The sampling landscape was changed forever when industrial designer Roger Linn joined forces with technology company Akai to create the MPC60. In this week’s Throwback Thursday, we take a look at the training video for this innovative piece of music history.
Here’s a question for you samplers out there: did your sampler come with a training video (and I mean a video)? If the answer’s yes then you probably had the MPC60, Akai’s first Music Production Center – or MPC for short. The machines were originally designed by Roger Linn and made by Akai in 1988 and have spawned an extensive range that have moved with the changes in music and technology in general. Naturally, there was an instruction manual that came with the MPC60 but Akai went one step further and made a whole training video starring Linn himself, demonstrating the various features. While he might look a little like Niles Crane from Frasier, he manages to explain how to use the sampler clearly, from the basics to constructing songs and using MIDI. You needn’t set a night aside with some popcorn to watch this but as a window into the “olden days” of sampling, it’s quite interesting, just to see how far we’ve come in music tech and creation.
Stream each section in full below.
