Official: Akai Force Topic

jeff lick wrote:NoNo Guy's. I know what an SSD is. I meant what additional feature does it add to X? Obviously space to save your songs, sequences? I suppose it does not need more than stock unless a hard core user? Or is it kind of mandatory. Due to lack of stock memory? I can see if you were doing live sets. I just mixdown to 2channel and erase my sequences! I do not keep my masters. Perhaps stupid, I know. If by chance I write a hit song. Not much chance I think. I can play fine but just not out there. I really don't care to be. I just did not know what exactly is saved to the SSD?

Disk streaming... whenever it gets out of beta testing. Also they are looking at porting Akai Force's Synth to the X/Live. There's not enough space on the included storage so user internal may be mandatory then. Dan mentioned this on gearslutz last week.

Hotdang. If it can stream audio totally worth it then. In fact to do a total 360, I would pay 4 grand for this feature. Not even the flagship workstations do this anymore. Was so disappointed in Genos exchanged for Advance! It simply cannot compete with VST. Now add audio streaming.... I shall sit tight for this.

Can you add more hardware sounds? If so I could use it standalone. The stock sounds to me are bland.

Unreallystic wrote:

J-Fly wrote:Will MPC-Samples have an interest in creating a tutorial? The MPC X/MPC Live Bible is masterpiece.

I was wondering that this weekend. Since its the same to an extent, will it overlap with the MPC Bible? Will the MPC Bible incorporate it on purpose or will it be "it might work on there" hehe. I'd argue it should be a separate product that could possibly be offered.

If I were to do something for the Force it would definitely be a completely separate resource to the MPC Bible.

jeff lick wrote:NoNo Guy's. I know what an SSD is. I meant what additional feature does it add to X? Obviously space to save your songs, sequences? I suppose it does not need more than stock unless a hard core user? Or is it kind of mandatory. Due to lack of stock memory? I can see if you were doing live sets. I just mixdown to 2channel and erase my sequences! I do not keep my masters. Perhaps stupid, I know. If by chance I write a hit song. Not much chance I think. I can play fine but just not out there. I really don't care to be. I just did not know what exactly is saved to the SSD?

Basically the most important thing with external storage is that you can access it’s content..With internal storage you can’t have any access to it so an SSD it’s a no brainer..

jeff lick wrote:I doubt the pads feel as good. The black fat pads special rubber Bruh.
I hate when people say Ableton is only for EDM. Yes, I play it as well. Ableton can do as much and more than any other sequencer. I prefer track based to pattern based.

I hope that wasn't at me, because I didn't say it is only for EDM. I'm strictly talking feel. I've personally been doing hip-hop just fine in Ableton, But over the past two years as I listen to what I've done on the MPC, watch my process on the MPC, and compare it to Ableton, the natural swing energy of playing on the MPC, and frankly the walled-garden feeling - just illicits a more hip-hop vibe and energy. A lot of it is controller based, using the MPC pads vs the Push2 just doesn't feel as fun for drums and sample chopping, but heck I've struggled to find good feeling pads for the PC. I gave up after the MPD218 decided that velocity wasn't needed. I've got a lot of pad like devices and 16-trigger setups, none feel as good as the MPc Live.

So for "me", I'm looking at the Force and I see shorter Push pads that most likely won't have that MPC feel.
-Unreall

No, it was to everyone in fact. Ableton is a sequencer period. Like people to know that. An MPC sort of defines real Hip-Hop. Sure it can do any music too. It was just embraced early on. Like SP1200 Decks. I mentioned somewhere, many years ago some Cat's used to spit about their MPC. I would say Mantronix made good use of it if you like at all. I may be wrong but I think even the Beastie Boy's mentioned it. This and TR-808 are staples of the Genre. I do prefer R8 MKII in that regard though.

jeff lick wrote:...I just mixdown to 2channel and erase my sequences! I do not keep my masters. Perhaps stupid, I know. If by chance I write a hit song. Not much chance I think...

Doesn't have to be a hit. If a local artist likes your track, if you want to remix it... Unless drive space is THAT much of an issue, I'd keep the original session if I were you.

And yeah, once the ability to stream and that sample-based synth is added, you'll have additional use for an SSD.

Any beta testers know if the Force has "shift lock" in preferences? This unit seems like it vs the current quick double tap the Live has.

This was a feature on the MV8800 where you hit the shift button it would flash. Then you would hit the function.

No shift lock

Thank you for the quick reply. It wouldn't keep me from, but I thought I would ask.

A video showing the Ableton integration.

Ok, late to the forums on this topic, been browsing this thread and doing some research. I have a few questions and would appreciate any input.

I mainly do basic Hip Hop beats, with chopping samples, breaks, and sometimes sequencing external synths.

I own the Touch which is basically a tethered Live. I also have the 2500. Both work fine for what I need to accomplish.

I don't use Ableton(I've tried it, it's cool but workflow isn't my style, and I dont really use clips/clip launching but I'm somewhat open to incorporating it into my setup.

Now I have a few questions...

When is estimated release date as of now?

Willl this lack any slicing/chopping/sampling features that I can get with the Live/2500/traditional MPC?

Will it add any features(BESIDES clip launching/Air effects), or on the other hand remove any features a traditional MPC has for making sampled beats?

How is the sequencer going to work compared to traditional MPCs?

What would I be missing in this unit that I would have in a traditional MPC?

Is there more info out there on the chopping/sample editing?

How can I go about loading samples into this? Can I plug in a USB stick or transfer from my Mac hard drive?

If I already have the mpc touch, which works fine for what I need to do, what can this thing add to my feature set for making music? Is it just clip launching/built in effects? Or is there better sequencing, chopping, sample editing?

Anyone that can fill me in on why I would want to buy an MPC Force? Am I really getting a more advanced MPC experience on this thing or am I just getting a watered down Live/X that includes clip launching, a larger pad matrix, and built in Air effects, with a crossfader?

Is the MPC Force for me? I really do basic boom bap style Hip Hop beats and not really into performing live sets and such with clips, I already have a ton of plug in effects on my computer, dont really need a crossfader I dont think.

Can I sequence external synth with the Force?

Am I getting watered down sampling/slicing features in a trade off for more live performance type features?

Is it promised that a song mode will be added or is this just speculation?

What are the community's thought on these subjects?

Rokgod wrote:Anyone that can fill me in on why I would want to buy an MPC Force?

It's not an MPC It's called Akai Force.. At NAMM Andy Mac said the release will be within 10 days.
I believe it was in the Sonic State Video.

And also I think that it won't be asset to your current workflow. If you want to launch clips you can already do it with your Touch and even better when 2.4 comes out..

I think that's the key point - while it might share the same core code base as the MPCs, the Force is definitely not an MPC. If your workflow is mostly 'MPC' style, I can't see how the Force is going to help much. It seems the Force is really for producers/performers who like to build complex clips based performances. If your clip requirements are more simplistic I would imagine the MPC will suffice, especially with the forthcoming clip enhancements of 2.4.