E-MU SP-12 and SP-1200

Slightly more affordable samplers arrived in the early 80s, most notably in the form of the Emulator series introduced in 1981 by the Californian E-MU Systems. Affordable is really a relative term in this case, seeing as the first generation Emulator still cost around $10,000 on release (the equivalent of around $28,000 in today’s money).

Even so, the Emulator was a lot cheaper and more user-friendly than the Fairlight and went on to shape the music of the early 80s, being used extensively by bands such as Depeche Mode, New Order and Genesis.

The Emulator was an 8-bit device and sounded quite unrealistic by modern standards, but its combination of sampling, filtering and sequencing proved popular from the word go. Around 500 units were sold before the introduction of the improved Emulator II in 1984. Further models in the Emulator range remained on sale until 2002.

Its little brother, the SP-12, and its successor the SP-1200, were based on a similar concept but simplified things for use as a dedicated drum sampler. Ditching the Emulator’s keyboard in favour of push buttons derived from the company’s Drumulator digital drum machine, the SP-12’s low-res 12-bit/26kHz sampling engine allowed for just 1.2 seconds of sampling time (later SP-12 Turbo models expanded the sample memory to a whopping 5 seconds!).

In practice, the SP-12 and SP-1200 were also used for melodic sounds by most producers and helped define the sound of 80s and 90s hip-hop thanks to exponents including Pete Rock, Marley Marl and the Beastie Boys.

Crunchy and low-res by modern standards, software emulations aren’t easily available, but UVI’s Emulation II is a solid plugin based on the classic Emulator II unit, while NI’s Maschine features an SP-inspired mode which does a reasonable impression.