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 blipson Mon Aug 01, 2022 6:59 am
I have a track with no clips that I just want to play externally. I verify expected MIDI input via the Force's i/o monitor. Track settings are:

MIDI INPUT PORT = All Ports
MIDI INPUT CHANNEL = All
MIDI MONITOR = In

I get no response from plugins or keygroups that respond normally to to the Force's pads. I must be missing something simple--can someone tell me?
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By NearTao Mon Aug 01, 2022 12:36 pm
Before any of us can answer, I think we need to clarify a few things...

Do you have a track with a key group, drum kit, or plugin loaded on the Force? If yes to any of those, are you loading something that we'd all have access to in case there is an edge case, or is it doing this for anything you load in?

It may not matter, but what is your external midi device that you are sending midi from and to the Force?

I might have a few more questions, but just wanted to make sure we're on the same page to start.
By HouseWithoutMouse Mon Aug 01, 2022 1:02 pm
Go to Preferences > MIDI / SYNC > Input Ports

find the USB MIDI device you want and enable GLOBAL and/or TRACK, depending on what you want.

In the manual, the "GLOBAL" button seems to be called "Master", if I understood correctly. Go figure.

Also, read the manual, it explains what the settings in Preferences mean, and why it worked for the pads but not the USB device.

Dang. I realized why it doesn't work by default. There's a setting "ENABLE MIDI PORTS WHEN DISCOVERED" and it was OFF. I don't remember what it was in factory default settings.

- When ENABLE MIDI PORTS WHEN DISCOVERED is ON, then the TRACK setting is activated by default but GLOBAL is not.
- When ENABLE MIDI PORTS WHEN DISCOVERED is OFF, then NOTHING is activated by default.

I don't know if it's possible to enable GLOBAL automatically when discovered.
By blipson Mon Aug 01, 2022 4:51 pm
I said "plugins and keygroups" in my original post, but also nothing for drum kits.

For the sake of making testing and help easier, I'm loading the default template "DeepHouse."

My external controller is a Zendrum, and I agree it shouldn't matter because MENU>MIDI MONITOR (and the app named MIDI MONITOR) all verify the expected MIDI input. The Force and controller are both on a mioXM hub, but the monitoring functions already mentioned should rule out any misconfiguration there.

In Preferences>MIDI/SYNC, my choices for input (and output) ports are "FORCE" and "Remote." I assume the "FORCE" name comes from my giving that name to the relevant DIN's on the mioXM. I'm not sure what "Remote" means in this context, but I enable both "GLOBAL" and "TRACK" on both. I also enable "ENABLE MIDI PORTS WHEN DISCOVERED."

And...to respond further to the help posts, when I went to describe the details of what I'm doing in the matrix to set up MIDI input, I find it's now working. I have no way to trace back what my error might have been when I first posted, and I SWEAR :) I did all the same things then, including starting with a clean DeepHouse to troubleshoot. Here's what I've discovered for track settings:

GLOBAL in the INPUT PORTS setting makes the track's MIDI INPUT PORT, MIDI INPUT CHANNEL, and MIDI MONITOR settings irrelevant. The controller keeps triggering the track even if you turn any or all of these off. Enabling TRACK in the INPUT PORTS setting is what you want, leading to expected combinations of behavior for multiple simultaneously controlled tracks. Aside from the obvious TRACK SETTINGS choices for MIDI INPUT PORT and MIDI INPUT CHANNEL, I have to set MIDI MONITOR to "In" or "Merge"; "Auto" doesn't work.

Some of my triggers trigger nothing on the drum track, which obviously has a particular set of 16 notes assigned to its pads. I figure the manual will document those notes, and maybe I can assign them.

Thanks for this help. Working more methodically based on your suggestions cleared the error even if I can't remember just what the error was.