Researching a book on the MPC60 - Thoughts?

just a thought...
since you are going at this independently i.e. money, time, and resources being major restraints, and also the the mpc is SOOO intertwined with the original LINN products, AND seeing that roger Linn really seems like a cool cat, why not do a "semi" biography type book about roger linn breaking down the book into 3 parts, Pre MPC, MPC and Post mpc... the gradual evolution of the MPC into what it became.. a legendary piece of equipment designed by a TRUE LEGEND!

i think this would benefit you the most because you'd have much more involvement on many scales especially from the man himself, which would really appeal to a MUCH wider audience...

for example, you could include also sessions he had with producers/ musicians and some follow ups with the stars themselves. also he could probably set you up in a meeting with some of the original players that were involved, and record there interactions as they reminisce... you'd have the chance to really create the atmosphere and cpature it for the public.

after reading the other topic with contributions from Mike Mcroberts, it's THESE interactions that will give you that special element to all the die hard fans and real users alike.

the truth is there really is sOO much info out there about AKAIs legacy products, i'd rather here about the process that went into making the akai legacy series from the God who planted the seed himself...

bottom line, i think a Roger Linn biography would be the shizznit

viacom wrote:i have the 88 issue of keyboard mag with the review of the 60.. there are no ads for the 60 though.

Appreciate your suggestions. I could use a PDF of that Keyboard Magazine review if is isn't posted for all to see. Can't find OG reviews online as it was pre internet days and no one appears to have posted. Reviews of the 60II also hard to find online, the SOS one is not on the site...

[email protected]

LOGOS wrote:after reading the other topic with contributions from Mike Mcroberts, it's THESE interactions that will give you that special element to all the die hard fans and real users alike...the truth is there really is sOO much info out there about AKAIs legacy products, i'd rather here about the process that went into making the akai legacy series from the God who planted the seed himself...bottom line, i think a Roger Linn biography would be the shizznit

There is a lot of info out there about the MPC60, ASQ-10 and the MPC3000 but not presented in a way that tells the story in a comprehensive and sequential manner. One of the aims here is to pull all the disparate information together cohesively and celebrate these iconic instruments from the perspective of an enthusiast, owner, users, potential buyers, and anyone else who want to know more about the machines.

There needs to be interest, style, and balance in the content, so that there is something for each of these groups. A Roger Linn biography wouldn't interest me, nor would pages of schematics or super-producer interviews. But the book is not for me, but for people who share my interest in the Akai/ Linn partnership products which is why this thread exists to see what y'all would like to see.

clint246clint wrote:There needs to be interest, style, and balance in the content, so that there is something for each of these groups. A Roger Linn biography wouldn't interest me, nor would pages of schematics or super-producer interviews. But the book is not for me, but for people who share my interest in the Akai/ Linn partnership products which is why this thread exists to see what y'all would like to see.

On point!

Hi, I'm a first-time poster, this looked really interesting, so I signed up to the board...

I know a couple of guys who do books... one who has interviewed a lot of hip-hop guys and another who does self-published stuff...

I asked them some questions about this kind of thing, and a couple things you might be interested in came up:

1. The best way to self publish at the moment apparently is on https://www.createspace.com
which is owned by Amazon. It hardly costs anything to sign up and you get a pretty good amount on each book (eg. 3-4 dollars royalty on every 10-12 dollar book).
But the best thing is they do print-on-demand, so there is no big start-up cost... you don't need to print up like 1,000 or whatever, they just print it out and ship it when someone wants one. The quality is very good, I've seen several examples of long and short books done through them. As long as you get good cover art work, they come out looking as good as "regular" books.

2. It's pretty easy to get hold of some hip-hop producers to do interviews (you generally don't pay to do interviews, they do it as publicity from your book... and most will do phone interviews or over email, so it's not expensive).
A lot of the classic guys can be reached through their record labels or publicists or there are dope underground guys like Ugly Duckling's Einstein and people like that who are "known" but aren't so famous that they'd be hard to pin down.

I personally think a big draw of the SP-1200 book is the interviews... I definitely paid attention to it because of the interviews with Buckwild, J-Zone, Lord Finesse, Showbiz, etc. and if it didn't have that, I probably wouldn't have tried to track it down. Names like that definitely would widen the audience, I think, and people such as those guys (rather than Dr. Dre, etc.) would be easier to try to get hold of for interviews.
Some more unknown producers would be cool too, but it would help if you had at least 3-4 names heads recognize.

I don't know if you saw the book "Making Beats" by Joe Schloss, but he had a mix of unknown producers and then he managed to Prince Paul and a couple of others as well, and that made the book a bit more legit, to me.

This blog put up the entire Buckwild interview, by the way, from the SP-1200 book, so you can check it out -
http://claaa7.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/bu ... p1200.html

I think they could have asked some more specific questions about the SP, but it's still very interesting in my opinion, as you don't normally get ANY specific SP questions, so props to the guys who put that together.

Anyway, good luck with the book man, it's an excellent idea, and I'd love to see it completed... if there's anything you want to ask the of couple of authors I know about the whole book process, let me know and I'll ask the guys I know if they have any insights...

Thanks for the info Jimminy, I appreciate you signing up to chime in.

I have decided to put a green light on the project, simply because there is no equivalent to the SP1200 book for MPC60'ists. As an amateur 'author' doing this in my spare time, it will be a labour of love and an eventful learning experience for sure. I only hope I can do a good job in pulling the relevant info together in a coherant and interesting structure. Research and planning is underway, and I shall be monitoring this thread throughout the process for ideas and suggestions.

JimminySnicket wrote:I don't know if you saw the book "Making Beats" by Joe Schloss, but he had a mix of unknown producers and then he managed to Prince Paul and a couple of others as well, and that made the book a bit more legit, to me.

I have the book, its a good read which I've yet to finish. Also still to peep the SP1200 book and a few others.

Clint

Oh, just thought, a book that has a quite a lot of info as well is the "Beat Tips Manual"

It has an interview with DJ Premier and a lot of others in there and they really get into gear, he asks a lot about the MPC, etc.

You used to be able to get it on amazon, and I think you can still get it there second hand (I got the 4th edition from amazon).

The latest 5th edition, with a new interview with Marley Marl, is at the guy's site, though only seems like you can get it as a pdf now...
http://www.beattips.com/store/

Probably has some good info to quote and use in your book...

Know of any third-party drum libraries created for the MPC60 past or present? These would have been created on floppy discs. I have a small floppy disc library created by MIDIMARK, I'd be interested to hear what else is/was available.

There was a Bob Clearmountain sample library made specifically for the MPC60 on DD floppies. They say volume one on them so my guess is there was also a volume two.

Yes, I see that you tried to share these with the community recently which is commendable on your part, however your thread was reported resulting in one of the mods (not me) removing your thread. I do wish there was a place where these very old, no longer available floppy images could be shared. Obviously this isnt the place, but there are other ways to share.

Your images dont show because they are not hosted on a suitable image-hosting site (photobucket, flickr, imageshack), I"m not sure postimage is suitable for this forum. However I am able to see the photo you've posted here and previous attempts. I recommend photobucket which I use and can upload photos quickly using their iphone app.

that thread probably got flagged because of all the piracy banter around the forums lately... O.o

It really looks like there is huge potential for this mpc60 book when you read all these suggestions and things. I think this is gonna be great.

I removed that topic - while the MPC60 disks themselves may not be sold anymore, Bob Clearmountain samples are copyrighted, and I don't allow distribution of copyrighted works here unless there's permission from the copyright holder, that's a rule that we've had since day one, so no change there. I've already spoken to Ottomatic about this, no biggie.

Just to put some perspective, our ad network was temporarily suspended a few months back as they picked up on a topic that had some file sharing stuff going on and now we're basically on our last 'strike', so beyond the obvious legal issues, there's a direct financial impact on the forums if we're deemed a file sharing forum.

Anyway, back on topic...

Yes back on topic..thanks for clearing that up.

mr_debauch wrote:It really looks like there is huge potential for this mpc60 book when you read all these suggestions and things. I think this is gonna be great.

A lot of info is out there, but not posted online. Because the MPC60 was released long before the Internet era, a lot of the hype, marketing, reviews and associated stuff is proving hard to track down as it would only have been in the music technology media of the time. But so far I have a few hidden gems, thanks to a those people who have contacted me.

I think a lot of old muso's (50-65) have this sort of stuff packed away in their attics or basements. I was still at school when the MPC came out, music was the last thing on my mind...

I am particularly keen to locate the MPC60II review from Sound on Sound magazine in November 1991, sadly its not on their website. I may have to contact the author directly, unless one of you old farts has it?

If you have any relevant info on the Roger Linn/Akai products, PM or email me [email protected]. Still searching for/ collecting information at this stage.

It's still early days

MPC-Tutor wrote:I removed that topic - while the MPC60 disks themselves may not be sold anymore, Bob Clearmountain samples are copyrighted, and I don't allow distribution of copyrighted works here unless there's permission from the copyright holder, that's a rule that we've had since day one, so no change there. I've already spoken to Ottomatic about this, no biggie.

Just to put some perspective, our ad network was temporarily suspended a few months back as they picked up on a topic that had some file sharing stuff going on and now we're basically on our last 'strike', so beyond the obvious legal issues, there's a direct financial impact on the forums if we're deemed a file sharing forum.

Anyway, back on topic...

oh okay.. sorry about that .. I hope me posting a link for the 2000xl vol. 1 disk wasn't an issue... im not sure where that disk stands..

anyways... back on topic.

Not sure if anyone has posted this, but you could have pics of the upgrades for scsi and memory.

I have 2 different versions of the memory card and 2 different versions of the scsi card if u need pics

Also info on backlight inverters, and backlights.. Various repair tips etc.

A complete rundown of the OS versions released sequentially.