Ambient Technique

Hello! I'm a new Akai Force user and have come to really love this machine. I'd love to make more ambient music with lush drones and sweeps, and am curious where you suggest I start?

What would you suggest for making ambient music? Where do I need to be looking? Do you have any favorite tricks to share? I've watched some youtube videos, and I can't help but feel there is a lot more to discover.

Your insight and feedback is most appreciated.

Use a single scene, make it really long, and work within it. Check out, not just samples, but also the plugins that can work really well for this. If you're decent with a MIDI controller, use that to play/overdub directly in so that you get that really loose, spontaneous feeling.

The Force is pretty good for ambient, you just have to find ways of making it work for you - for example setting up macros that will affect insert parameters on the fly.

Just so you know there's 128 tracks & each can have up to 999 clips & each clip can be 12,600 bars.

I can't give you any specific tips for Ambient music tho I like some of it like the stuff Brian Eno did with Harold Budd, I know enough to tell you that the Force is made for that type stuff. The key is learing the all the macros.

Great responses, thank you. I'll try those out.

For the past decade I've been making music with ipads.

It's a midi controller, and syncs via ableton. I've got a universe of sounds to add. And I also field record my own nature sounds. I started out with sampling into the akai, but wanted to learn more about how to use the akai to generate sounds.

This guy has been really helpful, https://www.youtube.com/@joefilbrun , I like how he uses the sampler and keygroups.

I'm struggling with envelopes right now, the logic for how to use them hasn't quite clicked for me.

Looks like I need to figure out macro's as well.

I would start with the plugins. They're surprisingly powerful. Hype is a beast of course, but don't sleep on the others. Tubesynth can do a lot too, if you have the chops.

Set up a plugin on a track, then pick a preset that sounds kind of nice or appropriate to you, then start tweaking and see what happens.

LuckDragon wrote:Looks like I need to figure out macro's as well.

Yeah Joe is the Fn man!

These posts should help you:

Force Button Shortcuts:
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=217058

Force Macros videos:
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=216161

How to use Akai Filters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70-jW8O ... uySwH0IiQe

YouTuber worth checking out:
https://youtube.com/@thecratesmotel?si=9zjNjz_aI052kdca

https://youtube.com/@nicethings?si=xybb8x4kvEf4X4GE

https://youtube.com/@maxipokmusic?si=bRKSiMdRcvPH7Fv8

He doesn't make Force tutorials anymore, but his earlier Force Friday series helped me out a lot: https://youtube.com/@pinkbuddhaacademy? ... IvJAi1isNG

His a video I just made showing some basic sound shaping stuff with the Drum program:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c91M27f4CqU

May the Force be motha-fu*kin with you!

Thanks B-wise!

FYI, I found this forum b/c of a post you had on Reddit. And I've found several of your threads with information about specific topics and videos. Super helpful. Really appreciate you and your efforts.

LuckDragon wrote:Thanks B-wise!

FYI, I found this forum b/c of a post you had on Reddit. And I've found several of your threads with information about specific topics and videos. Super helpful. Really appreciate you and your efforts.

I guess I get around. I'm glad I was able to help & I hope to hear your music someday.

My favourite feature or trick for ambient on the Force is envelope followers. With a few very slow random linear envelopes I can automate synth or mix parameters to make infinitely changing soundscape. With lots of envelope trickery and a variety of suitable clips on multiple tracks, it's possible to make evolving "songs".

HouseWithoutMouse wrote:My favourite feature or trick for ambient on the Force is envelope followers. With a few very slow random linear envelopes I can automate synth or mix parameters to make infinitely changing soundscape. With lots of envelope trickery and a variety of suitable clips on multiple tracks, it's possible to make evolving "songs".

That sounds epic. Do you have any songs or examples?

I've made my first scene and have been playing with the plugins, Massive variety of sound with the basic plugins. They are good stuff. Certainly a lot more to discover. Been considering getting the OPX4, that looks amazing.

Macros and envelopes are next on the learning list.