Akai S700 (1987)
Twelve bits, sixteen sounds, and a serial port most owners never touched. Akai's little rack sampler did more than it got credit for.
Overview
The S700 arrived in 1987 as the rackmount half of the S700/X7000 pair - the same machine, minus the keyboard. Mix (May 1989, p.163) described it plainly in its sampler roundup as a 12-bit unit that can hold up to 16 sounds, with a battery-backed memory option so the contents survive a power cycle. That battery-backed variant is the one to hunt for. Without it, everything is gone the moment the rack gets switched off.
Storage is where the S700 gets interesting and where it gets annoying. It can receive sample data over MIDI or over RS-232C. Switching between the two is manual, using a setting buried on page 05 of the MIDI menu, unless an entire disk is loaded with the overall settings saved. Then the machine sorts itself out automatically. The serial spec is generous for the era: 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, and baud rates from 300 up to 19200, plus a range of non-standard rates up to 100000. Default is 9600. Akai's own documentation warns that anything above 19200 wants a short cable. It also says hardware handshaking over CTS/RTS isn't necessary below 50000 baud, and in that case RTS should simply be tied high. The S700 is configured as DCE, so it connects to most computers with a straight-through cable rather than a null modem.
Akai's documentation flags the same caveat again. The S700 can be driven over MIDI or RS-232C, but the switch between them is manual unless an entire disk is loaded on which the overall settings were saved. That happens automatically when "entire memory" is saved. Forget this detail and you can spend twenty minutes wondering why the computer isn't talking to the sampler.
Third-party support existed, too. A Librarian package from Music Service Software, listed at $79.95 and not copy-protected, let Atari ST users store samples on hard disk or 3.5-inch floppies, handle multisamples, and accept samples from other 12-bit Sample Dump Standard machines.
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