VINYL SP FROM MARS

The Legendary Sampler, Pressed To Vinyl

The SP-1200 is an iconic, genre-defining, 12 bit sampler from 1987 known for its crunchy, almost vinyl-like sound and brilliant, "fairy dust" harmonics. It adds a magic texture to anything that you sample into it. We made a pack with the SP back in 2016 and have been dying to revisit it ever since. But this time, we wanted to explore how the SP interacts with our favorite recording medium, vinyl!

So we sampled drum machines, acoustic drums, guitar, synth, bass, vocals and music stems directly into the SP, clipping, re-pitching, chopping, and processing it to taste. Then, we pressed the results to vinyl and sampled that, creating an incredible library of 700 Vinyl SP one-hits, caked in character from the beautiful interaction between our favorite sampler and recording medium 🤝 

The Sound of the SP + Vinyl 

The SP's uniquely "dusty" and "gritty" sound comes from a combination of factors. In addition to its 12 bit depth, it features a 26.04 kHz sample rate, analog SSM2044 filters (also found in the Polysix), pitch-shifting that creates iconic harmonics, and the ability to clip its input. 

Vinyl, too, can create a similarly "dusty" and harmonically rich sound  (especially with certain needles), but the medium is 100% analog, so it can counteract a lot of the SP's digital-ness. We believe that the final part of the signal chain is the most important, in terms of the overall perception of the aesthetic of sound - so in this way, pressing the SP to vinyl essentially makes it sound more analog. And it can take the original crunch of the SP even further.

In short, The SP + Vinyl combo is the ultimate cheat code for adding texture, instantly elevating a simple drum machine like the DR110 with more range and punch. Just listen to these DR110 samples as they transform—from clean to SP-treated, then pressed on vinyl and sampled again for the final, character-packed result:

Sampling into the SP

For most of our packs, we're sampling the onboard sounds of a given drum machine or synth. But with a sampler, we get to create any sounds that we want (that can fit within the 2.5 second maximum sample time!) We focused on drums, dusting up our acoustic drum kit, re-pitching classic drum machines, and fattening up modern favorites like the Machinedrum and Perkons. 

We also recorded guitar, bass, and synth into the SP,  and pulled used reels of tape from our studio, sampling random sessions and jams to get closer to what it sounds like sampling vinyl. Oh, and we sampled some of our own vinyl drum sounds, to get that twice-baked vinyl vibe. 

Cutting and Sampling the Vinyl

We've learned a lot since we first started cutting vinyl three years ago, so we headed to Josh Bonati's mastering studio with a clear plan. First, we pressed all of our one-hits to an acetate (also known as a test record) and immediately sampled it off the lathe. This would be our cleanest possible recording, anytime we wanted sounds with the least amount of crackle and distortion (like cymbals and smooth subs). 

Then, we took the record back to our studio and recorded a series of passes with different cartridges. Cartridges are like microphones - they each color the sound a lot - so, for classic, overdriven sounds, we used our Shure M447 and White Label, and for more dynamic sounds, we reached for our Ortofon 2M Red. The turntable was plugged into our favorite mixer (Alpha Recording Systems) with a parallel-processed version running through our Overstayer Saturator and slight API 2500 compression for extra saturation and color.  

The acetate wears out after each play, creating a more distorted and "vinyl-like" sound. So we ran the record out for days, capturing some of the more crackly and staticky hits.

And by turning the turntable motor off and spinning the record by hand, we were able to create varispeed hits - things like diving cymbals, wonky basses, bendy effects and random drum pitches.

Putting it All Together

Finally, we spent weeks exporting, chopping and sorting through all of the samples and their various iterations of processing and needles. We jammed and sequenced the sounds, sorting them into useable and inspiring 16x hit kits. We focused on clean, classic sounds, but also rough, gritty, dusty, re-pitched kits.

What's Included

Vinyl SP From Mars has been fully formatted for the most popular DAWs, with 11 Individual Hits instrument presets and 20 pre-made 16 hit kits for jamming with straight away.  The kits range from CR78 to Machinedrum to acoustic drums and percussion, so there's a wide variety of sounds to play with here. And as usual there's more to explore in the individual hits, containing 700 total samples.

For Boom Bap & Beyond

We wanted to come out swinging for 2025 and we think this one hits HARD. Combining two of our favorite sounding mediums - the old skool sampler and vinyl - this is easily the crunchiest selection of samples we've ever made.

There's something about the interaction between the SP1200 and vinyl that you have to hear to believe - there's a grittiness and crunch that is just as useable in a modern context, as it was almost 40 years ago. These samples are not for the faint of heart! You'll find a lot of character, grit, and grime here - feel free to carve it out as needed.

With 700 hits of drums, melodic elements, subs, bass and vocals, the pack is powerful enough on its own to make countless records, in a wide variety of genres (as our demos demonstrate). So, let's get to it! 🥂