Akai s5000, s6000 Operator's Manual

s5000/ s6000

STEREO DIGITAL SAMPLER

Software Version V1.30 Addendum

WARNING

To prevent fire or shock hazard, do not expose this appliance to rain or moisture.

Operator’s Manual

03/15/2000 Rev. 2

s5000/ s6000

O/S UPDATE

Version 1.30 introduces new features and improvements.

NEW FEATURES

•Emu EIII sound library compatibility.

•Software activated disk eject function for removable media such as Jaz, Zip, CD-ROM, etc..

•RAMP START/END function in EDIT SAMPLE

•New looping options

•DISK backup facility

•MEMORY COMPACT function

•PLAYSHEET function

IMPROVEMENTS

Apple Macintosh filename problem

The long standing problem with filenames when an S5/6000 disk is taken to an Apple Mac has been resolved. Previously, filenames that shared the first 8 characters in their name (e.g. NEW SAMPLE 1, NEW SAMPLE 2, NEW SAMPLE 3 or NEW PROGRAM 1, NEW PROGRAM 2, etc.) would all be renamed to the same name when taken to a Mac and as the Mac cannot have files of the same name in one folder, they would all ‘dissappear’ leaving just the one filename displayed. The files themselves were intact but not displayed. This has now been remedied.

Improved MULTI, PROGRAM and SAMPLE selection.

In previous versions, when selecting a program (for example) whilst playing another, the previous sound would be cutoff and nothing would be heard until you play a new note (at which point you’d hear the new program you selected). Similarly, if a sound was playing through its release phase (i.e. you weren’t holding the note but it was fading out through a long release), selecting a new program would cut the release dead. This has been improved.

Now, when playing and holding a note (or if the sound is going through its release phase), if you select another program, the previous program will continue to sound until you release that note (or the release reaches its ‘natural’ end). The same is true of multis and samples.

Improved compatibility with older sound library (in particular, loops).

The S5/6000 requires there to be at least 15 samples between the loop end and the end of the actual sample. This is to allow for the high quality interpolation process that takes place when transposing samples up in pitch.

However, many samples from older sound library (especially those created using the CUT S>LP function in TRIM on the S3000 series samplers) and samples made in PC/Mac wave editors have the sample end exactly on the loop end. If such samples are used in the S5000/6000, this can give rise to incorrect and buzzy or clicky loops particularly when transposing samples up in pitch. This has now been fixed and the S5/6000 will now import looped S1000, S1100, S3000 series samples and samples from wave editors more successfully now.

Improved SYSEX functionality.

The SysEx is extended to allow editing of MULTIS and PROGRAMS and some front panel operations. Please see the document on our website for the implementation details.

Version 1.30

1

O/S UPDATE

s5000/ s6000

Improved disk handling.

The disk system now does an auto re-scan of removable media after disk eject or insertion. So, for example, if you eject your CD-ROM, the sampler will re-scan the SCSI bus and report back that the disk has been removed and will show EMPTY DRIVE in the DISK LIST page (this ties in with the ‘soft-eject’ feature explained later in these release notes).

Similarly, when a disk is inserted, the S5/6000 detects this and updates automatically.

The AUTO-SCAN can be switched ON or OFF ina new function found on the SYSTEM page in UTILITIES (default is ON).

External Sync check

If you are attempting to sync the S5/6000 to external wordclock source and there is a problem (e.g. the source is switched off or the cable has become detached), you will see this prompt:

This informs you if digital sync has been lost and provides the option of re-trying or locking to internal 44.1Hz.

Separate load / save disks can be selected

Different disks may be selected when loading and saving. For example, you may be loading in sounds from a CD-ROM to use in a multi which you are saving back to a hard disk. Previously, you would have had to select the CD-ROM, load the sounds then, in SAVE, go to the DISK LIST, select the hard disk and save it, then back to LOAD for the next sound, go to DISK LIST, select the CDROM, load... etc.. Now, you can select the hard disk to save to and the CD-ROM to load from without having to switch back and forth between them.

Problems loading MULTIS/PROGRAMS

There used to be a problem when loading multiple MULTIS or PROGRAMS that if an item was not found (i.e. a PROGRAM or SAMPLE), then the rest of the MULTIS/PROGRAMS would not be loaded. It’ll load all the items it can find and show the prompt for missing items after loading.

MIDI clock sync problem

When the MIDI clock was received on both MIDI inputs A and B, the sampler could hang. It can handle the MIDI clock from both MIDI inputs.

AUDITION SAMPLE in EDIT SAMPLE/QUICKLOAD

It is now possible to audition a sample in the EDIT SAMPLE/QUICKLOAD page. To exit that page, use the EXIT key.

TRADEMARKS

Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Inc. All other trademarks, product and company names are the property of their respective owners.

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s5000/ s6000

NEW FEATURES

EMU EIII SOUND LIBRARY COMPATIBILITY

The S5/6000 can now load Emu EIII sound library from Emu CD-ROMs.

No special operation is required - simply pop in the CD-ROM drive, select it in the DISK LIST page, go to LOAD and load the sounds in the usual way.

Emu ‘banks’ are represented as folders and these contain the programs (‘presets’ in Emu-speak) and samples. The normal load operations can be applied and you can load the entire folder or just selected programs with or without their samples or just the samples. Samples may be auditioned in the usual way.

Naturally you may save the programs back to your hard disk (or floppy) if you want but of course, the programs will be saved as Akai format .AKP programs and the samples will be saved as .WAV files.

NOTE 1: Whilst every effort has been made so that Emu sounds play correctly when used in an S5/6000, because of intrinsic differences between the machines, absolute accuracy cannot be guaranteed in all cases and so some tweaking may be necessary. Most sounds should translate fairly well, however.

NOTE 2: Depending on your CD-ROM drive, you may find that loading Emu data is slower than loading other data. This is due to the translation ‘fix-ups’ that are being performed during the load process.

Version 1.30

3

NEW FEATURES

s5000/ s6000

‘SOFT’ DISK EJECT

When swapping removable media and disks, it has been essential to use the UPDATE function in the DISK LIST page and failure to do so has been responsible for many problems. In previous versions, when a disk was ejected, its directory remained in the sampler’s CPU memory. When a new disk was subsequently inserted, without pressing UPDATE, the sampler had no knowledge that the disk had been changed at all and so any attempts at disk access (saving, loading, playback of virtual samples, etc.) or even other operations could cause problems because the sampler had a different directory to the one on the disk.

This has been radically overhauled in V1.30 and the DISK LIST page now looks something like this:

Whilst it may look superficially similar to before, the EJECT DISK function on F12 allows you to eject the disk from the sampler itself (much like ejecting a disk on a Mac by dragging it into the wastebasket). In this way, the sampler ‘knows’ that the disk has been removed and the directory is flushed from its CPU memory. When another disk is subsequently inserted, the new AUTO SCAN feature detects the new disk and updates automatically.

When removable media is inserted into drives connected to the S5/6000, they are ‘locked’ (indicated by the padlock icon) and cannot be ejected from the drive’s own front panel (much like on a Mac). To eject the disk, you must enter the DISK LIST page, select the disk you want to eject and press F12. This will physically eject the disk from the drive. The sampler will then re-scan the SCSI bus to see what’s there and you you will see a dialogue window, after which the selected drive will be shown as “Empty”. Assuming the DISK AUTO SCAN function is enabled in UTILITIES/SYSTEM, re-inserting the disk (or another) will cause an automatic scan of the bus and the sampler will automatically update the latest disk directory into it’s CPU memory.

As a result of these improvements, there is no need to press UPDATE (F11) every time you swap disks around as this is taken care of automatically.

NOTE: The UPDATE function must be used when swapping disks if the DISK AUTO SCAN function is switched OFF in UTILITIES/SYSTEM.

You will note that floppy disks are not affected by this function.

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s5000/ s6000

NEW FEATURES

*** IMPORTANT NOTE ***

For those who still insist on hooking up their sampler to a Mac/PC via SCSI or for those having two samplers sharing one disk drive (i.e. both cases have two SCSI initiators accessing a common drive), the AUTO-SCAN is not infallible and some problems may still persist and you should set the DISK AUTO SCAN parameter in UTILITIES/SYSEM SETUP to OFF in this instance to avoid unexpected SCSI bus crashes. The reason being....

In the case of an S5/6000 connected to a Mac/PC, using the EJECT DISK function will, as stated, eject the disk and flush the sampler’s CPU memory of the disk’s directory, do a re-scan and report back to the sampler that the drive is empty but....

The Mac/PC has no knowledge of this change and as far as it’s concerned, the original disk is still mounted. Any attempt to acces the disk on the Mac/PC in this state may cause unreliability.

Similarly, when using two samplers to access the one drive, the same principles apply. You may use EJECT DISK on Sampler A but Sampler B has no knowledge of the change. Accessing any disk functions on Sampler B may cause some problems.

This is a limitation of SCSI and not a failing of the S5/6000 OS.

Please refer to the documentation on our website for more details of the dangers regarding multiple initiators on one SCSI bus (in other words, hooking a sampler and its drive up to a another SCSI initiator):

http://www.akaipro.com/downloads.html

or....

http://www.akaipro.com/tips-samplers.html

Whilst it is ‘theoretically’ possible to connect your sampler to a Mac/PC or another sampler via SCSI, given the many potential problems outlined in the documentation referred to above, it cannot be recommended and AKAI professional M.I. Corp., cannot be held responsible for any problems and/or data loss you may encounter should you continue to use the S5/6000 in this way.

If you plan to use your sampler in this way, it is recommended you switch DISK AUTO SCAN to OFF in the UTILITIES/SYSTEM page.

For ‘standalone’ operation, however (i.e. one sampler connected to removable drives with no Mac/PC or second sampler attached), you should find that the new AUTO-SCAN function improves reliability greatly when swapping disks.

Version 1.30

5

NEW FEATURES

s5000/ s6000

‘RAMP’ FUNCTIONS IN EDIT SAMPLE

To eliminate the possibility of clicks and pops at that start and end of samples, two new functions - RAMP START and RAMP END - are introduced in EDIT SAMPLE - FADE UP/DOWN:

With RAMP START switched OFF (i.e. ), the rise time of the sampler is instant (0 milliseconds). However, this may introduce clicks in some cases. If this occurs, switch RAMP START to ON (i.e. ). The default is OFF ().

With RAMP END switched ON (i.e. ), a short fade (128 samples or 3 milliseconds) is added at the end of the sample to help reduce the possibility of clicks and pops. With it switched OFF (i.e. ), no fade is applied. The default is ON ().

Both functions are ‘real-time’ and can simply be switched ON or OFF according to your preference.

NOTE: Previous Akai samplers apply a short fade up and down by default at the start and end of a sample. This is also true of other sampler and most sound modules, soundcards, hard disk recorders, etc., as it is good practice to apply small fades to reduce the possibility of clicks and pops. However, when applied to the start of a sample, this can have the effect of ‘softening’ the attack and/or missing important attack transient information. V1.30 gives you the option of overriding these fades for optimum flexibility.

6	Version 1.30