Introduction
The Akai Force is a powerful clip-based, standalone grid controller for music production. With built in sampler, sequencer, drum machines and several onboard software synthesizers (powered by AIR), the Akai Force is definitely a force to be reckoned with.
With the 7-inch touchscreen, 8 touch-sensitive knobs and multi-modal grid interface it is easy to design sounds, create loops and beats and sequence those all together into songs or longer sets. At approximately the dimensions of a modern CDJ-2000 (or similar), the Force can fit into a DJ booth for live or DJ sets and club shows. Operating with Ableton’s AbletonLink, it can be a powerful WIFI connected synchronization, performance, production and mixing hub for your live setup.
Pros
- AIR Synths & Effects – lots & they sound great
- Drum synth (although only 8 sounds)
- Can have lots of sections (only limited by CPU, I think)
- 7 inch color LCD screen
- See names of tracks, clips, knobs
- Large pad grid, wider pads make for easier finger targeting (than smaller square pads)
- See full names of projects! The larger display makes this easy (within reason)
- Full set overview & lighted pads lighlighting currently playing clips (!)
Cons
- “Only” 1 input
- Not battery powered
- Screen doesnt tilt
- Lights don’t dim that much, screen only blurs
- Only 8 audio tracks
- Only 8 software instrument tracks
- Drum synth is only 8 sounds
- Only 4 mixer inserts
- No VST support
- Song does not stay in memory through power cycles
Background
My brother, first raised attention on this one, although due to it’s similarity to Ableton and grid layout, I was also pretty familiar with the Ableton / clip-based workflow as well having constructed several live set projects over the past years. In addition, I have long eyed the original Akai APC40, which I have never (yet) owned…and the second-gen Akai APC40 MK2, which I haven’t invested in yet either… When Akai released their standalone Force, it looked like the powerhouse I wanted it to be.
There was a lot of gearlusting. That got me into training videos and explanations of how to use it and so forth. I’ll mention too, that I have a history of setting up Ableton Live sets. Due to my historic lack of an APC40 controller, I’ve created my own systems. As mentioned before I used the Korg Nano (1) series of 3 units to setup an Ableton control system, where the keyboard was actually stepping me through my scenes… (something similar to this Korg Nano Series 2, although this is the second version of the Nano series, and a limited-edition color version, too. Nonetheless, I had these three units set up as one “Ableton controller”).
But, with this set of units and controls, I was consistently forgetting where I was in my song projects. I mean, I’d be jamming but forget which key I had just pressed, and which section I was in that corresponded to the keyboard. It wasn’t lighted. There was nothing highlighted except a row on my screen but nothing that corresponded where I was actually switching scenes (on the black 2 octave keyboard). I also tried using a Midiman Oxygen 8 but that was also only 2 octaves and not lit for indicating where I was in my Ableton project.
No Brainer
So, the Akai Force was almost a no-brainer. Plus, I had a full-time contract that year, was saving more and felt a bit more able to buy gear. Also, I was practicing in my Trilobyte project and one of my partners has the Pioneer SP1000. It’s a great unit too. Also, fits in the space of a CDJ. Perfect for a club setup! The Force has almost the same size & aspect ratio. But it has more buttons and the onboard AIR soft synths, which are sweet. Sure, the Force has some limitations too. I thought I’d be more hampered by them honestly, from having started with the 16 track RM1X. Maybe it’s because I’ve got some other gear in the mix still… It could be different if I was working only on the Force. Eight audio tracks, eight software synth tracks, 4 mixer inserts per track… But still, you can do much within these parameters. Drum tracks can be separate, used as “sample kits” I’m pretty sure there’s only a CPU limit on this. Which I have run into already. A bit surprising. Not used to being limited by CPU in music gear. But it creates some creative use cases and workarounds too.
Drum Synth
Along with having the ability to create drum kits from samples, a recent update has included a new drum synth. Unfortunately this is also only 8 voices. it would be nice to have had a 16 voice drum synth so it could fill the full lower left quadrant of the units’ pad grid, which is used for the drum samples also.
Onboard Synths & FX
The onboard synths are dope. The effects are also top notch. I haven’t really explored tons of them outside my normal wheelhouse. But it’s great to have an internal sidechain & compressor combo in the Mother Ducker. Can this work with the new Drumsynth? let me know if so! Otherwise, that’s one chink in it’s otherwise solid offerings.
Arranger & Ableton Export
And it has a visible song arranger mode now which is very similar to a daw. You can set section loops, record performances, automations… You can even go back after the takes and edit notes or curves to your liking. It’s pretty robust. Conveniently, the Force also has an export to Ableton feature which makes it a snap to bring your performances, samples, track arrangements and more into Ableton. Suuuuuper handy!! (Please Synthstrom!)
The 7 inch color touchscreen and 64 pad grid along with 8 endless & capacitative rotary knobs make this a very rich user experience. One of the main reasons i was excited for this was the various displays. To see labels for my samples, patterns, etc. I forgot the knobs have dynamic OLED labels too based on the type of knob sets you want (project, master, screen,…).
Conclusion
The Akai Force is a powerhouse. It is the center of my live setup. It has an internal mixer, 2 channels of audio input, 4 channels of audio out (meaning you could route something/s through it’s internal mixer & effects. I love the Kick Drum sounds from the new Drum Synth. I love the bass sounds you can get from the Hype and Tube synths (among others). It has new Mellotron and Solina synths. They added the arranger mode since I’ve had mine. Frankly it’s a very capable device. If only it had a powerful battery and didn’t need to be plugged in! But it does, still need to be plugged in. I wish I could control the dimming brightness of the screen (although it does dim, if inactive). I might have designed the some of the side buttons with a bit more space (somehow). But for what it is, it is great. I’m totally stoked to have mine. I like having the piano voices from the Hype synth. That’s my only “hardware” piano as soft synth.
So, I currently run that alongside my Synthstrom Deluge and Pioneer RMX1000, running through an Allen & Heath Xone 92 mixer as my live rig. Usually most of my compositions begin on the Deluge, but often I will try to sample them over to the Force, or record MIDI from the Deluge’s piano roll, prototyped with synths locally, and then I’ll record in the sequences on the Force to use it’s onboard synths and effects for the sequences.
So far, so good! May the Force be with You!
Want to see how it compares to other grooveboxes that I currently own? Read my full Groovebox Showdown post here.
Wikipedia Info Page for Yamaha RM1X