High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Akai MPCs (originally MIDI Production Center, now Music Production Center) are a popular series of electronic musical instruments originally designed by Roger Linn and produced by the Japanese company Akai from 1988 onward. Intended to function as a powerful kind of drum machine, the MPCs drew on design ideas from machines such as the Sequential Circuits Inc. Studio 440 and the Linn`s own Linn 9000, combining a powerful MIDI sequencer with the ability to sample one`s own sounds. Later models feature increasingly powerful sampling, storage, interfacing and sound manipulation facilities, which broaden the use of instrument beyond just drum and rhythm tracks.