whose with me when saying the sp1200 mode Rocks

im all for more vintage models no doubt

 

The whole update rocks! I'm loving the sampling. I have a feeling people will be using that more now hehe! The SP1200 has more of an obvious effect on some sounds than others.

 

2 Things:
1. If I choose model there stands "S1200" but I think you mean the EMU SP 1200. Is this a bug or what? Or do they really mean the Akai S1200?
2. The MPC60 mode, hmmmm. I don't know. For me it sounds like a little raise of the high frequencies but I expected a sound that's a little bit more crispy and bumpin'. Do you know what I mean?

EDIT:

Hm, I won't until I got timestretch.

 

Maybe they're not allowed to use the name SP1200, so they call it S1200 instead. The other vintage mode is called MP60, not MPC60. I don't think that's a mistake, although it's a popular thing amongst MPC owners to call it an 'MP'.

 

That's possible.
And, is thereeven a Akai S1200. There are so much I don't know...

Btw.
I'm still playin' around with the vintage modes and especially with the MPC60 and, yea it works. I tried some other sounds and they sound mpc60 like. Nice. Only thing, it woudl be nice to use the engines in group mode

 

I don't think an S1200 exist.

Do you have an MPC60 to compare? I once had an mk II, but I thought it sounded to clean. Like an exciter as someone stated before. But that wasn't the 12 bit sound I was after. I wanted the SP. Funny thing is that I don't even use my SP12, because I like Maschine so much. And now that Maschine emulates its sound so well, I'm not sure what to do with the SP. It's a classic machine and it looks great on my desk, but it's not being used which I admit is a shame. :S

 

Don't you do anything that doesn't involve timestretch? Or is it a form of protest?

I've been wanting to sample from external sources but it was useless without adjustable slice markers. Even within Live i can still see myself using the sampler more now but more for slicing and editing drum loops and synth lines that i can drop straight on a group or track. I may even try creating some multisampled instruments!

 

Hmm, I'm doing sample based hiphop beats and I usually slice my samples up in 8 pieces, time stretch them to the bpm i want to use/sound good and then I start playing around.
The sampling with maschine is very nice but I can't really use the vinyl samples in Maschine now because I neeeeeed timestretch

@Lotuz
Yea, I know that problem. I got a MPC 60 and a S950.
Meanwhile I sold it and bought Maschine. Now I got more money, more space, more time and more possibilities.
It took a long time until I decided to sell that stuff because I was always thinking: 'Oh man, that's classic stuff bla bla.'
But it was a good decision. The only advantage was the sound for me.

 

I have no idea what the official deal is with name copyright issues, but I'm guessing it's intentional. I can tell you that we definitely didn't have our heads buried in an Akai S1200 for all that time.

FWIW - this might sound like a copout - but we did some fairly extensive and rigorous A/B comparisons between the emulations, the original machines, and clean playback, and under strict test conditions we actually found that the original MPC60 was only very, very subtly different to clean playback (routed out and back into an audio interface for a fair test). The difference was so subtle that we even debated whether it was worth doing the emulation at all. Don't underestimate the placebo effect of having a 30-year-old sampler in front of you; I know I certainly thought the MPC effect was more obvious before we actually did the side-by-side comparisons with the clean sample in a decent monitoring environment.

The SP1200 is obviously a more pronounced effect, but certainly on some sounds more than others (eg sustained, tuned notes). Obviously you need to repitch to really hear the emulation at work. But really, the only fair comparison is playing back the same sample at the same pitch, recorded at the same level, with the same output filter (the four filters/filterless mode correspond to channels 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7&8 of the SP), fed out and back into the same audio interface (A/D and D/A converters all introduce some noise and do make a small difference). In our listening tests under these conditions the emulations were pretty close. If you've got one of the original samplers and can do a side-by-side comparison at home, I'd be interested to see if you agree.

TJ

 

if you really want that SP-1200 sound record your samples at a slightly faster speed than pitch it down. Back in the day producers would record samples at 45 rpms instead on 33 rpms to squeeze a few more seconds out of the SP then pitch it down to the original speed. That's where that really gritty sound comes from.

 

Ok I've been playing around with these emulation, I never had either one of the vintage drum machines but I must say that regardless if it sounds like the sp or the mpc it still have a vintage type of sound.

 

In the past I've had an mpc 2000. I've used mpc 60, 60II and 3000. And as for as having a sound that feels unmistakably, well hip hop, the mpc emulation has it. I actually visualize an mpc when I hear Maschine and see if it takes me to the same place and it does. Try this:

1. Take a sample about an 8th note so you can hear it pressed a number of times in a 2 bar loop.

2. Use keyboard mode to make a melody.

3. While the sample is in mp60 mode a/b the emulation on and off while the sample is playing.

You have to use a sample with various layers of sound. Percussion like a ride or cymbal. Bass tone. and a tone higher in pitch like premo might use.

4. While a/b ing the mode on and off focus your ears in each part. first the bass, then the middle tones, then the upper tones. After doing that a few times then focus on the whole sample. Your brain will say that it can't be the sound of the mpc but your ears will reveal the truth.

I hope I'm not an idiot
---
O and NI great job. No matter what anyone says about the mp 60 mode you better keep it. Its the deal. And as for the sp 1200 mode it puts the crack on them drums and that all yeah on them samples dig me

 

I only had time for a quick test, but the Mpc60 emulation sounds really good. The Sp1200 is nice too, but at the moment I prefer the Mp.

Thanks Native Instruments!

Ps. I would pay extra for Mpc3000 and Mpc2000XL emulations..

 

So we can't have the emulation effect on a group ? It should be very nice on a drum or percussion group instead of set it on every sound.

 

It is technically possible, but it wouldn't sound the same. By far the most noticeable effect comes from repitching, and this can only be truly emulated in the sampling engine. Group effects are insert effects by necessity, and while the emulation can be faked in an insert effect by double-pitching (eg up using high-quality interpolation, then back down using the vintage repitching algorithm), it's neither as good nor as versatile.

As someone pointed out earlier, if you want the most realistic emulation, set every sound in a group to SP1200, polyphony to 1, envelope to One-Shot, and use a maximum of 5 seconds' worth of sample material.

TJ

 

How about a select all mode for editing sound parameters? That way you can set each sound in the group to the emulation at once.

 

Funny u should mention it I have been a b testing the sound for a while now and I have to say the mpc 60 mode is very close. The sp1200 mode so far seems better but I will upload a soundcloud file soon to show.

 

As a former SP1200 owner, i can honestly say imo that NI has done an amazing job at emulating the sound! i haven't even tested it on studio monitors yet, but all the characteristics are there including the different output filter options! i've been waiting for years for something like this, thank you so much NI !

I've never actually owned an mpc60, but yea i must admit i am a little dissapointed with its sound, not putting in doubt at all the emulation, the original just might not alter sound as much as hyped about...

I am wondering however if perhaps a more interesting emulation would have been the akai s950, after all many producers including Premier and Pete Rock sequenced on the 60 and 1200, but usually used the s950 as their sampling source. From what i've read so far, the s950 filter and converters mangle the sound more than the 60:

" It has some Sorts of efx, such as LowPass (Cutoff w/o resonance - but Caution: it creates a weird 16kHz sweep when used in strong/low bass frequencies),
LFO,
Pitch warp (a subtle effect controlling small pitch amounts by attack/decay...),
VCF adsr hull curve,
VCA adsr hull curve
and most important of them all: the converters themselves: 12 bit and bandwidth from 3000 to 19200 Hz (on the A/D). Experimenting with different input levels and different bandwidths gives a wide amount of variations.

the s950 is for messing around below 16 kHz ! BlaBla... OK, now a little more exact: you lose highs the lower bandwith you chose here...
and the sound of the Sampler itself 'looks like dusty mahagony'. This would be the best synasthetic expression for it.
You won't get really deep waving low ends and no extreme glassy highs, but such a strong punching midrange...a very stable strength ...

Some say it has the same sampling engine as the MPC60 - that may be true, but for me the 60 still sounds different: more highs, more transparent and not so dull, but that may be not very objective...But in the end:
This Sampler has such strong own characteristics and for that price... "

 

sp1200 mode sounds awesome when i pitch down sliced drums:warm fat crunch,LOVE IT!

i have yet to test it on other types of sounds.

 

I would love that! A way to edit all samples in a group at once, engine, envelope, filter, etc