Back in 1984, this synth marked Akai's bold debut into professional keyboards, blending rock-solid digital oscillators with genuine analog warmth in a package that turned heads with its futuristic bar-graph displays.
Each of its 8 voices packs two DCOs—one with sawtooth, square, and sub-oscillator options, the other adding pulse and cross-mod for extra bite—feeding into a resonant 24dB/octave lowpass filter based on the classic CEM 3372 chip, plus a highpass for sculpting. Dual ADSR envelopes handle amp and filter duties, while three dedicated LFOs (with sine, square, saw, and ramp waves) plus a PWM LFO let you dial in vibrant movement on pitch, cutoff, and width, all with programmable delay and depth. The 61-key velocity-sensitive keyboard spans five octaves, flanked by pitch/mod wheels, and the panel's 56 membrane switches, four knobs, and encoder make editing intuitive—select a parameter, tweak via buttons or the edit control for single-step precision. At 1018 x 392 x 102mm and 15.2kg, it's a sturdy beast with MIDI in/out/thru, stereo out, headphones, sustain pedal, and 96-patch memory (32 presets across brass, strings, and more).
Players have long praised its fat basses, aggressive leads, and unique LFO textures that stand out even today, though some note the lack of noise or portamento as quirks of its era.
