Up for sale is an Akai S1000, the 16-bit stereo sampler that defined the sound of late 80s and 90s hip-hop, house, techno and jungle. Had this sampler from new, and it has featured on popular dance and mainstream productions. This one has been expanded to the full 8MB of sample memory, so it can hold far more samples than the standard unit. That’s a big upgrade for long breaks, multisampled instruments and bigger programs.

Why the S1000 matters

Released in 1988, the S1000 was a studio workhorse. It offers 16-bit stereo sampling at 44.1kHz, 16-voice polyphony, individual outputs, built-in editing and a SCSI port for hard drives and CD-ROM sample libraries. Its punchy, slightly gritty character is still sought after, and it was a staple in the UK hardcore, jungle and rave scene as well as American hip-hop production. [Check that any named artists are accurate before adding them.]

Condition

• Fully working, powers up and boots normally
• Floppy drive reads and writes disks
• Memory expansion tested and showing 8MB on startup
• Display is faded compared to brand new