Is the MPC X getting the Force "Arranger Mode"?

Seen the Beta video on the Force, looks decent. Anyone with a reliable source know if X users are getting the "Arranger Mode"

Maybe, maybe not.

mpBanga wrote:Seen the Beta video on the Force, looks decent. Anyone with a reliable source know if X users are getting the "Arranger Mode"

There's no way to know for sure. Akai may keep the X/Live/One features separate from Force, or they may not. It's anyone's guess at this point. I'm more interested to know if disc streaming will come to the X/Live/One, myself.

I wanted to ask the same question some days before.
Wasn't there a beta firmware with the merged live/one/x and force functions..?
And I think there was also a video on yt showing the arranger mode on the one, but I cannot find it anymore..

elstebbano wrote:And I think there was also a video on yt showing the arranger mode on the one, but I cannot find it anymore..

Wow - that would have been a gem to keep. I wish people would actually download these YT videos when they're posted.

Akai seem to be a lot less vocal about their plans these days. At one point they seemed to be suggesting that the MPC and Force OS would kind of merge together but they didn't give too many specifics on this.

The arranger for the Force was supposed to be ready March 2019, but here we are 15 months later and it only exists in an unreleased beta that is still flakey. clearly they are having issues getting it to work correctly, so I'm not sure I want to see it anywhere near the MPC atm. I think the question currently is 'Will the Force be getting the arranger mode?'

MPC-Tutor wrote:Akai seem to be a lot less vocal about their plans these days. At one point they seemed to be suggesting that the MPC and Force OS would kind of merge together but they didn't give too many specifics on this.

The arranger for the Force was supposed to be ready March 2019, but here we are 15 months later and it only exists in an unreleased beta that is still flakey. clearly they are having issues getting it to work correctly, so I'm not sure I want to see it anywhere near the MPC atm. I think the question currently is 'Will the Force be getting the arranger mode?'

If Akai implements disc streaming (which many believe it's easy to do but I keep on thinking it's not at all) I would love to have an internal multitrack that records every track inside SSD in real time.

Force users can't even the official arranger mode or the multi midi mode, what a sh*t show.

I was part of the beta for the arranger mode. As a matter of fact, I have kept my Force in the beta firmware. What I can't understand is why it's taking so long to clean up the errors reported and release the arranger to the public. The latest reason given for the delay is because Akai wants the next firmware release to be a "big" one with additional goodies installed. This may have bought Akai some time but most of us in the Force forums are once again growing restless. While we're waiting on a feature that was promised last year for the Force, Akai has the resources and R&D to release a MPC Live II? I just don't get it and it's causing some Akai consumers to have a negative view on the company. But as MPC Tutor said, first the arranger needs to make it's way to the Force. I also believe this is the reason he hasn't created a Force Bible yet.

J-Fly wrote:I was part of the beta for the arranger mode. As a matter of fact, I have kept my Force in the beta firmware. What I can't understand is why it's taking so long to clean up the errors reported and release the arranger to the public. The latest reason given for the delay is because Akai wants the next firmware release to be a "big" one with additional goodies installed. This may have bought Akai some time but most of us in the Force forums are once again growing restless. While we're waiting on a feature that was promised last year for the Force, Akai has the resources and R&D to release a MPC Live II? I just don't get it and it's causing some Akai consumers to have a negative view on the company. But as MPC Tutor said, first the arranger needs to make it's way to the Force. I also believe this is the reason he hasn't created a Force Bible yet.

The moment Arranger Mode officially appears on Force - with a ton of other goodies - is the moment MPC One/Live/X users are going to collectively lose their shit.

Kind of like what happened with Force users when we got 2.8 and the Live 2.

I seems like we just need patience. I think the quality of the automation update and the midi update shows that their coders do know what they are doing, and I think the implementations were pretty professional. Whilst it's frustrating holding onto the prospect of these killer feature promises, and perhaps a downside to agile development cycles, I think we will get many of these new features.

To me, it would make more sense for the MPC and Force to be part of the same ecosystem. The hardware formats are different enough to attract a broad user base, but it's confusing having this separation in OS. Hopefully when v3 eventually comes out, all devices will have a universal operating system. Clearly the Force will be better suited for Ableton, but at the end of the day, the MPC controls Ableton pretty well too. The only question piece is the MPC software.

J-Fly wrote:I was part of the beta for the arranger mode. As a matter of fact, I have kept my Force in the beta firmware. What I can't understand is why it's taking so long to clean up the errors reported and release the arranger to the public. The latest reason given for the delay is because Akai wants the next firmware release to be a "big" one with additional goodies installed. This may have bought Akai some time but most of us in the Force forums are once again growing restless. While we're waiting on a feature that was promised last year for the Force, Akai has the resources and R&D to release a MPC Live II? I just don't get it and it's causing some Akai consumers to have a negative view on the company. But as MPC Tutor said, first the arranger needs to make it's way to the Force. I also believe this is the reason he hasn't created a Force Bible yet.

I don't know if you have any experience with coding. Myself, i have a little expierence with PHP, html, javascript and i manage our companies website via an external programming party. I can tell you, it always takes long, or longer then you expect, and it always costs more money because of adjustments, finetuning, bug resolving or perhaps something needs fundamental changes, etc....

Look at gazillion companies like paypal, ebay, amazon, or perhaps bank/tax company websites. They all have flaws or bugs in their sites. You have any idea how much money is in the r&d of their system? And still, there are bugs. I'm trying to say that regardless of the budget, what is promised and expected, making this just takes a long time. Patience is the key..

Personally, every time akai has a new update, i'm excited to try and check. Sure there are bugs, but we report them and i think everybody deep down knows that they will fix those, seeing the frequently udpates. Tell me any piece of equipment (besides laptop/daw) that gets udated this frequently. I'll wait.

Think we all should be a bit more positive and patient.

Another point I’d add is that in all likelihood the development of the Live mk2 was mostly a hardware and electrical engineering move. Hardware, Electric, and Software are all different engineering disciplines. You cannot necessarily just say “hey Hardware Engineering... go learn how to code in C/C++”. The software effort for the mk2 was likely mostly just adding the new/changed buttons. Heck the speaker switch on the back is likely an electrical component with no software to it.

robleighton22 wrote:I seems like we just need patience. I think the quality of the automation update and the midi update shows that their coders do know what they are doing,

I'm a grown human & I am patient. But like tutor said, its been over a year...
My point is, while just "being patient" is a fine, virtuous thing, hows about:

"Hey Nukai, STOP ADVERTISING PROMISES BEFORE YOU CAN FULFILL THEM. These are eager, over-zealous million/billion dollar corporations keeping consumers on the line for their hard earned dollars, and have us beta testing their sloppy programming.

Its like the announcement screen on the live/x/one:

"Hurry up, I'm waiting"

Stfu, I paid nearly a grand for your buggy a$$.
End rant!!

I think the Force will get this update, but I'm concerned it will be another MPC5000 2.0 type of thing - i.e. after releasing the update they promptly drew a line under the development, not even a quick 2.0.1 bug fix update. I just get the horrible feeling the Force is destined for quiet discontinuation. But I hope not, it's a great concept, just needs some finishing touches.

Akai just confirmed there's no more public beta planned on the Force



But for me, laying off the 'Akai Force Lead Product Specialist', Nick Trakakis, has been the biggest concern. Are they actively promoting the Force at all these days, other than dropping the price by 30%? It's been around a year since they put out any promotional content (other than a short 3.0.4 Ableton Control vid 5 months ago).