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A Drummers Dream
Sampler Lyrics

No lyrics text found for this track.

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

Most interesting comment from YouTube:

Alex Ball

Thanks for the comment. I see your point, but I referred to it as lo-fi because it is by definition exactly that.

26khz was the max sample rate and with such limited sample time, the "record high, pitch down" technique had to be used that meant the clock went down from there. At the lowest tuning it was probably something like 10khz.

So all sorts of crunch and aliasing occurs, which is the exactly what lo-fi means.

The filters are there to try to combat that, but they carve off everything over about 12khz too.

So it's lo-fi or lo-fi. Unless you record very short samples and don't pitch.

So sure, it was high tech for 1987, but then a black and white TV was high tech once too.

But its drawbacks are of course its strengths. It just sounds so soupy, fizzy and beautiful.

All comments from YouTube:

Alex Ball

3y↑125

That's why I love.....SP crunch!

(Kicking myself for thinking of that after making the video)

Conrad Jones

mate I am nodding my head 3 seconds in

SUBCONSCIOUS.COM_USA

3y↑1

Yes it sounds fantastic and has a very nice character, something you don't hear
much today in modern music. sometimes i think low bit rate beats especially
from old hardware can sound better that high fi beats. they add a lot of colour
and character which goes well with drum beats. the tune by uptown dope on
plastic was sampled on one of these. i have sampled the original kool and the
gang beat on modern programs and DAW etc etc i found it impossible to recreate
that sound that the old hip hop and rap guys got from one of these.

MP MI

Do one on the Boss/Roland SP series.

Chicken Lickin'

nice video buddy : )

kamra man

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Md2802

3y↑192

I can't believe Australia went to war against these beautiful machines.

jayeverette - 4K Nature Videos

1y↑1

I get this reference

Conner Rolofson

2y↑1

@Beau Jones The Great E-mu Systems War never happened because Md2802 made fun of the name of the company and one of the stupidest wars ever, The Great Emu War of 1932, which came about because of the public concern of these tall brown flightless birds running amok in the Campion district of Western Australia, eating the crops that the farmers were growing during the Great Depression. That’s the joke.

Ckek25

3y↑2

HAHAHAHAHAH

Psionetics

3y↑3

poor emus : (

Beau Jones

3y↑10

hahahaha yes

The Great Emu Systems war. Never forget ;'(

1 More Replies...

Coolout Beats

3y↑33

For nearly a year I had a borrowed SP-1200 (in the early 2000s). The sound is that great, gritty 12-bit crunch that's still popular today, but it wasn't that big of deal for me as I already had 8-bit and 12-bit samplers in my studio. The greatest thing for me was the workflow. That's the most underrated feature IMO. The panel graphics are essentially a manual that's always in front of you and using the sliders for all parameter input is pure genius. It's a very simple and intuitive machine. I wish more devices would have copied that aspect.

Alex Ball

3y↑4

Thanks for your story. Yes, that is indeed very true, gives you a simple sound engine that has a character to it and then a selection of choice options for control of your sounds and that's basically it!

There is something to be said for simplicity. A Juno synthesizer is another such example.

Subway Garage

3y↑24

Phil Collins loved this machine (and the SP12 before it) so much he used it for nearly a decade. Listen to his own "But Seriously" and Genesis' "We Can't Dance" for SP1200 galore, then sometime later in the late 90s (circa 1995) he'd switch from using the SP1200 as his main rhythm machine to using drum sounds from his Korg keyboards for his Dance into the Light and subsequent albums.

Michael Lubin

@Michael David The Bisexual drum machine?

Room At The Top Studio

2y↑1

@Jai Bhimadevi when sampling drum machines came in some drummers embraced it and adapted, while others basically hated on them and many got left behind.

Michael David

@Jai Bhimadevi Well the Roland CR-78 happened to play a big part in his 1st hit which you already know which one i'm talking about. He once introduced Roland the Bisexual drum machine on stage as he said he didn't mind who he played with.

Jai Bhimadevi

2y↑3

I always thought to myself re: Phil Collins "Wow... a drummer who doesn't despise drum machines!"

Pocket Universe

3y↑64

I can't understand why I want this, it's clunky, it looks like a cash register and I believe I now understand what love feels like.

kenny

2y↑1

If u do get one buy the new Rossum one

Illuminus Illmind

3y↑8

It actually is a cash register for any seller

amon tri

3y↑22

In the late 90 's I finally got the sp1200 I sat in a room full of records , I was intimidated at first but 5 hours later I was making beats I fell in love with that drum machine super dope

Alex Ball

3y↑4

I can only imagine the joy of doing that. I don't have the room full of vinyl, I just have about 20 or so that I used for this video, but I can imagine a lifetime of exploring that.

LousyFacelift

3y↑9

Great video as always! Isn't it funny that eight voice polyphony in a drum machine seems limited? Considering a real drummer can never produce more than four notes at a time it's actually quite a lot to work with.

Alex Ball

3y↑1

Yeah, that's a good point.

Andrew Jarson

3y↑16

My favorite example of the SP12 (not SP1200), is its use by Terry Lewis & Jimmy Jam on Janet Jacksons Rhythm Nation. It's god damn perfect.

Early REED

😮WOOOOWWW!!!!!!!

jaxtraw

2y↑1

@Andrew Jarson I had a friend who owned a Mirage in the 80s. Get a couple of drinks in him and he'd be guaranteed to start waxing lyrical about his "Ensoneek" :D

Andrew Jarson

2y↑1

@ROMMIX yes!!! I own 3, beautifully underrated sampler.

ROMMIX

2y↑1

Coupled with the ever grittier Ensoniq Mirage.

Bryan Johnson

3y↑3

This was my second drum machine which I got back in 1988. It is awesome. I hope Behringer clones it, gives it more memory, a large OLED screen, 12 and 16-bit options, on board effects, resampling and looping/chopping tools. Please Behringer, after you clone the linndrum, clone the SP 1200

Deaf by Hip-Hop

3y↑13

The feel of the sequencer is what makes the sp 1200 so legendary. Its so loose and swingy and spacious, its awesome

Aaron

3y↑12

This machine sounds like the feeling of a good blanket in winter, I love it.

Andrew N

3y↑18

Oh, nice to see Barry Beats . Love his videos as much as I love yours :) something special about those lo-fi aliased samples coming out from older gear. Then I am one of those now old people who was raised with Amiga 500 8bit ProTracker sample-songs and still like the sound of many of them :)

Alex Ball

Yeah, the sound that takes you back. :)

Barry - what a gem, yes!

ShreadTheWeapon

One of my favorite aspects of the Chicago 18 LP from 1986 is that it supposedly includes start to finish sounds from the predecessor, the SP 12. Chicago’s founding drummer, Danny Seraphine, had taken such a big issue with the usage of the drum machine in the previous album and took on the attitude of “if you can’t beat them join them”. His intention was to try elevating the usage of the machine i towards something that was more humanistic and not just someone who didn’t know what a drummer really did programming stuff for their own amusement. The 12 was his tool.

OscillatorCollective

I really love this old technology, and the current prices prove that it really is an incredible achievement.

cay dilemma

3y↑176

“EMU’s history is a story for another time”

a story for another documentary mayhaps???

tomahzo

3y↑2

Yet another great west coast company from the golden age of Silicon Valley just like Sequential Circuits. Such a glorious history deserves a retrospective - no doubt! :D <3

777 Wisdom

3y↑2

How does the SP 1200 compare to the S 2400 as far as sound in your opinion?

E Higgins

Yes, please

Miles Away

3y↑1

@Alex Ball PLEASE MAKE THIS VIDEO (and more Docs like your amazing Roland and Prophet ones)

JMPSynth

3y↑1

@Alex Ball This has got to be a prelude to that long awaited EMU/EII documentary/demo. ;)

6 More Replies...

Noir Et Blanc Vie

3y↑6

This is honestly one of my favorite videos Alex, I was telling my livestream how you literally made the SP1200 something I’d be interested looking at more. After years of being told how revolutionary it was, and never getting it, in this short video you laid out everything perfectly. Thank you!

Noir Et Blanc Vie

@Alex Ball this is rad dude! I think we need to link up on something creatively…👀👀

Alex Ball

3y↑1

Hey Stephen!

Ah, I'm glad to be able to get that across. I've fallen for it hard, especially the quite extreme limitations which are weirdly liberating. "That's all I can do? OK great, let's go with it".

I've been sampling bits of my old tracks and throwing them up on Instagram if you're interested.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CRr7X2yBRF2/?utm_medium=copy_link

benanderson89

3y↑26

The little house ditty around 8:00 gave me major Amiga vibes. It has that same CRONCH the Paula chip has. That lo-fi sound is just so damn charming.

dvuemedia

@chromixmusic Cool web based tracker!

Kreap

@dvuemedia nah it's not like the amiga. I started out on amiga's with various sampler add ons. it's a totally different sound and aliasing. I had an sp1200 for about 12 years and it's not even that good anyway.

chromixmusic

3y↑2

opens other tab with BasoonTracker and keeps jamming

dvuemedia

@benanderson89 - I know about Octamed tracker.

Aaron Foltz

I thought of early PWEI but they had a wide range of dance/hiphop influences.

3 More Replies...

Adam Baldwin

3y↑1

This is the kind of instrument that didn't even appear to be an instrument at the time, and seemed somewhat limited and expensive, while also somehow allowing for some great music to be made by those who happened to dive into it. No doubt plenty of people wrote it off when it was new and yet some dug down and explored all it was capable of, and made it famous.

That really doesn't happen anymore today thanks to the power of VSTs and the ability to recreate almost any sound, but these types of machines are still in high demand because they do it so effortlessly.

Alex Ball

3y↑1

I'd love to know if it caught on quickly, or if that happened slowly as the tricks were discovered.

I guess the Emulator / Drumulator / SP-12 run had set it up to be a success?

Video 4 Archive

3y↑1

Nice video! However, I disagree with the term LoFi. At the time, the SP1200 was the highest fidelity instrument we made at 12 bits. Everything before it were variations on 8 bit compression. 12 Bit Linear was a major upgrade and for all practical purposes was "state of the art" given the price of memory etc, back in the day.

Magnus Lööv

Nah, at the time 16 bit already was the state of the art or even mainstream. The Farilights and Synclaviers already had it for years. And the Casio FZ-1, also with 16-bit sampling, was released the same year at a much lower price!
12 bit was really mainstream at the time with newer drum machines (in 1987) being 12 bit, like the Roland TR-626.
Yes Emu itself was a bit behind (no pun intended) with 8 bits before this, but the was using a special compression/compounding techique which made it sound way better than "normal" 8 bit.
And the 26 kHz was definitely low fi standards for the time with many samplers having higher sample frequency than that at the time (1987).

Video 4 Archive

@Alex Ball All of Emu's samplers to that point were not higher then 27k sampling, whether it was Emulator I, Emulator II, Emax, etc.. And all of those were different types of 8 bit compression. The Emulator III was the first instrument that was true 16bit 44k sampling. It incorporated double over sampling to improve on pitch shifting artifacts but that. But the real change was the development of the G Chip which everything after the Emulator III was based on, i.e EIIIX, Emax II, all Proteus products, etc.. Distotionless pitch shifting over a 5 octave range, fixed sample rate.

Alex Ball

Silicon Prairie

3y↑8

The SP-1200 was essential to the sound of Music Sounds Better With You by Stardust (Alan Braxe + Thomas of Daft Punk + Benjamin Diamond). The "nyquist ring" the 1200 added to the Chaka Khan Fate sample complemented it perfectly. It added that perfect amount of "shimmering glitter" to its top end. The same can be said for One More Time, which also had a lot of nyquist aliasing added to its original sample of Eddie Johns' More Spell On You. Decimort 2 has a preset (designed by professional engineers) that mimics circuit behavior of the SP-1200 perfectly.

I can't compare it to an SP-1200 since I don't have one, but the sample rate cutoff is correct down to the single digits. Apparently the SP-1200 isn't ACTUALLY a constant 26Khz, but it "jitters" slightly... if the engineers in charge of matching the presets are to be believed.

Silicon Prairie

@Alex Ball Very interesting! Either the engineer in charge of Decimort's preset programming made a mistake, or its jitter feature is not correctly named/described? I have no doubt in my mind that your source is correct. D16's engineers likely just did A/B testing using a spectrograph and educated ear.

As per Decimort's manual: "Jitter - Controlling the intensity of random, short-period Resampler’s deviations... Jitter is the deviation from true periodicity of a presumed periodic signal, often in relation to a reference clock source"

Now that I watch your end clip with those intense nyquist rings, I can tell there's little to no "jitter" as the manual describes it. I know based on many hours of using this plugin what jitter sounds like, and clear, harmonic sounding nyquist aliases cannot exist when jitter is anywhere north of 5%. The shimmering ring sound becomes more of a sickly groan...

If I could get my hands on a few samples of a sine wave pre and post SP-1200, I bet I'd find that the amount of jitter used in Decimort 2 was a mistake. D16 is very serious about the authenticity of their vintage sample machine emulations, so they'd probably be interested to learn of these findings as well.

Alex Ball

@Silicon Prairie So the answer (from an engineer and SP 1200 expert) is...

When it's sampling, all other functions are switched off. The Z80 uses a crystal for timing that may be a tiny bit off, but that doesn't fluctuate.

When they did analysis of the SP 1200 there wasn't any sample rate jitter.

So this could be a red herring?

Silicon Prairie

@Alex Ball The jitter effect in Decimort seems to be used to some degree in almost every vintage sampler preset that Decimort has. I don't understand HOW a digital sampler might have a non static sample rate that changes (jitters), but my guess is that the engineers knew what they were doing. Fingers crossed that your contact understands it better than we do. If I had to guess, I'd say that it's emulating some sort of imperfect power delivery system on the complex circuit boards of these older samplers. They were insanely complex back then. When I use the jitter feature, my brain doesn't say "that's the sample rate being modulated". Instead, it just sounds like extra bit reduction, except it follows the amplitude of the sample more closely than regular bit reduction does.

Alex Ball

It is indeed. I hadn't heard that about clock, I'll have to check with some techy people on that front.

When you pitch down the clock goes down of course, so maximum stretch is probably something like 8khz. I'll have to look that up too.

Rusty Shpork

3y↑1

I never actually coveted the SP1200 back in the day. I was much keener on the Emax 2, which had a similar sound engine, but a lot more in the way of melodic tweak available for the chord merchants. And Jaz drives, more ram, a mod wheel, and ADSR. Woot!
I'd love to hear a 1200 grinding out a lo-fi groove full of crunchy funk samples, with an Emax 2 doing some sophisticated riffing on top. We only ever managed to get one of each in the same studio a couple of times, and the combo sounded huge.

Painau Chocolate

Mate this is the first video I have seen of yours and I’m blown away!! I love arturia’s recreation of the EMU II, I have created many songs using it.

Great video

Jake

Ps I’ve subbed!

Painau Chocolate

Mate this is the first video I have seen of yours and I’m blown away!! I love arturia’s recreation of the EMU II, I have created many songs using it.

Great video

Jake

Ps I’ve subbed!

Gaëtan

I wish there were more of those simple samplers with character available nowadays. I'm not a big sample guy and I find modern samplers to be overwhelming. The only modern sampler I can think that reminds me of this is the PO-33 (which I love but wish I could have a bigger version).

MachineCityAudio

3y↑9

Great video! I had an opportunity to grab one of these in about 2005 for $600 and of course I didn't buy it , boy don't I feel stupid ! Lol

MachineCityAudio

@Carlos Serrano I missed out on a original Roland 808 myself, I won't tell you would I could've gotten that for, I still cry myself to sleep over that one ! But you're right I never knew this all the classic gear would make such a huge impact and the prices would sky rocket !!!!

Carlos Serrano

3y↑1

@MachineCityAudio Yeah, the thing is that around that time nobody wants analog synths including myself but we didn't predict the future and he we are, now one of those cost $20k but that wasn't the only one I miss a TR-909 too.

You don't want to know how many gear I used to have and sold it 20+ years ago, you will cry!

MachineCityAudio

@Carlos Serrano Damn that one has to hurt too. Lol

Carlos Serrano

3y↑1

@MachineCityAudio True, I'll rather go with the Isla Instrument SP-2400.

Carlos Serrano

3y↑1

Don't feel guilty I was offered a Jupiter 8 for $1500 in 1998 in excellent condition, one owner and I rejected, now you know much it's today.

3 More Replies...

Andrew Jarson

3y↑3

I've been using an Emu Emax lately, I've read the sample engine is remarkably similar to the SP1200, which wouldn't surprise me. As a heavy user of early Akai samplers, and the Ensoniq Mirage, I was realllly struck by how strange and limited the transposing is on the Emax. It gets crunchy FAST as you transpose down. Haven't made hip hop beats in years but it was very easy to make some SP1200 style jams, it really is incredibly similar to my ears.

12bit-Musiclab

I have the SP-1200 along with an Emax and although they sound very similar the SP sound just can’t be replicated … But the Emax can manipulate sound in ways that the SP can’t do either way they both sound amazing 👍🏼👍🏼

HANGING OUT WITH AUDIOPHILES

3y↑2

You never let us down. This is quality. You're such a great teacher. The attention to detail is the best !

Alex Ball

🤜🤛

Ian Waugh

3y↑2

Hey Alex - love all your retro gear retrospectives. I remember most of them as gear I would have liked but couldn't afford. Still can't afford the 2nd hand prices 😀 but wouldn't want any now, with potential associated headaches 😱 Very happyy with more affordable and reliable modern tech. But love watching these 😍

Alex Ball

Thanks Ian. Yeah, retro gear comes with its baggage. I'm lucky to be able to borrow a lot of stuff because my channel would otherwise be massively out of my price range. ;)

MAX MARS

A splendid over view, Alex! Thanks for posting! Have you reviewed a
Roland S-10 sampling synth?

lobit12

the character of the internal clock is a real thing for sure. one of those machines who's technical flaws make it good somehow. SP12s were dirt cheap at one point, I traded one for a copy of reason 1.0

Wesley Wayne

Thank You for an indepth on the SP1200 for those of us who have never seen one in person & it's functions, I now want one more then ever especially the new reissue (Rossum) as of 2022, hopefully I can cop b4 they're back out of production. Props to Barry Beats on the audio example treats. Nice1's.

Brian M

I owned a SP-1200 back in 1987 along with two Emu Emax I’s connected to a Mac SE/30 via MIDI running MOTU Digital Performer (early DAW). Honesty, I never got on with the 1200. LoFi wasn’t a feature at the time like it is today. There was nothing I could do with 1200 that I couldn’t do better with an Emax and sequencer so ended up selling it. And the same holds true today, nothing you can’t do easier with a DAW and low sampling rate. I get the hipster and retro appeal of these things in our world of modern tech overload but once the initial novelty wears off I wouldn’t want the day to day experience of tracking with these machines. And those clicky buttons…YUCK. Never owned one but Roger Linn’s MPC was a massive improvement. I was and remain an E-mu fan however.

Alamo Music Sound Lab

3y↑1

Great video and great sounds! Was looking for an excuse to get into vintage samplers but couldn’t figure out what folks love about them - this helps!

Alex Ball

I'll expect to see them on your channel soon. ;)

iiaaiiaannaaiiaaii

Alex is the most fun. Thanks, amigo! Loved the MS-20 patch near the start of the video.

PM

Interesting that these sold so well at that price given that samplers like the Ensoniq EPS came out around the same time and had better specs at a lower price. 13bit with sampling up to 48k, I believe. 8 part multi-timbrel with up to 20 voice polyphony and a nice sequencer.

Alex Ball

Yes, that's very true. Perhaps the success of the Emulator, Drumulator and SP-12 set up the reputation and so people plunged for the 1200 despite its limitations. The rest is history.

tomahzo

Great video! I'm very curious what the differences between the SP line of machines and the Emax 1 might be. I say Emax 1 specifically rather than including Emax 2 because Emax 2 is not in the sweet spot of crunchy 12-bit samples :D. Both the SP line and Emax 1 are 12-bit samplers with SSM filters and multichannel outputs. I get the feeling like it's primarily a difference of user interface (love the dedicated controls on the SP machines) but I don't know for sure if there are any other major differences in specs. I get the impression that the SP machines are more closely related to the Emax 1 than to the Emulator line simply based on price and technical specs. Any idea about this?

System10

What an amazing video! It was so nice to hear the sound of this thing, I didn't realize how nice it actually sounded. Lovely demos as well!

Alex Ball

3y↑1

Thanks. Glad to be able to show it.

WalyB01

3y↑1

People say the 808 was essential but this thing might top that by a long shot.

rejected synths

3y↑2

The 'thank you for watching this far' bit made me realize that I never skip a bit in your videos, because all the content is so great 😍

Alex Ball

Ah, thank you. :)

Joel W

Hi Barry. Glad to hear you're still around. Your Rythm Roulette was Phenomenal, and I followed your work for a while after. Very inspiring and learned a lot! Gonna go and see whatever is going on on your channel, or with Si Spex! Cheers

FitzeFatze

wow what a nice sound at 4:27 ! Is that a self created sound from one of your synths? How did you make it?

David Lee

3y↑1

Alex's satisfied expression when playing the 8 tuned pads is priceless. Well worth the price of admission if the video wasn't great already.

Alex Ball

3y↑1

Sickest riff ever played on an SP? 😉

VeitchyVeitch

Great explanation of why it's so loved & great examples.
The last 30 seconds sounds exactly like half of my record collection (Barry Beats LP included). Nice.

Daniel Pirone

Fantastic - thanks for keeping the history alive! Would love to see a series on the ensoniq mirage or sequential six trak line

Alex Ball

3y↑1

If I can get hold of any of those I'll cover them. Yep.

Kira Barsmith

3y↑1

Excellent overview as always, Alex, really enjoyed this!

Alex Ball

Thanks Kira

chriszanf

A mate Arinze also has an SP1200 from that last batch and I loved writing on it as not only was it really easy to dirty up rhythms and get great swing but you could chain patterns with differing time signatures to get really wonky grooves going! Also messed with a tune where the melody was played 'live' using the slider for the pitch.

This was one of the tunes we wrote on it then recorded into Pro-Tools: https://soundcloud.com/zanf/foetal-instinct

chriszanf

@Alex Ball Yes, theres around 10ms delay (Im guessing as it was 20 years ago!) on the tom sound (the low one) and I havent worked out what the high metallic sound at the start of the bar is yet. They were added after the individual tracks were recorded into pro-tools.

Im actually trying to recreate this groove on my Eurorack as I just got a Erica Synths drum sequencer and worked out how to do mismatched time signatures like this.

On the SP1200, it was really easy: create the patterns, which you can set individual time sigs for, then select them in song mode! Not found anything similar that is so easy for wonky grooves!

Also need to give Arinze a call as its been a while since we last spoke!

Alex Ball

3y↑1

Thanks for the link and the story. I didn't play with alternating time signatures but I have done that with other units. Just breaks up the four four loop.

Have you got some fast delay with high feedback on those drums? Sounds like that in a really cool way.

Richard French

3y↑2

Fascinating! I wonder how difficult it would be to build something "like it sortof" using a raspberry Pi and an A/D D/A board.... Wonderful instrument. Want one!

Richard French

@6581punk yep I.like the idea of fpga but one would still have to interface the a/d+d/a converters as well as the RAM. It would be.blindingly quick though. The Pi thought has going for it COTS hardware as well as in built networking which offers the really weird possibility of a distributed analogue modelling synthesizer across multiple Pi modules. A pity the latency across the Internet is so high else one could have a real-time'ish modular Pi instrument distributed around the planet lol

James Porch

What you describe IS the isla 2400!
There are thousands of hours of work involved.

Alex Ball

Good question. I imagine you could do a DIY lo-fi sampler, I've got a DigDugDIY Lo-Fi Dreams that is that kind of idea.

6581punk

An FPGA would let you do pretty much all of it. With the benefit of being more accurate in terms of actual sound.

ZAFFIN MUSIC

3y↑4

★★★★★ AWESOME! Finally, I "kinda" get the SP1200 now! A little bit. Maybe. It's those sliders that throw me off every time. I keep thinking they're just for volume but I see now they're for pitch etc too. 🤷‍♂️ Oddly, it seems Novation took a leaf out of this old way of trimming samples with their latest Circuit Rhythm so there must be something about not having a screen and using our ears to trim samples that yields more "interesting" results...?

Great video, as usual, Alex.

Alex Ball

3y↑1

Thanks. Yep, you write music you never would have thought of.

I'm not skilled like the SP gurus who sit there with the unit and a wall of vinyl, but with the little bits I can do I can already tell why people love it.

Jason Williamson

I copped an sp12 turbo back in the 90's. It had previously been owned by Doug E Fresh's DJ. I think I still have the 5 inch floppies somewhere. I sold that thing 15 years ago for $500. I wish I had kept it. It had the commodore 64 drive with it. Honestly, I'm more of an Ensoniq fan. But the SP series will be in the Hip Hop Hall of fame. Here is a great video about EMU and the history of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDS2sDg0eP0

Carlos Serrano

That filter was the secret sauce of the SP-1200, another great video from Mr. Ball.

a cat on the internet

i love the typography and font that it has.
well designed ✌️ a true classic

OriginalRaveParty

Those old reduced bit rate and sample frequency machines have an era defining sound. The AKAI s700 has a similar type of less is more functionality.

Alex Ball

Had an Akai S612 purchase fall through recently. There was an S70p there too. Hopeful I'll knab one of those.

Per Christian Frankplads

Alex, that jam at 2:26 is beautiful! Make a proper track out of it, and replace the "problematic" samples with something you can use for a release? Thaaaanks!

Edgar

Very interesting, thanks for making a video about it in your known good style and quality. Nice loop at the end!

djentlover

This showcases beautifully how artistic intent is not always aligned with technical perfection

Hicknopunk

I just love the sound from this beast!

Marcel Chapman

I have just found out yer channel and I am absolutely loving it! Amazing videos... Btw, amazing track played around 8'20".

Alex Ball

Thanks Marcel!

InHousePussy

3y↑1

Big up to Barry for the beats. He's a bloody legend. Nice vid as well. =)

Alex Ball

He is!

Andrew Brooks

Wonderful, as always! Thanks loads, Alex!

Alex Ball

Cheers Andrew!

Mamotreco

This sounds incredible!

xelena

Man what a sound! Incredible.

Austin Johnson

I love my 'Mob of Emus' module. Crazy powerful.

MelonadeM

I am seriously considering running a lot of the samples I use a lot through something like this just to get that lovely crunch, it's such a delightful sound

Alex Ball

Yep! When you pitch down and it fizzes and rings, it's just gorgeous.

Aleksa Mrkela

3y↑9

This is fun to watch, considering I'm writing a master's paper on '80s music production. :D

mercer prince

3y↑3

Can you post a link here when you’re done

Alex Ball

3y↑1

Ah cool! Hope this helps.

Bobby Briscoe Beats

3y↑1

My local studio had the sp12 back in the day. I tried to buy it but the owner would not sell to me. So I saved up and got an ASR-10 instead hahah

Justin Hampton

2y↑1

I currently use an emulation of the Sp1200 by Low Hiss, even an emu of this hardware makes lofi sound awesome

The Tired Horizon

3y↑6

I really wanted one of these back in the day!!! Ended up with an E5000 years later.

Ian McGurren

3y↑2

@Alex Ball loved my ESI32 but really the gem is the Emax 1 rack. An Emulator 2 with a few ‘modern’ updates (3.5” floppy, SCSI, not totally ancient or probably gigged to death) in a rack. The keyboard version of the SP1200 to some degree.

The Tired Horizon

3y↑1

@Alex Ball the ex000 range were really powerful. Almost modular levels of mutability of sound.

Alex Ball

3y↑1

I've yet to try any of the Emulator line. Hopefully one day...

Gerald Tir

3y↑40

Still like the sound of that Machine.

Alex Ball

3y↑7

Basically timeless by this point!

nonedescriptivepresence.

3y↑1

I've really grown to appreciate the grainy, noisy qualities of old samplers. So much magic, so much character.

nonedescriptivepresence.

@Carlos Serrano I find it hard to believe that we won't have that exact same mindset with today's gear in 10 or 20 years. I find people in online circles who are absolutely infatuated with stuff that came out in the mid 2000's, whether it be analog, digital or even virtual. Personally, I do believe it all boils down to nostalgia ultimately, although it is hard to deny that vintage gear was designed with a lot of care and attention.

Carlos Serrano

I think that today's gear are fantastic but the vintage has that charming and that vibe that the new ones will never have.

nonedescriptivepresence.

@Alex Ball I will never forget that Eno quote that speaks about how we'll emulate the imperfections of old gear as soon as we're able to surpass those limitations. No surprise you find software these days that intricately recreates old analog/digital gear.

Alex Ball

Yep, funny how the soul disappeared once the desired fidelity was achieved. The early ones are so much better.

Aries

The Intro hit so hard 🔥

Pichuscute

This thing sounds incredible, wow

Simon Hodgetts

Excellent- I’d never heard of this bit of kit - but now I have, I’ll be playing ‘spot the SP1200’ whenever I play anything sample based from the nineties and noughties!

Alex Ball

Yeah, I'm now listening out too!

David McRay

2y↑1

Excellent job, thank you for explaining it fully, I also enjoy the bad asx musik!!!!!

BendApparatus

Restrictions are usually seen as negative, but are sometimes the key to ingenuity and inspiration. For those familiar with video games, this was Nintendo's approach in the early and mid years (late 80's - 2010's?).
By forcing their in house developers to work with hardware 1 or more generations behind, they had to find ways to work around limitations and focus on solid and tight game mechanics. The original PS1 also had a bit of this to an extend since it had a relatively long life span.

Tomislav Kefecek

another fabulously informative and entertaining presentation

Checkered

This was the second instrument I added to my all time want list, the first was the Emulator II

Alex Ball

Yeah, can understand that. Hopefully I'll try an Emulator at some point.

reggiep75

12-bit sampling drum machines is the work of gods.

Leo Cookman

Learned so much about music and music tech from this channel even though it's never been stuff I use, but this is the first thing you've demoed I now want to own. Or something equivalent. That I can afford. lol

Alex Ball

Thanks Leo, much appreciated. I'm learning as I go too.

The ISLA S2400 is this machine plus heaps more.

brian nicholson

I've been doing music on my computer for years and still whenever I hear the SP1200 I end up wanting one despite not having the wallet for it 💸

brian nicholson

@Alex Ball I'd get so much mileage even just from recording virtual synth chords ITB, then pitching them way up & resampling into the SP1200 to be pitched back down for a crude filthy version of chord memory. Instant old school rave type vibe.

Alex Ball

3y↑1

Yeah, something about that sound and workflow. A computer is a different thing.

Andrew Barratt

3y↑12

Who's disliking this content? I don't get it, it's an interesting video, and hardly controversial.

Otto'sTheName

It cóuld be to let the almighty algorithm know this recommendation is not something they're interested in.

Andrew Barratt

@Snake Plissken I once disliked a video whose title claimed Elvis was racist, with very little evidence to back it up. (even if he was, this tawdry YouTube shit-pedlar didn't deserve clicks from it) Think that's the only time I've done it.

Andrew Barratt

3y↑1

@Alex Ball strange how some people get their kicks, isn't it?

Doctor Nemmo

It's always the same in a lot of big channels. I honestly think most of them are automated by Google.

Alex Ball

3y↑3

As they channel has grown I've collected some "fans". I guess we all need hobbies. ;)

Foot

Excellent as always.

Aqua1014

3y↑3

Now that you've played both the emu and the isla, how do you feel that the 2400 compares to the 1200? 🤔

Aqua1014

@Alex Ball Sick, glad to hear! Loved the video btw :) :)

Also, have you thought of doing more reviews of software (synths, sequencers, etc)? I think it would be very interesting to see your thoughts on Renoise... really left field I know but love me a good tracker haha

Alex Ball

3y↑3

It does the thing and then a huge amount more. Plus it's very convenient with all the modern connectivity, so I'm very happy to have it as much as the original is a lot of fun and very inspiring.

I'll have to do some lo-fi A/B comparisons before it goes back if I have time.

juno6

Great video! I find the Emax 1 a more interesting machine overall. I'd love to see a review of yours.

juno6

@Alex Ball ♥️

Alex Ball

3y↑1

If I can grab an Emax I will, definitely.

Timothy Dahlin

See how this feeds into the Linn Drum 2 video. I owned a SP1200 in early 2000s. I spent $650 for it (not including insurance), $10 for a fresh fuse cover, and $150 for the original sample disk catalog. The pcb on the unit I had was marked with SP12 (may still have photos of this) and the lcd was blue. I also had software run on MacOS to transfer the samples via midi. I sold the unit in the mid 2000s for $1500. I thought the final edition was supposed to have a black front.

Alex Ball

Thanks for the info. I didn't know that transfer via midi was even possible!

Timothy Dahlin

I think the software I used back then was DrumFile (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzqPWFTHWg4) . Or maybe it was Water's Edge's software.

Timothy Dahlin

I don't remember what that SP1200 software for pre-OSX was called. Googling just now found there is a freeware program to do SP1200 sample transfers on Windows (http://www.emxp.net/ ).

FLATNANDEZ

quite a magic to the loops! so 90s hip hop-ish ;D

Jared Loiben

The Isla S2400 is a really good… modern alternative to an actual SP 1200

Dionysia Ex

3y↑35

Very disappointed that this mention of Emu had no mention of Rod Hull at all.

Bence Tasi

Hi my name’s Katrina

Bungle Bongle

3y↑2

Or Grotbags

ELECTROSONIC

Willem de Vlamingh also should have been mentioned in all fairness.

dB-303

3y↑2

@Alex Ball too soon

ElectronAsh

3y↑2

@Alex Ball Dayum. LOL

I always wondered if Rod couldn't grab hold of the gutter, 'cos Emu was being stroppy again.

3 More Replies...

Migraine Gainn

You can get pretty close by resampling from an SU10, but nothing seems to really match the 1200 perfectly.

VincentsVideoVisions

I do like this machine but its insanely expensive these days. People could sorta mimic this sound with any mpc + a bit crusher of some sort like a Meris Ottobit Jr. for far less money.

Alex Turčáni

Would you happen to have a sample-pack run through this unit?

glenesis

Congratulations, Alex. That's a nice score!

glenesis

@Alex Ball Thanks for the full walk-through, and for that link to Rossum Electro! I'd had no idea he's still making brilliant gear.

Alex Ball

On loan, but definitely a good one to try out!

OscillatorCollective

3y↑1

Very cool piece of gear…I’m gonna have to look into getting one of the modern interpretations…

OscillatorCollective

@Alex Ball thanks, I’m gonna check that out, I want a unit like this or mpc but without spending a small fortune, lol

Alex Ball

3y↑1

It is indeed. The ISLA S2400 is the daddy if you're after the vibe.

One Eye Witness

Lovely stuff as always! Do you ever sell sample packs of the items you review? That first jam is magnificent.

Alex Ball

3y↑1

Cheers! The opening groove was made from sampling from various vinyl records, so selling that would be a bit of a problem copyright wise. But maybe I could crunch up some of my own sounds and make a pack.

Arthur Frayn

9 thousand dollar lo fi dream machine. I pretty much lost all interest in these when the prices started creeping above 2k.

Alex Ball

Demand and supply...

Dern Universe

Very interesting the sound of the outputs good to know

MASK RECORDS BERLIN

3y↑1

nothing sounds better then the original!!!!

Jacob Ryan

I want to get either the SP12 Turbo or the SP1200. I will show myself I will get one. I love 12-Bit sampling and sounds, E-MU has that 12-Bit sound I will get to sometime 🤘🤗🐼🎨📼💾