“Vintage Akai S700 12-bit Sampler with factory disks and 9 Roland writable QDs
Great unit if you want that authentic 80’s 12-bit sampler sound. Has a distinctive sound that you can not get even if you lower the resolution of today’s samplers.
Now over 30 years old, I have had this sampler in my studio/storage since new. Uses obsolete QD (Quick Disk) drive. The drives on nearly all these units will have failed many years ago, as they have a rubber belt on the disk drive motor that turns to mush. When I tested the S700 last week for the first time in 10 years, I found that drive belt was broken, and have had the belt replaced by the guy who maintains my gear.
Now working, and able to load most of the sounds from my old library disks. Some are now saying “bad data on disk”, which is not a surprise given this is 30 year old magnetic media.
Many people use these units without the temperamental disk drive, as the operating system is pre-loaded, and you can still use to create samples then run them into your DAW or s/w based sampler (still capturing ‘that’ sound) without using the drive.
In good condition for age. Has a bit of rack ‘rash’ shown on pictures, but the front/back panels are in good condition, and scratches not visible when mounted in rack.
Included are the three original Akai library sounds that shipped with the unit, together with 9 Roland writable QD” Click here to search for MPCs on eBay