E-mu SP-1200 Versus Akai MPC3000LE (sound comparison video)

Shostakovich wrote:I will comment when others have made their observations.

And there's me thinking you were gonna post the .wav files of each machine.

But alas, you've chosen the scientific route which is cool so thanks for your time and effort doing this.

Without seeing the graphs overlaid or side by side it's difficult for me to see the obvious differences in frequency response. To my eye they appear remarkably similar at this stage and the 3D view doesn't help at all.

What are the numbers telling you?

clint246clint wrote:

Shostakovich wrote:I will comment when others have made their observations.

And there's me thinking you were gonna post the .wav files of each machine.

But alas, you've chosen the scientific route which is cool so thanks for your time and effort doing this.

Without seeing the graphs overlaid or side by side it's difficult for me to see the obvious differences in frequency response. To my eye they appear remarkably similar at this stage and the 3D view doesn't help at all.

What are the numbers telling you?

WAVs are in the header links. Check again.

RE: 3D - There are some very obvious differences and surprisingly, not what I was expecting. Specifically below 100Hz. Try not to focus too much on what's going on above 250Hz. Most users report a better bottom on the SP. I'm starting to think what we like is the sympathetic harmonics rather than any actual activity down below.

Best let your ears guide you first though...

Lol.

I didn't realise they were links, looked like regular bold text.

you can definitely see the ringing and maybe even the edge of aliasing happening at the slower tempos, especially on the sp...it looks like, at or around nyquist, the extreme highs are starting to mirror the other frequencies.

you hear this in a lot of old samplers, the high frequency 'ringing' of the converters.

the mirroring of frequencies is more obvious in the sp, but look at the difference between the two of the mpc...at normal speed that steep cutoff is really working, but once the pitch gets lowered, those freqs that were getting filtered out have moved down into the audible spectrum.

or at least that's what i see...school me.

I can never understand why the Emax-1 never caught on..it really is like having the best of both worlds in one machine. I've owned the SP-12 Turbo while I had the Emax, and while there is some difference, its not really noticeable once you lay other sounds into the mix. The real beauty of the Emax-1 is that it can be dirtier than the SP, or very clean (still warmer than my MPC2000XL at its highest 12bit sample rate). I still own my Emax-1, and sold the SP-12 only because of the asking price for the SP. I paid $150 for it, cleaned it up and sold it for almost $600 a few months later.
If your looking for the SP sound, and GOT to have an SP, save a couple bux and get the SP-12 Turbo. With 6 seconds, it has plenty of memory for a kick/snare, etc. If you can be happy with a close enough sound, I HIGHLY recommend the Emax-1. The average listener won't have a clue. I did A/B comparisons while I owned both and couldn't justify keeping the SP....especially when I preferred the sound of the Emax...
If you don't want to buy the SP or the Emax, but still want a close enough sound, download Audacity, and grab the free 90 plugins from the site. The decimator effect does a really nice job of adding the ring sound to your samples, its adjustable and FREE.

id love to get a 3000 and a 60 and use both just as novelty devices Id still keep maschine for convenince and speed of use but there is something alluring about working with these older boards they have a character that many newer machines dont have despite the higher specs.

the only machine in recent years with that vibe is the korg esx

jpeg wrote:id love to get a 3000 and a 60 and use both just as novelty devices Id still keep maschine for convenince and speed of use but there is something alluring about working with these older boards they have a character that many newer machines dont have despite the higher specs.

jpeg finally concedes to the nostalgic forces of the old school.

Besides being 'novelty' devices, these older MPC's are sound financial investments.

After all how much interest is the bank paying you right now on your savings?

the only bit of kit in recent years that had that vibe was the korg esx, that unit has an sp1200 workflow they need to give that unit better computer integration and that shit would be the best out.