MPCs - originally MIDI Production Center but now "Music Production Center" - are a series of hardware sampler made by Akai. Computer hardware is the physical part of a computer, as distinguished from the computer software or computer programs and data that operate within the hardware. ... An AKAI MPC2000 sampler A sampler is an electronic musical instrument that can record and store audio signal samples, generally recordings of existing sounds, and play them back at a range of pitches. ... Akai () is a Japanese consumer electronics producer founded in 1929. ...

The MPC has become a staple part of the hip hop culture with many references to it in songs, as well as being a must-have for most serious or intent hip hop producers. Claims have been made that most professional rap producers use either an MPC or an Ensoniq ASR-10, or both; it should be noted however, that the MPC design is fundamentally a pad sampler/sequencer, unlike traditional keyboard samplers such as the ASR-10. Whilst overshadowed somewhat by the emergence of computer based production techniques and increasingly cheaper interfaces, the MPC base models such as the MPC3000 and MPC2000XL maintain popularity due to their robust and reliable nature. The MPC has also become a stronghold in present studio environments, due to the fact the unit implements and utilizes the WAV file format. This allows material created on the MPC to then be further edited on more contemporary platforms (i.e. PC, Macintosh) using more recent software applications (e.g. Pro Tools, Cubase, etc.) Breakdancer in Ljubljana. ... Ensoniq Corp. ... WAV (or WAVE), short for WAVE form audio format, is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing audio on PCs. ... One of the first PCs from IBM - the IBM PC model 5150. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh, or Mac, line of personal computers is designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... Pro Tools 6. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The basis for the MPC stems from Roger Linn's early designs, yet has continued as a marketing force after his involvement. Many claim Akai have let the MPC range down by poor service attention, lack of OS updates for popularly requested features and "chasing the field" media formats (i.e. re-releasing the MPC2000XL with a CompactFlash card reader in 2004). Despite this, few sampler/sequencers are as robust; and the MPCs' features still demand respect. Roger Linn is a musical instrument designer, mainly of electronic drum machines, and has recently branched out into guitar effects pedals. ... A 64 MB CompactFlash Type I card CompactFlash (CF) was originally a type of data storage device, used in portable electronic devices. ...

MPC Models

MPC2000

The MPC2000 is a 64-track sampler/sequencer introduced in 1997 and discontinued in 2000. It comes with 2MB sample memory as standard, and can be expanded to 32MB. It supports sampling rates of 22 or 44.1 kHz, in stereo or mono. In the field of electronic music, a sequencer was originally any device that recorded and played back a sequence of control information for an electronic musical instrument. ...

Features

• 16 velocity sensitive pads
• Internal 3½" floppy drive
• 4 pad banks
• 2 MIDI inputs, 2 MIDI outputs
• 300,000 note capacity 64-track sequencer
• 2MB sampling memory (upgradable to 32MB)
• Optional effects board (EB16)
• Optional 8 outputs and digital I/O board (IB-M208)
• SCSI interface

Keyboard expression often shortened to expression is the ability of the keyboard of a keyboard instrument to respond to the dynamics of the music. ... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a ring of thin, flexible (i. ... Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ...

MPC2000XL

The MPC2000XL is similar to the MPC2000 but with added features; including four pad-bank keys, time stretch and resampling along with others new features. In 2004 the 2000XL-MCD version was released, which features a CompactFlash card reader as standard in place of the floppy drive or Zip drives used in earlier models. Time stretching is the process of changing the speed or duration of an audio signal without affecting its pitch. ... Resampling is a term used in statistics to describe a variety of methods for computing summary statistics using subsets of available data (jackknife), drawing randomly with replacement from a set of data points (bootstrapping), or switching labels on data points when performing significance tests (permutation test). ... A 64 MB CompactFlash Type I card CompactFlash (CF) was originally a type of data storage device, used in portable electronic devices. ... Later (USB, left) and earlier (parallel, right) Zip drives (media in foreground). ...

Features

• 16 velocity sensitive pads
• Internal 3½" floppy drive or 100MB Zip drive
• 4 Pad Bank keys
• Time stretch
• Resampling
• 2 MIDI inputs, 2 MIDI outputs
• Note-repeat key
• 300,000 note capacity 64-track sequencer
• 2MB sampling memory (upgradable to 32MB)
• Optional effects board (EB16)
• Optional 8 outputs and digital I/O board (IB-M208)
• SCSI interface

MPC1000

The MPC1000 is a 64-track sampler/sequencer. It comes with 16MB sample memory as standard, and can be expanded to 128MB. It supports sampling rates of 22 or 44.1 kHz, in stereo or mono. Its features include an USB port, an internal CompactFlash card reader, 2 MIDI inputs and outputs and effects and multiple analog outputs as standard. Note: USB may also mean upper sideband in radio. ...

Features

• USB port (Mass Storage Class)
• CompactFlash card reader
• 16 velocity sensitive pads
• 4 pad bank keys
• 2 MIDI inputs, 2 MIDI outputs
• 100,000 note capacity 64-track sequencer
• 16MB sampling memory (upgradable to 128MB)
• Effects as standard
• Multiple analog outputs as standard

Other MPC Models

• MPC60
• MPC60-MKII
• MPC2500
• MPC3000
• MPC4000

External links

• AkaiPro.com
• Full review of the MPC1000
• Music production forums