Akai S900 Sampler: How To Deal With Bad RAM Issues Repair Fix
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- The Akai S900. Question: Why would anyone want to mess with these dinosaurs that only have 11 seconds of memory at maximum bandwidth?...Answer: because, like the MPC-60 and S950, THEY ARE THE KING OF LO-FI CRUNCHY SAMPLERS. Filthy never sounded so good!
Unfortunately these dirty little gems are taking a beating. Their power supplies are going out, I presume killing RAM chips along the way. When RAM chips develop 'bad ram bit' errors, it can result in nasty little click-and-pop sounds on your samples....and not the good kind either. Replacement RAM chips are hard to find. It sucks because you feel there is nothing you can do about it, all the while your S900 sits in a corner collecting dust.
BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO TAKE IT ANYMORE. With a little persistence, some electronics tools, and experience you or your technician CAN take your S900 all the way back to a crunchy beat party in no time.
REMEMBER SAFETY FIRST. To avoid electric shock, injury and death be sure to ALWAYS unplug your sampler before any work.
All Audio and Video by G-Storm Electro c.2015
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I just recently acquired one of these great sounding machines. I get a bit of fuzz here and there if I sample past a certain time so I was suspecting ram issues. I also have issues where it freezes time to time randomly. Just the buttons become useless until I do a restart. Love this machine. Will get it repaired if needed.
lovely, the 808 helping the s900
Nice video. You give me some ideas to properly mantain my Atari 1040STF... Now I have to fix the SCSI fuse on the s3000xl since I accidentaly plugged in a parallel ZIP drive...
But not before I check the rest of your videos :)
Thank you! Great to know in case of the unthinkable...
I have the same problem with my s900 but my tech was able to find where they sell the ram in bulk for very cheap😀. I will ask him and post the link 👍🏻
+MrCeasarv Thanks! It would be great to see the ram test pass.
+MrCeasarv can you show me where to buy the s900 ram cheap to?
can i please get the link!
Would be dope if u could send a link
Great video, thank you very much for the info! My s900 has started clicking at the beginning of the sample range. This might be a stupid question but I assume it would be possible to simply swap the ram out with replacement chips from another s900? I've been slowly cannibalising a broken unit to keep my working one alive!
+DrQTron Thanks and glad I was able to help. I don't see why you couldn't swap chips from another unit, unless the chips you are adding may have some issue. It is trial-and-error, to suss out the bad chips this way. Tedious, but it can get you there.
Thank you for your video. Super informative.
What type of sockets did you use and is there any difference between single and dual wipe?
After checking it doesn't seem I kept a record of the sockets. Mouser has them, do a search for the same pitch and spacing as the chip. TE Conn sockets are good, maybe consider using a ZIF socket if you can find some cheap ones.
@@gstormelectro thank you!
I love the S900. I actually prefer it to the S950. Sounds better, cheaper, tighter MIDI response, this is not a myth. I have both an S900 and S950 and the S950 timing is sloppy.
Very informative thank you!
+MrFricoco You're welcome.
Mine works but it will only sample for 3 seconds. Not 3 seconds at a time. But only three seconds. Like thats all the sample time it came with😂. Weird.
I know people love the old Akai sound machines, but I'm sorry, if you buy Akai, then don't expect anything other than absolutely fucking SHOCKING workmanship.
I bought an Akai DAB radio alarm because I needed an alarm clock. In the space of a week it went off at the time I had set. Twice. On the last day I woke up early and watched it tick past 07:00 and do nothing.
I could train my fucking dog to make an alarm clock for fuck sake.
Apparently the Akai factories are part of government schemes and they have a lot of heroin addicts working at their factories, fucking explains a lot.
I'm curious, have you tried the test after the work?
No, but likely some will show error. For me the objective was to move the errant memory to end of range.
when i turn my s900 on the screen is still lit but nothing appers on it and all the red lights are on at the same what could be the problem it have been sitting for a few years with no use
Bad electrolytic caps?
@@gstormelectro where can i buy them?
Damn i have the same problem now. Do you got any new news?
Hey, i replaced a bad chip and when i turn on the s900 .. its blank and all the leds are on .. Any idea why its not booting now ?
Thanks
check the wiring connectors are fully seated and in the proper places.
hi，my s900 always crashed，but ram test says ram ok.Do you know why?
likely failing capacitors
@@gstormelectro Thanks a lot.It really puzzled me.No idea how to deal with it: (
Is there any correlation between the locations you shifted the bad RAM chips to and the 'end' of the sample range? I have swapped three 'bad' chips, I'm now getting a RAM OK message after running a memory test but the last third or so of the sample is still distorted if I record into and fill the memory. I've done a lot of reading and it might be IC61-68 where the problem lies, and I can see you've socketed 61 and 62 at the very least. Loading from disk/USB seems to scatter the distortion at the end of multiple samples
I never could sort out the correlation.
sup mate ;) have you found the issue im seeing the exact same issue.
Hi! i have a couple of questions? i'm looking for the (IC8) DG211CJ switch. Where i can get it ? Can i get it at any electronics store or are exclusive Akai's switches ?
thanks and blessings!
+josemaria figuerez Mouser has something. Check the datasheets and verify the specs.
im about to buy s900, the seller says its in good condition and stated no issues . should i be prepared to face problems like these soon? if so will the repairs be costly?
All vintage gear comes with a certain amount of maintenance costs over time. The power supply caps in mine were done for. Easy replacement but finding a good tech that can operate and fix these devices isn't so common. Ram chips are getting difficult to find. The backlight inverters weren't meant to last, as mine was toast, so a replacement display w/ modern LED backlight costing around $30 not including labor. Reports from others about a faulty mains transformer and floppy drive. It's all a crap shoot, but we all soldier thru it because we love these charming old beasts.
+gstormelectro wow I really didint realize that. The guy is selling it to me for 1/3 of their markup price and besides future repairs I'm shying away because I have no clue how Id export any of its samples. I don't have a sequencer or a mixer. Would it be possible through a computer/ DAW ?
The S900 only saves to floppy disks in a proprietary Akai format, which cannot be read by a Windows PC. The S900 can make copies of disks. If you have a PC with a floppy drive, then it is possible to backup these floppy disks to computer as a disk image. There are some free disk image software available online. Another alternative is to replace the floppy drive with a USB floppy emulator. The S900 would see the USB drive as if were a floppy, and you could save the samples to those cheap little USB memory sticks. Personally I like floppy disks and they can still be found at garage sales, thrift stores, and ebay.
Hey guys , maybe someone could help me with my problem .
I got a S900.
If I turn it on I got all red lights and the display shows me directly „Set trigger level „
like im in the record mode .
It doesn’t shows like usually the akai screen with the os version and should get after that Into play mode .
I can’t switch into a other mode nothing happens .
Do you think that could be the OS Ram chips or a problem with the CPU ?
Have you replaced the big power supply capacitors yet?...they are cheap and will be failing. Problems in the power supply manifest themselves in all manner of strange things.
gstormelectro changed the power suply from an working one .
And the sample problem is there .
It has to be something with the second pcb where the OS rams are .
That's rad, just switch out boards until you find the one. Could also be floppy drive, disk, or front panel.
do you repair s900's?
+ClassicCult doing my own gear keeps me occupied. Gotta leave time to do some music :)
hello i am also looking to get a repair and I could pay you extra to make it a priority, let me know@@gstormelectro
I have a "bad RAM icl1" :(
It might be ok if you can sample and have playback without any glitchy clicks. Definitely make sure the electrolytic capacitors are in good order.
If not, these are the ones you'd be looking for. www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_41398_-1?CID=PDF&fbclid=IwAR1zRiEalQGl9naLVg0zeoVZ4MLOcNw7UPu9ybzKSOp8MCH5nl0iQY-qpoo