Akai Professional

12 mentions in 9 episodes.

Air

22:30 · Akai S1000 · named · high confidence

“I took the vocals of the chorus, 'Sexy Boy', and I sampled it in my Akai S1000, then out of the sampler into the combo pedal, then the Leslie.”

The Akai S1000 sampler triggered the chorus vocal into the Leslie and also held looped drums and bass to save tracks on the 8-track.

36:00 · Akai S1000 · named · high confidence

“Each time we could loop something, we loop it and put it in the S1000, so we'd gain one of the 8 tracks free for more melodic stuff.”

Looping drums and bass in the Akai S1000 was their strategy for freeing up tracks on the 8-track recorder.

54:18 · MPC · named · high confidence

“You have to set up the record player and then we're going into old Akai samplers and MPCs and everything is a lot more considered.”

He contrasts today's limitless DAW workflow with the discipline of early Akai samplers and MPCs with 32 seconds of memory and eight-voice polyphony.

17:41 · MPC · named · medium confidence

“That's all stuff you've created and then you've put on your MPC or whatever it is? Exactly, yeah”

Host names an MPC as the pad-based sampler she loads her curated drum one-shots into to perform electronic kits live with her fingers.

22:57 · MPC · named · high confidence

“I used to have like an — I started with like an MPC. So I used to like sample records a lot.”

Daniel James credits starting out on an Akai MPC, sampling records and stretching audio, as the root of his track-building approach.

26:03 · MPC · named · medium confidence

“I'll just play stuff in live using MPC so that it has a more live, slightly off-kilter feel”

Playing parts in by hand on the MPC is his way to avoid grid-perfect drum machine programming.

34:49 · MPC · named · high confidence

“the drum machines that I use mostly, this or the MPC 1000, they just have an extra little oomph... it has an analog emulation”

Asked about his low end, he credits the MPC 1000 and his 808 for attack and sub punch that cut through.

1:13:57 · MPC · named · high confidence

“we have Danio, who is live sampling records onto an MPC”

Band member Danio live-samples locally bought records into an MPC during shows.

25:05 · MPC · named · high confidence

“I always do drums on MPC. I've got like 3 here, usually MPC 4000s, but this was on an MPC X. I'm just an MPC obsessive.”

All of Fraser's drum programming happens on Akai MPCs; he praises the MPC 4000's slow, physical workflow over computer-like new models.

2:18:25 · MPC · named · high confidence

“For me, it's my Akai MPC 4000 drum machine because it's just the mainstay of like— wouldn't be anything without it.”

Asked for one essential piece of gear, Fraser names the Akai MPC 4000 that he uses on everything.

23:14 · MPC · named · high confidence

“Kezzy went on an MPC. Fraser T. Smith had an MPC, and he jumped on, and it was a hip-hop vibe”

Kesi programmed the hip-hop drum feel for 'Thank You' live on Fraser T. Smith's MPC; they have since bought one for their own studio.

23:57 · MPC · named · high confidence

“I always generally do the drums still in hardware samplers, like an MPC 60 or SP 1200”

Drums for the album are programmed on hardware samplers, the MPC 60 being one of the main machines.