Akai Drum Synth - ✌️Top 5 Features! 🎉 (Akai Force Fridays)

[@iamsoundsllc.7456]

I was waiting for your review on the plug-in. This was on point. DOPE SHIRT!!

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

Thanks! Shirt - www.threadless.com

[@donovantheodore7496]

pro trick : watch series on flixzone. I've been using it for watching all kinds of movies recently.

[@jamesjamari3449]

@Donovan Theodore Definitely, I've been using flixzone} for since november myself :)

[@joefilbrun]

I like it. I think they did a nice job of making DrumSynth pretty flexible in terms of designing sounds, and yet keeping it really simple and fast to program. Spot on with hitting some of the high points.

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

👍👍

[@Michael_Smith-Red_No.5]

Firstly, love the shirt. Secondly, this new synth should prove fun by resampling.

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

Yes - I do think the sounds are going to need more “beef” to get better. Dialing it in - i.e. sustain, decay, etc. - then exporting to Ableton to tweak and fatten will be my strategy.

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

oh - and shirt: www.threadless.com

[@Michael_Smith-Red_No.5]

@@PinkBuddhaAcademy Thx for the link.

[@velocipede808]

Maybe there is a processing limit that explains the drum synth using only 8 slots and the limit to one multi per project. The multi limit sure suggests that Akai is worried about users getting choked by the Force. With all those insert effects folded in, drum synth could be more taxing than a normal plug-in. Speaking of that, maybe Akai could add a drum synth engine for samples. Ultimately, the ideal would be to easily combine samples and synth drums in the same kit. Anyway, nice to see Akai is now going beyond fulfilling their original promises and now giving presents to their users. They could have charged for this. I just ordered a Force, but I suspect that a more powerful Force 2 with more processing power will eventually appear.

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

Yeah - who knows. I get that some things, which seems like they should be easy to a non programmer, are really hard. But this seems weird, being that it’s all digital.

[@keydTV]

Hi, your videos are amazing! :) Do you know maybe how to do polyrithmic stuff on the force?

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

mmm....that’s tough. The Force is pretty “straightforward.” You can sort of work around it by just creating irregular loop lengths (i.e. like 4 bars and 1 quarter note)

[@TK-hz4ss]

The secondary velocity control has so many possibilities, hopefully it can be incorporated with the envolope follower.

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

You mean, like that the envelope follower could be manipulated by velocity?

[@inthefade]

You can have silent triggers assigned to the parameters and fake it. I've been playing with the env follower to put LFOs on the drum synth, with mixed results (it can be kind of confusing!)

[@MusicianParadise]

Great video ! I'm on MPC Live, but Force looking very atractive!

[@AD-Dom]

I'm not sure I'll be using drumsynth as I recently picked up a drumbrute impact. But their surprise release was nice to see.

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

Use both!

[@TK-hz4ss]

No need to limit yourself just because you have other gear with the same abilities, the Impact is fine, but the Drumsynth goes far beyond what the Impact can do...

[@memphis1424]

Great stuff! Just what I was waiting for! How do you feel about how it sounds?

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

Good point - I’ll review that next.

[@inthefade]

It does TR sounds really well. More experimental stuff is harder to pull out of it, but some neat stuff can be made. Over all, it is quite usable, sounds great, and is a welcome addition. It still feels unfinished with how it is implemented, but I still enjoy having it as an option. It really needs some sends and I/O routing for the multi version, but resampling is an option.

[@qwer4621]

Great vid! I’d really like to see one in the akaiableton workflow

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

You mean - how does the Drum Synth work going to Ableton?

[@qwer4621]

@@PinkBuddhaAcademy oh sorry no i meant, id love to see a video showcasing the workflow of the akai force transferring projects to ableton and visa versa. how well it works, any clunkyness, your review

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

Gotcha - I did one. Check The Force Friday's playlist

[@inthefade]

I wish it was easy to assign velocity to any of the 8 parameters. For now I have to do workarounds using the env follower, which I'm not sure behaves properly with the drum synth, and it doesn't name what the parameters are. Wait, you can only have one multi in a session? That's lame because it doesn't seem to use much memory or cpu. Also, being able to send drums from the multi to different sends or submixes would be great.

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

Yeah - have no idea why they limit it to just one multi per session. Seems ridiculous, since it’s all digital. Different than if it employed analog voices, and you only have so many to work with. The velocity assignment to the parameters is a bit wonky. I had to fiddle with it for a bit to figure out how to get it to do what I wanted. I’m curious what you’re trying to do - i.e. that you’re using the envelope follower for.

[@inthefade]

@@PinkBuddhaAcademy I'm just using the env follower to modify more than one parameter. It's a bit weak that only one can be assigned to the velocity. Makes it harder to get weird with my percussion. Also it's mind blowing that muting and soloing doesn't work on the drum multi...

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

@@inthefade wait...it doesn't work on the track? Or are you referring to specific drums? And idk of any akai gear is really going to help getting weird. It's so straightforward, as a whole. Modular is going to give you way more options for that.

[@ImpactSpace]

I feel with you in terms of only having 8 pads at once. I actually wish the other plugins would also allow for 32 instead of just 16 pads/slots since I don‘t need the velocity 4x4 pad section… so there‘s just ‚empty space‘. But otherwise great device and updates 👍

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

Totally agree with you

[@kafuprfin]

I want a more powerful synth with different envelopes and functions that can modulate more params. I think drumsynth is not a good decision

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

Maybe that’s coming too? I mean, I don’t disagree that the virtual synths on the Force kind of suck. But personally, I’m more interested in the drums. But I can see how if you really wanted better synths, you’d be bummed by this.

[@InkyDaCaT]

Disagree...you own device, so every update is like the best present ever....I love that I dont know when it comes out lol.

[@InkyDaCaT]

@Murada Hello lol.....no sadly no great bargins for me this weekend lo although I got a bit tipsy on cider and ordered a td3😬 you bought anything?mmm me drank hehe

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

haha - well, there you go. This was definitely a pleasant surprise. I think I’m still a little scarred from ordering the Force when it first came out - only to find out it was totally half-baked. And....then it took them a full year to finally get features they showed on promo videos (the Ableton integration). Now, the updates are just gravy, as it’s grooving well now.

[@InkyDaCaT]

@@PinkBuddhaAcademy lol can understand well..bought mpc love. Wow didnt even have arp😂 but kinda trusted 'Iniusic' latey lol from degenerate knowin nothiin lol ALWAYS BUY ON WHAT IT DOES NOW ..anything else extra lol imho😎🙌

[@CaptainCoffee-III]

Why act like this was a surprise? Drum Synth has been all over the forums since 3.0.5 released.

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

lol....and you frequent these Akai forums? I found them to be a colossal waste of time and energy, trying to get help with things.

[@Crabfugium]

Drum Synth was mentioned during Sonicstate’s video - NAMM 2020: Akai Force Workflows. In January. So I was kinda surprised that it wasn’t in the 3.05 update. But most people were probably focused on the arranger- and blown away by the Nick Trikakis note-repeat finger drumming thing. That was absurdly rad! Anyhow, the drum synth plugin is so awesome that I’m happy they took the time to perfect it. Are there any other drum machines that show you the tuning in both Hertz and notes instead of just arbitrary values? I haven’t seen any..

[@jean-baptiste9230]

Nice info, i don’t understand why akai tutorial aren’t very informative, they always show bear minimum, goodness you are here…

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

✌️😎

[@JGW-im3nf]

First!

[@PinkBuddhaAcademy]

Yo!