Library Instrument
Akai MPC60
1988 integrated sampler, drum machine, and MIDI sequencer designed by Roger Linn for Akai, foundational to hip-hop production.
Released in 1988, the MPC60 combined a 12-bit sampler, drum machine, and real-time/step MIDI sequencer in one unit, designed by Roger Linn after Linn Electronics went bankrupt and manufactured by Akai. Its 4x4 grid of velocity-sensitive pads, inherited from Linn’s earlier drum machines, became the template for sample-based production hardware and made the MPC line foundational to hip-hop and sample-based music.