The Akai S900 sampler, released in 1986, was a revolutionary instrument that became a staple in music production through the late 80s and well into the 90s. Known for its gritty 12-bit sound, the S900 brought digital sampling to a wider audience, defining the sonic character of countless hit songs. The factory library for the S900—a collection of pre-sampled sounds that shipped with the unit. Packed with essential drum hits, basses, and classic synth sounds, it gave musicians access to high-quality samples that could be used right out of the box.

The Akai S900’s sounds are synonymous with the aesthetic of the late 80s and early 90s. During this period, musicians and producers were eager to explore sampling technology, and the S900 made it possible to incorporate realistic, pre-recorded samples into music production with unprecedented ease. This had a profound impact on genres like hip-hop, electronic, pop, and even rock, allowing artists to integrate previously unattainable textures and rhythms into their music.

Akai S900 factory library included the SL500 library (around 50 floppies), SL5000 library (20 floppies), PSL 9000 library (60 floppies) and the ACL 9000 library (100 floppies). ACL 9000 was released later, I believe in the 90s. The original factory content included meticulously sampled drum hits, including punchy kicks, snappy snares, and warm, vintage toms, that gave tracks a distinctive “crunch” that can only be achieved through the S900’s 12-bit, 40kHz sampling resolution. These sounds were particularly popular in hip-hop and dance music, where the S900 became a key tool in shaping the genre’s beat-heavy foundation. Synthesized bass sounds, pads, and leads provided lush textures that were often layered over these beats to create the spacious, atmospheric qualities associated with 80s pop and R&B.

Akai ACL9000 library (click image for full size)

The S900’s sounds made their way into an array of iconic tracks from the late 80s through the 90s, including songs from artists like Prince, Madonna, and Public Enemy. Its flexibility and the unique character of its samples meant that sounds from the S900 were easily distinguishable, making tracks that featured them instantly memorable. The drum samples, particularly, were unmistakable, and many of the same snare and hi-hat sounds can be heard across albums from the era.

The S900’s factory library didn’t just provide a convenient way to make music; it opened up a new era of sound design and production. Today, this library stands as a veritable time capsule, capturing the essence of a bygone musical era and preserving sounds that helped shape the identity of 80s and 90s music.

Gotek upgrades
In our last episode, we installed a Gotek based HxC drive in our Akai which ran on HxC but was unable to directly load RAW images. Fortunately there is a (free) solution which I will demonstrate here as I recently acquired a brand new Gotek drive  and decided to document the procedure for the others, so that you don’t have to spend a lot of money buying pre-configured ones which are quite pricey especially if you have 5-6 other devices, it pretty quickly adds up in $$$. A bare bones el-cheap Gotek will do just fine. But here’s the thing: a fresh Gotek drive isn’t quite ready for action on its own. To make it functional, we need to reprogram it with FlashFloppy firmware. FlashFloppy is an open-source firmware specifically designed for Gotek floppy drive emulators, which are devices used to replace traditional floppy disk drives with USB or SD card-based storage. It enables the Gotek drive to emulate various types of floppy disks and disk formats, making it a flexible and powerful solution for users who still need access to legacy hardware and software, particularly in vintage computing and retro gaming communities.

Is the process difficult? It’s surprisingly straightforward—one single line of code. Connect Gotek to your computer with USB-A to USB-A cable. Bridge the jumpers 3V-Boot and 5V-Tx or if your Gotek is Artery micro-controller then just bridge 3V-Boot. Download the latest FlashFloppy firmware from the official website and run a single command to flash the firmware to your Gotek drive as shown in the screenshot from my desktop (it’s the window on the left side). Click the picture for full resolution:

That’s it! With just this quick setup, your Gotek drive will be ready to emulate Akai floppy disks effortlessly. In my example the Gotek was fresh from the factory so I needed to un-protect it first otherwise it will not accept FlashFloppy firmware. Actually I installed the v3.42, not the 3.38 as the screenshot shows. If your Gotek is unprotected and you just want to upgrade it to the latest FlashFloppy firmware, then simply run this command:

sudo dfu-util -a 0 -D dfu/<the firmware that you downloaded>.dfu

Display
What’s the use of a large S900 factory library if you can’t see which disk images you’re loading into your Gotek? Thankfully, there’s a simple solution: adding a 128×32 OLED display to your Gotek drive provides an easy way to navigate and see exactly what you’re loading. Why Use an OLED Display: The OLED display provides clear, sharp text and fits perfectly with Gotek drives. This small screen can show the current disk image or file name, making it much easier to manage large collections of disk images on vintage systems.

Here’s how to configure and wire the OLED display to your Gotek drive. Remove Existing Wires: Start by carefully removing the existing wires from the Gotek’s original LCD display connector. Reorient the Wiring: The OLED configuration requires you to adjust the wiring by 90 degrees. Essentially, you’ll rotate the original connection orientation to match the pin configuration of your OLED display. Connecting the OLED Pins:

• VCC: Connect the VCC pin on the OLED to the 3.3V (or 5V) power supply pin on the Gotek, depending on your display’s requirements.
• GND: Connect the GND pin on the OLED to a ground pin on the Gotek.
• SDA: Connect the SDA (data line) on the OLED to the correct data pin on the Gotek.
• SCL: Connect the SCL (clock line) on the OLED to the Gotek’s clock pin.

Securing and Testing: Once connected, carefully secure the display and turn on the Gotek drive to test. If wired correctly, the OLED should light up and display the disk image information, allowing you to navigate files on your USB with ease. This quick setup transforms your Gotek drive into a far more user-friendly device, giving you immediate visual feedback on your disk image selections. Perfect for managing those vintage libraries!

Sound (of the floppy head)
But wait. How do we know the Gotek is loading something or not if we aren’t looking into the LED indicator (say we are busy doing other things). Fortunately FlashFloppy not only provides and OLED display support but it emulates the sound of the floppy’s motorized head movements. Whay would anyone want that? Because this is Pimp My Akai series, that’s why. So let’s pimp it all the way. It’s super simple: By connecting to the JB pin header we will get the sound output. Here are all the ingredients we need.

Obviously a pair of wires, a Piezo speaker and some sort of a header terminal. Put them all together and we get this:

Our Gotek is not fully Pimped and should look like this:

Installation
All that was left to do was to open the S-950 and remove the existing floppy drive. Mount the Gotek drive in the same location, using the same power and data cables that the floppy drive used. And we are done. I would highly recommend those mini USB sticks, they will perfectly sit inside without obstructing or ruining the aesthetics of the device.

With the OLED display installed, browsing through the directory and finding files has become incredibly easy. My Akai originally came with 27 floppy disks, which I’ve since converted into digital images. Additionally, I have the original S900 library I bought years ago, containing 220 floppy disks that I also converted. With all this, the storage filled up quickly, and trying to keep track of which disk image was in which index entry on a computer would’ve been a hassle. Thankfully, those days are behind me—now I have instant access to the entire historic S900 library with just the press of a button.

Looking at the root of the USB stick I have put libraries into individual folders so that the things are organized and easy to locate. With the FlashFloppy supporting the OLED display I can now navigate through folders and are no longer tied to the “cryptic” 3 segment LED display which would make all of this completely impossible. With a press of a button I have direct access to 250 floppy disks of which 220 are the factory library and as can be seen on a screenshot I also included a few empties just for the good measure. These can easily be duplicated and renamed when needed. And this ends our S-950 journey. This Akai is now full pimp mode. Feel free to discuss or share your Akai S950 stories in the comments below.