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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