Akai Force Feature Wishlist (3.1.1)

Favorites: so I can group sounds and have quick access to My most used.

-quicker assignment of knobs to functions(ableton style)
-shift-pad leads to Custom shortcuts to screens/modes
-More interaction via screen as in the holding a Clip shows a contextual menu. This is faster navigation
-tempo Correction with tap tempo to better be able to use live and resync
-tap tempo starts clock after 4 taps. Launch lane waits for this input to start . So I can tap with along with a live drummer en start in at the right tempo and moment.

For me to actually start using my Akai Force in a live situation, I need a very simple feature. A feature that my trusted MPC1000 already had, back in the days.

NEXT SCENE

I want my Force to understand the message "next scene".
And even better, the ability to automate "next scene". For example by telling a scene to loop a limited amount and then play next scene. This is a very common function on many different sequencers and controllers.

this!!!

Marten Meij wrote:For me to actually start using my Akai Force in a live situation, I need a very simple feature. A feature that my trusted MPC1000 already had, back in the days.

NEXT SCENE

I want my Force to understand the message "next scene".
And even better, the ability to automate "next scene". For example by telling a scene to loop a limited amount and then play next scene. This is a very common function on many different sequencers and controllers.

While using my Akai Force to sequence a TR8s Drum machine recently I found a couple of limitations.

I'm sending the midi from a drum track to a midi track which is sent to the device. If I mute the drum track it would be great if the midi was muted too.

It would be nice to have navigation quicklinks that I can program similar to macro's. I currently have 8 Audio Tracks, 1 cv, 1 sidechain trigger, 2 drum drum tracks & 8 midi tracks in my project. At present it is only possible to quickly navigate to the first channel, but there is no easy way to navigate from my audio to midi, or directly to my drum tracks.

It would be awesome if I could map shift + launch N to navigate to a specific place in the software eg.

Shift + Launch 1 - Open the clip launch mode, navigate to x0 y0
Shift + Launch 2 - Open the clip launch mode, navigate to x? y+8
Shift + Launch 3 - Open the clip launch mode, navigate to x10 y?
Shift + Launch 4 - Open my Drum Track
Shift + Launch 5 - Open mixer view, set to effects tab, navigate to submix

(? meaning current location, +/- to add or subtract from the current position)

I can't think of a place I wouldn't want to be able to quickly navigate to, and would want to perform multiple commands so I can choose not only the location & co-ordinates, but the state of the hardware, screen and sub navigation.

If it were only possible to use pad macros, that would be fine and much easier to navigate that what we currently have.

Thanks for your consideration.

After 2 weeks working with the Akai Force I miss:
1. Change track order (so the creative process and the performing don’t interfere) move track 10 to order position 1 etc..
2. Change instrument from a track. Swap a plugin for midi out or a keygroup or a drumpad. Especially when importing ableton you would like to be able to use a instrument.
3. Support VST instruments
4. Be open about the platform so other developers can build plugins to. The hardware music/scenes has always been to small for propriety standards the big successes are the open standards like midi, wav and Vst.

If any of my wishes are already possible let me know

Timing Correction i.e. Audio Quantizing of Audio Clips to project swing, immediately and automatically after recording a clip. Record a guitar part, --> immediately when the clip starts playing, it's in project swing and tightly timed, without having to do anything. Just like what happens with MIDI clips.

Currently, it's almost there, except it isn't because you can't audio-quantize. It's quite fast and easy to record, say, guitar loops to audio clips in the session/launch (not Arrange) mode, it's just that to make them sound tight and nice (with my playing skills), the recorded clips need to be quantized, which requires using the sample editor or slicing, to create a MIDI-based clip like this was some freaking MPC from the 90s. And THEN you can have the timing tightly in the project's swing. It takes several minutes to do, and what could be a real-time live improvisation from scratch, becomes a planned offline process where you prepare all material by careful and precise manual editing.

Correction to the audio quantize idea. Audio quantize kind of is there already, in the Clip Event Editor, where audio Regions can be Time-Corrected. But it's not actually usable, because (1) creating regions is a manual process that takes too long to be practical, and (2) Time-Correction moves the regions around so that it leaves gaps between regions and/or makes regions overlap, which causes clips and snaps.

Part 1: auto-create regions for audio clips, like creating slices in the sample editor, with transient detection

Part 2: make the Time-Corrected regions smooth and click-free.
This can be done at least two different ways, which are not mutually exclusive:
(A) allow overlapping regions to play simultaneously, with fading (like Ableton's "Beats" mode), and
(B) Link Regions together, kind of like slices can be linked, and use Warp to stretch the regions appropriately. This would be like Ableton's "Complex" or "Complex Pro" if you use the Elastique stretching.

So there. Ableton-like audio warp / audio quantize / warp markers, kind of.

Small feature request. When I press and hold SHIFT + LENGTH to set CLIP DEFAULTS / LENGTH (BARS), and I use the data dial wheel, it would be really nice to accept my choice by pushing down the data dial, or some other physical button. I hate it when fingering the touchscreen is the only available option.

Another small thing: musical time based LFOs for the envelope follower. Something that would allow e.g. making your own Pumper effect by controlling a volume fader or filter. Or making a filter change that repeats every 8 bars, without having to create an 8-bar clip.

More LFO's and easier routing to modulate EVERYTHING |

The Grid or Clip Event Editor or whatever it's called should not scroll with the Select Box. It is extremely annoying. Vertical scroll and zoom should be via Q-link knobs only, or maybe some twelve-finger pinch-zoom-wiggle that's not possible to do by accident.

I have done a vertical scroll with the select box at least a hundred times accidentally, and never on purpose, not even once. It is ANNOYING and HARMFUL.

taratoga wrote:In short form: Ableton 11 compatibility...

EXACTLY. I finally got frustrated with the Arranger and went back to Ableton Live with the Force as a controller. There is no function with the Note and STEP SEQUENCER buttons?!? Force becomes a clip launcher in Ableton Live after designing the Push 1?!? I was pissed, so I bought a Push 2. Now I'm back and forth on the two ecosystems depending on the hardware and the day. I def produce more quickly by turning on the Force. To be continued.

44.1k or 48k editing resolution in Clip/Grid please!
A major gripe with editing is the resolution. One of the reasons I went back to Ableton Live for a look was the resolution in the Akai Force of 1/100th a beat. I'd like to be able to dial in and see each individual sample so I can slice at the zero point. Ableton has less resolution than the Force!
The Warp function in the Force doesn't work well.
I went to Live 11, used the Auto Slicer, and it sounds like ReDrum in Reason circa 2001 with less envelope controls! Now I'm pissed.
To edit audio precisely I have to use Audacity or another DAW, which is against the #DAWLESS thing the Akai Force is supposed to solve. I want to record and edit audio perfectly there for loop start stop, not add silence at the beginning and end of the loops! Please increase editing resolution to 44,100 samples per second or 48khz.

I would love a way to set the knobs mode without waiting 3-5 seconds holding down the KNOBS button, but as previously stated I would absolutely love a way to navigate through the system using a macro, and map macros to midi buttons.