AKAIdisk FAQs
For more general Akai information, see Jules
Vleugels' Unofficial Akai Pages
Does AkaiDisk work with my sampler?
AkaiDisk has been tested with the S900, S950, S1000, S1100, S01, S20,
S2800, S3000 and S3200 plus the i and xl variants. I don't
know if it works with other machines unless you tell me! A lot of
other machines can read S1000 disks. If you can, check AkaiDisk
works on your system with an S1000 disk. If it does, but fails to read
your sampler's disks correcly, there may be an omission in the software
- contact me at the address below.
What is
the latest version?
You should only be using AkaiDisk 2.2 (which includes Adisk 2.2), available
on these pages. Version 1.x has no features or compatibility not included
in version 2.2 and has a bug (detailed below). Some web sites are offering
Adisk separately from AkaiDisk, but there is no difference - AkaiDisk 2.2
is the Windows front end for Adisk 2.2.
When is
the next version coming out?
I am not going to be releasing any more versions. However, several
other developers have the source code for AkaiDisk so there is the possibility
of an improved version being released in the future, or Akai disk reading
functions being incorporated into wave editors, software samplers, etc.
Why does
formatting disks fail?
AkaiDisk can't cope with surface errors on disks. You should only use
AkaiDisk to format disks when you haven't got an Akai sampler available
to do it. Even if a disk formats Ok it may read very slowly in the sampler.
If you must use AkaiDisk to format, MS-DOS format the disk first to make
sure there are no surface errors.
Why are
my samples 'cut up'?
You are using Adisk 1.0. This version cannot cope when samples are
fragmented on a disk, and it just reads straight through the fragments.
Use version 2.0/2.2 or try re-writing the samples to another disk.
Why don't
S900/S950 samples sound good?
If you send 16-bit samples to the S900/S950 they will not sound as
good as 12-bit samples because the bottom four bits are truncated. When
recording, these samplers use heavy dithering to smooth out the quantization
noise. You should do the same: although I don't know of any programs that
will dither .WAV files to 12 bits, you can acheive a similar result by
mixing in white noise at about -65dB (or use the analogue inputs of a SoundBlaster!).
If your sample suddenly gets noisier half way through this is a different
problem: try changing the sample length by 1 (on the PC before using AkaiDisk)
and transferring the sample again.
Why does
it get the name of my sampler wrong?
Apart from an ID code in the directory listing, each of the three 'generations'
of sampler have the same disk format. As I don't know all the ID codes
(they even vary with the same machine sometimes!) I just check if the disk
is S900, S1000 or S3000 generation.
All the
looping and tuning is lost!
Sorry, it's hard work converting between the WAV and Akai sample parameters,
so this has been left out. Don't spend too much time tidying up a sample
if you know you are going to use AkaiDisk on it!
How do
I copy lots of WAVs to an Akai floppy?
First assemble up to one floppy-disk-full of WAV files in a directory
and insert an Akai floppy disk with enough free space for the files. Now
from a DOS prompt in that directory type the following command (assuming
your ADISK.EXE is in C:\AKAIDISK ):
FOR %f IN (*.WAV) DO C:\AKAIDISK\ADISK /W %f %f
This command can be kept in a batch file to make it easier to use, but
each %f must be replaced with %%f and you
may need to sacrifice a chicken, just to be sure.
How do
I copy lots of samples from an Akai floppy?
There isn't an easy way to do this, but if you run ADISK
/L a log file will be produced with a list of the floppy disk
contents. A batch file to transfer the samples one at a time could then
be based on this list (left as an excercise for the reader!).
Can I read
Akai Zips and CD-ROMs?
No. Reading Akai floppy disks is possible as the functions to read
the disk directly are in every PC's hardware. SCSI disks and CD-ROMs are
accessed by software drivers, the details of which are not freely available.
I would be happy to receive any information on how to read data directly
from SCSI disks and CD-ROMs (device-independantly).
AkaiDisk
says "adisk is not responding"
It-thinks-it's-so-clever Windows has suspended the minimised adisk
program. You need to adjust the settings in adisk.pif to 'don't suspend',
and you may need to play with some other settings!
How can
I make an Akai CD-ROM?
Not with AkaiDisk, unfortunately. As far as I know, the only way to
make a CD-ROM in Akai format is to copy the image of an entire SCSI disk
written by an Akai sampler using CD-R software.
Can I drag-and-drop
WAV files with AkaiDisk?
Not properly, but you can add a right-click menu item that writes individual
WAV files to an Akai floppy. First make a batch file called adisk.bat that
just contains this command:
C:\AKAIDISK\ADISK.EXE /W %1
%1
Now Go into Explorer > View > Options > File Type > Wave Sound > Edit
> New, and type in AkaiDisk as the action and C:\AKAIDISK\ADISK.BAT
as the application. Of course, you will need to adjust the above
if you put AkaiDisk somewhere other than c:\akaidisk (possibly
c:\progra~1\akaidisk). .
My question
isn't answered here!
If Adisk.exe doesn't work at a DOS prompt on your PC, or Adisk works
but AkaiDisk doesn't, then you probably have a hardware / software problem
(probably of great complexity) and I can't help you! Check you are using
the latest version of AkaiDisk, and go through all the troubleshooting
notes in the help file. If AkaiDisk appears to be working, but is making
mistakes and your problem is not covered here, email
me.