• The Akai MD280 has been designed exclusively for use with the Akai S612 Digital Sampler. Never connect any other equipment to the MD280.

• Do not disassemble the Akai MD280. This might alter the performance of the Akai MD280.

• Do not allow metal objects or dust to enter the Akai MD280.

• Never spill insecticide on the Akai MD280, it may damage the cabinet finish.

OKAY, WHICH of the above rules and regulations does not appear on the opening page of Akai's sampler disc drive which, very competently, can store your S612 sampled sounds onto 2.5in micro discs? (Viewers at home should look away from the answer at the bottom of the screen if they want to join in with the studio audience.)

Got it? Well, it's a trick question because they ALL show up on page one... yes, including the invaluable tip on insecticide.

This review, ostensibly on the 280, is also a chance to make a second examination of the S612. We reviewed an early model in our May issue, and since then, with the full production line running, Akai have made a couple of cosmetic and circuitic(?) improvements to their 12-bit machine.

It's still six-note polyphonic with a sampling rate of 32kHz giving a top response of 12kHz at the shortest sampling time. You can get samples of up to two seconds long but trade a large chunk of the frequency response in return. The time is cunningly predetermined by using the keys of a connected MIDI keyboard to select the length of the recording (low notes for long samples, the upper octaves for short ones).

There are a couple of extra membrane switches on the production S612 — key transpose and manual splice. The first one usefully allows you to bring old samples which may be slightly suspect in pitch, into line with new recordings, or external MIDI keyboards. Often the tune control did not extend far enough to bring disparate tunings together. Tapping 'key transpose', and then pressing a keyboard key on the connected MIDI synth will introduce a compensating shift in replay pitch so the sound the Akai spits out is in tune.

Manual splice puts the positioning of loop points under your control by using the 'start' and 'end-point' sliders (same as on the May model). Manual selection is, as always, a finicky lark. If you want a sound to sustain for as long as your finger is holding down the key, then you need to isolate one, closing part of the sample which the Akai can repeat, ad nauseam. Here we're into the problems of glitch, and hiccupy viruses fast becoming familiar to a world of samplists. Thankfully the Akai's own automatic looping (the machine itself makes a decision on what seems the stablest section of the sound to repeat) seems considerably improved from the prototype. I found I needed to fiddle less, got smoother results, and was not so frequently bugged by the strange, resonant whine the first 612 used to degenerate into. In fact the looped examples on Akai's own library of discs produced for the MD280, were very good indeed. Still better than my efforts, but then they've got more machinery to play with.

In all, easier to use, with a higher degree of sampling successes and fewer hiccups. On to the disc drive.

It comes in standard 19in rack mounting, but is only half the depth of the S612 and they weren't joking about the 'don't use with other gear'. The MD runs on 8vDC, a hard wired lead blossoming from its back panel to connect to a DC socket at the rear of the S612. Likewise a much larger, multi-way cable ending in a 24-pin plug slides into another socket round the back of the sampler. An interface.

The MD is a straightforward beast. The micro-discs slip into the flip-up lid of the drive, which pushes back down to engage with the read/write head. Each disc can hold two voices at the full sample rate (one per side) and that equates with 128KByte of memory. It's a single, spiral track, and the drive head accesses it through a window slot in the disc's plastic case.

Compactness is one reason microdiscs are gaining popularity in rock and roll. Relatively good protection against mishandling is about 300 others. Tags at the top of the case can be snapped out, cassette-wise, if you believe yourself dozy enough to accidentally record over your favourite sampled cistern flush.

Running the drive is all done from the front panel of the sampler — three buff-coloured, membrane switches marked save, verify and load hence the interface lead. Saving or loading takes eight seconds from pressing button to pressing synth key — much faster than cassette dump facilities, and the major innovation in making the Akai a potential 'live' instrument.

Bad information or a dodgy disc will show up as an 'E' (error) flag on the LED display, and since this is digital information and not a boring-old-analogue audio recording, each save and load transfer will be as fresh as the last. (Akai do suggest that the mechanical life of the disc itself is '2000 path' for which we read 'pass').

Two immediate advantages: speed of access and readily available library of sampled sounds (if a slightly expensive one — discs aren't cheap). The remainder of the MD's front panel is taken up by a sort of dish rack (disc rack?) affair which will store ten micros, ready for use.

But there is more to the ownership of an MD280 than extra speed. One of the more attractive features of the sampler is its ability to overdub sounds — build up layers of, say, sampled strings, piano and bass into a new, boundary-breaking noise. It's where sampling stops being imitative and starts being creative. And it's surprising how many sounds that are dull on their own, take on a fresh life when mixed with something else.

Anyway, back to the point. Having discs to hand encouraged me to experiment with overdubbing to a far greater degree. Three reasons. (A) I wasn't frightened of losing a favourite sample by mixing clashing saucepans onto it. I could always go back to the disc reservoir. (B) I could keep experimenting, save what I liked, then press on to do one more and see what happened. (C) With so many quick accessed sounds to choose from I got results, before I got bored.

S612 owners should do it. You'll get more than faster.

AKAI MD280 sampler drive: £279

CONTACT: Akai UK, (Contact Details).