SP-1200 35th Anniversary Renovation (2020)

The Rossum SP-1200 is an authentic reissue of the E-mu SP-1200, the 12-bit sampling drum machine that defined golden-age hip-hop. It was designed by Dave Rossum, the E-mu Systems co-founder who created the original SP-12 and SP-1200. The reissue reproduces the original analog and digital electronics using virtually all original-spec components. It builds on the 2020 35th Anniversary Renovation, for which the team studied vintage units with modern analysis tools to maximize authenticity. Standard production ran from 2021 to 2025.

No. The SP-1200 is a standalone desktop instrument in the traditional SP-1200 form factor. It is not part of Rossum's Eurorack module line.

The Rossum SP-1200 duplicates the original's analog and digital electronics and adds a set of modern conveniences. It keeps the same 12-bit / 26.04 kHz sound character while updating storage, memory and I/O. The main additions over the original are:

• 20 seconds of sampling time, double the original 10
• SD card storage in place of 3.5″ floppy disks
• dedicated filtered and unfiltered channel outputs
• a sample input monitor output
• an RGB-backlit display

Producer Cookin Soul A/B'd a 2022 Rossum against a 1987 E-mu unit and concluded they sound the same. Owners put the two at roughly 95% identical. One noted difference is that the reissue does not overdrive quite the same way at maximum fader settings.

No. The SP-1200 cannot be produced any longer because key parts are no longer available, in particular the discontinued Zilog Z80 CPU. The 40th Anniversary Edition was the final production run. Dave Rossum has expressed interest in future drum machine designs as new instruments rather than reissues.

The standard SP-1200 was $3,999. The 40th Anniversary Edition is $4,999. The original 2020 35th Anniversary Renovation was $7,500. That higher price reflected the per-unit engineering and tooling cost spread across a very small run.

Rossum has released four SP-1200 versions that share the same core sound engine and functionality:

• 35th Anniversary Renovation (2020), the first release and a very limited run at $7,500
• Standard Reissue (2021-2025), the faithful main-production recreation at $3,999
• 40th Anniversary Edition, the final run of 100 units in a black and gold colorway at $4,999
• E-A-SKI Special Edition (2023), a 50-unit red collaboration edition

Whichever edition you own, the sampling, sequencing and sound behave the same.

Yes. It is authentic down to the details of the circuits. Matching the original's sound was the explicit design goal. The Rossum SP-1200 uses the same 12-bit linear data format and 26.04 kHz sampling rate as every vintage SP-12 and SP-1200. It runs the same Z-80 processor and memory map. It uses authentic components wherever they remain available. To most ears the result is indistinguishable from a vintage unit. The one substitution is the analog filter chip. The discontinued SSM2044 is replaced by the SSI2144, both designed by Dave Rossum on the same improved ladder topology.

Yes. The Rossum SP-1200 reproduces the original's complete digital sound engine. It uses the same 12-bit linear data format and 26.04 kHz sampling rate as every vintage SP-12 and SP-1200, running on original-spec components and the classic board layout. Its pitch-shifting behaves like a vintage unit, artifacts and all. Like the original, the SP-1200 changes a sound's pitch by changing its playback speed. Transpose a sound away from its recorded pitch and you get the aliasing and grit that define the instrument. There is no separate time-stretching. Pitch and length move together, as on any classic sampler.

The SP-1200 uses SSI2144 analog filter chips to recreate the original's filter sound. The original SP-1200 used SSM2044 filter ICs that Dave Rossum designed in the early 1980s, which are no longer manufactured. Sound Semiconductor designed the SSI2144 in collaboration with Rossum to faithfully emulate that original analog circuit. Four sliders on the rear panel tune the initial cutoff frequency and resonance of the filters on channels 1 and 2.

Yes. The SSI2144 is an authentic successor to the discontinued SSM2044. Sound Semiconductor developed it with Dave Rossum, who designed the original SSM2044, to reproduce the same filter character on the same improved ladder topology. In the SP-1200 it delivers the classic SP-1200 filter voice. A few owners with deep experience on original units report very subtle differences, as you would expect between any two analog parts.

The SP-1200 has 20 seconds of total sampling time, double the original's 10 seconds. The original sound engine always supported 20 seconds. In 1987 the cost of RAM held production models to 10. Rossum expanded the memory to the maximum the original engine can handle and it cannot be expanded beyond that.

The 20 seconds is split into eight blocks of 2.5 seconds each. You allocate the blocks across the eight channels to fit your samples. A single sound can therefore be up to 2.5 seconds long.

The eight channels carry different fixed filtering, which is why their outputs sound different:

• Channels 1-2: dynamic analog filters, adjustable via the four rear-panel sliders (cutoff and resonance per channel)
• Channels 3-4: filters at a lower fixed cutoff
• Channels 5-6: filters at a higher fixed cutoff
• Channels 7-8: no filters, raw DAC output

The rear-panel filtered and unfiltered output jacks correspond to these configurations. You can pick the exact character you want per channel. The mix output sums all eight channels and applies no filtering of its own. Channels 1-2 still arrive there with their filtered character, which is why they sound darker in the mix.

To open up channels 1 and 2, push their two rear-panel cutoff sliders fully open. They sound darker and can sit lower in level than the unfiltered channels because they pass through dynamic analog filters. This is by design and authentic to the original SP-12 and SP-1200. To remove the filtering entirely, take channels 1 and 2 from the dedicated unfiltered channel outputs on the rear panel. You can also open channels 1 and 2 up completely at startup by disabling their filter envelopes (see Can I disable the channel 1-2 filter envelopes?).

The four rear-panel sliders set cutoff frequency and resonance for channels 1 and 2, two sliders per channel. Both cutoff and resonance increase toward the center of each slider's travel. For the classic SP-1200 sound, set resonance fully to the left (minimum) and frequency roughly in the middle. The sliders are deliberately stiff so they do not move by accident during use.

Yes, on firmware v1.02 and newer. Hold the TUNE/MIX/MULTI button during power-on and the SP-1200 boots with the channel 1-2 filter envelopes disabled. The display shows "Filter Envs Off" to confirm. This gives a cleaner unfiltered sound and leaves all other features intact. To check whether your unit supports it, just hold TUNE/MIX/MULTI at power-on. If it works, your EEPROM is current and needs no update. The 40th Anniversary Edition and E-A-SKI Special Edition ship with the feature enabled. Only units that lack it need the EEPROM update from Rossum. Do not apply that update if your unit already supports the feature. Rossum does not particularly recommend disabling the envelopes for players seeking the classic SP-1200 character.

The SP-1200 has dedicated rear-panel jacks for filtered and unfiltered channel outputs plus the standard mix output. The original provided only a single set of channel outputs. The separate filtered and unfiltered jacks are a new addition. A dedicated sample input monitor output is also on the rear panel.

The SP-1200 stores samples and sequences on an SD memory card, in place of the original's 3.5″ floppy drive. A built-in file manager lets you save, rename and delete files and folders on the card directly from the front panel. The system also imports vintage SP-1200 disk images in the common .HFE format.

Use Set-up Special Function 27 to create folders directly on the SP-1200. This organizes sounds and sequences on the card without a computer.

No. The reissue has no floppy drive. The SP-1200 reads .HFE-format disk images from the SD card instead. To convert a vintage floppy disk to .HFE, use a Greaseweazle or a similar tool. The SP-1200 writes to the SD card but does not create vintage-compatible floppy images.

Work through these steps in order before assuming a fault:

1. Toggle the SD card's lock switch and reinsert the card.
2. Format the card as FAT32.
3. Insert the card with the unit powered off, then power on.
4. Avoid hot-swapping cards while the unit is running.

If the card still isn't recognized after this, contact support.

Yes. The SP-1200 has standard 5-pin MIDI In and MIDI Out on the same protocol as every SP-12 family instrument. You can trigger samples from an external keyboard, use the SP-1200 as a sound module or sequence it from a DAW or hardware sequencer. Incoming MIDI notes are not laid out like a keyboard and cannot be remapped. See the original SP-1200 owner's manual for the note map. With an MPC, run the MPC in controller mode to establish the MIDI connection.

Yes. Every Rossum SP-1200 ships with a 3.5″ floppy disk of modified software for original vintage units. That floppy adds a new Set-up Special Function (26) to the original vintage unit, which transfers all its sounds and sequences to the reissue over a standard MIDI cable. It works with both original floppy drives and floppy-emulator modifications. You can also import vintage disks directly by converting them to .HFE images on the SD card.

Yes, via MIDI Sample Dump Standard (SDS). Create a blank sample first, then send the audio to it as 12-bit.

The SP-1200 responds to MIDI velocity on incoming note messages. A Velocity Depth parameter sets how much MIDI velocity affects the output level. When you disable dynamics with Set-up 14, the pads always trigger at maximum velocity. Incoming MIDI velocity is still processed according to the Velocity Depth setting.

Sum a stereo source to mono ahead of the SP-1200's sample input with a Y-cable or a stereo-to-mono adapter. A turntable also needs a phono preamp first to bring it up to line level.

To stop a sound that's still ringing out, trigger another sound assigned to the same channel. In a choke group, any sound in the group cuts off all the others, like an open and closed hi-hat. On the SP-1200 this is simply how a monophonic channel works. Assign multiple sounds to one channel and only one of them can play back at a time. Triggering one cuts off whatever else was playing. For a dedicated stop, put a blank or silent sound on the channel and trigger it to cut the sound.

Use the lowest gain that still gives a healthy level on the VU meter. The sample input offers up to +40 dB of gain, which is 10,000x amplification. At high settings even small amounts of noise become very audible. Start low and raise the gain until the level reads well without clipping.

The SP-1200's maximum tempo is 240 BPM, which is a fixed characteristic of the instrument. With swing applied the effective ceiling is lower. Rossum has made no committed change to raise it.

The SP-1200 keeps the original's 2-line, 16-character display, now backlit with RGB LEDs. The RGB backlight takes its cue from later SP-1200 production units. Set-up Special Function 26 adjusts the brightness and color to suit your studio or performance environment.

The SP-1200 uses custom replica button caps over low-resistance switches rated for years of heavy use. You perform dynamics with the same technology invented for the SP-12 in 1984. You can disable dynamics with Set-up 14. Multi-Level mode allows lighter-touch dynamic playing.

The SP-1200 works for any genre. Its character suits classic hip-hop and boom bap best. The 12-bit / 26.04 kHz sound, the 2.5-second maximum per sample and the 240 BPM tempo ceiling all shape it toward that workflow. Beyond hip-hop, house, techno and electronic producers have long used the SP-1200 for its punchy 12-bit sound and fast hands-on workflow. Drum-and-bass and jungle are the tougher fit because the short sample time and tempo ceiling work against those styles.

Main firmware v1.04 (download: v1.04) is the current SP-1200 firmware, released in May 2024. Rossum recommends it for all owners. It fixes a bug where truncating the start of a sound could add clicks or noise in otherwise-empty sounds. It also fixes an obscure bug where button presses during truncation could disturb the RGB backlight settings.

The SP-1200 has three separate firmware types. Most owners only ever update Main firmware:

• Main firmware: the one to keep current (download: v1.04). You apply it from an SD card via the on-screen prompts.
• Card / SD firmware: only relevant if you have SD card read/write problems. It does not apply to most owners.
• EEPROM firmware: only update it if you cannot disable the channel 1-2 filter envelopes by holding TUNE/MIX/MULTI at power-on. If that boot behavior already works, leave it alone.

Rule of thumb: keep Main firmware current and leave EEPROM alone unless you need that specific filter-envelope feature. The 40th Anniversary Edition and E-A-SKI Special Edition ship with the EEPROM feature already enabled.

Update Main firmware from an SD card. Insert the card with the firmware file and follow the on-screen prompts. Get the current file from Rossum (download: v1.04). The separate EEPROM update, for the filter-envelope-disable feature, follows its own procedure on the Rossum documentation page. Only units that lack that feature need it.

No. The artifacts are inherent to the original SP-1200 design and are faithfully reproduced in the reissue. The SP-1200 shares hardware between the sample input monitor and the playback engine. The monitor output and playback cannot run fully at the same time. You therefore hear artifacts during sampling and briefly after. Every SP-1200, original and reissue, works this way.

Main firmware v1.01 fixed the Read Error 43 message. Update to the current v1.04 (download: v1.04) to resolve it.

Main firmware v1.04 fixed this truncation bug. Update your firmware (download: v1.04) to resolve it.

On some units, changing the RGB backlight color via Set-up Special Function 26 has occasionally triggered SD card read errors. If it happens, power cycle the unit. This is a rare edge case and does not indicate a hardware defect.

A faint high-pitched whine is present in some SP-1200 units of every revision, including original vintage units. It is not considered a manufacturing defect. Rossum can perform a board modification to reduce it if you want. Contact support to arrange it. The modification makes the unit behave slightly differently from an original SP-1200.

First isolate the fault, then contact Rossum if an output is truly dead. Check whether the channel still plays through its unfiltered output and whether it triggers and shows activity on the display. If a single output is dead on both its individual and mix outputs, this could point to a hardware fault that needs service. Contact support with your serial number, order number and a description of the affected channel or output.

Faders that float or jump while stationary usually point to a loose internal connection or a fader fault. The same goes for other channels moving when you touch one. The likely cause is a loose connection between the main board and the panel board, or a worn fader. This type of issue is normally resolved with a repair. Contact support with your serial number and a description of the affected controls.

Loud persistent hiss, rumble or screech from the outputs points to a hardware failure. So does any burning smell or a unit that will not power back on. Stop using the unit immediately if there was a burning smell. Contact support to arrange repair. Include your serial number, order number and a description or video of the problem.