A few demonstrations of Hideaway Studio's Front Panel Animator Module (FPA), Filter Defeat Module (FDM) and Virtual Floppy System (XD-280) for the AKAI S612 Sampler in action...

The FPA retrofit module allows most of the front panel controls including the infamous sample splice sliders and filter cutoff to be animated in realtime via 5 MIDI CC channels.

These modules have been proving popular with many upgraded units now in the wild.  For those interested in further details or wishing to purchase their own module please contact me at:  dani@hideawaystudio.net

Please Note:  Although FPA and FDM module are a very neat fit once in place it does require strong PTH desoldering skills and patience to fit but it is not difficult for a tech to install each in less than 2 hours.

Some links on GearSlutz covering these upgrades:

USB Drive Emulator (XD-280) for S612:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-and-electronic-music-production/1278701-introducing-xd-280-disk-emulator-akai-s612.html

MIDI Front Panel Animator (FPA) for S612:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-and-electronic-music-production/1079521-prototype-akai-s612-midi-front-panel-animator.html

Filter Defeat Module (FDM) for S612:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-and-electronic-music-production/1273180-prototype-akai-s612-filter-defeat-board-action.html

Hideaway Studio's AKAI S612 FPA, FDM and XD-280 Upgrades in Action....

Recently recorded during post-installation testing using only samples from the Hideaway AKAI S612 Sample Library currently bundled with the popular XD-280 Disk Emulator I developed a few years back. The XD-280 consists of a modified Gotek disk emulator and a custom drive interface which bolts directly onto the rear of the S612 replacing the bulky and sadly very unreliable original MD-280 Quick-Disk Rackmount with a modern USB flash drive based solution.

These 12-bit samplers might only have a tiny 1 second sample memory but they sound lovely and, in a weird way, I often find their extreme limitations quite inspiring!

Sound Design, Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025.

1986 AKAI S612: Heavenly-01 [Hideaway's Sample Library For XD-280]

A series of test recordings made whilst testing Hideaway Studio's brand new prototype MIDI Front Panel Animator retrofit for the AKAI S612 finally giving David Cockerell's infamous 30 year old sampler full realtime control over the infamous 612's Sample Start & End Splice points, the Filter Cutoff and the Vibrato controls under 5 MIDI CC Controllers. 

The FPA Modules are in production and have been proving very popular..

AKAI S612 MIDI Front Panel Animator (FPA) Test I

Another series of test recordings made whilst testing Hideaway Studio's brand new prototype MIDI Front Panel Animator retrofit for the AKAI S612 finally giving David Cockerell's infamous 30 year old sampler full realtime control over the infamous 612's Sample Start & End Splice points, the Filter Cutoff and the Vibrato controls under 5 MIDI CC Controllers.

The FPA Modules are in production and have been proving very popular..

AKAI S612 MIDI Front Panel Animator (FPA) Test II

A morphing orchestral effect made on an a 1985 AKAI S612 fitted with a Front Panel Animator Module (FPA) using a tiny 2 second long sample of Vivaldi.  The sampler was triggered rapidly on 8ths whilst the start and end points and filter cutoff were animated under midi control to create a continuously morphing effect.

Any resulting clicks and pops were removed using iZotope's superb RX.

The FPA Modules are in production and have been proving very popular..

Original Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2016.

AKAI S612 MIDI Front Panel Animator (FPA) The Sustainer

Hideaway Studio's ever popular Filter Defeat Module in action for the AKAI S612..  the board takes control of the clocks for the switched capacitor filters in the 612 allowing them to be fixed wide open with no tracking for maximum crunch in the lower registers, or overclocked thus giving a brighter than normal tracking characteristic or locked to the last positiion with no tracking thus allowing for very warm sounds or fixed formants across the full transposition range.    Each of the 4 modes are cycled between using a push button fitted in place of the Sample Trigger socket.

In the test recording you can first hear the normal tracking characteristic where the 612 becomes very muffled in the lower registers... then the filter is defeated to wide open allowing you to hear the 612 in all its crunchy 12-bit glory...    in the last part of the recording you can hear the filter locked to a very warm setting in Mode 4...

The FDM Modules are in limited production and have been been well received since release..

AKAI S612 Filter Defeat Module (FDM) in Action..

Some samples in action loaded up by the very first prototype XD-280 QD Floppy Drive Emulator Interface by Hideaway Studio from the brand new sound library for AKAI S612 to be pre-loaded in the form of over 150 new disk images on the drive system...

The XD-280 is in production and has been proving very popular..

Sound Design & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio.

Excerpts from New XD-280 Sound Library for AKAI S612

D.A.Wilson is an Electronic Engineer, Sound Designer & Vintage Synth Specialist with a particular interest in combining vintage tube, classic analog and modern digital technologies working as a synth engineer looking after a very considerable amount of vintage studio equipment for Will Gregory (Goldfrapp / Moog Ensemble) and a number of other internationally celebrated electronic musicians and producers.  Having undertaken several major restorations and produced custom electronic designs for a number of major artists including Jean-Michel Jarre, Dani is also known for fully restoring two out of the world's four remaining 1979 Crumar GDS and partially restoring 1938 Novachord 346 (the only known operational Novachord in the UK) to playable order along with developing and producing the new Elfin family of 8-bit polysynths and the popular MIDI Front Panel Animator (FPA), Filter Defeat Module (FDM) and XD-280 Drive Emulator upgrades for the AKAI S612 sampler.

Demos of the S612 Upgrades in Action: 

https://soundcloud.com/hideaway-studio/sets/hideaway-studios-s612-front


Hideaway Studio Kontakt Sound libraries may be purchased directly from: 
https://www.lootaudio.com/category/kontakt-instruments/hideaway-studios
 

..and a nice introduction by Cory Pelizzari to the Hideaway Studio Kontakt Libraries:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-C7a3ChC9U&feature=emb_title


For more on releases from Hideaway Studio for Kontakt please visit the blog at:  www.hideawaystudio.net