An endlessly variable drum machine, it’s been an essential tool for producers, integral to hip-hop’s sonic development. It’s been used, less prominently, as a live tool too. But in the last few years, thanks to musicians like Araabmuzik, Divinci, Exile and others, it has become a stand-alone object of fascination.

The MPC 60, the first model, rose from the ashes of the Linn 9000, created by the engineer Roger Linn, who refined that failed model for Akai in the late 1980s. Since then it’s been produced in various iterations by Akai (now owned by Numark), most featuring 16 finger pads, arranged four by four, each set to trigger a different sound. These can be drums, of course, but also samples from records, vocal snippets, sounds drawn from other instruments, or anything else. Typically each machine can hold four different sets of sounds. “I can switch to different programs and different pad banks in the middle of a set,” said the Los Angeles hip-hop producer Exile. “You’ve just got to memorize what pad has what on it.”

The most recent model is the MPC 5000, though many performers still use older ones. Some of the earliest instances of live performance came from D.J.’s who played one alongside their turntables. But most of the performers who play MPCs live honed their craft as producers, making music on their machines out of the public eye. In addition to the latest crop of live stars you can find clips on YouTube of MPC sets by established D.J.’s and producers like DJ Shadow, Jel and RJD2, who sometimes wears his strapped around his neck.

Because the MPC is a hand-played instrument, with the inescapable gaps in sound that necessitates, there’s often a crispness to the style that’s unmistakably of hip-hop’s early days. “The most important thing for me on the MP or on any drum machine is knowing where the silence should fall,” said the psychedelic soul singer Erykah Badu, who regularly incorporates an MPC into her live performances, having learned how to use one from the hip-hop producer J Dilla. “I was used to, as a girl, being encouraged to back away from the equipment. He didn’t do that.” She also plays with the Cannabinoids, a live troupe that uses multiple MPCs during performances.