Akai have long been known for their innovations with the S-series sampler range which still play a major role in most production studios around the world. It is no surprise that it was them that produced the worlds first sampler and sequencer integrated rhythm machine.

It was in the late `80's that Akai produced the first Midi production centre the 'MPC60' in collaboration with Roger Linn who is a celebrated drummer and was a key pioneer in drum machine design and technology, he is particularly acclaimed for his 'Linn Drums' series. The MPC was designed to give us musicians the technology in one neat box that doesn't need qualified technicians around it to keep it working. Combinations of sequencers, keyboards and sound modules were becoming increasingly popular and relatively accessible at the time as the MIDI standard was coming of age, unfortunately there was no way to benefit from the sampling technology in the live sense and transportability/ set up was extremely difficult due to the sheer size and cost of the system required. Linn was popular amongst producers and studio technicians whose main concern is practicality, his name/ product is also a particular phenomenon with many Hip hop producers there are still a great deal of people going into the studio with just an MPC and two turntables!.

The 'MPC 60' was superseded by the 'MPC 60mk2' which incorporated a SCSI port and more memory. A year or so later saw the release of the 'MPC3000' of which the design of the sound engine was based on the 16-bit S3000 sampler, which was becoming popular at the time. The MPC3000 was in comparison very expensive but was preferred in the professional studio world for its more advanced system and all round usability and easy application/ programming for all music genres (M-People and Massive Attack always use them live). It was/ is a great machine but its cost prohibited the use of those who are not making music commercially, most people stuck to the '60' range for their practicality, affordability and on the artistic side for their 12-bit 'lo-fi' quality sound engine, and the 'MPC 60' sequencer system was already so advanced and not much different.

As the Akai 'stand alone' sampler division were putting the final touches to the S-XL range the MPC division began work on the 'MPC 2000' basing it on the already legendary MPC construction and design but basing its sampler section mostly on the industry standard 'S2000' and adding features that weren't possible with the earlier 'MPC's' generic way of functioning and operating system.
 

The 'MPC' is what people have come to expect from a member of the MPC family, the main difference being a new graphic interface and its ability to work on different platforms in different situations, i.e. the ability to load and save as WAV. files and import sounds from all Akai disks, some E-MU's and those of the Roland S750/ 760 format.

So many people are confused about what an MPC2000 can do, or indeed what it is. Firstly it is the sequencer that holds the key to their creativity if you're already a hardware PC/ Mac sequencer person then there isn't much point in adding one of these to youre setup because it is definitely not a stand alone sampler. Although the sound engine is like that of the S2000 its use is limited to rhythm programming , they have simplified the sound engine from the S2000 with no time stretch or other DSP based effects, basically because there is no point its not the way they work. Remember it is a rhythm machine and is intended for rhythm style programming and you really don't need those functions unless youre a real experimentalist of some sort or you have a computer/ sampler set up. The MPC deals with these functions in its own unique way, for example the Beat Loop Function which I will describe in more detail later on.

All in all the MPC range of musical instruments are a new class of system whose intriguing combination of raw power and intuitive interface has made them the creative tools of choice for many of the musicians and producers who have shaped contemporary music over the past ten years. If you want to make music that makes good use of samples with that loop sound such as Drum 'n' Bass, Big Beat or Hip hop then look no further. You have basically got all the things you need to make your original tunes in one box, you can sample any sounds you want then process them and stack them up in its 64 track sequencer.