Akai Electronic Musical Instruments Corporation, was started in 1984 as a division of the company.
The first product released by the new subsidiary, the S612 8-bit digital sampler, was the first in a series of affordable samplers.
The S612 was superceded in 1986 with the introduction of the new professional range of digital samplers, starting with the 12-bit S900 and culminating in the 16-bit S3000, complete with writable CD-ROM and Hard Disk Recording. The new models were all available as rackmounted modules or as keyboard versions.
Akai also produced several Digital MIDI sequencers and digital synthesizers such as the MPC range (MIDI Production Center), an integrated sampler/drum machine and MIDI sequencer, and the MPC3000, a 32-note polyphonyic, 16-bit digital synthesizer and sequencer.
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