AKAI AX-80 (1984)

Rare analog synthesizer from the mid eighties produced by the famous Sampler company.

It is also well-known for its strange and glowing and eye candy display! absolutely unique in coolness!

KEYBOARD Massive synth made out of wood /metal (damn heavy abut 18 kg weight) that features a 61 DO-DO keys with a kind of basic Velocity system but no Aftertouch, the overall feeling is nice and enjoyable.

The main panel features 56 push buttons, four knobs and a large rotary encoder for values enter. The parameters values are quantized into 99 values and displayed with glowing bars a bit like some 80' stereo decks.
-> TECH < the panel is made with membranes well built and quite reliable in time, except the right most part that lacks a good spacer system, so it may have troubles as many presses break the underneath contacts soldering! but it 's easy to fix with simple soldering (pic).

Back panel (pic) has the following connections: mono Jack audio out, a stereo Headphones out, Midi I/O, Tape storage I/O, a pedal Sustain input and finally a Footswitch pedal for Program change Up.

The power supply is internal with a two prongs Philips connector. Itcan actually switch between 110V and 220V, anyway always check out the Voltage.

VOICE AX-80 is based on subtractive synthesis and generates eight analog voices.
Two DCO oscillators per voice with three different waveforms Saw / Pulse with variable Width Duty from 50% to 100% ( only for the DCO1) / mix of Saw+Pulse.

Both DCOs have individual volumes mix and pitch Coarse (+/-36 cents) and features 2 crossmodulation modes process for some weird FM effects. The DCO1 DCO2 structure is slightly different: - DCO1 has three octaves range 16'/ 8'/ 4' - DCO2 has four octaves ranges 16'/ 8'/ 4'/ 2' Oddly the machine has NO White noise generator, instead it features a nice Square Sub-Oscillator with PWM (linked value to DCO1 Width) for a Low boost on the bass frequencies.

LFO three Low Frequency Oscillators with Frequency range from 0.1 to 20 Hz and individual Delay Start (from 0 to 5 SEC. time delay) and four different waveforms Saw up/ Saw Down/ Triangle / Pulse.
The three LFO modulate DCO1 pitch / DCO2 Pitch / Filter VCF and the dedicated wheel triggers the Modulation with "M-WHEEL OSC" or "M-WHEEL VCF" buttons (but not both).

VCF excellent resonant analog Multimode filter based on Curtis CEM 3372 (info) with High-pass and Low-Pass at -24 dB / Oct. A Key follow function tracks the cutoff notes with variable range from 0 to 150%. >TECH< unlike the others AX - VX series machines, the Ax-80 does not feature the "VOICE IN " that processes signal from hardware samplers (like S-900) thru VCF..

ENVELOPE two EG with four stages A/ D/ S/ R.
DCO EG defines Amplitude for both DCO1 and DCO2, while VCF EG works ONLY for the Low-Pass mode.

MIDI quite primitive with just note ON / OFF, Pitch bender, Modulation, Sustain Hold, Key Velocity and Program change.
>IHMO< no Exclusive data Midi Sysex management, big miss!

MEMORY 32 preset ROM banks and 64 memory RAM for user edit. There's no way to save data but painful TAPE Load / Save interface (hook to a computer instead). The internal ram works with soldered BR 2330 lithium battery, so a little of soldering is needed.

future brass LFO madness Synched hypno beat wind pad VCF resonance Cool ambient pad Cool ambient pad 2 sounds like additive Lfo attack Lfo dance Bass line DCO parameters modulation cutter track "Musique de Croissy " drums by Korg kr55 track "Bleu lundi" all ax80 but drums and choir

 

- filter
- cool display
-midi

- tape storage
- weight
- no Portamento / unison

Don't miss this one! underrated analog synth, price are growing quick, especially in europe.

Second hand price: 800+ euro