I remember back in the days when I used to crawl around Thoroughbred Music down on Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa. It would have been sometime around 1984, when the DX7 was creeping around and destroying the marketability of analog synths. And since T-Bred wasn't a Yamaha retailer (that was the seriously lame-except-for-the-Yamaha Paragon Music down the street), they were trying anything they could to sell what they had on hand; bunches of undesirable analogs.Perhaps the most undesirable of all present was the Akai AX-80. It was not uncommon around that time to see a bunch of Ultimate A-frames supporting such luminaries as the Oberheim Matrix-12, Chroma Polaris, Roland Juno-60 and the Korg Poly 800... but what everyone really wanted was conspicuously absent: Mr. DX7. I recall each and every of those now classic synths literally collecting dust while people fawned over the brand new Ensoniq Mirage.So around this time someone at Akai decided to release an analog synth using what I'm assuming was a new, inexpensive fluorescent display technology (I assume this because my Akai stereo receiver at the time had the same exact shit on it). Since everyone at the time was taking its user interface cues from Yamaha (one slider editing), Akai decided what was needed was a way to visually see what your patches looked like, just like the good old days (good old days being 1 year earlier). What they ended up with was a very attractive, functional synth with its piano gloss black endcaps and the fetching blue displays. Also, rather than using the now traditional single slider, Akai opted for the largest edit knob available on Earth; to be later rivaled only by the Alesis Quadrasynth volume knob.So how did Akai whiff on the AX-80? The first whiff was the timing. Releasing anything that couldn't do a proper e-piano after 1983 was a no-no. Second whiff was the sound; kinda lame. By that time analog synths had peaked and everyone knew what to expect; big raw power. Companies scrambled to release hybrid DCO based synths with wavetables and analog filters, hoping to gain back some marketshare. Masterful analog synths like the Xpander languished on the shelves due to their sonic limitations. It was tough times all around for things made of wood.So anyhow, I just spent a while with an AX-80, as a friend unexpectedly bought one and dropped it off at my house. I would put it somewhere in the sonic ballpark of a Kawai K3m and give it a fun factor slightly lower than a Roland JX-8P. It sounds decent, but the sounds it makes are inanimate, drowsy, and just plain old boring. Not to say you cant get some standard stuff out of it, but just don't expect it to have any balls or to impress anyone.Nice try Akai. Its a fairly attractive little synth with its glossy finish and seductive knob, but beyond that its a snoozefest under the hood.
This video is nothing but AX-80. The opening sounds give you an insight into its lifelessness. Dude was so embarrassed he taped over the Akai logo.
