Akai Deep Impact SB-1

[flea_slap_god]

Ease of Use: 9
It sounds great right out of the box. If you do need to tweek some of the parameters, the stripped-down programming interface is a real plus. The manual leaves a bit to be desired. You can tell that English is not the first language of whoever wrote it. Most of the parameters are intuitive; a few aren't defined very well, but you can just go by sound.

Sound Quality: 8
This is not a subtle effect! When they named it the "Deep Impact", they meant it. The synth-sounds are very high quality and full of "stank". There is no noise when bypassed (true bypass!), and virtually no noise while operating. However, this is a true synthesizer and not an envelope filter. It requires certain modifications to one's playing style. You must play very cleanly, articulately, and no double-stops or slapping. If you don't play correctly with this, the snyth will either not track at all, or make some weird sound that's not what you want.
It really does track down to low B!

Reliability: 9
It's in a nice steel case with good quality switches. The footswitches are not mounted on the circuit board like lesser effects. More companies should build things this way. I think it's going to last a long time.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't delt with them. I'm not sure, but I think the Deep Impact has been discontinued. It's kinda a specialty item.

Overall Rating: 9
I think this is a good musical instrument. When you kick this thing in, it will really get noticed. It will completely alter the sound of your band. Additionally, when used at the right time in the right way, it will make a postive contribution to the music, and increase you and your bandmates' interplanetary funksmanship.
Overall, this is probably the best product of its type on the market (though I guess there's not a whole lot of competition.)

[Wintermute]

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