed when the Spec Sheet promo doesn't provide price information. Makes me pout a little bit actually.   But luckily we have the InterWebz today, and according to Wikipedia's incredibly well-written AX80 page, this synthesizer jumped onto the scene with a retail price of $1,695 US.

According to the page, the AX80 was Akai Professional "first venture", and part of what Gordon Reid described above as the "Akai Music Studio System" that included a sampler, drum machine, sequencer and even a multitrack tape recorder. The page provides a lot of great detail about the voice architecture and sound programming, and the knowledgable author(s) actually compare it roughly to Roland's JX3P. Interesting.

I am glad that the Spec Sheet did reference the fluorecent bar graphs. To me, that's the best thing about this beast.  MATRIXSYNTH has a good little photo of OSC 1's graph from a 2007 auction post. The AX80 must look gorgeous in the dark.

Tech writer David Hughes included his thoughts on the fluorescent graphs in a June 2002 Sound on Sound AX80  retrospective titled "The Return of the Axman":

"Akai's innovative solution to the nightmare of digital parameter access was a huge array of fluorescent bar graphs that run along the entire width of the instrument, and almost every available parameter is visible simultaneously. You really have to see an AX80 in the flesh to appreciate just how truly astonishing this looks, and these machines could easily be used to decorate Oxford Street at Christmas!"

Purrrrrdy.

There are a number of other good references on the Web that point out all that is good and bad about the AX80. Vintage Synth Explorer has a good little write up and compares its sound to the Chroma Polaris or Juno 106.

That Sound on Sound magazine I mentioned above also compared the AX80's sound to a number of other synths.

"It can sound like any number of synths of that era: the richness of the Prophet series, the depth and punch reminiscent of the Minimoog, the sterility of Roland's Juno series, and the digital 'wanginess' of the PPG family."

Poor thing - getting compared to all it's cousins. You think it would have developed some kind of psychological complex after all this time.  :D

Akai ME10D, ME20A and MM99 MIDI controlled effects, Sound on Sound 1985

Akai ME10D MIDI delay, ME20A MIDI arpeggiator and MM99 sound controller MIDI controlled effects 2-page advertisement from page 40 and 41 in Sound on Sound Magazine November 1985.

Akai had already been pushing musical gear for a while, especially the AX80. But those ads have nothing on this centrefold that appeared in the first ever issue of Sound On Sound magazine. Akai is obviously having fun with this ad - like they told the designer to just go nuts. And It all adds up to a stellar piece of work that keeps me chuckling.

I mean, this thing is really wacked-out. The retro design, acrobats in leopard skin with Akai module racks for heads and those crazy hands playing the AX80 in the bottom right corner. And, to put icing on the cake, I'm not even sure the hard-to-read squiggly ad-copy is even grammatically correct. At all.

Side note: I've been rather tired lately, and to give you an idea just how tired, I spent a good five minutes trying to figure out what Akai meant by what I read as "Tomorrow's S.O.U and N.D.S Today" in the top right corner of the ad-copy. I had literally pulled up Google to do a search on SOU and NDS to figure out what these odd UK terms meant. Gah.

The actual Akai MIDI gear doesn't really interest me, but as I was flipping through this first issue of Sound On Sound, I really started to respect the direction the creators of the magazine were taking. "RECORDING - MIDI - SYNTHESIZERS" is written at the bottom of the cover, and SOS made sure to start the magazine with a bang by putting Midge Ure, fresh off a world tour with Ultravox and appearances at Live Aid, on the cover.

And, if that doesn't set the magazine's agenda, then that first article starting on page 5 will. Called "The Programming People", it has this introductory paragraph:

"The recording industry has recently embraced a new breed - the programmer. These skilled individuals, specialized in the operation of top-flight computer musical instruments like the Fairlight and Synclavier, find themselves in great demand by studios and recording producers. Recognising this need, Karin Clayton has created a specialist agency - The Programming People - which offers clients the services of various expert programmers. Paul Gilby sampled her story and discovered how it all started". 

More articles follow covering MIDI, an intro to SMPTE and of course, gear reviews.

Being Canadian, reading UK magazines is a treat because I just didn't have the level of access to many of the UK musicians of the time period that my UK snail-mail penpals/music traders took for granted. For example, in the article on MIDI, the opening paragraph includes a quote by Rupert Hine about his first use of MIDI while recording Howard Jone's first album:

"There are certain very rare moments in the recording studio when you realise that a series of barriers you've been used to living with have just dropped."

You have no idea how happy it makes me when I come across quotes like that. Howard Jones still rocks.

Another article features the UMI-2B computer MIDI sequencing system that ran on the BBC B Micro computer. Again - you have no idea how many times I've read articles on Vince Clarke that mention this machine and sequencer. And to finally be able to read about it in detail seriously rocked. And, of course, the article included that soon-to-become classic photo of Vince Clarke and Eric Radcliffe posing with the computer and a rack of CZ101s.

Under the photo is a small quote by Vince, that includes:

"If you are looking for something to sequence, say, a bank of eight Casio CZ101s, then UMI-2B is the answer."

Bank of CZ101s - Drool.

Speaking of CZ101s, I had forgotten just how much coverage that little multi-timbral beast was actually getting when it first launched - and this magazine was no exception. The 101 also gets mentioned in a Casio SZ-1 review as "a leap forward in music technology" and the Midge Ure article mentions it was used to record three instrumental tracks on "The Gift".

After finding this Akai ad, I really did end up reading this issue cover to cover again after all these years, and Sound On Sound obviously wanted to make sure it was written for serious musicians (and technicians). But, in case you thought the magazine was taking itself too seriously, flip to the second last page and you find this:

It was so out of place that it took me a few seconds to process it. The Pee-wee Herman Wikipage tells me that the movie Pee-wee's Big Adventure came out in 1985, so I guess it makes sense that if you were going to be pushing underpants, now was the time.

You can view a list of all the articles found in that issue... where else?... on the Sound On Sound Web site.

Another reason it is such a great mag. :D

End note: Nope. Didn't get paid to promote SOS. Never gotten paid for anything written in this blog (unless you count my Google ads that bring in enough for about two Slurpees* a month). Probably never will get paid (or at least not until my grammar and spelling get *a lot* better).

* Nope. Didn't get paid for mentioning Slurpees either. And, BTW, we are talking Canadian Slurpees, not those ones found in other countries that are foamy and stuff - although I do enjoy those too).

Akai AX80, Keyboard 1985

Akai AX80 from page 41 of Keyboard magazine January 1985.

Akai S612, Electronics and Music Maker April 1986

Akai S612 sampler from page 25 of Electronics & Music Maker magazine APril 1986.

Akai AX60 and S612, Keyboard 1986

Welcome. I thought I would start with a synthesizer that I've been infatuated with since it came out. Don't know why. When I finally got an AX60 I used it in almost every song I have ever created.

Akai AX60 synthesizer and S612 sampler from page 19 of Keyboard magazine November 1986.