[3] Its abilities to splice, crossfade, trim, and loop sound in 16-bit CD quality made it popular among producers in the late 80s through to the mid 90s.

Version 2.0 of the S1000's operating system introduced primitive timestretching, allowing a sound's pitch and length to be altered independently of one another.

In an interview taken over ten years after the S1000's release, Boards of Canada's Michael Sandison said "We have five or six samplers, but my favorite by far is still the Akai S1000.

"[6] Conversely, Portishead's Dave McDonald simply called it a "horrible thing" due to its primitive interface.

[7] Notable users include 808 State,[8] Boards of Canada,[6] Bomb the Bass,[9][10] Butch Vig / Garbage,[11] Cabaret Voltaire,[12] The Chemical Brothers,[13] Crystal Method, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, the Future Sound of London,[14] Michael Jackson,[15] Jean-Michel Jarre, Meat Beat Manifesto,[16] Moby, My Bloody Valentine,[17] Gary Numan, Nine Inch Nails (S1100),[18] Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,[19] Pet Shop Boys, Portishead,[7] Primal Scream,[20][21] The Prodigy,[22] Public Enemy,[23] The Sisters of Mercy, The Stone Roses,[24] System 7,[25] Tears for Fears,[26] Tricky,[27] Vangelis, and Vince Clarke.