E-mu SP-1200
| SP-1200 | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | E-mu Systems Rossum Electro-Music (2021 reissue) |
| Dates | 1987–1990, 1993–1998, 2021–present |
| Price | US $2,995 (1987) US $3,999 (2021 reissue) |
| Technical specifications | |
| Polyphony | polyphonic 8 voices |
| Timbrality | Fully multi-timbral |
| Synthesis type | 26.04 kHz 12-bit samples, drop-sample pitch-shifting |
| Filter | SSM2044, SSI2144 (2021 reissue) |
| Storage memory | 10 seconds sample time, 100 user patterns, 100 user songs, 20 seconds sample time (2021 reissue) |
| Effects | Independent level and tuning for all sounds |
| Input/output | |
| Keyboard | 8 hard plastic touch-sensitive buttons |
| External control | MIDI, SMPTE |
The E-mu SP-1200 is a sampling drum machine designed by Dave Rossum and released in August 1987 by E-mu Systems. Like its predecessor, the SP-12, it was designed as a drum machine featuring user sampling. The distinctive character of its sound, often described as "warm," "dirty," and "gritty," and attributed to SP-1200's low 26.04 kHz sampling rate, 12-bit sampling resolution, drop-sample pitch-shifting, and analog SSM2044 filter chips (ICs), has sustained demand for the SP-1200 more than thirty-five years after its debut, despite the availability of digital audio workstations and samplers/sequencers with superior technical specifications.
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."