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Akai S950 Project Machine

” Here we have an absolute classic of a sampler. If you’re looking at this, you know what it is. It has a distinctly raw sound, with that signature filter and timestretch. Popularly used in genres such as Hardcore, Jungle, House and even Hip-Hop. I’ve had this for quite a while, and it’s had a screen upgrade, so it’s nice and bright. It comes with the standard amount of memory (720kb). I’m selling this because I’m running out of space, and it has a few issues, so I’d like it to go to someone who knows what they’re doing!

Cosmetically, it’s pretty average for its age. There are a few rusty marks on the top of the unit, as well as some permanent marker. The paint on the control knob is a bit worn. The playback button is a bit wobbly, but it still works. There’s also a few worn out stickers, and a Toblerone sticker on the front panel, because Toblerone is delicious. Please refer to the photos for more detail!

The unit works, to an extent. The floppy drive whirs up, and seems to load and save just fine. The outputs, including the left, right and mix outputs all work. Sampling into the unit also works, and sounds great. However, it’s had issues in the past, which still present themselves from time to time. Upon playing a sample, it’ll sometimes start off super glitchy, playing back fast, and slowly resolving itself. Also, the MIDI in seems to have some weirdness. It randomly stopped working one day, and wouldn’t receive any MIDI signals (when it did, it would receive garbage). However, I tested it recently and it randomly started working again, but it probably won’t work for long! The MIDI out and thru have always been fine, though.

This unit also has a history of crashing randomly, especially when accessing the floppy drive, and just acting weird in general. In fact, while I was testing, everything randomly transposed itself up for no reason. For all these reasons, it’s listed as “for parts or not working”. There are probably a lot more issues waiting to present themselves, so please bare that in mind. It’s happened plenty of times to me!” Click here to visit listing on eBay