Why The SP 1200 In 2024?

Why is the E-mu SP 1200 useful in 2024? In this video I go over 5 reasons for the SP1200 sampler in 2024 and beyond. This also relate in some ways to the E-mu SP12 drum machine, the older siblings of the SP-1200 (Sampling Percussion) which shares some of the SP’s functionality.

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E-mu #SP1200 Sampling Percussion Drum Machine

The SP-1200 was THE drum machine & sampler combo of legendary status among old school rap and hip-hop artists from the eighties and nineties. It is similar to today's Akai MPC samplers - it is a sampler plus drum machine. It has limited sampling specs: 26.040 kHz and 12-bit resolution. However, the dirtiness of that sound is great for hip hop and house music. They say it sounds like "old vinyl"... It features groove quantizing and a disk drive for sample storage.

As an upgraded version of the 1985 SP-12, the SP-1200 focused on its coolest feature - sampling. The preset drum sounds of the SP-12 were omitted, leaving room for up to 32 user samples of your own custom sampled and edited drum sounds.

Although this machine was originally released in 1987, E-mu has reissued them again and again due to popular demand. They continued producing them until they ran out of the SSM filter chips they used, around 1998. It was just too legendary to give up as it was THE beat machine for old-school rap and hip hop! In 1997 a final reissued model was released with a cooler looking all-black case. With the SP-1200 it's easy and fun to grab those sliders and tune or tweak your sampled drum sounds all around!

The SP-1200 is associated with the golden age of hip hop. It enabled musicians to construct the bulk of a song within one piece of portable gear, a first for the industry, reducing production costs and increasing creative control for hip-hop artists. According to the Village Voice, "The machine rose to such prominence that its strengths and weaknesses sculpted an entire era of music: the crunchy digitized drums, choppy segmented samples, and murky filtered basslines that characterize the vintage New York sound are all mechanisms of the machine."

Timeline Of E-Mu Samplers
1981 - Emulator
1983 - Drumulator (ROM Sample Playback)
1984 - Emulator II
1985 - E-mu SP-12
1986 - Emax
1987 - Emulator III
1987 - E-mu SP-1200
1994 - Emulator IV / E 64
1999 - E4 Ultra Samplers
2004 - Emulator X
2006 - Emulator X2
2009 - Emulator X3, the final incarnation of E-MU's flagship software sampler

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TDS

[JamBurglar]

Some pretty great points in there. I don't have the OG but did jump on the Rossum when it came out. Of the things you mentioned, my favorite is how you really don't have to struggle too hard with getting it to sound good. I've heard SO many people over the years say something like "I don't need an SP because on my DAW I can take a sound, EQ it, run it through this certain plug in, EQ that, compress everything, run it through another 3 plug ins, then run it through a custom computer program I wrote, 😵‍💫There's something about being able to sample into it without doing anything else and it spits out niceness. One other thing I like about it is the workflow. It's just fun to work on for some reason.

[amontri]

I have an OG sp1200 and it's true there's something about the original it's very inspiring to work on you sample with your ears and create on a personal level in a world of software/hardware with endless sample time the 10 seconds on OG is perfect less thinking more creation this machine has an insane short cut to get straight to the magic

[Archeomane]

Every points mention here talks to me. I have two SP12 here. We use Jazzcat to upgrade it - +10db mod, filters control, headphones, sample in .... I have to said that SP rocks. My fav machines

[michaschertenleib]

Got a sp 1200 + akai s950 im really happy with it

[thomasmatthews]

The bit rate probably isn't a factor because for example: the Casio SK-1, yamaha vss-30 and Ensoniq MIRAGE are all 8 bit BUT!!! None hits like the MIRAGE. There must be something else inside those samplers that make em drop like a pallet of bricks. The Sp 12 turbo has a different grit from the Ensoniq Samplers. But it's so beautiful.

[gmorb]

Curious what your thoughts are on the new mpc devices. They have these vintage emulations built in.

[PsychologyAcademia]

Im done with gear. This is the only thing that makes me happy.

[smokey]

The new Rossum takes away? You can just pretend you have 10 secs like the OG

[bitambassador]

Does it true that sp12 drums hits harder than on sp1200?🤔thanks

[BillyBatsonMarvel]

I hope Mr. ROSSUM make the SP2400 a 16 bit sampler with 2.5 seconds per 32 Pads. That’s 80 seconds of sample time.

[MS-]

What up TDS? On your current project are you using the SP1200 with other samplers for tracks?

[ulyssesbenton]

Does the emax1 hit hard like the sp1200

[HAMMBONE]

I like to know, sir what do you think about the SP 2400

[mpmi]

Had all 3 (og, rossom and 2400). The Rossum hrots just as hard and sounds just as dope as the original. If there's any difference, its so small its unnoticeable. You can take 2 OG 1200s and theyll sound different but unnoticeable. The 2400 is the weaker link in the equation. And thats mostly because of the horrible work flow it has along with its emulation and bad filters. But it all comes down to who's behind the machine

[jabbarindabenz]

I was wondering why they don’t hit like it either

[porkbeans]

Why in 2024??? It's a legend. Most imitated. It's a BEAST!!!

[yepyep]

Besides all of the proportion/synergy talk, the new SP is just a replica. I can hear a noticeable difference.

People don't want to accept that the new SPs have different electronics and software, which make for a different instrument.

Also, the 2400 shouldn't even be mentioned. They share no relation or connection to SP-1200s, and I'd rather use freeware software than look at one.

[LDPRODUCTIONSLLC]

Sell me your sp1200..lmaoo.. Great lecture TDS !!!

[gabrieldonl]

your videos are nice, man, and I can dig everything about the sound, dont get me as a hater, but that limitation fetish gotta have an acronym, lets start using LF because its so popular nowadays, companies have incorporated that for new gear, so they doesn’t even have to explain themselves more than “oh we did this a 4 track groove box in 2024 because you know, limitations are nice”. but man seriously, if rossum are the exact same machine with double the sample time but you think the OG is better because the memory fits a floppy disk when you can, you know, just limit yourself to use half the memory, I dont know if we talking about music anymore, its getting too close to something like a vintage videogame community, all about the experience and stuff… idk, just something to think about.

[joefarrin]

I wish you made this video after the release of the mksrec 1, you might have a different opinion. It seems the creator is going hard to mirror the exact sound and workflow