By Corrado
Tue Aug 11, 2026 2:29 pm
Hi everyone,
I recently updated my Akai Force from the old v3.2 to the latest v3.9.1. While I appreciate the workflow improvements in some areas, this update has introduced some very serious MIDI bugs that I cannot understand how Akai hasn't fixed yet.
Here are the main issues I've encountered:
-Clip Program Change is broken: If you go into a MIDI Clip’s settings and change the Program Change number, it simply does nothing upon launch. The external synth does not change patches. This is a critical feature for anyone performing live and using the Force to control external hardware.
-Missing MIDI Out Channel Selection: In the MIDI track settings, it is no longer possible to select the MIDI Out Channel directly, which makes no sense for a dedicated MIDI track.
To test things out, I attempted a downgrade to firmware v3.5, and both MIDI functions worked properly again. This means Akai has been dragging these bugged implementations across multiple firmware iterations. How is it possible that no one has raised enough noise about this? As it stands, the Force becomes almost unusable for live performances or as a central MIDI brain for external synths.
To make matters worse, projects saved in v3.9.1 are not backward compatible with v3.5. So now I’m stuck on v3.9.1 with my updated project, hoping Akai wakes up and fixes this ASAP.
Is anyone else experiencing the exact same issues with Clip PC messages on 3.9.1, or found a clean workaround without having to resort to writing raw MIDI events in every clip?
Thanks!
I recently updated my Akai Force from the old v3.2 to the latest v3.9.1. While I appreciate the workflow improvements in some areas, this update has introduced some very serious MIDI bugs that I cannot understand how Akai hasn't fixed yet.
Here are the main issues I've encountered:
-Clip Program Change is broken: If you go into a MIDI Clip’s settings and change the Program Change number, it simply does nothing upon launch. The external synth does not change patches. This is a critical feature for anyone performing live and using the Force to control external hardware.
-Missing MIDI Out Channel Selection: In the MIDI track settings, it is no longer possible to select the MIDI Out Channel directly, which makes no sense for a dedicated MIDI track.
To test things out, I attempted a downgrade to firmware v3.5, and both MIDI functions worked properly again. This means Akai has been dragging these bugged implementations across multiple firmware iterations. How is it possible that no one has raised enough noise about this? As it stands, the Force becomes almost unusable for live performances or as a central MIDI brain for external synths.
To make matters worse, projects saved in v3.9.1 are not backward compatible with v3.5. So now I’m stuck on v3.9.1 with my updated project, hoping Akai wakes up and fixes this ASAP.
Is anyone else experiencing the exact same issues with Clip PC messages on 3.9.1, or found a clean workaround without having to resort to writing raw MIDI events in every clip?
Thanks!