E-mu • SP-12
The E-mu SP-12 is the classic drum machine & sampler combo that paved the way for such greats as the E-mu SP-1200 and AKAI MPC series of sampling drum machines. Redesigned from E-mu's original Drumulator drum machine, the SP-12 is a classic drum machine with built in sampling capability. There is a set of preset drum sounds including kick, snare, hihats, toms, cymbals, handclap and rimshot. These sounds can be mixed and edited using the sliders. Then you can add your own beats and drum sounds using the built-in 12-bit sampler. Sampling time is limited to only a few seconds and the quality is very lo-fi (a sound loved by lo-fi and trip hop). Store your patterns and link them into songs, there's room for 100 of each! There are mono and individual outputs (no stereo). It's been used by Madlib, Large Professor, Chicago, and DJ Premiere.
The SP-12 was quickly superceded by the SP-1200 in 1987 which was continuously reissued through 1997. The SP-1200 is undoubtedly the more popular of the two since it has added features and emphasized sampling by eliminating the preset drum sounds. However, for the classic synth collector the SP-12 still makes a great gift!
You can easily get a Commodore 1541 II floppy drive off of eBay for $10 - $20, so backing up sounds and sequences is straightforward. There is also an upgrade to increase the sample memory which is still available from Forat (http://www.forat.com/), and which I plan to fit to my SP-12 in the near future.
Overall, this is a great machine and the only sampler I've ever bothered to learn how to use - as it's so simple. It's also built like a tank, and mine is still running fine despite a number of gigs where it's been manhandled by neanderthal roadies.