Roger Linn is one of the most famous names in music technology. Creator of the LM-1, the first drum machine to use digital samples, he also designed the MPC60 and MPC3000 for Akai.
Linn stopped working with Akai after the company went out of business in 2000, but the electronic instrument division that was spun off from the main brand has continued to produce new instruments in the MPC line that draw on Linn's pioneering designs.
Things have come full circle in a new video posted to Linn's YouTube channel in which he tries out Akai's MPC Live II, one of the most recent products in the MPC family; MPC Live II is a standalone sampler, drum machine and sequencer with built-in monitors and a 7-inch touch display. Linn says he's been in touch with the current incarnation of Akai, and the company offered to send him out an MPC to play with.
In the video, embedded above, Linn walks us through the process of making a track with the MPC, pairing it with the Linnstrument, an MPE-equipped MIDI controller designed by Linn.
He also up his opinion on the instrument, saying that he "likes" the MPC Live II, and that "Akai has done a very good job of honouring the workflow of my original design and bringing it into the present with modern features - and in the process giving computers and DAWs a run for their money."
