Company name | Akai Sales Pte Limited |
---|---|
Company logo | | company_type = Manufacturer |
Foundation | Tokyo, Japan (1929) |
Location | Singapore |
Industry | Electronics |
Products | Hi-fi equipment |
Homepage | www.akai.com |
Akai (, in rōmaji) is a consumer electronics brand, founded by Saburo Akai (who died in 1973) as , a Japanese manufacturer in 1929. It is now headquartered in Singapore as a subsidiary of Grande Holdings, a Chinese Hong Kong-based conglomerate, which also owns the formerly Japanese brands Nakamichi and Sansui. The Akai brand is now used to rebadge electronics manufactured by other companies. "Akai" means red, hence the logo color, earlier also accompanied by a red dot.
Many Akai products were sold under the name Roberts in the US, as well as A&D; in Japan and Tensai in Western Europe. During the late 1960s Akai adopted Tandberg's cross-field recording technologies (using an extra tape head) to enhance high frequency recording and switched to the increasingly reliable glass-ferrite "epitaXial" (GX) heads a few years later. The company's most popular products were the GX-747 and GX-77 open-reel recorders (featuring an auto-loading function), the three-head, closed-loop GX-F95, GX-90, GX-F91, GX-R99 and CS-702DII cassette decks, and the TA-2030 and TA-2045 stereo amplifiers.
Akai manufactured and badged most of its imported hi-fi products with the Tensai brand (named after the Swiss audio and electronics distributor Tensai International. Tensai International was Akai's exclusive distributor for the Swiss and Western European markets until 1988.
Akai limited its consumer hi-fi product line in the United States and Europe towards the end of the 20th century.
The first product released by the new subsidiary, the S612 12-bit digital sampler, was the first in a series of (relatively) affordable samplers. It held only a single sample at a time, which was loaded into memory via a separate disk drive utilizing proprietary 2.8" floppy disks. The maximum sample time at the highest quality sampling rate (32 kHz) was one second. The keyboard sampler X7000, and the S700 rack-mount version, were introduced in 1986 and 1987, respectively. Unlike the single-sample S612, however, they allowed the use of six active samples at once and had a built-in disk drive.
Other early products included the Akai AX80 8-voice analog synthesizer, and the Akai AX-60 and AX-73 6-voice analog synthesizers. The AX-60 borrowed many ideas from the Roland Juno series, but used voltage controlled analog oscillators (VCO) as a sound source as opposed to Roland's more common digitally controlled analog oscillators (DCO), and also allowed the performer to "split" the keyboard (using different timbres for different ranges of keys). The AX-60 also had the ability to interface with Akai's early samplers through a serial cable, using 12-bit samples as an additional oscillator.
In 1985, Akai introduced the MG1212, a 12 channel, 12 track recorder. This innovative device used a special VHS-like cartridge (a MK-20), and was good for 10 minutes of continuous 12 track recording (19 cm per second) or 20 minutes at half speed (9.5 cm per second). One track (14) was permanently dedicated to recording absolute time, and another one for synchronization such as SMPTE or MTC. Each channel strip included dbx type-1 noise reduction and semi-parametric equalizers (with fixed bandwidths). The unit also had innovations like an electronic 2 bus system, a 12 stereo channel patch bay and auto punch in and out, among others. The unique transport design and noise reduction gave these units a recording quality rivaling that of more expensive 16 track machines using 1" tape. The MG-1212 was later replaced by the MG-1214, which improved the transport mechanism and overall performance.
The introduction of a "professional" range of digital samplers started with the appearance of the 12-bit S900 in late 1985. The 16-bit Akai S1000 followed in 1988. The latter was replaced by the S3000, which notably featured a writeable CD-ROM and hard disk recording, and was followed by the S5000 and S6000. Additional releases of note were the Z4 and Z8 24-bit 96 kHz samplers.
Akai also produced several Digital MIDI sequencers and digital synthesizers such as the MPC range (Music Production Center), a line of integrated drum machines, MIDI sequencers, samplers and direct-to-disk recorders that resemble drum machines.
In 2004, following a US distribution deal, the Akai Professional Musical Instrument division was acquired by Jack O'Donnell, owner of Numark, and audio-electronics corporation Alesis. The three brands operate under the banner Numark Industries, LLC of Cumberland RI.
An Akai product that is somewhat sought after in current times is the model DM13 microphone. This small, unidirectional unit was originally made for tape recorders, as well as CB radio equipment. Today, they can be found in the arsenal of many blues harmonica players due to its high gain and high impedence properties.
thumb|120px}right|Akai Synthstation 25In Canada, Akai portable DVD players were sold at 'The Source by Circuit City', and at Zellers, a division of the Hudson's Bay Company.
The Akai Professional E2 Headrush looping pedal has been used by KT Tunstall, who uses it to loop her own instruments, vocals, and percussion in her live performances. She does this to build up a song from scratch, using sound effects and looping percussion to create the layers.
They also produce the Akai SynthStation 25, a piano keyboard for iPhone and iPod touch.
Category:Audio equipment manufacturers Category:Companies established in 1929 Category:Consumer electronics brands Category:Electronics companies of Japan Category:Synthesizer manufacturing companies Category:Guitar effects manufacturing companies Category:Film and video technology Category:Phonograph manufacturers Category:High-end audio manufacturers of Japan Category:1929 establishments in Japan
de:Akai es:Akai fa:آکائی fr:Akai it:Akai he:AKAI hu:Akai nl:Akai ja:AKAI professional pl:Akai pt:Akai ru:AkaiThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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