AKAI Force

Aha! Program change messages for external synths, per clip are possible! That opens up possibilities! Shame internal plugins can’t do something similar with preset selection.

Great listen, thanks for sharing. Keep them coming!

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The annoying thing with prog change per clip currently is that each iteration of the clip loop resends the prog change message, reloading the patch. Not ideal if you are tweaking knobs for automation over longer periods than the length of the clip. There has been a feature request on the beta board to have an option to trigger program change once only on clip start. Current workaround is to make the clip longer.

Hopefully clip prog change for internal synths comes as well. Definitely an oversight but maybe load times might cause issues. It has also been requested on beta forum.

This not only resets automation but also might lead to sound glitches, cut Delay and Reverb etc on some synths.

I’ve now got a Force coming thanks to my appreciation of the MPC One and a suspicion that even if the One gets Arranger mode, there’ll be some hefty UI compromises (and there were also a couple of solid deals around). Before it arrives I wanted to pop in here and publicly berate everyone in the thread who’s made it sound and look so good with their anecdotes, videos and tracks. You should all be ashamed.

Now I’ve got a couple of days to clear a space and decide what gear I make available to it, though I expect I’ll get an initial week out of the Force on its own or with my sample drive hooked up. I can see the 707 going back in its box - in fact if the Force pays off, it might inspire a proper clean-out. I wonder how many times I’ve said that over the past year.

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Have you tried doubling up the clip, set loop start at the beginning of the second iteration, clip start at the beginning of the recording?
The in list view check if there’s a second program change at the beginning of the loop and delete it.
This should send the program change at the start, the loop without resending it.

I use loops mostly on audio clips if I record with effects. So I have a clean start but a loop with tails.

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Logical suggestion @Automageddon. Thanks. Will give that a go.

Something seems sketchy about this ad :thinking: :laughing:

that ad was obviously made by a Sith Lord

Yep. That will depend on the implementation of prog switching on the synth. I’ve mainly been driving my Blofeld for experimentation with this, and that seems to be OK. If it’s already on the right patch number, doesn’t seem to affect anything.

Just unpacked, set up, updated and test drove, so let’s strip off and get the honeymoon post out of the way.

The MPC One was a big factor in me getting a Force, and it’s looking like a good move. It seems to take everything I was liking on the MPC and build on it - the small pads aren’t a problem for me - I might actually prefer them, as I get on well with the Launchpad Pro. The quadrant layout for velocity, pitch and filter is a really nice addition, and several octaves on the instruments is similarly very welcome.

Having four more Q-Links with their own displays is a great improvement - I don’t much like the touch-to-view setup on the MPC, but at the same time it’s too useful to turn off. So this is ideal.

The buttons all seem nice and responsive, and don’t have that lingering memory of tact switch failure that the MPC evokes. I’m sure they’re probably equally robust and it’s just me, but the key point is they’re nice buttons, not flabby rubber nightmares.

The physical UI seems to make sense - buttons are well-placed and I expect they’ll quickly be muscle-memorised. I don’t think there’s a single-push equivalent to the Edit Program button on the One, which I’ll miss - unless there’s an alternative I’ve not found yet. Edit and the track select button isn’t a huge chore.

Haven’t actually used the crossfader properly yet, but it doesn’t feel as nice as the Octatrack’s - looser and cheaper. I wonder if it’s replaceable, although it might be fine in use.

Hype sounds fantastic - I’m really looking forward to exploring that. When I first saw it I was sceptical of the macro-heavy interface, but it’s hard to argue with the results. I had no real complaints about Tubesynth as a handy built-in instrument, but this does sound like it’s on another level.

Not had time yet to explore the arranger / clips / macros, all of which I’m looking forward to. But so far, I’m a happy consumer - I can see this clearing out a fair bit of clutter. If they do actually add disk streaming, it’s all over. I’m a bit annoyed with myself at waiting so long and dismissing it in favour of other gear a few times, but I don’t think Akai have really done the best job in selling it - it’s the existing users who’ve done that.

As I said at the start, it’s the honeymoon phase, so I’m going to watch myself for now. - but I could easily see this replacing the One as my go-to suggestion for a hub device. Thanks to everyone who’s explained and demoed aspects of it here.

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I just got back into the force after being away for a year. I’ve been with the OT since then and I have to agree, touching the fader on the force makes me sad. Maybe its just in my mind though, I have yet to really put it to use either.

I built a simple techno track last night using just the force, which wasn’t too bad but I did have trouble “playing” the force. It feels so much like a music producing device and less like an instrument.

Next time I’ll play with pad effects and the xfader to see what I can come up with for “playing” it. I missed the immediacy of being able to mute certain drums like on my DT.

Does anyone have any good youtubes showing someone playing this as an instrument, like you can see with the DT or the OT, to get an idea of advanced uses?

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Pressing shift and clip together should get you to Program Edit. Not as nice as a one button solution, but at least those 2 buttons are close to each other.

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I’ve had the Force since pretty much it came out and I’m still discovering new things and there are lots of aspect that I haven’t even explored yet, despite daily use.

The above even put me off at one time and made me look at Maschine, but that would have been a mistake, the Force can do so much.

Maybe too much and that’s makes it really hard for some.

My fav shortcut, I use it so much

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I found the walkthrough to be very helpful too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVjtjugplko

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Yep, found that one (but thanks and keep any tips coming). I just need to shunt the One’s shortcut over a bit in my brain to make room for this one.

I guess it makes it easier to quickly edit programs on any track, so swings and roundabouts.

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definitely wanna hear your thoughts on those 3 things… , btw are you a push user?