Music Production Center

Akai MPCs (originally MIDI Production Center, now Music Production Controller) are a popular series of electronic musical instruments originally designed by Roger Linn and produced by the Japanese company Akai from 1988 onward. Intended to function as a powerful kind of drum machine, the MPCs drew on design ideas from machines such as the Sequential Circuits Inc. Studio 440 and the Linn's own Linn 9000, combining a powerful MIDI sequencer with the ability to sample one's own sounds. A major influence to Roger Linn's design was his love of rubber pads and how they could be pushed, prodded, and banged; this can be seen clearly in his designs especially from the MPC-60 onwards. Linn also had a passion for squares: thus, no round pads on the MPC Series. Later models feature increasingly powerful sampling, storage, interfacing and sound manipulation facilities, which broaden the use of instrument beyond just drum and rhythm tracks.

The original MPC60 was the first result of an alliance between Roger Linn and Akai to design products similar to those of Linn Electronics. He developed the functional design, including the panel layout and software/hardware specifications. He then created the software with a team of engineers. The hardware electronics were designed by English engineer David Cockerell and his team. Cockerell was a founding member of the synthesizer firm EMS (co-creator of their famous VCS 3 along with Peter Zinovieff), and then worked for effects manufacturers Electro-Harmonix.

Shortly after the MPC60's release, the MPC60-II was designed. Released in 1991, the MPC60-II offered most of the same features as the MPC60, with an added headphone output and a plastic housing replacing the original metal one. In 1994, Akai released the MPC3000, which boasted 16-bit, 44 kHz sampling, 32-voice polyphony, and SCSI data transfer. Akai tried to save money by dropping Roger Linn, the brainchild behind the MPC, to whom they would have to pay royalties on future models. The company developed and released the MPC2000 without Linn in 1997. The MPC2000 came with 2 MB of RAM, an optional effects board, and a 100,000 note 64-track sequencer. The MPC2000 was replaced by the MPC2000XL in 2000. The MPC2000XL added an improved 300,000 note sequencer, a 64-track mixer and time-stretch and resample features. Four limited edition models of the MPC2000XL were released.

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