Akai S950 | Synthmagazine

31. August 2026

Voltage Labs: When Sound Becomes Liquid—The Emotional Journey of Sampling

Voltage Labs invites us to drift through the shifting fog of sampling, a world where recorded sound becomes as malleable as memory itself. In this poetic meditation on machines and makers, the sampler is not a tool but a vessel—transforming fragments into new sonic landscapes. We are guided through the flicker and grain of Fairlight, Akai, and MPC, where every limit becomes a portal and every imperfection a fingerprint. Here, music is no longer fixed: it is cut, looped, scattered—reborn with every touch.

Akai MPC 3000, Akai MPC 60, Akai S01, Akai S950, Emu SP-1200, Emulator, Ensoniq ASR-10, Ensoniq Mirage, Fairlight CMI, Roland S760

13. December 2025

LUMINA

Tonepusher

Tonepusher Illuminates the Sonic Ghosts of ‘Pretty Hate Machine’

Step into the magnetic haze of industrial memory, as Tonepusher unravels the spectral drum textures of Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Pretty Hate Machine.’ This video is a journey through sampled fragments, lo-fi grit, and the haunted machinery that shaped a generation’s pulse. With a poetic eye for detail, Tonepusher reveals how Trent Reznor’s creative alliances and the E-mu Emax’s peculiar circuitry conjured beats that feel both mechanical and deeply human. For those who seek to drift inside the sound, this exploration is a map to the album’s fractured light and rhythmic shadows.

Akai S950, Behringer LM Drum, E-mu Emax, Isla Instruments S2400, Rosum SP1200, Sonicware Liven Lo-Fi 12

MORE ARTICLE WITH Akai S950

Voltage Labs: When Sound Becomes Liquid—The Emotional Journey of Sampling

Tonepusher Illuminates the Sonic Ghosts of ‘Pretty Hate Machine’