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Akai's first 16-bit stereo sampler and still something of an industry standard (along with the S900, second-hand prices are still 5-600 pounds, twelve years (!) on). It's 16-voice polyphonic, has no effects, not much in the way of sample-processing (compared to modern samplers, although it has an LFO, envelopes and a filter), but the memory can be expanded from the standard 2mb to 32mb and it looks amazingly groovy in your rack, as the screen and interface are a lot chunkier than on the S900.
XLR inputs are a bonus if you have the appropriate connectors, but most people will probably use the 1/4" jacks instead.
It was followed by the S1100, which had effects and built-in SCSI (for connection to a ZIP drive, for example), although it was aimed at the pro market and didn't sell nearly as well.
Akai's own follow-ups tended to up the complexity without adding significantly to the usability of the sampler.
There was a keyboard version, too, the S1000KB, which was extremely large, ungainly and expensive. Furthermore the S01 took the guts of the S1000 and removed the ability to sample, making it a playback / editing machine. An interesting concept, it didn't catch on, and you can find them cheaply nowadays.
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