The company developed the MPC from late 1982 and showed a prototype at Frankfurt in February 1983.
Period press
Before the MPC became shorthand.
The contemporary Music Percussion Computer article catches an earlier MPC at the moment when a home computer and an electronic rhythm system could still be presented together as a new kind of instrument.
Read the period article ↗The machine in the record
Mike Coxhead / the player’s problem.
MPC co-founder Mike Coxhead was a guitarist, but wanted to tap an electronic instrument “like a drummer”. The Music Percussion Computer grew from that need: capture a full pattern, then play over it on pads. This is maker-performer history rather than a commercial-record claim.
Read Industry Profile — MPC Electronics ↗More records in the archive
The machine keeps turning up.
Gifted & Blessed / 3 Aspects of ONE
Gifted & Blessed list an MPC Electronics MPC-1 among the instruments used for 3 Aspects of ONE.
Read Gifted & Blessed — 3 Aspects of ONE ↗A British percussion computer
MPC Electronics emerged from the hands of Mike Coxhead and Clive Button, working toward a programmable rhythm instrument at a time when British makers were testing their own routes into electronic percussion.
Prototype to product
Contemporary profiles and reviews follow the machine from a Frankfurt prototype into the 1983 market. The Music Percussion Computer belongs to the busy, inventive gap between preset accompaniment boxes and the larger sampling workstations that followed.
A small maker’s story
The MPC’s historical value comes from the ambition of a compact independent maker. Surviving accounts, advertisements and later histories preserve the instrument as a genuinely British chapter in drum-machine development.
In the market
- August 1983: GBP 875 — Contemporary review price. Review RRP includes interface; ZX81, TV and cassette recorder additional Source ↗
- January 1984: GBP 599 — Contemporary review price. Review closing price; precise bundle and price basis unspecified Source ↗
On record
- Mike Coxhead — MPC development and demonstration. MPC co-founder Mike Coxhead was a guitarist rather than a drummer, but described the appeal of being able to tap an electronic instrument “like a drummer.” The later Music Percussion Computer grew from that player’s problem: capture a full pattern, then perform over it on the pads. Source ↗
- Gifted & Blessed — 3 Aspects of ONE. Gifted & Blessed list an MPC Electronics MPC-1 among the instruments used for 3 Aspects of ONE. Source ↗
Sources
The visual archive
Further visual evidence.
Sources for images shown earlier (2)
- MPC Electronics founders and product ↗
- Gifted & Blessed — 3 Aspects of ONE ↗
2013-06-14 · Gifted & Blessed / release artwork via Bandcamp · Official Bandcamp release-page artwork (Open Graph image)
Additional visual sources (4)
Original publications and related image sources.
- MPC/ZX81 system, interface and Clive Button ↗
August 1983 · Ian Gilby / Electronics & Music Maker, pp.22–24 · E&MM August 1983 pp.22–24; article captions - Play What You Feel — Keyboard advertisement lead ↗
26 April 2012 · Retro Synth Ads · Finding aid attributes advertisement to December 1983 Keyboard - Music Percussion Computer User Manual book linked by designer ↗
Undated document · Archive source · Link in Clive Button design history - Deep Vibrations ↗
Aug 1991 · Music Technology · LFO portrait with a visibly labelled MPC Electronics Music Percussion Computer, also named in the source article’s equipment list.