E-mu SP-1200

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SP-1200
E-mu SP-1200 sampler
Manufacturer	E-mu Systems Rossum Electro-Music (2021 reissue)
Dates	1987–1998, 2021–present
Price	US $2,495 US $3,999 (2021 reissue)
Technical specifications
Polyphony	polyphonic 8 voices
Synthesis type	12-bit samples, 26.04 kHz
Storage memory	10 seconds sample time, 100 user patterns, 100 user songs
Effects	Individual level and tuning for all pads
Input/output
Keyboard	8 hard plastic pads
External control	MIDI, SMPTE

The E-mu SP-1200 is a sampler created by Dave Rossum that was released in August 1987 by E-mu Systems.

Like the product it was meant to replace, the SP-12, the SP-1200's intended use was as a drum machine and sequencer for dance music producers. However, its use as a phrase sampler produces a "gritty" sound due to the machine's 26.04 kHz sampling rate, its SSM2044 filter chips and its 12-bit sampling resolution. This distinctive sound, often said to capture the "warmth" of vinyl recordings (because both formats attenuate significant amounts of bass and treble),^[1] has sustained demand for the SP-1200 more than thirty years after its discontinuation, despite the introduction of digital audio workstations and samplers/sequencers with far superior technical specifications, such as the Akai MPC.

The SP-1200 is strongly associated with hip hop's golden age. Its ability to construct the bulk of a song within one piece of portable gear, a first for the industry,^[2] reduced studio costs and increased 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."^[3]