Does the SP-1200 price tag have you giving up on E-mu dreams? Help is on the way.
Ever since the SP-1200 burst onto the scene it’s been a hiphop staple, and it’s price has never really slid over the past 20 years. Any SP-1200, regardless of condition, is hard to find below $1000 and sometimes go upwards of $1500 – $2000. Now that’s simply too out of reach for most of us since it’s primarily going to be just for drums. Not quite affordable in anyway. There are a few options out there that can give you almost the EXACT sound at a fraction of the price. You may have to give up some functionality or some features, but the sound is essentially the same.
E-Mu SP-12 (Turbo)
I purchased one of these second hand for about $300 a good 10 years ago, the price today? About the same. Anywhere from $300 – $600 should get you a nice SP-12 Turbo. What’s the difference between this and the SP-1200?
Well, only 5 seconds of sample time and oh yeah, it uses a Commodore 5.25″ drive, that is if you can find one. The 5 seconds is really a limitation since it’s for drums anyway, should be plenty (no long crashes!), the drive however can be a deal-breaker. One cool thing is that it has a battery backup so it will keep your sounds last sampled when you turn it off, just track out your drum track to your DAW and who needs a friggin disk drive right? That’s what I used to do.
If the lack of a 3.5″ disk drive is enough to turn you away from the beautiful beast, there’s a cheaper option available.
E-mu Emax (SE/HD/Keyboard/Rack)
The Emax was one of my favorite rack samplers of all time. The sound is undistinguishable from the SP-12/1200 and the only difference is no sequencer and more sample time. Essentially it’s a rack or keyboard version of the SP-1200. The price tag reflects this as you can pick up any of the Emax models from about $150 – $250. Watch out for busted disk drives, but if it’s cheap enough, screw it, pick it up!
The Emax features a 3.5″ Disk Drive and some units even have a small Hard-Drive inside. This is definitely the budget option when looking to get that EXACT SP-1200 sound.
Note: Stay away from the Emax II if you want 12-bit, the E-max II is a great sampler, but 16 bit.
Classic Price: E-Mu SP-1200 $1000+
Budget Option: E-Mu SP-12/Turbo $300 – $600
Recession Gear: E-mu Emax (I) (SE/HD/Keyboard/Rack) $150 – $250
There are a few other cheaper 12-bit sample options if you’re looking for the sub $100 machines, but you’ll have to wait until the next Recession Gear for that.
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June 14th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Great post! I’ll subscribe right now wth my feedreader software!
June 16th, 2009 at 6:58 am
I had a SP12Turbo conected to an ESI4000 with an internal HDD, so I used ESI to save my SP samples. It is a good idea if you can´t find the Commodore 5.25″. Now i replaced the ESI with an MPC2000 fully maxed out (fx, outs, ram, zip) and it´s having an sp1200 with a multi effect unit an zip drive.
HOT TIP:
Don´t know if you already know this but you can´t save your SP12 data on “anything” able to “record”. For instance, I saved sequences and samples connecting the disk out to the mic in or line of my PC (running Cool Edit Pro 2), so I was able to record the “info-noise” on a digital track. Once you have it recorded it, you can obviously save it and manage it as any computer file (wav, mp3, wma, etc…) To load the info is the same process: put play on the recorded info to the disk in and CHAZAM!
You don´t even need the Commodore.
Try it at home!
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:30 am
dope article…i didnt realize that the fd for the sp12 was so rare and hard to come by…i was in the market for this, i dont think ill buy one uless it has the drive included. ill just stick with my 1200 for now…eventually ill buy a 12 and 12T.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Thanks for reading!! If the cost is right, buy it. But if you actually want to save your drums and have that access, definitely get it with the drive.
March 19th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Thx. Great post. Great blog.
Actually the Emax 1 did have a sequencer (the keyboard model did, anyway). I also have a SP-12 turbo and did try and save the bank to 5.25 floppy once. The Commodore drive took 15 minutes and two disks to complete this..
Btw. The floppy drive on my Emax 1 seems to be defect. I’ve read somewhere that ordinary pc-drives won’t work. Any solutions?
Thx again.
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