Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
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By kybeats Sun Jun 06, 2004 1:12 am
good lookin on the link...

btw, I won't ever sell my SP1200, even though I don't use it as much....

the part about Marco Alpert is crazy....

By kb420ps Mon Jun 07, 2004 2:11 pm
The reason that the SP 1200 sounds like it does is because it is only sampling at a 22khz rate and is only 12 bit. Also the sample time was only 10 seconds. This was (and is) great for doing hip hop drums and samples to give it that "dirty drums" sound. Most of the hip hop producers that used the SP 1200 were getting there samples from wax which added more to the "dirty drum" sound because of the added crackle and pop that wax gives you. The MPC 3000 samples at a much higher frequency of 44.1 khz and is also 16 bit which is basically CD quality. If you tweak your samples in the MP you can get them to sound dirty, but there is no tweaking necessary for the SP 1200. The SP 1200 is giving you all it can give, and its best and clearest sample will always be "dirty", and thats great if thats the only drum sounds that you want. If you however need to use some super clean and crisp drum sounds (for some RnB for instance), then the SP 1200 probably isn't the machine for you. http://www.vintagesynth.com/ If you go to this link and punch in SP 1200 in the search box, the first link that appears will tell you all about the specs on the SP 1200. You can do the same for the MPC.

By elmacaco Tue Jun 08, 2004 4:34 am
That spec is wrong. It is 26kHz, or 26,040 Hz, to be specific.

Check emulator archive for more accurate information.

By kb420ps Tue Jun 08, 2004 8:57 pm
Even at 26 khz, it is still well below the 16 bit 44.1 khz rate of the MPC3K. The SP 1200 was only 12 bit, and at such a low frequency sample rate, everything that you sampled with it sounds "dirty", which is why it appealed to so many hip hop producers.

By elmacaco Wed Jun 09, 2004 5:35 am
there's more to it than that, my emax puts all other samplers to shame in the punch department. The way it gets the transients is just sick. I'll take anyone on with the same sample taken from a wav file, straight sampled from the computer.

I gotta use that thing more.

By funky-74 Thu Jun 10, 2004 5:17 am
Do you have the keyboard version of the Emax El? Or do they only come in keys? I have seen it only once...

By elmacaco Thu Jun 10, 2004 12:15 pm
Naw man, chit's too big. I got the rack HD SE SCSI version.