In the late 1980s, producers and musicians began turning more and more to drum machines in order to create beats and loops without using a full band. The MPC made music production intuitive in a way it had never been before So how did this small, portable electric box, which looks more like a Super Nintendo than a musical instrument, became the tool of the trade for pop, hip-hop, and electronic musicians and producers? By condensing all elements of studio production into a desktop instrument that was more playable, more intuitive, and unlike anything ever put before the musical world.

Mark Ronson is so attached to his MPC that it got a custom paint job, and many of Kanye West’s most famous songs, and much of his breakout album C ollege Dropout, have sprung from the MPC. Outkast’s Big Boi engineered many of the group’s iconic beats on the MPC. Dre, who kept several in his studio at all times. It created a generation of hybrid producer-musicians, like West, J Dilla - whose MPC is in the Smithsonian - and Dr. Skilled as these two are on their MPCs, this device isn’t a Keith or Kanye house specialty it’s been at the heart of some of the most seminal musical works since its introduction by AKAI in 1988 and is still widely used today.

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