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Akai Conventional Comparisons

Synopsis Media Physical Interface Architecture Components Resource

Conventional Family Picture

Typical analog subtractive synths, but surprisingly without MIDI Sysex support

Model Released MSRP Synopsis Ebay Description
AX80 1984 $1395 Akai’s first synth, with features similar to Roland’s Juno and JX lines (e.g. sub oscillator, dual oscillator with both low and high pass filters). The AX80 also has a bar graph display for each of the parameters. The Akai AX80 is a 61 key (velocity sensitive), 8 voice analog synthesizer, featuring dual oscillators (with sub), resonant low (24dB CEM) and high pass filters, dual envelopes, 3 LFOs, chord memory, and MIDI.
AX60 1985 $895 Compensates for its single oscillator with chorus and unison mode. Replaces AX80 bar graph displays with dedicated sliders, osc crossmod with filter mod, chord memory with arpeggiator. Adds unison mode, external sampler audio input, waveforms, split. The Akai AX60 is a 61 key (velocity sensitive), 6 voice, bitimbral analog synthesizer, featuring resonant low (24dB CEM) and high pass filters, dual envelopes, LFO, chorus, arpeggiator, and MIDI.
AX73 1986 $1199 Swaps the AX60 dedicated controls for single parameter based editing. Swaps arpeggiator for more keys (keeps unison mode). Loses AX60 bitimbral mode, but can split keyboard MIDI output The Akai AX-73 is a 73 key (velocity sensitive), 6 voice analog synthesizer, featuring resonant low (24dB CEM) and high pass filters, dual envelopes, LFO, chorus, portamento, and MIDI.
VX90 1986 ? Rack AX73 The Akai VX-90 is a 2U rack (velocity sensitive), 6 voice analog synthesizer, featuring resonant low (24dB CEM) and high pass filters, dual envelopes, LFO, chorus, portamento, and MIDI.
VX600 1988 $900 Similar to the AX-80 (dual oscillator, no chorus), but swaps an LFO for an extra envelope. Adds modulation matrix (10 source/destination pairs) and wind controller interface. The Akai VX-600 is a 37 key (velocity and pressure sensitive), 6 voice, multitimbral analog synthesizer, featuring dual oscillators, resonant low (24dB CEM) and high pass filters, 3 envelopes, dual LFO, portamento, chord memory, MIDI, EWI/EVI wind interface compatibility, and extensive modulation routings.
Note: MSRP is the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price when in production (not a current price). For street prices, see Prepal.