AKAI U40 RIFF-O-MATIC

je viens de découvrir ce petit sampleur... je kiff... il est trop mignon



Functions: Total record time of 13 seconds (or 26 seconds with in Record x2 mode), Loop Start/End, Continuous Record, Playback at 2/3 or 1/2 speed, 3-band EQ filter switch, Transpose and Fine Tune functions, Note Grabber. Headphone Out, Line In/Out, Instrument In, Line In Level, 10.5V DC Jack.

Interface: The controls on the Akai unit are well laid out and attractive. The whole unit is very light but the buttons and switches feel solid. It was very easy for me to begin using the unit without consulting the manual. Recording a piece of music and playing it back, either whole or in little loops, was easy. I did, however feel as though I spent more time punching buttons than practicing music. Some of the functions that took two or three keystrokes should only take one or two. It was good having all the LEDs there to help me figure out what was going on.

Sound Quality The 2/3 and 1/2 speed playback sounds almost like you're hearing the music through a bad phone line. This is not the fault of Akai but just the by-product of the technology. From what I understand, the individual samples are "cut and pasted" to lengthen their duration. This causes a warbling noise in the music. It is NOT a problem when transcribing; you can still hear what you need to hear just fine. The Transpose function tunes the pitch 6 semitones either way, which can be handy if your want to tune the music to your guitar (like those old Charlie Christian records). The Fine Tune adjusts the pitch 50 cents. I swear I couldn't hear a difference.

General Impression: This is a snazzy unit and it has some features the Riff Master doesn't have, especially the Transpose, yet the overly designed control panel with altogether too many controls left me wondering if the Riff-O-Matic wasn't designed by a committee. But the killer was the fact that this unit can't playback at below 1/2 speed. If you can live without that, and need to be able to transpose the music you transcribe, the Riff-O-Matic just may fit the bill.