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 mcv Thu Feb 02, 2023 5:10 pm
My Force just told me that the update is available.

After updating I lost any possibility to use my 16-input external audio interface (Roland Studio Capture). It just doesn't see it anymore. It sees Korg Kronos and Roland SE-02, but still can't use them saying they may not support 44.1 kHz (Studio Capture, of course, is set to 44.1 kHz).

I had click issues with it before, but I was waiting for 3.2.2 to fix the freezing issue (probably caused by control surface firmware I guess). I had partially unusable Force, now I have completely unusable Force.

Does your interface work?
By B-Wise Fri Feb 03, 2023 9:49 am
Did you reset the preferences & does it "work" again if you go to last OS?
By dest4b Fri Feb 03, 2023 10:46 am
my force is running normal on 3.2.2 with Behringer UMC 1820 .. no problems so far.
By mcv Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:22 pm
Resetting preferences didn't help. Downgrading did, but I'm getting freezes again, usually within 10 minutes after booting. I wonder if Akai perhaps blacklisted my audio interface.
By B-Wise Fri Feb 03, 2023 4:32 pm
dest4b wrote:my force is running normal on 3.2.2 with Behringer UMC 1820 .. no problems so far.

Did you have problems before this Update?
By Timo Fri Feb 03, 2023 6:20 pm
I updated to 3.2.2 and am not having any problems either.
By HouseWithoutMouse Fri Feb 03, 2023 6:27 pm
The UMC 1820 has been the best working multichannel interface according to reports, in all Akai's software versions.

I have solved these problems by not updating. I don't want the new paid memory hog plugins and new bugs. For audio interface I have Steinberg/Yamaha UR44. 6 inputs and 4 outputs, though the built-in 2 in / 4 out is actually pretty OK as well. It's a stable situation. No updates, no new problems.

The easiest solution for your particular case might be the UMC 1820.
By mcv Fri Feb 03, 2023 9:04 pm
HouseWithoutMouse wrote:The easiest solution for your particular case might be the UMC 1820.


I don't know… I already bought Studio Capture specifically for Force. Can you tell if UMC1820 works well if 14 inputs are used simultaneously?
By HouseWithoutMouse Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:40 pm
Nobody can promise you anything, but if you search this forum, you'll find that the UMC 1820 is the most trouble-free alternative there is. According to reports. Even the Tascam Models seem to have been broken in some update, even though they were used in Akai's initial marketing for audio interface support!? How is that even possible. If there is one thing that you absolutely must not break, that's the thing that's shown in your own ads. I'm considering buying the UMC 1820 myself even though I don't really need it, just because it seems to be a very rare thing - a multichannel audio interface that actually works with Akai - according to reports - and which Akai hasn't broken in any of their updates YET. It's still available, and it's actually dirt cheap too, considering the features.
User avatar
By dnkygirl Sat Feb 04, 2023 12:38 am
This is what doesn't make sense about these audio issues. If people are telling you it works in version 3.1.1 why can't they revert back to the original code? Test it internally with a few of these units that have been reported as having issues? Seems like they are chasing a fix for this now and not doing well at it and making it worst every time they go to release a new so called fix.
By B-Wise Sat Feb 04, 2023 4:15 am
mcv wrote:
HouseWithoutMouse wrote:The easiest solution for your particular case might be the UMC 1820.


I don't know… I already bought Studio Capture specifically for Force. Can you tell if UMC1820 works well if 14 inputs are used simultaneously?


The Studio Capture 1610 is what I wanted at first because you can link 2 together & have 32 inputs but in order to link them you need to connect both to the Force via USB at the same time but was told that wouldn't work. So now I'm even more glad I didn't buy it, but even if 1 could work, it would be one of the best interfaces for the Force...Come on Akai make it happen!
By mcv Sat Feb 04, 2023 9:16 am
B-Wise wrote:The Studio Capture 1610 is what I wanted at first because you can link 2 together & have 32 inputs but in order to link them you need to connect both to the Force via USB at the same time but was told that wouldn't work.


Unfortunately Studio Capture doesn't have ADAT-like expanding, it needs a USB cable to each device and host OS support for creating a kind of "single virtual device from two". And I tried that, Force indeed doesn't support that.
By HouseWithoutMouse Sat Feb 04, 2023 11:58 am
People are buying audio interfaces specifically for Akai devices, but without testing them thoroughly or at all. I did that too! I took an MPC One to a store and tested if it works with Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen. Yeah, it seemed to work! So I bought the Focusrite. Bzzzzzt, mistake. There is a short dropout every 30-40 seconds, as if there was an audio clock synchronization problem. You probably won't notice it in a short test. No such dropouts with Windows or Mac. Focusrite support blamed Akai and Akai support blamed Focusrite. And they of course blamed me, the USB cable (try it with a ferrite bead!? that was one suggestion from support), and anything imaginable. When I mentioned that I had ALSO tested with the 18i20 synced to another device via coax SPDIF, then they suggested the problem was caused by a bad RCA cable. Anyway, problem solved, because something was answered to me. Hand waving and shrugs. A "list of working/non-working devices" thead on this forum, containing incredible amounts of bad, incorrect, imprecise, unreliable or outright false information from people who don't know what they're doing. The only useful result from that thread is, the Behringer UMC 1820 seems to work.

But the Focusrite 18i20... I wanted to test it with Linux as well. I installed Linux Mint 20, and the Scarlett seemed to be very problematic, even much worse than with Akai. I eventually got it working perfectly, but I had to build a new kernel from source, and when studying that stuff I realized that the kernel contains lots of device-specific "quirks" or whatever they're called. A lot of special case code is needed specifically for the Scarlett boxes, and even for each "gen" version... How can that be if they're class compliant?

It turns out that even though there is supposedly a "standard" and the devices supposedly comply with it, the truth is much more complicated. The devil is in the details. There are lots of very specific situations where the host and audio interface do something slightly incompatible, even though both might claim to be working according to the specification. So what happens in reality is that audio interface manufacturers test their devices with a set of host devices such as iPads and Macs, and tweak things until it works with those. And that's why they sometimes say seemingly absurd things like "Mac class compliant". It means it works without drivers with Macs. What comes to other hosts, nothing is promised. Doesn't work with Akai? That's your problem. Go fix that Akai then.

Akai didn't code all of their USB audio support from scratch themselves, they got it from the Linux kernel, and it is a big and evolving thing. There may be device-specific fixes available in newer kernels than whatever Akai is using. But Akai are going to actually fix it, they'll have to incorporate those fixes to their products and make it work one by one by testing and tweaking. They have to have skilled coders with good tools and testing facilities, and time and other resources allocated to it. Dedication from management. And they need to actually have all the audio interfaces they want to make their boxes work with! ALL of them really, because they can be slightly different, and the interface manufacturers probably only test with Macs and iPads. Or maybe Akai just take newer or different kernel versions, throw it in a software update and hope for the best?

The guy who writes the Focusrite Scarlett compatibility code for Linux, has most of the Scarlett boxes, some donated to him I guess.
By Csé Sat Feb 04, 2023 2:46 pm
I had a problem under 3.2 firmware. The Force doesn't work as audio interface. ( Win 11, PC).
When i go back to 3.1.3 firmware, problem solved.
The problem under 3.2.1. still stands.
The problem under 3.2.2 still stands.