Force's turn to get the Florian Pilz treatment

Just as I was pondering swapping my One for a Force... I hope it doesn't raise the Force's second-hand market price too much !

He had an interesting part about used prices going up after substantial updates which makes sense.

I’m running a Force alongside an X which is a great combo. Had a Key37 and sold it a while ago. If you do a lot of modulation you’re going to love having more Q links and the screens. Don’t miss the K37 a bit, also hated the cheap feeling buttons and chassis.

The Force is also a lot cooler looking than the X in person especially in low light, the backlit buttons are nice at night and make the X seem old fashioned next to it. But the big screen on the X and 16 Q links means I prefer to work on that one and stack drums bass transitions and one shots on the Force mostly.

If I owned only one I’d probably get the $300 RAM upgrade though. Lot of EDM for me so it’s plug-ins and FX galore. Splitting the load across two Gen 1 devices is working though. Ok

What took him so long?

You know, he creates great reasons for the price to rise. ... of course, I suspect that a Force II is in the wings.

Koekepan wrote:You know, he creates great reasons for the price to rise. ... of course, I suspect that a Force II is in the wings.

That he did. The new Force better have a got damn tilt screen!

You, dawg, we tilted your force so you can tilt it while tilted ...

Koekepan wrote:You, dawg, we tilted your force so you can tilt it while tilted ...

Did mean to say "Yo, dawg" or "You, dawg"?
Either way

You caught my typo.

Wish I could say that I'd been typing tilted, but that's what a lack of a good night's sleep will do to you anyway.

Still, any bets on a Force II? I think that the time is ripe.

Koekepan wrote:You caught my typo.

Wish I could say that I'd been typing tilted, but that's what a lack of a good night's sleep will do to you anyway.

Still, any bets on a Force II? I think that the time is ripe.

I had to reread it a couple of times.

It feels like Akai have been preparing MPC users for new Force the whole time, especially after the Pro-Pack came out. The time is definitely ripe for it. Changing the name to MPC-64 would really help.

They're dropping a new Keys37;
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=220664&view=unread#unread
& I'm sure they'll be dropping a g2 MPC One later after the sales of the Sample dies down, so before or after the One would be my guess. Keep in mind the Force was released in 2019 & the One in 2020, but doesn't seem like they're keeping the order of gen1 now the they're releasing the keys before the One.

I think they're getting the Force to be compatible with the software first which would be a major power boost for it within itself before releasing a new Force. Time will tell.

I didn’t think the Force name would bother me but it does a little. I refer to “my Akai gear” now or just say I did it on my MPCs.

Pretty much every other product of theirs has a better name.

Force II? Would be nice but not holding my breath. They ported the good stuff to MPC in hardware and features already, and Force sold poorly.

They need some EDM people on board to promote if they’re trying it again. But hard to do if there’s not solid PC integration or at least a VST for the device.

Gotta be a way to get buyers who otherwise don’t want to learn Ableton desktop.

JethroJethro wrote:I didn’t think the Force name would bother me but it does a little. I refer to “my Akai gear” now or just say I did it on my MPCs.

Pretty much every other product of theirs has a better name.

Force II? Would be nice but not holding my breath. They ported the good stuff to MPC in hardware and features already, and Force sold poorly.

They need some EDM people on board to promote if they’re trying it again. But hard to do if there’s not solid PC integration or at least a VST for the device.

Gotta be a way to get buyers who otherwise don’t want to learn Ableton desktop.

The name is corny as hell & makes MPC users think it's something too different from the MPC, which it's not, esp now MPC3.0 & the Pro-Pack. I think renaming it the MPC-64 or even the MPC-Force would help to bridge that gap. I don't the Force sold poorly if they never made a lot to began with I stayed at $1300 for while until they took of the market. They don't have to market it to only the EDM crowd. Just get some really good finger drummers & show off the power of being able to mess with 4 banks of 16 worth of sample chops & rehire Nick:

Now that more MPC users have using the Force OS I don't think it matters too much what they call it. Just seeing a new Force & seeing the benefits of using a unit that was made to run 3.0 will be enough to get more MPC-Heads to come over to the dark-side, esp those that like using the clip-matrix. After using the Force I could never go back to 16 pads of the MPC & the clunky ass way it handles clips.

Looks like the Force2 is on the Menu:
https://www.elektronauts.com/t/akai-force/70106/3539

For me the F is not ideal for drums or modulating synths, because all the buttons are on the left side and many operations that are simple on MPC require two hands and multiple button combinations. I can jump around much more easily on an MPC. I’m not choosing sides here, I own both.

JethroJethro wrote:For me the F is not ideal for drums or modulating synths, because all the buttons are on the left side and many operations that are simple on MPC require two hands and multiple button combinations. I can jump around much more easily on an MPC. I’m not choosing sides here, I own both.

When it comes to just playing drums/sample chops none of that matters. You still have 4 banks of 16 pads to mess with at once & it can convert into a 4 octave keyboard. Like that the crossfader is on the right.

B-Wise wrote:

JethroJethro wrote:For me the F is not ideal for drums or modulating synths, because all the buttons are on the left side and many operations that are simple on MPC require two hands and multiple button combinations. I can jump around much more easily on an MPC. I’m not choosing sides here, I own both.

When it comes to just playing drums/sample chops none of that matters. You still have 4 banks of 16 pads to mess with at once & it can convert into a 4 octave keyboard. Like that the crossfader is on the right.

It doesn’t matter that it’s harder and slower to do on one device?

When I drive my car I want a shifter. I don’t want to have to press two buttons at the same time then do a third thing on the menu, I just want to shift into drive.

JethroJethro wrote:
It doesn’t matter that it’s harder and slower to do on one device?

When I drive my car I want a shifter. I don’t want to have to press two buttons at the same time then do a third thing on the menu, I just want to shift into drive.

This got started over the Force being marketed to EDM vs Hip-Hop. You wanting what you want doesn't mean that many of them wouldn't get value out of having 4 banks of 16 pads when they're used to 1. 64 pads of chops mean less jumping to other pad banks. Having to Shift+Octave up or down, when both hands are free isn't too bad & to most people it would be worth the benefits of more pads.

A work around is to put any thing pass bank 4 on the next track & just press the that track button & have a new set of 4 banks. You personally liking the MPC better for drums is cool. It would be dope if we could change banks using the mostly unused +/- buttons near the crossfader. We should both send in a request.