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AKAI professional S3000XL MIDI Stereo Digital Sampler Rackmount Tested WorkingUsed · Buy It Now$350
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AKAI S3000XL Rack ver1.50 Sampler 16Mword /8 outs /SCSI S 3000XL ARMENSUsed · Buy It Now$799
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AKAI Professional S3000XL CD Digital Sampler For Parts Powers OnFor parts or not working · Buy It Now$299
The Akai S3000 is the successor to the S1000 in Akai’s line of rack samplers. Reviewed in 1993 as a direct replacement for the S1000, it brought 16-bit stereo sampling, 32 voices, resonant filters and SCSI as standard.
The S-series family
The S3000 shipped with 2 MB of memory, expandable to 32 MB, with a floppy drive and an optional internal hard drive. The S2800 is a smaller sibling, the S3200 added a three-way filter, and the later 1U S3000XL became the most common model in the line.
The hip hop connection
Akai’s S950 and S1000 are the rack samplers with the deepest hip hop history. The S3000’s documented users lean toward electronic acts like Moby, LTJ Bukem and the Chemical Brothers; we haven’t found a named hip hop record made on it.
Buying one today
Don’t confuse the S3000, S3000XL, S3200, S2800 and S2000. Check the floppy drive, the SCSI port, the display and how much memory is installed.
Akai S3000 videos: demos, history and breakdowns
