SP-1200 | |
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Manufacturer | E-mu Systems[1] Rossum Electro-Music (2021 reissue)[2][3][4] |
Dates | 1987–1990, 1993-1998,[1][5][6][7] 2021–present[2][3][4] |
Price | US $2,745[5] US $3,999 (2021 reissue)[4][8] |
Technical specifications | |
Polyphony | polyphonic 8 voices[6] |
Synthesis type | 26.04 kHz 12-bit samples,[6] drop-sample pitch-shifting[9][10][11] |
Filter | SSM2044,[5] SSI2144 (2021 reissue)[2][4] |
Storage memory | 10 seconds sample time, 100 user patterns, 100 user songs,[6] 20 seconds sample time (2021 reissue)[2][4][8] |
Effects | Independent level and tuning for all sounds[6] |
Input/output | |
Keyboard | 8 hard plastic touch-sensitive buttons[5][6] |
External control | MIDI, SMPTE[5][6] |
The E-mu SP-1200 is a sampling drum machine[12] designed by Dave Rossum and released in August 1987 by E-mu Systems.[1][5][6]
Like its predecessor, the SP-12, the SP-1200 was designed as a drum machine featuring user sampling.[5][13] The distinctive character of SP-1200's sound, often described as "warm," "dirty," and "gritty,"[2][5][6][7][9][14][15] and attributed to SP-1200's low 26.04 kHz sampling rate, 12-bit sampling resolution, drop-sample pitch-shifting,[9][10][11] and analog SSM2044 filter chips (ICs),[3][5][6][7] 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.[3][5][6][16][17][18]
The SP-1200 is strongly associated with hip hop's golden age.[1][3][6][7][14] It enabled musicians to construct the bulk of a song within one piece of portable gear, a first for the industry,[1][3][19] reducing production costs and increasing creative control for hip-hop artists.[3][20] 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."[14]
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