Hot on the heels of their very successful and generally quite spiffing S612 sampler (not to mention their latest synths, etc.) Akai have yet more new products to offer the MIDI musician. The three latest units in question are a Digital Delay, an Arpeggiator/Sequencer and a Dynamics controller — each designed to be used in conjunction with MIDI instruments, as they all operate on and affect only MIDI signals rather than audio signals.

What's the delay?

The ME10D Digital Delay is possibly the most exciting of these units as it is a rather unique and extremely useful addition to any MIDI set-up. Housed in a black, 1U, 19 inch rackmounting case (as are all three of these units) it looks deceptively simple. Two knobs, six grey switches, and the power on/off switch are all that you will find on its front panel, and on its back panel are simply the MIDI In, Out and Thru sockets.

The ME10D will, when connected up to a MIDI system, send the note on/off information that it receives at its MIDI In socket, out through the MIDI Out socket after a length of time — variable from 0-1 seconds. In this way it will provide repeat echo effects without any loss of sound quality (as it is actually playing the repeat echo on the synth itself). Thus by selecting the Delay On mode and then setting your desired delay time from the delay time knob you have a very high quality repeat echo of whatever you play.

The echoed signal itself can be modified in two ways. Firstly, you can alter its dynamics. If you are using the ME10D with a synth which can have velocity sensitivity assigned to more than just the volume parameter, then this feature will also enable you to come up with some quite unique effects, as I found when it was linked to Yamaha's DX7.

The other way in which the ME10D can alter the echoed signal is in pitch. On the front panel are three buttons marked Octave Down, Normal and Up. These will put the echoed signal either up or down an octave from the original pitch. Once again this provides the MIDI synthesist with an effect which hitherto could only be created with the AMS digital delay's pitch changer.

Another effect that this last feature will also provide you with is that of an Octave Divider — you play a note and the ME10D will play a note either in unison (making for fatter monophonic lines), octave below or octave above.

A very useful MIDI Receive LED on the front panel indicates when any MIDI data is received by the unit, and all MIDI In data can be sent to the MIDI Out socket either with or without having been processed by the ME10D by the Thru switch on the front panel. The final feature found on this unit is the switching of Program change data received at the MIDI In socket. By switching off the Program Change button all program change data received will not be transmitted to the MIDI Out socket — thereby acting once again as a very useful MIDI signal processor.

A dynamic controller

The second unit in Akai's 'ME' series of MIDI signal processors is the ME15F 'Dynamics Controller'. This is a very simple but effective unit designed to be used in larger MIDI systems where there might be one or more MIDI Expander, drum machine or sequencer. What it will do is send MIDI data it receives at the MIDI In socket and transmit it out through any or all of its four MIDI Outputs after having had the dynamics (velocity) of the signal modified by the four front panel control knobs. Each output can be assigned its own individual MIDI channel (either 1-4 or 5-8), thereby making the ME15F extra-useful for those people with MIDI keyboards without the facility for selecting MIDI output channels (such as Yamaha's DX7).

By enabling you to alter the dynamics data of each MIDI channel send, the ME15F ('F' for Fader) can act as a kind of MIDI mixer for velocity sensitive MIDI synths or modules.

The construction of this unit is very similar to the ME10D Digital delay — 19" rackmounting and once again there is a MIDI Receive LED on the front panel indicating the reception of MIDI data.

Completing the sequence

The third unit is the ME20A MIDI Sequence Arpeggiator. It is the most complex (or rather 'least simple') of the three units as it is essentially a programmable arpeggiator as well as a sequencer. The note capacity of the sequencer/arpeggiator is 957 steps which is, I suppose, limited for a sequencer yet generous for an arpeggiator, and quite in keeping with this unit's price tag. The amount of control it offers you over the notes is, to my mind, the best bit about it — in addition to being able to alter the dynamics of the sequence with a twist of a knob it also has a knob for control of the gate time of notes — very simple and yet immensely useful. The gate time will alter the length of time that a note is depressed — from 1 step (super-fast) to 127 steps (one complete beat).

The ME20A has no limit to the number of notes that can be played in one step (the only limitation being the polyphony of the MIDI system you are working with), and it will record step-time sequences in the conventional way in conjunction with a button for inserting rests into the sequence itself. The other unique feature on the ME20A is in the way it behaves as an arpeggiator. You must first program in the chords that you wish arpeggiated, and it will then play them either up, down or sequentially; thereby becoming more of a hybrid between an arpeggiator and sequencer than simply one or the other.

Sequences or arpeggios can be stopped and started from a footswitch via a footswitch socket on the front panel, and I suppose that Akai have once again got a product that no-one else has. Unfortunately, the sequences cannot be clocked from an external source which does point the unit's use to being a tool for writers or for live use, although the tempo setting is quite accurate and you could nevertheless manually get the tempo just-about in sync with a drum machine and then record it and drop in and out of the tracks if the tempo drifts.

Conclusion

Akai are getting a reputation for producing products that no-one else has either thought of or has got around to making yet. Their S612 sampler was and is one such unit, and these three latest MIDI accessories/effects units follow in the Akai's innovative tradition. The Dynamics Controller is quite straightforward and does the job in hand with the minimum of fuss; the Sequence Arpeggiator is also very fast and easy to use whilst offering control over the notes' dynamics and gate time; and finally the Digital Delay is the real winner for me. It will fatten up sounds no end by providing unison or octave playing of MIDI data sent to it, as well as provide repeat delay effects without any signal loss (as it is of course operating on the MIDI signal, and not the audio signal where one must worry about things such as hiss,frequency response, distortion and dynamic range). The Digital Delay is the kind of product that really complements any MIDI sound system and that every MIDI synthesis t should have, and at £119.90 it is certainly a very viable proposition.

AKAI MIDI EFFECTS UNITS — RRP: £119.90 EACH