then its betwen the force and the live 2… Hmmm. I suspect the force plays best with my Digitakt
Re. playing with the Digitakt, it’s worth noting that Force’s macros features can be applied to MIDI CC messages, so you’ve got 16 LFOs / envelope followers, the crossfader, banks of knobs, the pads and the XY screen that can all be sending controls to the DT. Even if the Force itself never plays a single sound, that’s a huge expander, especially in terms of performance. With the caveat that I believe these are just standard 0-127 MIDI messages, it’s a bit like adding the OT’s fader and the Rytm’s pad performance modes to the Digitakt (you’d want to keep the DT itself around for the sequencing features / workflow, I expect).
Some form of macros might make it over to the MPCs, but the physical elements of the Force mean it’ll always have the upper hand in this area. Something to consider, anyway. I guess one balancing factor is that the Force is large and heavy and mains only, so if portability is on your checklist that’s a tick in the Live’s column. Nothing’s easy.
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Damn thats actually a pretty cool feature. Im keeping the DT no matter what; love it. But I could have a basic drumpattern go from 1 to 100 over the course of a few patterns with just MIDI automation on te Force; thats huge.
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Cross-post from the MPC thread: I was just checking out the udpated MPC manual, and in the appendix covering the new features it says:
Note: For maximum convenience, we recommend you install a SATA drive in the drive bay of your standalone Force and then copy the Synths folder onto this drive.
So it looks like the update instructions have already been written for the Force and then pasted into the MPC manual. I might even start holding my breath.
Absolutely, or send out MIDI CC to the DT following an audio envelope from one of the Force’s tracks (or the DT’s own audio). Options galore.
Curious. Has anyone experienced or heard of anyone else who is getting clicks and pops when using Hype synth?
I get some glitchy clicks and pops when firing clips on my Hype synth tracks. It starts to feel like the Force doesn’t have enough processing power or something.
Imagine running your DAW with an extremely low and inappropriate buffer setting. Those are the types of clicks and pops I get when triggering the Hype clips.
So I’m using a couple drum tracks and like 2 to 4 Hype synths when I start to get the pops.
Thanks!
I’ll give a similar setup a try when the weather allows me back in to the room with the Force in. But my initial guess would be that four instances of Hype might be pushing it a bit, especially if they’re running polyphonic sequences - even a single instance has a voice limit, so with several copies in use you’re effectively sidestepping that limiit. What’s the CPU reading when this happens?
This is the flipside of the freedom the Force allows you (and also the MPCs and gear like the Blackbox) - it’s also the freedom to push the device too far. Compare with something like the Digitakt, with its eight mono voices - extremely limited compared to the Force, but it’ll behave itself within those limits.
What devices like the Force lack is the ability to upgrade the core components to extend their capabilities, although in fairness that’s not dissimilar to many modern laptops…
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Oh. I’ll look to see what the CPU limit is. Let me check. Thanks!
or you could do something like that by using a faster tempo on each pattern
my bad, force thread
I ordered the Force; just on a 30 day trial period.
Eager to see how the workflow compares to the OT…
Not selling the OT until I am confident that the Force can replace both the creative side as the production side.
I have my new Force arriving in the next hour. 
At the end of my 30 days I’ll decide if it stays or I sell my MPC Live 2 (or, more likely, figure out an unjustified reason to keep both)… I think these are way more closely matched.
I have an Octatrack that I’m still not fully bonded with, but I think it is completely different to the MPC and what I expect from the Force.
I guess our own personal approaches to music creation dictates how similar we treat different units.
Interested in hearing how you find it compared to OT. (My money is on ‘completely different’…)
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there’s no way in hades that the force , mpc, and octatrack are going to cancel each other out they are just tooooo different
octa =happy accident machine
mpc =deliberate and skulptally clad mangler and center for audio disease control… plus the one you take out on sessions on the go or to your friends studio etc… a Swiss army tracking box
Force= Barry manilow
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My 2c on OT vs Force, from experience… The Force hasn’t kicked the OT out of bed. For full detailed productions, polyphony, effects & midi sequencing, the Force has it covered. Creative spontaneous mangling of patterns, the Octatrack still king. Together they cover each’s weaknesses quite well. Ultimately, it depends if performing or producing is the priority, and even then the answer isn’t so clear cut.
As for MPC vs Force, Being on beta, I am glad I stayed with the Force. Super excited for a stable release candidate as soon as reasonably possible, as it will offer some things that re-affirm the choice for most Force users.
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Lmao had to google that:
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, musician, producer and actor, with a career that has spanned more than 50 years."
Basically a jack of all trades machine then.
For me the Digitakt is my immediate machine. I come up with fun stuff in 5 min. Since I added the OT that has been the Performance aspect and helps with extending beyond loops, by fading in and out and chopping up long samples. The latter was what I was missing in the Digitakt.
While the OT is super heavy on creativity I hope to get more structure out of the Force. Ableton is great; but my laptop overheats when using more than 1 plugin. When I considered laptop VS Force It was more rational to get a laptop; but I just know It doesnt inspire me the way hardware does.
So I’'ll keep you posted. Won’t sell my Perfect looking black OT until I am extremely certain.
Also; Hopefully the Force update drops within a few weeks!
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When you say this, are you talking about it predominantly as a sampler? Recording stuff in and looping, etc?
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This is kinda why I asked @captain8 what I did…
I guess I don’t really do ‘creative mangling’, I think my equivalent is playing instruments and maybe sound design from scratch.
I feel like a total novice when it comes to mangling/post fx… my Octatrack scenes are so Level 1 it’s unreal, something I would like to address in time. 
It’s interesting, and always worth remembering when reading threads on here, that we all have wildly different workflows/approaches and not everyone’s advice is relevant to you because of this. 
Anyhow… my Force is here.
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Let me know how you like it! I love that it has a crossfader since I got used to that from the OT. ANother elektronaut said that you can assign it to midi CC as well!
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Force was the missing piece to my Octatrack rig. “Keyboard”, linear sequencer, mic pre’s, sound module, all in one device. Between the two, I’ve got pretty much everything I want in grooveboxes.
Don’t get me wrong, I still want a bunch of other things, but with Force and Octatrack I can do >90% of the things I would normally do with a DAW in one form or another. Subjective quality differences exist, of course.
SCG
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My path was OT>Live>Force and I feel like I got more productive and content with each step.
I’m not much of a live mangler and I prefer to sit down and program rather than play but I also like to just turn on a machine and see where I go. Ultimately this approach led me to better places (at least for me) on the Akais then on the OT.
yes, the mpc is an incredible sample mangler but where as the elektron ethos lends itself well to being in the happy accident driver’s seat the mpc is more deliberate and you’re in the driver’s seat taking it where you wanna take it , as opposed to it taking you to mangle land…
even though I don’t currently own an octa it’s the same ethos… if I want to indulge in happy accidents and collect the good bits afterward I start with the digitakt/model samples/model cycles, that goes into the mpc, lastly that goes into ableton… if I want to be more deliberate I start with the mpc or ableton and just record my parts down… if I decide while in either of the latter two that I want to get some mangling ideas going I can do that, but if I decide that I want to mangle some ideas from the mpc or ableton but don’t have a specific destination in mind then I record those things back into Elektron and see what happens.
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