Getting samples onto an Akai S3000

Step 1

Open your audio

Drag a file onto the window, or press Cmd+O. You can also record something — off your interface, or straight from another app on the Mac.

Drum Chopper finds the hits on its own while you are still looking at it.

Step 2

Chop it up

• Let it chop on the hits, or chop evenly by bars and beats.
• If it is a live drummer, turn on snapping so the even chops move onto the actual hits.
• Drag the markers around if you want. Nothing is lost — you can always reset.

Step 3

Tidy it before you send it

Do this now. Once it is in the sampler you are stuck with what you sent.

• Normalise, so it is nice and loud.
• Remove DC offset and fix any clicks.
• Think about stereo. Stereo uses twice the memory and twice the voices. For drums, mono is usually the better trade.

Step 4

Send it to the sampler

With the Pi connected, press Cmd+Shift+E.

1. Choose AKAI S3000 Program.
2. Set the destination to the Pi disk.
3. Give it a name. Keep it short — the sampler only shows twelve letters.
4. On an S3200XL only: turn on the tail pad. Without it that model chops a sliver off the end of every sample.
5. Export, then tell the sampler to load it.

You can also skip the disk completely and load sounds straight into the sampler's memory from the Akai Explorer.

No Pi?

Make a disk file instead

If you use a ZuluSCSI or BlueSCSI, set the destination to your Mac and tick the box to make a disk image. Copy that file to the emulator's card and it will appear as a drive.

Not sure which file you need? Read this first.

A whole folder at once

Converting a sample library

Convert Folder to AKAI S3000 does a whole folder without opening anything. It will either keep your subfolders as separate kits, or just fill up programs in order — your choice.

Remember each Akai volume only holds 60 MB. A big folder spills into a second volume, which is fine, but it explains where a missing sample went.

If something is wrong

The usual causes

• Sampler sees nothing. Two devices are probably on the same ID number. Change it. Then check the terminator.
• Names look mangled. Akai only allows twelve letters. Long names get cut, and two samples can end up with the same name.
• Samples cut off early on an S3200XL. That is the tail. Export it again with the tail pad turned on.
• Out of memory. The disk holds far more than the sampler can load at once. Load one program instead of the whole volume, or use mono.