AKAI Force

Digitakt is great, will never ever sell mine.
The touchscreen looks small; But how did the Force work in terms of a dawless workflow that integrates with ableton?

In terms of ableton integration, you can save your projects as ableton files. So transferring projects should be very easy. But I have not used the Force much with ableton integration. To me the whole workflow was just very uninspiring.
Coming from the OP-Z and having used many hardware samplers it just all didn’t feel tactile enough somehow. It has many effects and plugins, but the workflow just isn’t there for me. I think I do need some limitations to flow.

But hey if you wanna trade your OT for a Force, I am all ears :wink:

Yeah that’s what I was fearful about. Digitakt is so creative for me so if I could squeeze the best out of both worlds… Would be wonderful!

Hahaha are u Dutch?

1 Like

Close…German, why?

What does the rest of your setup look like at the moment?

I’m now using Ableton to prepare loops/clips for live performances. Apart from some niggly bugs, it’s working quite well for my purposes.

Of course, you lose your plugins, so for inserts, I freeze and consolidate (or whatever the term is on the menu). That means I use the warp mechanism on Ableton, rather than on the Force - until and unless Akai fix their glitchy time-stretching mechanisms.

So, I then have a base set of clips/loops I can mix in various combinations, with improvised and in some cases sequenced synths on-top.

Got a Digitakt for drums and short samples / sounds
Typhon for leads / bass
Volca FM which I am selling probably
Octatrack as mixer / sampler / main hub.

I wouldn’t go down the Force route if I was you to be honest. The gear you already have can do all the important tasks. You already have two samplers and synths…so the only thing you would gain is basically a DAW in a box. If you don’t like using DAWs, the Force might not make you happy + the Force doesn’t have Overbridge. What are you missing most in your setup?

youre probably right; i am missing the DAW. I am not advanced yet so mixing on these boxes is a lot harder than on Ableton.

I think your setup sounds great! (Jealous :grin:)…stick with it for a while and get to know it…then you’ll escape the GAS cycle

PS: and if you are still unhappy with your setup after that, don’t worry…I’ll take that Octatrack off you!

You may have seen that there’s a new update for the MPC series. I’m just in the process of installing the synth pack that comes with it, and the install PDF states it also works for the Force:

The content pack is compatible with MPC Software v2.10, MPC OS v2.10 and Force v3.0.7 or later.

Which doesn’t exist yet - it’s still on 3.06 - but I would say now’s a good time to make sure there’s some room on your card.

4 Likes

Great to know that in advance, i had expected the force to be updated as well. I bought my OT from someone who just got a force and he showed me some pretty cool stuff and said that the fix of the crossfader got him on board.

In general; is the force the more General Music Production device compared to the very much hiphop / beat focused MPC range?

i would expect the class compliant audio update to touch the force as well right; then it would be pretty much like OB

It’s nothing like OB at all. You can’t hook it up to a computer and stream audio while running the force. Class compliant means you can add an audio interface.

ah whoops.
Wonder why they wont; theyve got the ableton link, .als export etc. they even have the plugin ready.
Seems like something easy to implement.

Not hugely, IMO - the MPCs themselves offer a lot more than that now, e.g. piano roll editing of long polyphonic sequences (with automation), keyboard and chord playing, all the onboard synths, and so on. The Force is more limited in some ways, such as locking you to one global BPM - but it expands your options in other ways, like quickly creating structures from pattern variations, and on-the-fly remixing.

The larger 8x8 pad matrix means it’s better suited to playing melodies, which I suppose is relevant to this question - you can have a multi-octave piano layout, for example, which is a step up from the MPC’s pads if you’re sequencing an external synth. But I think the MPC holds its own as a general production device.

If I was on the fence right now, I’d be waiting for the next Force update to confirm that it brings across the new features from the MPC. If so - and I’m sure it will - I think I’d take a Force over a Live II (unless the battery is an important factor). I guess the One remains competitive in terms of price.

Thanks for the breakdown!
That was what I was wondering. Ive got a keystep so the 16 pads are no dealbreaker.
I have decided to keep the OT (I just learned it has a different purpose, more sounds design / creative and performance) and get either a new Laptop for my Ableton Standard OR a Dawless Production center like the Force / Live 2 that utlises the VSTS Ive got on the laptop while having the benefit of being dawless (I get bored of screens).

It looks like the Drum FX etc allow for Mixing / Mastering / Sidechaining / EQing in a visual manner as well, which I need so i can learn learn learn.

Understanding the OT and Digitakt makes me feel that I can easily pick up more general software like MPC as well.

I’d absolutely keep an OT in this situation! And if you understand that, the MPC will be a doddle.

2 Likes