KVR Audio

ddeez · Post by **ddeez** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 6:24 am

Im looking for that sp1200 sound...OR any other vintage samplers for that matter...that i can load as a vst instrument or effect. I want to load up samples and give them that old school lo fi sampler sound. I know about decimort. I find battery 4 does a much better job imitating the sp. Is there anything else out there that does a really good job imitating any old school LO FI samplers? Pls let me know, thanks!!!

VariKusBrainZ · Post by **VariKusBrainZ** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 6:28 am

http://tal-software.com/products/tal-sampler

Juanjo · Post by **Juanjo** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 6:31 am

Morgana is a bit old but still good, loosely based on Ensoniq Mirage:
https://www.112db.com/vintage/morgana/

TAL Sampler is new and great,models several old sampler DACs:
http://tal-software.com/products/tal-sampler

mcnelson · Post by **mcnelson** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 6:34 am

Free:
http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-timemachine/

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 8:01 am

Not really aimed at old samplers, but this is great:
http://www.plogue.com/products/chipcrusher/

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 8:07 am

D16 Decimort FX has a SP1200 Preset.

Halma · Post by **Halma** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 8:24 pm

ADZE is pretty dope. Nice envelopes, shitload of Filters and wiered FFT stuff. I grew up with some people in the 90s who had all classic samplers incl. SP1200, MPC60 and EPS. Have not heard one piece of software that can replicate it exactly. You can get pretty close but some last Fearie Dust is still missing.

ontol · Post by **ontol** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 9:02 pm

soulone82 · Post by **soulone82** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 9:31 pm

Maschine

transmetropolitan · Post by **transmetropolitan** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 9:58 pm

I still have and use my old samplers (S900, S01, MPC2000XL and Roland S760) because nothing gets close to them (at least for my money) in plugin-land.

The digital module on SDRR by Klanghelm is very worthwhile. It's different, but good.

I wouldn't recommend anything other than a SP1200 for that sound.

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:15 pm

I really reject the "nothing gets close" attitude. I started on an original Emax, and I've also owned an EPS, ESI-32, and K2000. The Emax, obviously, was the most grungy of the bunch. And no, I've never heard anything that sounds exactly like it. But that doesn't mean modern alternatives sound worse- it just means each of these low bit rat solutions has their own slightly different sound. Is one "better" than the other? I really don't think so! These days, I'm either doing my bitcrushing in software, or in my Euro modular with a Doepfer sampler module, a Tyme Sefari 1, a Phonogene, a Malgorithm 1 or a Malgorithm 2. They all sound great.

HeretikBeats · Post by **HeretikBeats** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 11:07 am

I'm an underground hip-hop beatmaker who specializes in the boom-bap and golden-age sub-genres, (vinyl) sample-based of course. Especially the EMU SP-1200 and Akai MPC60 AD converter sounds are desired in those sub-genres, as you possibly may know. I own and have tested many DAW/VSTi samplers and VST bit-crushers for their ability to emulate/simulate the lo-fi SP-1200 sound. I can only say I've gotten the best results using ToneBoosters' TimeMachine VST bit-crusher.

Advice: In TimeMachine, I set the bit-rate to 12 bits and sample-rate around 22000 Hz as a starting point. Then the few other settings vary from sample to sample. There's a 12-bit preset included also. With certain samples you can get really close to the SP-1200 sound. I must, however, say that I don't feel any software has really nailed the 12-bit sound. You can get close though.

If you are a sample-digger it also has to be stated it helps a lot sampling from actual vinyl instead of MP3s or even worse: YouTube rips (yuck!)... Some well-carved EQ'ing also goes a long way.

D16's VST bit-crusher Decimort is also great (it's a classic anyway...), sometimes in combination with their VST distortion effect Devastor. FXpansion's VSTi/stand-alone sampler Geist has a built-in bit-crusher effect, also with a 12-bit preset, that can produce good results. Cyclone has a terrible workflow and has no x64 version. Same goes for 112db's Morgana (which is BTW actually too lo-fi for my taste as it actually emulates 8-bit hardware).

It's funny with all the technical software marvels that any software company is yet to accomplish something as simple (on paper!) as really nail the SP-1200 (and other classic 12-bit samplers) sound!

OP: Your question has been asked a lot on forums during the years - and someone always replies to "get a real SP-1200". And maybe they're right. I personally own a "vintage" Akai S1000 to achieve those gritty New York hip hop drums. The S1000 is actually 16-bit but it still has that gritty sound which fits well with the fact that some claim the desired lo-fi sound doesn't come as much from the sampler being 12-bit as it does from the AD converter and a number of other factors.

This also explains why simply converting a 16/24/whatever-bit sample to 12-bit in an audio editor doesn't do the trick.

Enough rambling!

Peace!

EDIT: Fixed some typos!

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 11:32 am

HeretikBeats wrote:I'm an underground hip-hop beatmaker ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWQMMPFtoG4

discoDSP · Post by **discoDSP** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 11:36 am

You can get 12-bit sound with Bliss Sampler http://www.discodsp.com/bliss/ and down to 1-bit

electro · Post by **electro** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:30 pm

Can you tell the samples apart?
https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~nolting/220c/

Is there any vst instrument or effect that does what Battery 4 SP1200 mode does OR BETTER?