Akai Force Forum: Everything relating to the Akai Force, the new 64 pad, clip-based standalone sampler/groovebox from Akai. While not an MPC, it shares many similar software features to the MPC X/MPC Live including the same underlying code-base.
By tomatoattack Thu Jun 23, 2022 7:03 am
I don't understand how come no one is talking about this? I just stumped onto this.

Amazing content and new FM synth. Id' like to buy and run this on force ASAP. Hopefully they will be porting this to force.

https://www.thempcstore.com/mpc-plugin-instruments/

Check demos and AIR OP X4 synth. ?!?!
Last edited by tomatoattack on Thu Jun 23, 2022 7:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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By 64hz Thu Jun 23, 2022 8:10 am
Because at some point it will come to the force. Akai seems to space out updates between these two products to have maximum coverage in media.

I’m not to worried and it will come giving time. Even if it doesn’t I bought the force for what it does now and not for what might come.
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By HanHuman Thu Jun 23, 2022 1:09 pm
Yea the demo button sends you the the 2.11 update page. My guess is that the demo will be integrated in the free update, as a free light version vs the premium paid version. Just a guess, we'll see soon enough.
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By Koekepan Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:57 pm
I must admit that on the one hand it would be cool, on the other hand I have four Volca FMs with the unofficial update that provides velocity sensitivity. If I want FM, I'm pretty much hooked up.

In fact, depending on the price of plugins, the Volca path may actually be the smart buy.

I'm also a bit puzzled about them excluding the SDcard slog on the MPC Key 61, but what do I know?
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By Koekepan Sun Jun 26, 2022 4:48 am
True, true.

I just think of it as a convenience, because I have multiple other devices that use an SDcard so it becomes a natural way of transferring files. It's like combo input jacks; not a requirement, but they sure don't hurt.
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By Koekepan Sun Jun 26, 2022 11:15 pm
I'm not too worried about that. The Force has been gaining followers (and its price has been rising again) showing that it's a whole new beast compared to what it used to be. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a Force 2 in a few years. Akai has a winner here and they know it.
By sfgreenwood Mon Jun 27, 2022 4:32 pm
Tangentially, has anyone tried installing the standalone apps from Synth Content Manager on the Force yet? I assume it's the same app for the standalone machines as it is for MPC Studio II, and there are two options for the builtin synths, plugin and standalone. I thought 'oh great, we're getting the VST versions of Odyssey etc', but the standalone links actually download the MPC instruments.
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By dnkygirl Mon Jun 27, 2022 5:03 pm
It wasn’t a shocker to me personally. If your running an iPad setup you can tap into fm synth that way with the force. There’s a synth called fm4 available that’s way cheaper than those new akai sounds. If your into hardware the asm hydra is balls out the best fm I have used. There’s a lot of fm based stuff available and it was just not that exciting to me.
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By Koekepan Tue Jun 28, 2022 4:17 pm
I must admit that I find myself very puzzled by the people who complain about the sound design capabilities on the Force, as well as on the new MPCs.

Aside from all the possibilities of sampling, the engines that Akai Professional gives us for free, either original or with updates, have huge potential. If you're willing to roll up your sleeves and engage your brain, you can get very far indeed.

But even beyond that, if you have anything else that will talk MIDI, your sound palette is anything that is in your studio. Just to take my example, I already mentioned that the Volca FM family will get me in the door with lots of FM sounds, and I have a few other synths lying around as well. I can sequence multiple channels into a KORG Kross and get every sound that KORG put in there for the cost of what I already invested plus cables. If you really want to raise your audio game, you just want a decent desktop synth. I'd rather have my Waldorf Blofeld than spend $500 on a pack of plugins - not knocking the plugins, don't get me wrong, I'm just saying that the Blofeld will do things that it would take one hell of a plugin to match. And no RAM or CPU load to speak with, either.

This isn't to say that I turn down free plugin updates, I'm just realistic about where my pain points are, and sound possibilities aren't one.

If you're stony broke after buying your Force, you can still download free software for weird sound design and pull the results in. VirtualANS is a free download for mac/win/lin (and cheap on android/iOS) and will do things that boggle your mind.
By vwkountz Wed Jun 29, 2022 7:55 am
The Force may not have been shown love with the new MPC plugins yet , but we had the Hype Synth and disk streaming first. The form factor with its flat screen and awkward reach is different and odd, but the Force is still better then even the new 61 keyboard because the Force offers better midi mapping for controllers and automation that is still not available on the MPC. “May the Force be with you” because the hype is just Akai trying to sale a MPC Live with a keyboard and new plugins. :popcorn:

Ps: plug-ins may run better on the Force because of disk streaming whenthey become available 8) 8) .