eBay of the Day: MPC-1 Drum Computer

I had one of these for a while. Sounded like a typical analog cheese-box - in other words, great. But I wouldn't describe the pads as playable. You really need to hit them with a claw hammer to provoke any response at all. So, buy this as a triggered sound source but don't expect to do tricky solos on it.
 

Rough translation: "I'm selling the music percussion computer mpc-1. Mounted in a flightcase. With pads and internal sequencer. Absolute cult. In the past, this device could be seen on stage with Depeche Mode [This is ambiguous, it sounds like he means exactly this device, but it could also mean that kind of device.]. Collectors item. Suitable for techno, acid, ambient, electro, ... . Check 'keyboards - love the machines' for details! One voice doesn't work. No output signal. The drumcomputer comes with interfaces and some cables and stuff. Don't know what it's for. It's sold as used without guarantee. Check my other auctions. You'll find lots of analogue stuff there."
 

I've still got onehere in the UK - if anyone's after one ;-)
 

I have one of these, although it belongs to a friend that I haven't seen in years (don't lend me anything). When they first came out they retailed for about £600, but they had no midi facility and used a ZX81 for programming. Consequently the price dropped to about £150, and my friend bought one, so I bought a ZX81 and 16kb rampack for £1 from a boot sale and there started one of the most frustrating set-ups I have ever been involved with. No component was at any time reliable, but the MPC on its own sounded quite good - and each drum had its own output channel/jack. There's a review in Electronic Soundmaker & Computer Music, March 1984.
 

I bought one way back in 1986 from a used music store. it was damn near useless for what i wanted.but get this the selling point was he claimed KRAFTWERK once owned this unit. i laughed a bit. who knows.i don't.anyways the damn thing started to get to limited for me and girlfriend so we traded up to a TR-909.looking back i think i paid the guy $150.00 for it.ha ha ha. the TR909 was only $50.00.
 

You got everything correct in your brief on the machine apart from the no relation to Linn's MPC-60 part because MPC electronics was sold off to Akai back in the mid 80's with the view to developing the pad based drum machine. So although the Music Percussion Computer & MIDI Production Computer are not brother and sister the MPC-1 could be seen as the ancestor that spawned to some extent the idea of the MPC-60.

If you want to hear the sound of one of these beast's then you can check out my video demo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I1nvJBgXgY