Akai AX-80 questions

[KingVidiot]

Has anyone here owned or used an Akai AX-80. Is it worth getting one, and is $600 a fair price to pay? I have someone that wants to sell me one, and the board's look and demo sounds online are cool. Other than that I'm not sure.

 

The AX-70 seems to have less voices, less fatness, but more control with all of the sliders. Would it be better than the AX-70? If so, what is a fair price for it, so I can find one?

[tim gueguen]

600 bucks for an AX80 seems rather high to me. Even at half that you'd probably want to dicker.

[KingVidiot]

But is it even worth half? What obvious capabilities would I gain from the AX-80?

[solomon8]

Daddys Junky Music has an Akai AX-75 for $299.00 right now. 76 keys.

[solomon8]

Guitar Center, Beaverton, Oregon has a AX-80 for $499.00 right now. Check there used gear section online.

[RonJoseph]

ax60= sliders

Ax73=no sliders,

[hogger]

I've got an ax60, and I'm pretty sure the ax80 was very much like the ax60 except as RonJoseph said, the ax60 has sliders. The sounds are great; it gets really fat. If my ax60 got stolen, I'd probably pay up to $300 for another one. Not sure I'd want the ax80 though, not having the sliders. The ax80 is velocity-sensitive, whereas the ax60 is not, but that doesn't bother me much now. It really bothered me back in the 80s when I got it though.

 

If you don't mind not having about 3sq feet of sliders to play with, I think the ax80 is a great analog synth for $200-300.

[bloopbleep]

AX 60

# Polyphony - 6 Voices

# Oscillators - 6 VCOs

# Memory - 64 Patches

# Filter - Lowpass analog filter

# VCA - Standard ADSR

# Keyboard - 61 keys

# Arpeg/Seq - Arpeggiator

# Control - MIDI (2 parts)

# Date Produced - 1986

 

AX 73

# Polyphony - 6 voices

# Oscillators - 1 VCO per voice with saw, tri, pulse, saw+tri and noise generator

# Memory - 100 patches

# Filter - 1 24dB/oct resonant 4-pole filter with highpass

# VCA - ADSR

# LFO - 1 with variable waveforms

# Effects - Chorus, Pulse Width Oscillation, Detune

# Keyboard - 73 keys with velocity

# Arpeg/Seq - None

# Control - MIDI

# Date Produced - 1986

 

 

AX 80

# Polyphony - 8 voices

# Oscillators - 2 per voice + Sub Osc. (sawtooth or variable pulse width)

# Filter - 8 VCFs (1 per voice)

# VCA - 8 ADSRs (1 per voice)

# LFO - 3 LFOs controlling OSC 1, OSC 2, VCF

# Keyboard - 61 keys (velocity sensitive)

# Memory - 96 patches (64 user, 32 preset)

# Control - MIDI

# Date Produced - 1984

[Nightsynth]

The AX-60 and the AX-73 are identical except the AX-73 doesn't have sliders. The AX-80 is a very different animal from the others. The only thing it has in common with them is the AX moniker.

 

The AX-80 is, IMO, a more traditional Prophet 5/T8 sounding subtractive synth. It has a very aggressive filter that can also sound beautiful and rich. There is only one filter as opposed to 8 (1 per voice) meaning if you have a sound that utilizes the Filter ENV, it will reset each time you press a new note. It can be seen as a limitation, but I see it as a unique element to the AX-80. It can produce some unique effects that make it interesting to program. You can assign the filter cutoff to the mod wheel, but other than that, you can't hold a note and do a real time filter sweep (the reso will change in real time as you hold a note though). You can change the filter as you play but the changes won't take place until a new note is played. Again, could be seen as a limitation, but it can lead to some interesting results. The filter will self oscillate and it sounds awesome! Editing is quite intuitive. The parameters are all displayed on the flourescent display (kinda like virtual sliders). You select a parameter and change it with the big knob to the right. It actually feels pretty close to having sliders because you can see all the settings in front of you. You are only limited to changing one parameter/slider at a time. The three LFOs are useful. It has separate ENVs for VCF and VCA. It's 8 note polyphonic. It does PWM. It has cross mod between the two OSCs. It has two OSCs and a SUB OSC. It has Chord Memory (also used to make it monophonic). I love this board and though there are boards that do similar and/or better in some aspects, the AX-80 is a truly unique and useful synth. I will never sell mine.

 

The AX-60 is also a very gratifying synth to play. I recently brought mine out while playing music with some friends. I had many other synths/modules/VSTs set up, but I kept going back to the AX-60 and had a blast playing it. It is a quite versitile synth considering it's Juno 106 like architecture. It doesn't sound like a Juno, nor does the AX-80. The filter is very aggressive and can sound down right evil! On the filter section, there is a slider called VCO MOD. Using this, you can create anything from Ring Mod/FM clangorous type sounds to straight up disturbing satanic growlings. The chorus is Juno like and helps to create some dimension/thickness as per usual, but I would say even more so than on the Juno 106, you don't HAVE to use it for the synth to sound rich. It has a Unison mode which can sound a little strange (like the Juno 106's Unison), but there is a slider that you can use to make it 2 OSC or 4 OSC unison. I like making it 2 OSC unison. It can do splits/layers. It has an input for the older Akai samplers (S612/S700) that basically routes the sampler through the AX's filter. You can even split/layer the sampler input with an internal voice. It has an arpeggio with some useful modes not found on comparable synths like the Juno 60. It has an Arp Clock Input.

 

To sum up, don't expect to buy any of these synths to get that silky Roland sound. These have a different character. The AX-80 is the most elegant (IMO) out of the lot. It can really pull off alot of Prophet like tones. Also OB Matrix flavors. It uses the same filter chip as the Prophet T8 and the OB Xpander. The AX-60 is a really fun synth to play that will give you more tonal variety than the Juno 106. Both AX-60 and AX-80 are awesome bass machines! They both do pads well, but they do very different flavors from eachother. The only real answer is to get both! Hope all this helps...

[Nightsynth]

I think $600 is quite high, but then again, most vintage synths are getting pretty rediculous pricewise. I think $250-$400 for the AX-80 is more realistic. For the AX-60 $200-$300. If I had to choose one or the other, I would choose the AX-80 because of it's 2 OSC architecture, velocity sensitive keyboard, and overall more elegant tone. Get the AX-60 if you like sliders and don't mind the lack of velocity and only 1 OSC. Both are very great to own. And, BTW, they are both very well built. All metal and solid as a rock. The keybeds on both of them feel a little cheap, but not too bad. Similar to the Juno 106 keybed.

[RonJoseph]

Ax 60 is VCO, AX80 =DCO

 

I have both; the 60 is more aggressive in sound. The 60 also has the 13 pin DIN input so you can use Akai's early samplers as a second Osc source; otherwise the second Osc source is noise.

The 80 has the cool plasma display, the 60 has the sliders.As someone else noted the 60,73 and the VX90 are virtually identical in sound production, the interfaces are obviously quite different.

[KingVidiot]

Thanks guys, this was very helpful. I'll see what I can do to get the AX-80. The interface is very interesting.

 

The AX-60 seems like it may be a little thin in the sound department.

[Awake77]

I've said it many times before and Ill say it again: I love my AX-80 and will never part with it. I'll get an AX-60 too when I can find the space!

[Nightsynth]

I wouldn't say that the AX-60 is thinner than the AX-80, they're just different. Both AXs can do thick basses and pads... The AX-80 just adds the ability to do 2 OSC detuning thickness, but the AX-60 can sound plenty thick.

[Acid Hazard]

I"d love to have both the 60 and the 80!

 

The 80 is one of the best looking synth ever i think!

[THE_baldrick]

 

The AX-80 is, IMO, a more traditional Prophet 5/T8 sounding subtractive synth. It has a very aggressive filter that can also sound beautiful and rich. There is only one filter as opposed to 8 (1 per voice) meaning if you have a sound that utilizes the Filter ENV, it will reset each time you press a new note. ...

 

 

FIrst time I've heard this anywhere. Just did some checking around and found there are in fact 8 CEM 3372 filter/amp chips in there (See here : http://www.trakzero.com/lp2/Akai_AX-80_Repair5.htm. Are you sure yours isn't faulty?

[Nightsynth]

I don't think that mine is faulty. I am mistaken about the single VCF comment, it does have 8 CEM3372s, but the VCF ENV resets each time a new key is played. Sealed explained this well (regarding the Casio HT-3000) on his page which is where I got the notion that there was only one filter. http://homepage.mac.com/synth_seal/html/ht3000b.html

 

Maybe it's just mine, I've never played another AX-80. Awake77? How 'bout you? Anyone else?

 

Thanks for the correction.