
AKAI MPC 3000 sampler/sequencer drum machine - omnibrain
https://audiojive.com/akai-mpc-3000/
======
TheOtherHobbes
The original sampling drum machine was created by Roger Nichols in 1978 for
now-somewhat-forgotten 70s band Steely Dan. It was called "Wendel" and it
received its own platinum record.

The Steely Dan people were notoriously obsessive about drum timing, which was
a bad thing to be when all you had were human drummers.

So when they said "It's a shame we can't build a machine to move the drum
parts back and forward by milliseconds" Nichols said "I can do that if you
give me $150,000." It took him a few weeks.

It was an S100 system connected to a video-grade DAC/ADC sampling at 12-bits
and 125kHz - which was incredible tech for the late 70s.

He also built a commercial Rubidium atomic clock for use as a digital timebase
in recording studios. (Because why not?)

~~~
hellofunk
> now-somewhat-forgotten 70s band Steely Dan.

That's a well-known classic band and I don't think they are nearly forgotten,
as you say.

~~~
samplatt
Just because they're not required-classic-pop-learning for kids these days
doesn't mean much.

 _Do It Again_ gets radio airtime to this day.

~~~
snarfy
While I was teaching myself electronics over the course of a year or so, I
would listen to the classic rock station as background music. After about a
month of listening I noticed I could tell which song would come next. Their
playlist was about 48 hours. There are only so many classic rock hits after
all. When _Do It Again_ would play, it felt like that was the start of the
playlist.

------
SonOfLilit
After deliberating for a very long time, I ended up buying a Maschine and not
an MPC. I thought the standalone nature of the MPC would be great for getting
me out of the "engineering" mindset and into the "playing an instrument"
mindset. The Maschine does that, because you can (and should) work with your
computer screen turned off. It's not any less portable because (most) MPCs
don't work on batteries and laptops are pretty easy to carry around these
days. And it lets you perform the "MPC way" (finger drumming, sample chopping)
as well as a more traditional way (play notes and chords on synths and edit
them live). Playing on its pads like a melodic keyboard is very inspiring for
me - there's no priviledged scale or distance like on keyboards, it's all by
ear and feel and it helps me be a lot more creative with my melodies.

Anyone into electronic music should have one in my opinion.

~~~
lostgame
I had the opposite experience! I had a 3000, sold it for Maschine and MPK49,
then just could not stand the Maschine's inability to perform live without a
computer.

Despite my MacBook's great specs, I would literally experience software issues
involving a crash during a performance 1/5 times to the point where my
bandmates said they'd _help me buy_ the 3000 back. Based on what I've heard
from other touring electronic bands, there's a lot of the same. Which makes
all the sense in the world, as we're literally talking about a dedicated piece
of hardware with integrated firmware, vs. a VST, in a DAW, on an Operating
System. That's three levels of abstraction.

~~~
albertkawmi
We went through the laptop pain as well. In our case an MPC 1000 was
sufficient for us for playing back samples and keeping hardware synths in
sync.

------
S_A_P
I’ve owned an mpc 3000, as well as the mpc-60 and sp-1200. I still own an
sp-1200. Why?

I loved the mpc 3k. For it’s time it was great. It held a ton of samples,
sounded great and was a great “dawless” way to make music.

I still own an sp-1200 because it is so limited and causes happy accidents
often. I have no interest in using an old slow computer to make music. That
time is long gone. I can use any number of DAWs to record and sequence
anything I want in a manner that is way more complex than any mpc or drum
machine can do. The sp-1200 has a sound and quirkiness that for now I don’t
want to live without.

As an aside, I emailed Roger Linn after purchasing an upgrade for my MPC 60.
After the 3000 was introduced, Akai went bankrupt and was purchased by
InMusic. They promptly told Mr Linn to ____ right off and they will not pay
him royalties for the 60/3k anymore. I completely understand that he is
definitely salty about that. (In fact I have had a similar circumstance with
some software I wrote). I think Roger has been working on a successor to the
linndrum and mpc series (and no not the Linn/Dave smith tempest) that is a
vision of where he wants to see drum machines go.

The mpc series was great and helped create a few genres of music. I think the
time is here for the next paradigm shift.

Edit.. Hate to be pessimistic here, but this entire article seems to be
written solely to inflate the price of these things... They are relatively
plentiful, theyre generally reliable, and I bought and sold the MPC 3000 I had
2 years ago for between 1000-1500 bucks.

There is a trend as of late on Reverb/eBay to push the nostalgia and drive
'vintage' gear prices into the stratosphere. Gearheads beware- this is a
bubble in the making...

~~~
krallja
The vintage gear bubble is happening in other realms, too: Commodore 64s and
Apple IIs regularly sell for $300+ – triple what they would have sold for ten
years ago – while you can still get an Atari 800XL for $129.

------
sixdimensional
I’ve been thinking for a long time that there is still a lot of opportunity
for instruments like this - with a custom device OS, purpose built for music
making, lots of I/O, good hardware interface. I wish music hardware
manufacturers would just add an HDMI or display out on their devices, and then
perhaps we could have a lot more screen real estate without needing a
computer.

Considering the number of times that desktop OS upgrades, desktop hardware
problems, etc. have impacted using PC or Mac based DAWs, I don’t understand
why manufacturers aren’t going more aggressively after specialized music
devices (other than the cost).

The new Akai MPC One or MPC X are pretty close to what I mean, but if they had
just added a monitor output... even via USB, so one could get a larger screen
experience...

~~~
chrisjs96
I've made a comment about this on hacker news before. It's only a Mac thing.
You can install a 15 year old DAW on Windows still to this day. You can't
install something from 3 years ago on Mac.

That being said I use an Akai MPC Live and a Roland Fantom because I've been
burned by OS and VST's. I only use a computer to arrange and finish the audio.
It's also a better workflow for software developers because your not staring a
computer screen to do music, which works for me. If you want a cheaper setup a
MPC One and something like Yamaha Modx works fine too.

~~~
lostgame
Ehh, this has mainly only been true since Catalina dropped 32 bit support.
Although I still run a quad core G5 with 16GB RAM and 2x1TB SSDs to run Logic
Pro 9 and a legacy version of Pro Tools I have a license to, amongst tons of
PPC only VSTs.

However, the dropping of 32-bit support was low, inexcusable, and just an
overall dick move to the hardcore audio enthusiasts more than any other single
demographic of MacOS users. What a backhanded move to a demographic they
diligently worked so hard for years to retain and create a user base for.

I've been using Apple products for about 16 years. More or less, due to
sticking with Mojave, other than a few things I prefer on my G5, I can use
those same tools today. The disappointing thing is since Catalina, alone;
that's no longer the case.

Pre-Catalina, I could state by experience your statement would be
unequivocally untrue. Catalina _needlessly_ makes me have to reconsider using
the MacOS platform. For shame. Even if you're transitioning to ARM, there is
no need to pointlessly deprecate what already works in the meantime. Just drop
32 bit support for ARM. Come on, guys. You're making a dedicated user of 15
years lose her faith, here. :/

You have taken a platform with an already limited amount of software and
willingly decreased the amount of available software _significantly_ with what
you have called an upgrade. I can't possibly understand.

~~~
chrisjs96
It's not a Catalina thing. How long have you done music on Mac? Went through
this with Snow leopard. Then with Mountain Lion. I can't install Rapture,
Dimension Pro or Z3ta from Cakewalk after Mountain lion. Again Windows 10 just
fine. Mac is a horrible platform for music and if I didn't do mobile
development I would drop it in 5 seconds. Mac has literally become a joke in
the computer music community.

------
cheez
People underestimate the impact that domain-specific nerds have on society.

Drum/sampling machines are an example. A simple tool, created by tech hackers,
put in the hands of a sound hacker, created an entire genre of music.

Remind me again why we don't listen to the young people...

~~~
racl101
This post seems kinda defensive.

Who says we don't listen to young people? We listen to their music and their
art and they're thoughts on how to use these devices. Dr. Dre used to use one
of these in his music in the early days with great success. He made gourmet
meals out of it. Many people listened to his thoughts on the MPC 3000 when he
was young cause, clearly, he mastered the use of it.

But then when it comes to the engineering of the device in the first place we
listen to the old guys who built it. Cause that's usually who builds these
things. Expert engineers, who busted their asses in school to understand the
science to create these things.

Anyone who's rational listens to other people regardless of their age,
depending on the domain of knowledge. The point is that we listen to people
who have proven themselves in a certain domain.

So, just cause I'm young, don't listen to me about car repairs and or car
maintenance. I know jack shit about it. My track record with cars has been
awful.

~~~
cheez
You said it yourself. It's a combination. No one said "listen exclusively to
young people" or "listen exclusively to old people".

------
mastazi
I’m currently saving towards an MPC One. I’m glad that Akai went back to
making stand-alone MPCs (previously they had switched from stand-alone
instruments to models that had to be used while connected to a laptop). I
can’t put my finger on why, but making music on a general purpose device like
a laptop is just not as enjoyable as with a single purpose device like a
stand-alone groovebox or synth.

~~~
saddammonero
Probably there is some very minimal latency when using a USB midi device to
trigger sounds on a laptop that takes away from the feel of playing a live
instrument.

~~~
grugagag
I think it’s not wanting to mess with a laptop while under ‘creative
influences’. A standalone device is usually easy to master, the buttons create
a limited mental map that can be learned and not given a second thought. On a
laptop the enormous possibilities are oftentimes a distraction and the process
is less constrained. You probably heard the ‘Less is more’ adage. That is
particularly true for the creative process where constraints force the
creative process to be more fruitful.

Second, the hardware is usually more responsive

------
Zenst
Bit late in my time and first drum machine I had was the Roland TR707
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_TR-707](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_TR-707)
Then got a Yamaha RX11 and nice video here
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIwetbScAtw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIwetbScAtw)

Though at that time, people was all drolling over the Linn 9000 marketing, a
machine late to market and took even longer to get all the bugs out - never
got to play with one, my music era faded away by then. Shame as went from the
top to nothing and the Linn Drum kinda pioneered the market
[https://youtu.be/pWfCYgRW_6k](https://youtu.be/pWfCYgRW_6k) Those Tom drums
and other sounds, will sound familiar to so many people of many decades and
music styles.

As for best drum machine - really gets down to how you define that, more so
what style of music you view it from and era.

though the TR707 for programming, great interface and one that holds over time
for ease of use and results.

~~~
acomjean
Those old Roland TR-models have a very distinctive set of sounds. They’re not
realistic but I still here them when listening to music sometimes.

I didn’t have one but there was a virtual tr808 which mimicked the hardware
interface and sounds. The interface was very good( though turning nobs with a
mouse was a pain). Sometimes I longed for a more computer like interface.

~~~
Zenst
Those old Roland sounds cut their teeth at a time of much change in the 80's
and the birth of many styles that prevail today. They became cult sounds in
themselves, same with many syths and even today some old syths are still in
demand so much and so scarce that replica's have started to go mainstream with
the likes of [https://www.behringer.com/](https://www.behringer.com/) showing
how big a demand there is.

>Sometimes I longed for a more computer like interface. As well as the TR707,
had a Yamaha CX5M - poor persons DX5 synth. Probably one of the first
dedicated computers for music making - consumer wise as not going to even
count the Fairlight that was £50k+ back at the same time.

But was always fun when you can listen to a song, know what equipment is being
used - and groan as you hear the same presents.

You can get external interfaces that you can map onto virtual kit. Sliders,
knobs, buttons. Though an many external music keyboards with extra controls,
so with some key binding - the pain can be removed.

------
robin_reala
For people that don’t have the cash, but do have an iPad, AKAI publish the
iMPC: [https://www.akaipro.com/impc](https://www.akaipro.com/impc)

~~~
Roboprog
Thanks.

How does iMPC compare to something like BeatMaker?

Such as: use of AUs and external MIDI, sequences/scenes/patterns with
different tempos or time signatures?

The bit on the App Store video to grab and move a chunk of a pattern looks
handy.

------
inetsee
Hydrogen software drum machine
[https://sourceforge.net/projects/hydrogen/](https://sourceforge.net/projects/hydrogen/)
for those of us who don't have an extra $3000+ lying around.

------
growlist
I had an Akai MPC 1000. Absolutely true what they say about the workflow -
once you start to learn the thing it's crazy how quickly you can get things
down. A computer DAW just didn't compare for me purely in terms of speed for
quick arrangements. And the timing is fantastic. Everything just feels so
tight. There's also the fact that it's not a computer - when you work with
computers all day sometimes the last thing you want to do is stare at a screen
for hours more.

------
moth-fuzz
My personal experience with hardware devices seem to be the opposite of most
people's experiences. So many people buy a lot of hardware that does the same
thing as (or less than) a computer simply to not use a computer at all costs -
and cost it does! I spent a good chunk of money on a 2000xl expecting a
radically different workflow, a paradigm shift, a more 'jammable' music-making
experience, and I found that it was the exact same architecturally as working
on the computer (or maschine if I want a tactile interface) except 10x slower
technically and 40x slower mentally. Nothing was radically different, it was
the same beats and bars as I was used to, except it was slower and less
capable from a technical standpoint. I get that hardware works for many but
for me it's just not so.

All that said I admire the 3000 for its sound capabilities - if they weren't
so expensive I'd buy one just to resample masters into. But I guess that's
what 'vintage' emulation plugins are for. And of course there's the historical
pedigree - enabling the invention of genres and all that.

~~~
metalgearsolid3
I own an MPC60 and IMO all the magic in it is with its workflow. To get one
just for the sound should disappoint. However it's a nice bonus to be able to
use its shitty pre amp as a distortion fx for my other gear.

------
tomphoolery
I never owned an MPC but I own a Tempest drum machine, which Roger Linn
designed the interface for. It's probably the most capable drum machine ever
made, if you have the time to figure it all out. I've owned it for years and
I'm still discovering new features.

I do own a Maschine, and it's pretty much all I could ever ask for from an
MPC. Except I wish I could pitch shift different slices.

------
panpanna
Back in the days buying an Akai sampler and upgrading its memory was the
second fastest way an artist could spend their first check.

------
igotsideas
This was my favorite MPC out of all of them I owed/used. I loved the way my
drums/samples sounded vs the 1000/2500 family I had later on. I had to sell it
cause our condo at the time was too small for all my equipment. It made me
really happy to see this on HN.

~~~
jdmoreira
I have the 1K with JJOS. Would you recommend me to try and buy the 3K?

------
notRobot
The article mentions Roger Linn, and you can learn more about his legendary
LM-1 here: [https://youtu.be/qesonxgLv-8](https://youtu.be/qesonxgLv-8)

One of Linn's latest releases is the LinnStrument, which is absolutely
fascinating to see in action:
[https://youtu.be/l4ACZflVPPY](https://youtu.be/l4ACZflVPPY) and
[https://youtu.be/pdCviCegOLc](https://youtu.be/pdCviCegOLc) and
[https://youtu.be/px0Id-fVD9M](https://youtu.be/px0Id-fVD9M)

------
8bitsrule
When I learned that DJ Shadow made his classic'Endtroducing' on the model-60,
I was astonished. There's no better proof that great music does not require
splashy gear, 'just' determination and soul. A lot of the best EM ever was
made in that era. Simple is good, since nothing will kill an inspiration like
tech manuals and a thousand settings to remember.

I wouldn't sneeze away a 2000 either, can also be expanded to 32MB. Possibly a
better deal.
[https://www.akaipro.com/mpc2000xl](https://www.akaipro.com/mpc2000xl)

------
arrakeen
for those interested in an MPC setup but don't want to shell out $$$ for the
mostly-outdated MPC3K, take a look at picking up an MPC1000. it can still be
found for reasonable prices and has many upgrades you can install should you
desire (JJOS and HD mod highly recommended)

~~~
metalgearsolid3
I personally believe the 1000 is the last MPC built that's worth having. And
fortunately it's one of the most affordable.

------
grawprog
I have to say, I always wondered what the Linn drum sample packs were that
seem to come with most free drum machines or open source audio software packs.

~~~
parenthesis
Here is a Linn drum machine taken apart:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdud_iisj1E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdud_iisj1E)

------
rmelhem
j dilla saved my life

