"my OG drum machine/sampler"

In this article there is a complete description of Butch's studio equipment. The Akai MPC 3000 is a part of it. For more information regarding this product check out the website!

Featured at 1:09 in this video tour of DJ Spinna's studio, released August 5, 2009 on High Water Music's YouTube channel. It was previously mentioned in this June 1, 2001 Remix article.

High Water Music video

Did it on this and then by '98, I graduated to the 3000. And I really haven't stopped using the 3000. This is like, the machine that I think hasn't been topped yet as far as hardware drum machines. Nothing sounds like this... Nothing sounds like the SP-1200, either, but it's, your time is very limited on that, so to me having this was like having a suped-up SP with more time. You could still chop and have the samples cut each other off, like you can on the one output, the single output on the 1200. You get that knock, that punch, y'know what I'm sayin'? Y'know, rest in peace to Dilla, this was his machine as well, the machine he used to rock on, Dr. Dre to my understanding has a quite of few of 'em... and that's how I gets busy. There's a lot o' new things out there in the world that a lot o' cats are gettin' into, y'know, to make their life easier. I'm adjustin' to that as well, but from now on, this will always remain in my studio, man. I'm not getting rid of it. That's what it is right there."

Remix

For bumping beats, DJ Spinna switches back and forth between an E-mu SP-1200 (which samples at a constant rate of 12 bits, 22 kHz) and an Akai MPC 3000 (which samples at a constant rate of 16 bits, 44.1 kHz, or CD quality). “Lately, I've been using the 3000 a lot because of the memory, clarity, and capability it has,” he explains. “When I want it to be on the raw tip, I go back to the SP-1200.”

Used for Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi and The Mirror Conspiracy, as stated by bandmate Eric Hilton in this May 15, 2017 Music Radar interview.

Why did you adopt electronic music rather than just using acoustic instruments?

“It’s the power of the sampler … You can sample sounds like kicks and snares, chop up beats and make your own beats. That’s what gave birth to our music from the very get go. We were using an Akai MPC3000 as our main brain when we made our first two records and a couple of other workstations back then, which were keyboards that had samplers built in. Our music was heavily sample based, and that was exciting, and it’s still exciting to use snippets of things and treat them in a certain way.”

What workstation were you using?

“The Ensoniq ASR-10, which was like our tape machine because it had 270 seconds of mono sampling time. When we recorded a vocal, we would record it onto DAT and bounce pieces of it onto the keys of the ASR-10 and then the Akai would trigger the different keys in a sequence. That’s how we taped, which is kind of incredible – we’d store the vocals on floppy discs. The saddest thing is that my ASR-10 start-up disk is broken.”

(...) Did you combine gear with Rob initially?

“We did. Both of us had limited gear, but together it was enough. I think I only had the ASR-10, a turntable and a bunch of records. Rob had the Akai and I can’t remember what we used for monitors at the beginning; it wasn’t anything special. Eventually we bought a pair of the cheapest Tannoys, which we still use today as our main reference monitors because we know and trust them so well. We set up a studio in a friend’s bedroom and used that for a few weeks and made two songs. We hit it off and really liked working together, so we moved into what was, basically, the liquor room of Eighteenth Street Lounge – a club I’d started with some friends. Then we found a studio space right next to the lounge and rented that out for about ten years.”

Samplers: Akai MPC3000, Akai S3000 (2), Akai S3000XL (2), Akai S6000, Akai X7000, Native Instruments Kontakt soft sampler;

"Usually the MPC was my main part of the studio. I used to do most things on the MPC. "

his mpc can be seen @ 1m37s

He uses mpc 3000 throughout video

In an article by Attack Magazine, Fred Everything discusses using the Akai MPC 3000 as part of his music production setup.

"What piece of hardware or software elevated your production to a higher level and how? MPC 60 in 1990, then the MPC 3000 in 1995."

in this video we can see this artist making beats with akai mpc3000...artist say:Making some beats #mpc3000..

?SYNTHS: What’s your most prized possession in the studio? Shawn Rudiman: Hmm, that’s a tough call. All of the kids are loved equally but if I’d say the MPC 3000. He’s on every single time I’m in the studio. To me, it’s as good as its ever going to get. Also, add the Prophet VS, The 440, Sequential Circuits Pro-One and Oberheim Xpander to that list as well.