Akai MPC
The Akai MPC (originally MIDI Production Center, now Music Production Center) is a series of music workstations produced by Akai from 1988 onwards. MPCs combine sampling and sequencing functions, allowing users to record portions of sound, modify them and play them back as sequences.
 An Akai MPC60, the first MPC model | |
| Other names | MIDI Production Center, Music Production Controller |
|---|---|
| Classification | Music workstation |
| Inventor(s) | Roger Linn |
| Developed | 1988 |
The first MPCs were designed by Roger Linn, who had designed the successful LM-1 and LinnDrum drum machines in the 1980s. Linn aimed to create an intuitive instrument, with a grid of pads that can be played similarly to a traditional instrument such as a keyboard or drum kit. Rhythms can be built not just from samples of percussion but samples of any recorded sound.