does anyone know what happened with the VST Ver of Akai`s (The mother of all Samplers) Z8 Sampler??? is it already released or is there a demo available?

The daddy of all synths is already here man.

did Akai actually announce vsti version of z8 ?

Yes, years ago. I saw some screenshots of the ak.sys editor for Mac recently, but that's all. I think Akai are struggling financially at the moment so R'n'D for VZ8 has maybe been sidelined.

griels wrote:

Yes, years ago. I saw some screenshots of the ak.sys editor for Mac recently, but that's all. I think Akai are struggling financially at the moment so R'n'D for VZ8 has maybe been sidelined.

are you sure that was vst plugin ? ak.sys is a standalone software editor for akai hardware. also, isn't Z8 a dedicated pc in a sampler box ? going from there to vst would be probably very easy for akai.

yes it was a vsti.. they made a big hullaballooooo over it during the 2003 namm i believe.. since then there has been nothing..

my guess is they axed the idea.


http://www.soniccontrol.com/winternamm2003/info/akaivz8.shtml

http://www.futurestyle.org/archives/a/akaiVZ8soft.htm

I think we wont even see the name akai in the near future.they only survived because of mpc stuff i guess.Things turned out very bad with the alpha release of 6000series.And when z series came it was too late.soft samplers were all over the place.E-mu realized the situation and stopped production pretty soon.I really miss the sound of E4.Got the Emulator x Studio.Only pc for some reason.But i will install it and see if its any close to the real e4
oz

If the MPC 1000 fails for AKAI then they are likely destined to go bankrupt. Unfortunately that is the way it is. I have always wanted a MPC, I think it would be great fun to bang out patterns on the pads. However I have no idea how the OS works. Playing withit for a few minutes at a music store has not shed much light either.

I guess there is always the MPD 16

Hi

I had an Akai Z8 running the Aksys or whatever it was called; the Z8 software was/is based around a similar GUI-well the screenshots that I saw some time ago were.

To be honest the AKsys software was not particularly intuitive and the key mapping was done on a very small keyboard overlay-without some major graphical changes I think it is/would be less than adequate.

I feel Akai may have missed the train if you know what I mean!!!

Flipper.

S_A_P wrote:

I guess there is always the MPD 16

Exactly. I had a MPC and now I use the MPD and its about the same amount of fun. The MPC operating system is pretty easy and functional. The MPC itself is just outdated and slow. I dont miss mine one bit. I still havent heard that "MPC sound" so many people talk about. My beats sound the same wether I use battery or a MPC.

i had my s6k with aksys afer my s1000KB, thoroughly enjoyed my years with akai. moved on to software but still not happy that my beloved akai is missing from the software party.

what is akai up to? maybe the pro-audio division is being subsidised by the domestic side but for how much longer.

they surely must have a plan, don't they?

i'd love an mpc1000, but not sure why anymore. gear lust? no, i do know from experience that working with a hardware sequencer produces very much different and more fluent results, imo.

that's my only reasoning behind getting an mpc. but i couldn't incorporate it into my software based system anymore.

For a while people thought Akai was going to beat Emu to the market with the software sampler. That was before MOTU’s surprise announcement of a VSTi sampler.

Robert

"If the MPC 1000 fails for AKAI then they are likely destined to go bankrupt. Unfortunately that is the way it is. I have always wanted a MPC, I think it would be great fun to bang out patterns on the pads. However I have no idea how the OS works. Playing withit for a few minutes at a music store has not shed much light either. "

This and other statements maybe incorrect. Have people ever bothered to goto akai.com and www.akaipro.com/us/index.html to see the other products they are selling ?

Akai professional sell other stuff besides samplers. I am not sure if they have any financial links with Akai, or its a spinoff company using the name.

Tachikoma.

I know full well what AKAI builds and sell. But I also know that teh MPC series was/is still their cash cow. If the world switches to PC based sequencing, you can bet that AKAI will fold. I have no ill wishes for them, and I wouldn't even mind owning some of their products.

akaipro are reliant on the mpc. samplers are losing out to software, mixing desks losing out to better produce like yamaha (forward thinking) and effects they have simulated in software are sitting in baragain buckets.

akai seriously need to do something to integrate their solid foundations in hardware to the current climate.

i for one would buy a software based akai sampler providing they have something at least rivalling the current crop. maybe too little too late but i always found akai the simplest sampler to use. the s6k was a dream (after the buggy first edition) in simplicity.

with all the current software there does seem a gap available for a very simple gui with the depth of the ocean. or even some imaginitive hardware integration of some sort.

if anyone could do it, akai could. but will they and if so, will they be forward thinking enough for it to be marketable. that's always been their downfall of recent times.