Talk:Akai

Bankruptcy

There is little mention of bankruptcy in the article. Just a fleeting mention of coming out of bankruptcy. The following article (http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,26149969-462,00.html) does not really contain all the detail required, but suggests that this was the largest bankruptcy in Hong Kong at the time. I think this is important, and lack of reference to it does not provide the article with a NPOV. Vk2tds (talk) 23:11, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

Accuracy

The kanji character for Akai is incorrect - it should be 赤井 (which means 'red well') the name of Mr Akai who founded the company. The correct kanji for Akai Company should be 赤井会社 (and 赤井楽器製品会社 for the musical instrument division).

Also, Akai was not founded as a consumer electronics company - it originally sold motors for turntables and later, tape recorders until the company started making its own tape recorders in the 50s.

Also, the section on Akai Professional, the musical and recording instrument division of the company, is woefully inadequate and would better served with a separate Wiki entry especially as the division became an autonomous company in its own right, suffered its own financial problems until it was bought by Numark in 2005. Akai Professional now exists as a totally separate entity to Akai. -Hollow Sun 27th August, 2007 —The preceding signed but undated comment was added at 00:34, August 27, 2007 (UTC).

Missing Products

I note that there is no mention of the Akai S950. If this is missing, what else is missing? sugarfish (talk) 05:17, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

The Akai Pro Force, for starters: it's roots lie in the MPC Live, but it's really a different category of beast, a stand-alone host resolving the questions of latency and task disruption endemic in more general-purpose PCs. Although still capable of talking through Ableton Live to the classic PC host, using cable, WIFI and Bluetooth networking, it's quintessentially intended to be primarily a stand-alone with live performance capability. At this exact moment, it does not yet have customised instrument bases, however the capacity to handle them is on the stocks.

Be careful about POV

Some recent edits have inserted phrases such as "...was one of the greatest Reel To Reel Tape Recorders ever built" This is simply not acceptable for Wikipedia. Please read the Neutral Point of View rules carefully. Good info overall, and thanks for your contributions. Just a minor nit. -Harmil 16:00, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

Thats quite ok. Im new to this whole thing and i understand where you are coming from. I'll be careful with the POV -Moose The Mooche 19:00, 27 December 2005

I'm not going to claim I made the article higher than a B-Class, but I definitely cleaned up the flow, punctuation and grammar quite a bit. If someone else will follow up and catch things I missed maybe we can get this one A-Class with more expansion on the history, distribution system of the company, some more pictures perhaps, more more more. --205.162.51.137 06:53, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

If the original contributor is interested in my critique of his/her grammar, and I hope you don't take any offense because none is intended: this article's largest issues were casual tone, passive voice and a tendency toward narrative flow. What I mean by that, mostly, is that the article sounded like oral storytelling. --205.162.51.137 06:53, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

The article states that the most famous Akai reel to reel decks were the GX-747, GX-77. Another famous Akai open reel deck was the 4000 series. These were manufactured between 1969 & 1984. There were a few variations & updates to this model but the basic design remained the same through out it's production run. This deck was very popular because it combined a excellent reliability, reasonable performance & a comprehensive array of features at a relatively modest price. I just thought they were worth a mention because I have seen more of these decks about than any of the other Akai machine

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.177.155.184 (talk • contribs) 10:47, 12 Novemeber 2006 (UTC).

Paragraph on KT Tunstall

Removed the following paragraph about KT Tunstall and her music production techniques. Countless musicians have used Akai Professional products, so the specific mention of KT Tunstall is out of place and irrelevant.

The Akai Professional E2 Headrush looping pedal has been used by KT Tunstall, who uses it to loop her own instruments, vocals, and percussion in her live performances[citation needed]. She does this to build up a song from scratch, using sound effects and looping percussion to create the layers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.55.200.20 (talk) 19:48, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

At most an instantiation: others do so too. It may be appropriate for the page on Ms Tunstall, but is not appropriate here: a link from there back to here would provide the backlink the OP seeks.

References

This article is in need of references. In order to meet Wikipedia standards, reliable sources should be cited. The first of Wikipedia: Five Pillars states "All articles must follow our no original research policy and strive for accuracy; Wikipedia is not the place to insert personal opinions, experiences, or arguments. Furthermore, Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information."

Failing to cite reliable references could result in the deletion of the article. --LaraLove^Talk/_Contribs 20:42, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the article has been tagged since May and yet no references have been introduced. Therefore I've removed all unreferenced text from the article. It is copied below to help editors reference the article. As references are found, simply move the newly supported text back into the article along with the appropriate references enclosed in <ref> tags and they will automatically appear as footnotes. GlassFET 19:14, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Copy of unreferenced article

Akai (Akai Electric Company, Ltd. Chinese: 雅佳) was a Japanese consumer electronics producer founded in 1929. It is now headquartered in Singapore and part of Grande Holdings, a Chinese Hong Kong-based conglomerate, who also owns Japanese brands Nakamichi and Sansui. It is now used on rebadged electronics manufactured by other companies.

Historical products

The Akai AM-2260

The manufacturer's most notable products were reel-to-reel (most notably, the GX series) audiotape recorders, tuners, audio cassette decks, amplifiers, video recorders, and loudspeakers.

Many Akai products were sold under the name Roberts in the US, as well as A&D in Japan. In late sixties, along with Tandberg, Akai has pioneered Cross-Field recording (using extra head), which facilitated high frequency recording. Later they switched to Glass-ferrite epitaXial (GX) heads, famous for reliability.

The most famous open-reel models are GX-747, GX-77 (unique model with auto-loading). Prominent cassette decks included three-head, closed-loop GX-F95, GX-9, GX-R99. The company limited its consumer Hi-Fi product line in the United States in the 1990s.

Akai introduces the Interactive Monitor System (On-Screen Display)

Akai was a leading brand of video cassette recorder in the 1980s. The Akai VS-2 was the first VCR manufactured to have an on-screen display, which was originally named the Interactive Monitor System. This innovation eliminated the need for the user to be physically near the VCR to program it to automatically record TV programs, tune in TV stations, read the tape counter and other common features by displaying the information on the television screen. It took several years for competing manufacturers to adapt on-screen display technology to their own products.

Akai Professional

In 1984 a new division of the company was formed focusing on the manufacture and sale of electronic instruments, known Akai Electronic Musical Instruments Corporation, or Akai Professional.

The first product released by the new subsidiary, the S612 12-bit digital sampler, was the first in a series of affordable samplers. It held only a single sample at a time, which was loaded into memory via a separate disk drive that utilized proprietary 2.8" floppy disks. The maximum sample time at the highest quality sampling rate (32kHz) was one second. The X-7000, a keyboard version of the S612, was introduced shortly thereafter. Unlike the single-sample S-612, however, it allowed the user to have six samples active at a time.

Some of their other early products include the Akai AX-80 8-voice analog synthesizer, and the Akai AX-60 and AX-73 6-voice analog synthesizers. The AX-60 borrowed many ideas from the Roland Juno-106, but used a real VCO, and had the ability to have a split keyboard.

Akai's portable studio, Akai MG-1214 unit

In 1985, Akai introduced MG1212 12 channel/12 track recorder. It used a special VHS-like cartridge called MK-20 and it was good for 10 minutes of continuous 12 track recording (19 cm/second) or 20 minutes at half speed (9.5 cm/second). One track (14) was permanently dedicated to recording absolute time and one for synchronization purposes (Like SMPTE or MTC). Each channel strip had dbx type-1 noise reduction and semi-parametric equalizers (No bandwidth) and great innovations like an electronic 2 bus system, 12 stereo channel patch bay and auto punch in and out among others. The sound of these units were outstanding, rivaling in quality to 16 track / 1" machines. The MG-1212 was later replaced by the MG-1214 which was an improvement to the transport mechanism and overall performance. Although Akai sold a modest amount of these units, it never took off and was not able to catch up with the Tascam porta studios, which were more affordable and used conventional and cheaper media such as cassettes and 1/4" reel tapes.

The S612 was superseded in 1986 with the introduction of a "professional" range of digital samplers, starting with the 12-bit S900 in late 1985, the 16-bit S1000 in 1988, and the S3000, which notably featured writable CD-ROM and hard disk recording. An additional release of note were the Z4 and Z8 24-bit 96kHz samplers.

Akai also produces several Digital MIDI sequencers and digital synthesizers such as the MPC range (MIDI Production Center), a line of integrated sampler/drum machine and MIDI sequencers that look like a drum machine.

New ownership

In late 2004 the Akai corporation was bought out of bankruptcy by Grande Group.

Also in 2004, following a US distribution deal, the Akai Professional Musical Instrument division was acquired by Numark, which previously purchased the audio electronics corporation Alesis out of bankruptcy. The three brands operate under the banner Numark Industries LLC of Cumberland RI.

Current products

In early 2003, the consumer electronics company began undergoing a re-exposure by marketing various rebranded video products manufactured by Samsung. In the same year, Akai began to distribute home appliances such as HVAC units, vacuum cleaners, water filtration devices, and refrigerated store showcases.

Akai HDTVs can be found at select RadioShack locations, some of which also carry Scott HDTVs which are rebranded Akai TVs with a few added features. Akai TVs can also be found in select Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Costco locations, on Wal-Mart.com, Target.com, and various comparison shopping websites. In Canada, Akai portable DVD players were sold at Zellers, a division of the Hudson's Bay Company.

The Akai Headrush looping pedal has been made famous by KT Tunstall, who uses it to loop her own instruments, vocals, and percussion in her live performances. She does this to build up a song from scratch, using sound effects and looping percussion to create the layers.

Television

• Color televisions
• LCD televisions
• Plasma televisions

Audio

• Clock Radios
• Mini Systems
• Micro Music Players
• Retro Radios
• Sound Boxes
• Portable Music Players

Video

• AV Receivers
• Portable DVD Players
• DVD Players
• DVD Recorders
• Home Theater Systems
• Home Theater Speakers
• VCD Players
• VCRs

Mobile sound

• Amplifiers
• Cassette Receivers
• CD Changers
• CD Receivers
• DVD Changers
• DVD Receivers
• Car Audio - DVD Players
• Car Audio - Speakers
• Car Audio - [Thin-film transistor| TFT] Monitors

Home appliances

• Air Conditioners
• Air Coolers
• Air Purifiers
• Chest Freezers
• Heaters
• Ice Makers
• Microwave Ovens
• Refrigerators
• Showcases
• Vacuum Cleaners
• Washing Machines
• Water Dispensers
• Wine Cellars

Digital

• Wireless Surround Sound Systems
• Bluetooth
• MP3 Players

References

References

Question

Hello All,

One time I know for sure that Akai was own by Mitsubishi because my cassette GX-R99 was service by Akai around 1988. The manager from Akai service depart told me that the Akai was about to pull out all of the consummer electronics in US and it was the Mitsubishi decision. Anyone know about this ? Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.238.10.2 (talk) 20:28, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

Massive Attack

can we mention their lyric in 'Daydreaming' ('My AKAI rig goes boom boom, my AKAI rig goes boom')?--Editor510 ^{drop us a line, mate} 16:47, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

I think we could. How would you integrate it into the prose? —fudoreaper (talk) 01:22, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

"changed music for life!"

that's what I want to see some where here, they simply did that in the late 1980's with their S-series and MPCs, I know this covers all akai electronics but at least give them credit for changing music history! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.132.145.117 (talk) 23:41, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

name

please change description of picture if you are kind from "AKAI stack of historical machines" to "AKAI decks, Pro-Series line of products", because it represents a series/line of their finest products. --188.25.49.180 (talk) 07:07, 19 February 2012 (UTC)wikilord

Who killed the article?

What is the new garbage article doing here? the old one (cited as removed due to lack of references) contained a lot of info. The new has no references at all and contains absolute vacuum. What is going on?195.91.252.16 (talk) 12:46, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

Akai sold under the Roberts badge in US

References for the Akai machines badged Roberts in the US as mentioned here see external cite here about halfway down the page (at that time Roberts was a subsidary of Rheem Manufacturing under the Califone branch, called "Califone Roberts" and eventually "Rheem Califone" [[1]] ).

Source: My grandfather was Saburo Akai's point of contact with Rheem Califone Roberts at the time of his death. I have a hardcopy company directory of Rheem Manufacturing from 1968 in my possession that can be used as a reference, though the negotiations to add a Japanese office were still underway in 1968 and that page is left blank in the directory, the Califone-Roberts Division directory page would be useful as it is relevant to the rebadging - should it be scanned and uploaded to Archive.org for others to access, or is the existence of a hardcopy enough? (I am unsure about posting it online as it contains personal contact information that may still be accurate for some of the company officers or their families, even if they are long since retired or deceased.) I have my editor notifications set to notify daily so I will see any responses in a timely manner. I haven't been active on Wiki for some years, and thus I am hesitant to edit articles myself, but I recently had this document come into my possession and thought it might be of some historical interest.

I also have numerous photographs of my grandfather and Saburo Akai which can be scanned and added, but as they are of low importance to this article, I did not mention them first. Also the photographers are unknown.

I will be adding a similar but appropriately edited note to the other two wiki pages linked above as well.

Jauncourt (talk) 15:46, 29 July 2016 (UTC)

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Info box / template

I've asked in the tearoom how to create a box similar to the one for Roland and Korg (see below)

so we can seperate out the Samplers, synths and drum machines from the main page as it is very congested and would read better as seperate pages considering the size of it now Ijustwannabeawinner (talk) 14:00, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

Akai Professional

Since Akai Professional was first formed as a dedicated division within Akai and hasn't been part of the company since 2004, would it be appropriate to split it into its own article? synthfiend (talk) 16:36, 9 January 2019 (UTC)