MPC Electronics

MPC Electronics

Also known as: MPC Electronics Ltd, MPC

Unclaimed

MPC Electronics was a British electronic instrument maker based in Willingham, Cambridgeshire, founded in the early 1980s by Mike Cox and Clive Button. The company is best remembered for the MPC-1 Music Percussion Computer, released in 1983, an eight-pad analog drum synthesizer with an integrated sequencer. The MPC-1's spring-mounted ABS pads could be played by hand or with sticks, and the unit...

more

MPC Electronics was a British electronic instrument maker based in Willingham, Cambridgeshire, founded in the early 1980s by Mike Cox and Clive Button. The company is best remembered for the MPC-1 Music Percussion Computer, released in 1983, an eight-pad analog drum synthesizer with an integrated sequencer. The MPC-1's spring-mounted ABS pads could be played by hand or with sticks, and the unit could interface with a Timex-Sinclair 1000 home computer to display programmed patterns on a TV screen — an unusually forward-looking feature for the era.

The company's first product, released in 1982, was 'The Kit,' a modular analog drum pad system comprising separate voice modules for snare, toms, bass drum, cymbal, and hi-hat, each with its own volume control. Companion pieces included the Synkit, The Tymp, and The Clap. These instruments sit stylistically between the Simmons SDS-series, Roland's early drum synthesizers, and the analog voices of the TR-808 and TR-606.

MPC Electronics was acquired by Akai in 1984, and Akai later applied the 'MPC' initials to the Roger Linn–designed MPC60 sampler — a lineage unrelated to the original Cambridge company's drum synthesizer designs. Original MPC-1 units and Kit modules are now uncommon and are sought after by collectors of early-1980s British electronic gear.

MPC Electronics has 2 products cataloged on Equipboard, including Drum Machines.

Are you on the MPC Electronics team?

  • Be the first to know when an artist is spotted using MPC Electronics gear
  • Curate the MPC Electronics catalog, images, and product details
  • Respond to community photos and reviews of MPC Electronics gear
  • See how MPC Electronics gear is trending on Equipboard