E-mu SP-1200
E-mu SP-1200 is a classic drum machine and sampler released in August 1987 by E-mu Systems, Inc. as an update of the SP-12, which was originally created for dance music producers. It became famed for its gritty texture and ability to simulate the "warmth" of vinyl recordings.
The SP-1200 became an icon of hip hop's golden age, due to its ability to construct the bulk of a song within one piece of portable gear—a first for the industry. This resulted in reduced studio costs and more creative control for artists. In 2007, Ben Detrick explained, "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."[1] Designed to be used as both a drum sequencer and sampler in one, the SP-1200 features a 26.04 kHz sampling rate (roughly half the fidelity of a compact disc) and 12-bit resolution. Those audio qualities, combined with the idiosyncratic SSM2044 filter chips with which these machines were fitted, make for a dirty, gritty sound. One of the attributes of the SP-1200 is its extremely small amount of memory—roughly 10 seconds.
Contents
Features
The SP-1200 can store up to 100 patterns, 100 songs, and has a 5,000-note maximum memory for drum sequences. It also has a mono mix output and eight individual outputs, MIDI in/out/through, SMPTE sync, and a metronome output. There is one button that allows you to select between banks A, B, C, and D, which gives the user easy access to each of the 32 sounds. The front panel contains several LED lights, buttons, and eight volume and pitch faders for each sound in the selected bank. Below each fader is a large button to initialize the sound, or select the sound for editing, and a switch to turn the trigger's velocity sensitivity off or on. The sequencer works in the familiar pattern-style of placing short consecutive sections of samples into a song. The user can easily add swing quantization and tempo changes. The sequencer can sync the tempo to SMPTE, MIDI, or analogue clock pulses and is also capable of synchronizing the tempo to a tapping finger with the tap-tempo button."[2]
Differences from the SP12
Unlike the SP12, the SP-1200 does not contain ROM-based samples; all samples are stored in volatile RAM and loaded from floppy disk. The AD/DA converters remain 12 bit, as 16 bit converters were still expensive and found only on high-end gear, such as the contemporary E-Mu Emulator 3 (EIII), which had a list price of over $15,000 USD. Maximum sampling time was doubled from the upgraded SP-12 Turbo, to over 10 seconds, but the maximum single sample was 2.5 seconds. The sample rate was reduced slightly also (from 27.5 kHz to 26.04 kHz) to maximize memory usage. The SP-1200 retains all of the I/O capabilities from the SP12, minus the cassette output and floppy disk I/O.[2]
Technique
The limited sampling time of the SP-1200 was overcome within the late 1980s hip hop production circles by sampling 33⅓ rpm records at 45 rpm, with an additional pitch increase, then replaying the sample from the SP-1200 at a much slower speed (by the use of Multipitch and/or Tune/Decay edit functions). This expanded the total sampling time while at the same time decreasing the resolution. By the early 1990s, nearly every working hip hop producer had adopted this technique as industry standard until the advent of newer samplers such as Akai's MPC60, which provided higher sampling rates and more sampling time.
Notable users
- Alan Braxe
- Beastie Boys
- Bibio
- BS 2000
- Cevin Key
- Da Beatminerz: Mr. Walt, DJ Evil Dee (Black Moon), Baby Paul
- Daft Punk
- Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley)
- De La Soul
- Def Jef
- DJ Clark Kent [3]
- DJ Head (Producer for Eminem)
- DJ Krush
- DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill)
- DJ Premier
- DJ Qbert
- DJ Quik
- Dr. Dre
- Dj Paul
- Diplo
- Easy Mo Bee
- Edan
- El da Sensei of Artifacts
- Fred Falke
- Geto Boys
- Grap Luva
- Hank Shocklee (Bomb Squad/Public Enemy)
- Havoc (Mobb Deep)
- Ice-T
- Javier Martinez Maya
- J Dilla
- Jel
- John Fell
- Johnny "J" (Producer) from TheWLA
- J-Zone
- Juicy J
- Kenny Dixon Jr. aka Moodymann
- Kid Koala
- KRS-One
- Large Professor
- Le Knight Club
- Lewis Parker
- Lord Finesse (DITC)
- Madlib
- Mannie Fresh [4]
- Marley Marl
- MF DOOM Used the SP on his series of instrumental albums under the name Metal Fingers
- Mix Master Mike
- Nottz
- Paul C
- Pete Rock
- Pharoahe Monch
- Prince Paul
- Professor Griff
- P-Original
- Q-Tip (A Tribe Called Quest)
- Rappin' 4-Tay
- Rhythm Masters
- RZA
- Shar The Analog Bastard
- Showbiz and A.G. (DITC)
- Ski Beatz [3]
- The Prodigy Liam Howlet - Used on album (Fat of the Land 1996) to present
- Thomas Bangalter
- Todd Terry
- Vanilla Ice
- Will to Power Producer - Bob Rosenberg
Albums featuring the SP-1200
Some albums that were produced utilizing this machine include the following:
- People Under the Stairs - "The Next Step"
- Johnny J - "2Pac's Producer"
- Alan Braxe - The Upper Cuts
- PNS - 12 Bit Soul
- Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
- Pete Rock - INI, Soul Survivor, PeteStrumentals
- Lord Finesse - The Awakening, The SP1200 Project
- Lootpack - Soundpieces: Da Antidote
- Ultramagnetic MCs - Critical Beatdown (In this case, the first LP in to use the SP-12 Turbo).
- Geto Boys - The Geto Boys
- EPMD - Strictly Business
- Cypress Hill - Black Sunday
- Jel - 10 Seconds
- Main Source - Breaking Atoms
- Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt
- Nas - Illmatic
- on Madlib and MF DOOM (as Madvillain)'s album Madvillainy, Madlib was holding a SP-1200 in his hands on the back cover.
- BS 2000 - Nobody Beats BS2000
- El Da Sensei - Relax Relate Release
- Aesop of Living Legends - Black Libra
- Kid Koala - 12 bit Blues
- Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
- Thomas Bangalter used an SP-1200 for most of the releases on the Roulé label, such as Trax On Da Rocks, Spinal Scratch and Trax On Da Rocks Vol. 2
