The Sample Wars

At the end of the eighties the cheapest studio in the world fit into a bedroom and consisted of three things: an Atari ST computer, an Akai sampler and a shelf of records. The first two were sold in music shops, the third came from parents, flea markets and bargain bins, and without it the first two were almost useless.

The Japanese firm Akai released the S900 sampler in 1986, and two years later the S950 and S1000, and recording someone else’s sound so you could play it from a keyboard became affordable to more than just Peter Gabriel with his Fairlight. The S950 sat in the studios of Moby, Dr. Dre, the Bomb Squad, Public Enemy’s producers, and the Englishman Norman Cook, who performed as Fatboy Slim. Cook also stayed loyal to his Atari: he made music on it for twenty-odd years, right up to the 2013 single “Eat Sleep Rave Repeat,” and when everyone around him was getting rid of old computers, he bought six of them as spares.