AKAI sample transfer

So, how to get sounds into the memory of the AKAI you might ask... Well, there are many ways. My focus is on getting as smooth a workflow as possible using a mac computer with the newest version of OSX (10.9 Mavericks at the time of writing).

Remember floppy disks? Those little plastic things that aren't so floppy, unless you take the actual disk out of the case... Normal DOS formatted 3.5" floppies have a capacity of 1.44 Mbytes, while AKAI formatted floppies have an insane capacity of 1.6 Mbytes!! Floppy drive is the only permanent storage option you have on an unexpanded AKAI S3000XL. So floppy it is...

As far as I know, there is no way of making an AKAI floppy with a mac. Not even one that is old enough to have an internal floppy drive (that's very old!). I have an old PC that can be used for writing floppies, which is necessary as USB floppy drives, unfortunately, are not capable of writing AKAI floppy disks.

After doing a fair bit of research, I've found that there a lots of ways of transferring samples to an AKAI sampler. The following are some of the possible ways of transferring samples to the AKAI S3000XL. I'm sure it can be done in more ways.

Floppy disk (only internal PC floppy)

• Omniflop (Reading and writing of images)
• Teledisk (Ancient dos program to archive floppies)
• Akaidisk (Transfer samples to floppy, Windows 98 required)
• EMXP (Transfer all necessary files to floppy, Windows XP and Omniflop driver required)

SCSI (smdi)

• External Hard drive (requires PC with SCSI card)
• Compact Flash adapter (requires SCSI to IDE adapter and IDE to CF adapter, sweet but expensive)
• External CD-ROM drive (requires USB drive for mac and SCSI drive for AKAI)
• External ZIP/JAZ drive (requires USB drive for mac and SCSI drive for AKAI)
• Hooking up to PC with SCSI card and transferring samples via SMDI using MESA software (developed by AKAI), Chickensys Translator, AWave Studio. It might be possible on a mac with one particular USB to SCSI adapter, but it's too expensive to be of interest.

MIDI (sds)

• Transfer samples via MIDI is possible with Chickensys Translator, C6 SysEx Manager, AWave Studio, Recycle, Wavelab and probably many others. Slow but easy.

Resampling

• Just play the audio and sample it in the AKAI. Doesn't really require anything special...

Here are my favorite workflows:

MIDI (sds)

1. Prepare samples in Audacity or your favorite audio editor (if necessary).
2. Send samples to AKAI using C6.
3. Edit program on AKAI S3000XL.
4. Save to floppy.

Pros:

• All you need is your Mac, AKAI and MIDI interface.
• C6 is a native OSX application with a normal modern feel.
• It's free.

Cons:

• Sample names are not preserved after transfer.
• You have to do a lot of editing on the AKAI after transfer.

Floppy disk

1. Prepare sample and programs in AWave Studio.
2. Save instrument as AKAI S1000 instrument.
3. Rename .s and .p files to .aks and .akp with NameChanger.
4. Copy files to USB stick.
5. Fire up vintage PC with floppy drive.
6. Format AKAI floppy and transfer files with EMXP.

Pros:

• AWave Studio is a Windows application, but fortunately it installs fine with Wine Bottler.
• Everything can be made right on your mac in AWave Studio. Setting up sample collections, setting up programs, editing samples, making loops etc.
• For basic sounds, no editing is required on the AKAI, once your are familiar with AWave Studio.
• Sample names are preserved.

Cons:

• AWave Studio is natively Windows only, so you have to fiddle with Wine Bottler.
• Big old PC with floppy drive is required. (An old laptop with floppy drive would be handy here...)
• Many steps involved in the process.
• AWave Studio is shareware. There is a free trial for 30 days.