It had a democratizing effect on music production, allowing artists to create elaborate tracks without traditional instruments or recording studios.

[1] Grooveboxes, machines that combined these functions, such as those by E-mu Systems, required knowledge of music production and cost up to $10,000.

[2] He disliked reading instruction manuals and wanted to create an intuitive interface that simplified music production.

[2] Linn was critical, saying: "Akai seems to be making slight changes to my old 1986 designs for the original MPC, basically rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

[8] Instead of the switches and small hard buttons of earlier devices, the MPC has a 4x4 grid of large pressure-sensitive rubber pads which can be played similarly to a keyboard.

[1] Linn anticipated that users would sample short sounds, such as individual notes or drum hits, to use as building blocks for compositions.

"[9] The MPC's ability to create percussion from any sound turned sampling into a new art form and allowed for new styles of music.

[10] The rapper Jehst saw it as the next step in the evolution of the hip hop genre after the introduction of the TR-808, TR-909 and DMX drum machines in the 1980s.

[13] After J Dilla's death in 2006, his MPC was preserved in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2014.

[14][15] The rapper Kanye West used the MPC to compose several of his best-known tracks and much of his breakthrough 2004 album The College Dropout.