Akai Force Discontinued?? What's Next? Is this the end?

[@jeanbeezy]

still everywhere available in europe. it's not discountinued yet. also, no fcc filings.

[@DanielIvan707]

The force is the best thing Akai has done in a long time. It’s fun and inspiring to use. The step sequencer along is a game changer. Coming from using a MPC, Ableton and Maschine it fills all those spots perfectly in one unit. It a literally a DAW in a box, the MPC isn’t meant to be. It would be perfect with a tilt screen, MPE, faster processor, more plug ins. Its kills the Push 3.

[@SamuMusical-Aprendatocar]

The Akai Force has not been discontinued! Please be patient; I believe this is just a marketing strategy to promote the MPC 3. They've done this before, and the Force community is very strong. We'll likely see some updates soon! 💓🎧

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

Well, I can vibe with that! And if that is the case, I’m happy to do another video speculating that there will be more or another force or maybe the force will be returning in some other form… Maybe they have a whole new operating system that they getting ready to release for it I had heard at one point That they were rewriting the operating system to fix all of the issues that they had… And had brought some new developer on. I forget his name, but this guy was allegedly a force guru as far as the development of the force software. And I really hope that this is just a, temporary marketing ploy, something to get people talking about it. Off to hit up Ave McCree, he and I are friends and he’s pretty tied in with AKAI so maybe he can shed some light on the situation.

[@Aeuss-music]

Update for FORCE is promised and confirm by AKAI already.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

Excellent! You haven’t happened to hear any details on a timeframe by any chance?

[@Aeuss-music]

​@@Cap10NRGMusic unfortunately no details...dont know, but suppose soon

[@MarcusElbow]

I haven’t been able to make a video on this topic 😔 great job bro!! 🙏🏾👊🏾

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

Thanks Marcus!! That means a wicked lot coming from you man!!

[@extendedplay8830]

I own two Akai forces- freaking amazing Waiting on the next versions of the Akai force series!

[@myceliumtechno]

Akai Force MPE on the way is my prediction. New sleek hardware design. MPE expressive pads. Running MPC3.0.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

I think you are right - probably an upgraded amount of ram, better internal storage, faster processor - maybe finally get 16 instruments working at once (that would be my hope) and if they threw a few more midi ports and audio ports on there to bring it more inline with the MPC X Pro I would be stoked!! Hey Akai if you make, I WILL buy it!

[@yenthesage2717]

And I agree that there is a new device coming. I feel it’s going to be a huge deal and will be released along with the full MPC 3 software.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

SAME - and if that is the case (and I feel it in my gut that it is) I think it is going to be the device to crush everything else.... I mean - they really are in the BEST position to release a genre redefining device. Who better to take all the knowledge behind these beat making groove boxes and drop a nuke on the rest of the industry than AKAI???

[@artephank]

@@Cap10NRGMusic I read on the internet that they are planning making small MPC, similar in concept to Ableton Move. If it could also be used as additional control surface for MPC, to transform it into Force (or at least providing force-like step sequencer), I am sold :)

[@TeleporterM11]

A new version Akai Force Mk 2 is probably on the way. It may be in the possession of some beta testers right now.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@@TeleporterM11 hey @Akai I’m down if you want testers!!

[@pauljones4060]

I'm complete novice so novice questions coming up . I'm buying an Akai Force on Friday second hand for £440 in good condition but my question is what else do I need ? Should I get headphones or a speaker and is there anything someone can recommend on a budget ?

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

Hey there, that’s awesome. Congratulations first! And yes, you’ll want headphones and/or speakers. There are a lot of great speakers and headphones out there. I am assuming you’re going to be using this at home in a studio setting that said any headphones will work you will want a set that has a quarter inch jack. I personally use Beyer dynamics. Or Yamaha. But really whatever you like is fine for now. If you don’t know what you want specifically I would say get yourself a pair headphones in the close to $60 range or higher. If you need basic speakers and you’re just using this to make music at home right now, any speakers will do as long as they amplified if you want to save money Guitar Center has the speakers from a company called Sterling, you can buy a very basic set of those for about 100 bucks. Yamaha Hs3 is pretty nice and very budget friendly about 229 for the set. A lot of monitors are sold independently so when you see a price like 389 it’s for one speaker these ones are sold in pairs for two 2999 and they sound good. Fretty flat response, which is what you want when you’re making music to be sure that you’ve got the sound you really want in there. When you mix your music flat, it sounds really good on systems that are not flat usually. As long as you mix it well… That’s the story for another day. But also get yourself an SD card to back your projects up on, and possibly an SSD hard drive. I recommend buying these new for warranty purposes. You can get a 512 drive now for about $40-$50 on Amazon so that’s pretty much it. Oh if you’re planning on using it to sample, you might want whatever cables you think you’re going to need to connect to whatever your sampling from, you may also want a microphone if you want to be able to sing into it or whatever that can get kind of Harry as far as choosing one because there are so many to pick from. What kind of music do you wanna make with it?

[@pauljones4060]

@Cap10NRGMusic hi what a great answer, thank you . When I was younger I used to play at raves here in Scotland. I used an mmt8 sequencer, a juno , multitimbral synthetic and an ensoniq Epson 16 plus sampler that had 16 seconds of sample time. I'm 56 now and the technology is so much more advanced I want to have some fun making dance music . My daughter is 15 and I'm really hoping I can get her into making music . She likes rap and dance music so will need a mic for her , I watched a video about the vocal affects and they seem pretty good 👍

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

Oh man - the EPS-16 that takes me back! My buddy had one of those (he’s 55, I’m 54 so we’re in the same demographic lol, also club and rave djs, back when you actually had to know how to beat match…😝) But yes, I think that based on your answer there this is going to be an awesome device for you. I used to do back at that time trackers, I used to love fast best tracker - it was the first one that I knew of that let you have 64 channels. I believe it was 64 anyway it might’ve been 32, but it was awesome and I got a. Gravis ultra sound which did kind of the same thing as a sampler you could load up to four mb of samples on it. Back then that was groundbreaking. It was insane cutting up vocals and pasting them to the beat. Trying to select just enough words didn’t waste ram, and now these machines we have today are just freaking insane with their capabilities. There are so few limitations compared to what we worked with back in the day, lol! I hope variable to get your 15-year-old daughter into making music, I did get my daughter into art because I do illustration graphic design type work as well. I do cartooning and creature design stuff. She’s now a tattoo artist and 23… My son wants nothing to do with any of it, he wanted to learn guitar for five minutes, but when he realized it was a lot harder than it looks and took years of dedication he lost interest… guess that means when I drop my wife will have a giant yard sale and sell all my stuff at pennies on the dollar lol, anyway the other thing about this device, the force, is because you can load virtual instruments on it and use them to make music. It’s just game changing in so many ways I feel like and so much more fun to use than just a PC PCs are great don’t get me wrong, but this just something about having an actual device at your fingertips that you don’t have to I guess think about how does this work… It all kind of works the same but different since all the controls are specific to it. You get to learn how it works, and how they apply to the software synthesizes on board it, versus a PC that you used to do spreadsheets right resumes surf the Internet, and then try and make music with it and have to think about the controls on the screen and how they apply to your devices all the time it feels like you get used to it but I think it’s nice to have a piece of hardware

[@pauljones4060]

@Cap10NRGMusic if I wasn't in Scotland I'd be coming to you for a coffee and a laugh at trying to produce raves songs with 16 second sample time 😄. I used to record Pete Tong on a Friday night and sample bass notes and vocals etc to try make the songs sound current. I think the Prodigy were using a Roland W30 at the time which wasn't much better. Just shows what you can achieve ✨️ 💯

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@pauljones4060 I hear Scotland is a beautiful place! My wife and daughter were just out there over the summer touring. My wife’s family is from Donegal Ireland. Yeah man, I would love to do that. Make music with old Tech!, I think it’s hilarious when I hear people complain about only having two gig of ram in an MPC or only having so many effects so whatever in a unit that they purchased. And I’m thinking back in the day we had no effects. Everything was dry. You had to buy external everything we didn’t have VST’s to make our life easier as far as the cost of a lot of these software synths and such haha. I think coming from the older Tech gives you a unique perspective when making music with modern tech. Everyone else sees what is lacking and we see what is possible… I just think it’s kind of funny anyway. Yeah let me know what happens though I would love to you Know, keep in touch. And who knows maybe we can make some on the Internet we didn’t have this kind of communication back in the day either you know so. even local calls and communication back in the day used to cost five $.10 a minute. And it’s basically free as long as you have the correct Internet connection anyway have an awesome day man. It was great chatting with you!

[@yenthesage2717]

I can’t imagine Akai not having an Akai Force mk2 in the works. I highly doubt this is it for the Force.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

I agree! It seems unlikely that they wouldn't have something in the works. I mean even though these devices are similar, I feel like the users are not the same... I mean I use both, but it's funny - I don't make the same kind of music on both... (stringe but true)

[@cookupcentral]

Hope so because I was literally just about to buy one 😂😂😂😂

[@krakapoww]

That depends on sales, i think the force underperformed, and if so then why would akai bother with a follow up now that the mpc Line has ironed out the kinks and have a huge market share

[@GearGuy]

@@krakapoww I think they definitely overpromised on the Force (for years), but now (having delivered on most of the initial promises) they are really in a great position to hit the ground running if they came out with a MKII… However, it would kind of suck for the Force MKI users to be the abandoned guinea pigs of the Force line (assuming there is a MKII). Akai wouldn’t be the first manufacturer to do that of course.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@GearGuy my honest thoughts on this are that the MK one would get upgraded to the initial state of the MK two, however, the MK two would be more of a powerhouse and have more advanced features. One of these features I would expect would be a significant increase to the amount of ram in the machine maybe even eight gig… Memory is a lot cheaper than it used to be, and the cost of manufacturing these units has come down significantly so there’s that. Second, I would expect a significantly more powerful processor. One that is backward-compatible, however, ready for the future. By ready for the future one thing I would expect would be the ability to do more than eight tracks of virtual instruments. I’m hoping personally for 16 at least, the dream is 24 to 32 but we’ll see what happens. As far as the power of today’s processors, I know that it would not be an issue. I know they could handle it, the question is whether the cost of the device could bear such an upgrade and still remain in the same ballpark. We don’t need another OPXZY - the industry can only bear so much stupidity lol. But I think that what will happen will be that us old timers with the original will get our upgrade and bring us up to spec and then the new unit will march forward and the existing unit will stagnate. Maybe the plug-ins will be compatible still but you’ll still be limited in features as far as quantity of plug-ins, and eventually power of plug-ins the initial additional plug-ins may not fully utilize the new processor, of course but eventually they would start to use features that are not part of the original unit and the original would get left behind. However, it is still a super useful device and I love it so I intend to keep mine regardless of what happens and support it as a user/content creator for as long as I can.

[@digitaldiezel5870]

MPC + FORCE = SAME SHIT. Let’s get these devices unified.

[@SpyderBlackOfficial]

I hope the touch screen os improved because it's not exactly as responsive as a phone or tablet.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

Yeah - I mean I personally think their touch screen IS pretty good (I mean, it's no iPad but, compared to some of the other keyboard touch screens - I mean yikes have you tried some of them? Some of them are a crime against humanity and an exercise in frustation). They could absolutely improve what they have though - and digitizers have gotten better since the release of the original unit. I mean hey I would not object to a stylus ala'Apple Pencit or Samsung Pen - those would improve the touch screen accuracy 100s of times over what we have now... (Support for fingers, and a stylus) and they could charge $100 for it - we all know Akai likes money... ;)

[@Harlem-Instrumental]

@@Cap10NRGMusic Some stylus work on the Force/MPC screen. Some one posted on MPC-Forums.

[@8BarLoop-du7sr]

Agree with some of the comments. 64 pad MPC will replace the force. All machines running the same software and maybe a mini MPC running a lighter OS for truely mobile sketching and sampling. Fully featured PC daw maybe for final polishing and the ability to use third party plug ins. New hardware line coming for sure. Ableton have just done the same thing with the move and wifi sharing of files etc. Still feel they needed a slick OS for their standalone devices and then backed up by a fully featured Akai daw software for Mac and PC. MPC 3.0 software seems a little too much like a daw port rather than a specialised standalone software.

[@obshaky]

It just has a lot more to compete with and there has been a lot of new features introduced since it was released 5 years ago. Wifi, battery, MPE, better processor... new design to make it more streamlined and a bit smaller, more portable... Akai couldve come up with a way to streamline the MPC and Force software to intertwine both things... I mean there is great potential for new stuff and they have 5 years of user feed back so.

[@xselfcreative]

Akai force is a great peace of gear, since akai doesn’t have a proper DAW I’m sure they will continue after the mpc 3 hype calms down for them.

[@michaellawrence7088]

What is the possibility of using the apc64 as a extension of the mpc to make a akai force workflow? As a more performative instrument and using the touch strips instead of the encoders on the force, ( i want to know so i can maybe have the best of both worlds) but let me know if im dreaming

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

You know I’ve been thinking about that myself. I’m not sure, but as it stands I think they’d have to do some configuration changes to the APC to make it work. I’m pretty sure the APC64 is a “purpose built controller” and that purpose was not force emulation. I’ll see if I can get my hands on one and see or see if I can get an answer from AKAI support.

[@Harlem-Instrumental]

They would still need to add all the unique Force features like the clip matrix, which it seems like they will at some point with MPC3. But 64 pads attached to a MPC ain't the Force.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@Harlem-Instrumental not yet it’s not anyway, but it could be with the right programming. I mean, you never know what’s gonna happen in the future. Personally, I’m just hoping that we’re going to get a new force at NAMM as one of my other subscribers mentioned they think it’ll happen there and then I was thinking you know what you might be right you might be onto something so just hypothesis at this point in just a kind of wish. We’re getting a new more powerful, more upgraded force. We’ll see what happens.

[@Harlem-Instrumental]

@@Cap10NRGMusic I know it could be, but only if it has all feature of the force & the dedicated buttons. A MPC-64 without that is a Force 2. Was that more clear? MPC3 should have the clip matrix & the New MPCs like maybe the MPC-F should all have the Force buttons & they better not get rid of the crossfader. I wish they add another one.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@Harlem-Instrumental dude YES to the second crossfader - please

[@robmcdaniel2452]

I’m absolutely foaming at the mouth for a Force MK 2 with full MPE pads!!!! I was about to pull the trigger for a Push 3 BUT I HATE the idea of needing a computer regardless of stand alone or not because you still need a computer to do editing. And furthermore you have to get Live Standard for the midi editing tool LAME! Not to further the rumor mill but Roger Linn (designer of the original MPC) did a recent video showing his Linnstrument working with MPC. I’m going to go out on a limb and say maybe he’s collaborating his MPE tech with Akai???? It makes sense in a way that the Beta MPC3 is a test platform to work out the kinks before the launch of a Force MK2. Maybe just maybe!!!

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

I know I kinda just love speculating! I will absolutely be on the pre-oral list for that device, though if that actually happens or when that happens. I think it’s a matter of when I’ve already contacted my rep and told him to keep his eyes open and if he has anything, put me on the list lol. I mean for all I know it’s a paperweight.

[@Harlem-Instrumental]

It make sense that if a new force or whatever was to come out that they would release it first. Now that more MPC users are getting used to the Force lite OS a new & improved Force 2 would be more appealing in 2025 than it was in 2019 right before covid had people thinking about other things. I've been talking about the MPC-F being a cool thing. Keep all the OS the same. I think they will add the clip matrix to MPC3 but don't want to overwhelm MPC users too soon.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

I have a feeling that is what’s coming! Also discontinued hardware doesn’t necessarily mean discontinued support. From what I understand is hard at work on doing some software changes to the existing force system. I’m sure they’re not gonna just be like all right just drop it delete it who cares lol. I’m sure they’re gonna give us whatever the last batch of changes are. It’s just not a huge priority for them compared to getting this new MPC software over the line. Least that’s my understanding of it. I do really seriously believe that we’re gonna get a new machine that kind of brings the two devices together, so stay tuned. I’ve got a ticket to NAMM in January. Hopefully all will be revealed.

[@Harlem-Instrumental]

@Cap10NRGMusic Not having a 64 pad device in the age of MPE wouldn't be a smart business move. An MPC-F or MPC-64 gotta be on the menu. Enjoy yourself at NAMM!

[@Sinosure]

It's MPC3 products about to drop in the future, so now everything is being discontinued.

[@CookinBeatloaf]

Curious how you overlay the video of yourself? It is a lot cleaner than a lot of channels

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

Hey there - thanks for the question. I use OBS and have a green screen. They are a bit tricky to get working well, but with a few ringlights properly placed, I have been able to get good results. Maybe I will do a video on it if you wan to see it but there are a lot of videos out there showing how to get this to work pretty well... The even cooler part is that you can use that effect of other things... LIke I have a green screen for my desktop so I can have the synths show up in a garden or in space or whatever... :D Green screens are pretty inexpensive - the one I use on my desk is literally something I got for $3 at 5 below...

[@CookinBeatloaf]

@@Cap10NRGMusic I'm right by a five below but haven't been in...what am I looking for? I've seen there are chair frame ones, is it like that or like a frame mount?

[@samgoldsberry3029]

I asked Akai if the Force will also update to MPC 3. They responded by saying, " Stay tuned!!". Not for sure what that means....but who knows.

[@artephank]

Probably they will integrate both OS'es. MPC3.0 is already almost Force. Having two separate OSes is costly.

[@kevinbirge2130]

I got mine. Not for sale.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

For real man! I don’t think I’d get rid of it if they came up with a new one I just think it’s a great piece of gear so versatile. Again, just like SMPLTrek- there are some pieces of gear you get that are just so versatile, that replacing them does not make sense. Or even purchasing an additional new device still wouldn’t make you get rid of that piece of gear and that’s where this is for me!

[@synkuk]

I'm confused here .. 1 supplier doesn't have it in stock and you are saying its cancelled ? yet I'm seeing stock from all the biggest suppliers in Europe

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

According to Sweetwater there are no more coming in Akai told them it is discontinued as of September. This isn’t them saying it’s canceled. They’re telling me Akai said it is canceled. If you go to the Akai website and try to order one you cannot, you could about a month ago that’s the last time I tried to order there just to see what would happen. I’ve been trying to follow this to see what was gonna happen since the MPC 3 OS was announced. I had a feeling, and I’ve been in the industry long enough to know that my feelings are usually pretty accurate. So I kept checking the website to see if anything had changed, I took a break and during that time it changed. If you think this is fake news, look into it… let me know what you find.

[@ricardomilice2470]

I just want my force to be compatible with Abelton Live like they advertised it. I wanted to upload my Abelton clips to upload to the Force, that all.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

I hear you - as I understand it Ableton was supposed to be in on that project and I think they pulled out of it somewhat - not 100% sure of the details, but if I were to guess - they decided that they didn't want to "give that much away"... I could be wrong that is def speculation, but... I mean if I owned "the pie" (the pie being Ableton) would I want the best controller to be someone elses? Probably not... Just a guess though

[@vincewatson_official]

It's not hard to understand...it's not selling that much anymore, production stopped....it's out dated and the CPU and ram were underpowered from the beginning. A new Force will comet bring it up to date

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

Yeah, time marches forward - it’s just funny that it’s the same CPU in ALL the MPCs. I really do think all the devices need a new core, but it’s easier to keep selling the same thing in a new “box” than to upgrade it. I do believe we are on the cusp of what will be a brand new much more powerful Force and MPC unit and every one will most likely be happy about that. I just don’t want to “lose” the force, know what I mean?

[@GearGuy]

@@Cap10NRGMusic Hopefully, if they do update the CPU, it will not incur alot of growing pains (meaning, hopefully the stress-test the crap out of the new CPU/hardware).

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@GearGuy don’t worry they hired a guy from Intel to quality control the development of the new processor. I hear he was in charge of the Intel I nine and I seven GEN 13 and 14… 🤣😆 I’m totally kidding not sure if you heard all the fiasco about the Intel 13 and 14 generation desktop processes having issues that physically damaged the processor on the desktop units. Dear Lord. I’d like to see the migrate to something like the snapdragon processor or something along those lines because they are using ARM technology and those processes seem rock steady and would support pretty much the same instruction set I believe, making the migration to them pretty seamless from a software perspective

[@digitaldiezel5870]

It’s not gone….”MPC64”will be released, and its will use MPC3 software.

[@mathieupe666]

@dreamstaticsound is the moniker of your fellow youtuber who mentioned it first being discontinued. He is also a MockbaMod embassador.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

Oh there, we go! I saw it popped by on my feed and then looked into it more and I was like who was that guy? Why did he not save that video usually save all the videos that I think are important for that type of things I can add them as a link.

[@mathieupe666]

@@Cap10NRGMusic it was just a short though

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@mathieupe666 yep I added you as the person who reminded me of where the video was and him as a confirmation/source to the comments. Thank you for that. I appreciate it.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

There’s another guy who had found a way to 2 more giga ram to the force. Not sure I can’t remember if he removed the rim that was there and replaced it or just add it on but the end result that he had four gig of ram, just like the MPCXSE or the Akai 61 key MPC. Pretty cool, what he did not say was how the operating system handled it if it was able to truly load it up with samples and such or not.

[@darrygswa]

Remember when they discontinued they Mpc One & price Dropped to $699.99. Then Mpc one Plus came out for the same price.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

That is a really good point!

[@Aeuss-music]

Yeah, think this will come...price of Force was drop to similar price to MPC Live 2 And MpC key 37 month ago and still keep dropped price. Totally something BIG will come from Akai in near future

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@Aeuss-music I am wondering if we will also see a new MPC live model _ it seems to be their most popular unit and has not been refreshed in a while.

[@joman66]

Had my Akai Force (bought and sold for $500 about 1/2 years ago) and miss the shit outta it. Would definately buy a Force Mk2. Force is USB Compliant as I recall so you can plug a drumpads into it with USB and have large MPC-style pads on it. Literally a MPC at that point :) Sucks hard it's discontinued.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@@joman66 it might not be dead discontinued maybe it’s in its cocoon stage and gonna bust out the other end as a butterfly… crossing my fingers

[@liothomasart]

I knew this was coming

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@@liothomasart yeah I hear ya. Seems like the writing was on the wall in a way but I’m hoping for good things. We’ll see.

[@gossamyr]

Given how they exploded the mpc, let's hope they make a force one+, force keys, force toaster, or partner with amazon to give us a force kindle, Roland did the same thing with the 505, and are doing it with zen core.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@@gossamyr if there were a force keys omg - I’m so in!!! :) FORCE toaster though - hmm probably not as interested, but I do like toast with a little butter and jam mmmmm :)

[@matthewgaines10]

While the Force users are quite vocal, it’s not where most of their users were. They committed to another update to the Force. They only have so many resources and you put it where the most people are affected. The Force and MPC could see new hardware in the future. If so, it will happen with the MPC first and maybe the Force later. Realistically, the Force seems redundant with the changes made to MPC and it could be folded into the new hardware.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

I could kind of see the MPC "taking over" and maybe making an MPC that "IS" the force. The capabilities have really started to overlap. I think am MPC with more pads (64 pads) would be amazing we are just about there new. I could see them making an MPC-F Edition or something like that ... More power more storage, maybe a bigger screen and more ports...

[@Ast3rixMusic]

I disagree about them being redundant. The MPC 3 firmware is not clip based workflow. It's the same MPC workflow with access to the force arranger. You still have to deal with that terrible song mode for doing basic things like disabling sounds in the middle of your performances. They should have just did away with the MPC workflow and went full on clip mode. It just makes sense for the features that they added. The Force is and was on par with ableton push. It is more push than the actual push. It's the device that ableton users wanted, but it's got alot of things that need work to make it perfect. Midi is an after thought and it's just terrible, hell they didn't even bother to add midi cc like every performing artist needs to be able to use external devices. There are terrible things wrong with the Force arranger that they never addressed. People who have tried to setup large sets with it understand immediately the real problems with it. If they did discontinue it I understand the why. Bad launch and terrible life span with nothing but constant updates to fix the things that they didn't get right. I know I am never going to buy an mpc I'm done. If they release a force 2 I am going to wait to see what they fixed first. I just don't want to go through what I did with this machine. Otherwise I am looking for an alternative machine to use as a creation tool. I do not like the push 3 there's just too much menu diving in 2024... it should have been touch screen to eliminate all that diving. It should have been better than the force. MPE is gimmicky and that's all the worked on. They added the push 2 with fixes and a few new buttons and called it a thing.

[@matthewgaines10]

@@Ast3rixMusic Feel free to disagree. I think both the current MPCs and the Force are not long for this world. The next version of the MPC likely will integrate the two products into one. Clip launcher can be added to MPC. Lower costs to support just one OS and put it on different hardware like they currently have been doing for the MPC. I do think the Force could continue on in new hardware but the current one is done just as the current MPCs are nearing EOL. They only have so many old SOCs to use. You can only sell old hardware for so long.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

True - but the chip is an ARM based chip, and though it will (eventually) need to be replaced, that doesn’t mean support for “legacy” systems has to end. The instruction set for the new processors (what makes them work at their core) doesn’t necessarily “change” there may be enhanced ways of doing things, but generally these newer chips support the same instruction set. That said - it doesn’t mean all the current MPCs will get “dumped” just slowly replaced with newer gear that has more power. I mean time marches on and nothing is beyond replacement so… I know whatever comes next will most likely be embraced by the community! ;)

[@Ast3rixMusic]

@@matthewgaines10 I really have no clue. This whole stop production thing has me really unsure about all the things. The MPC's have a self marketing scheme because of old school hiphop. The force has to get a major artist on it to make it the same. They have to fix all the things and then work out a deal with someone big to get it in the eyes of the public.

[@88mokeyz8k]

Mk2 force with MPE

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@@88mokeyz8k 100% guaranteed once it’s announced, I’m back in it lol and I’m not kidding day one!

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

Most people afe not happy with the new Akai software because its basically a full DAW rahter then what it used to be which was a Touch screen modded DAW similar to FL Studio mobile.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

I hear what you are saying, but I think the issue there is that people do not like change. Our brains are hardwired to hate change - so telling folks that NOW this device is a complete studio is a BIG change. But in time everyone will get used to it - it is REALLY NICE in my opinion, and I have been on this for a while. Personally - I prefer what we have now vs what was there before. The old OS was not visual and not "FUN" to use. It did not make me want to experiment - it was kind of a get what you gotta get done and get out experience for me... So useing this version and feeling like touching things and seeing what I can do with it is HUGE.... I give it a solid 9 - and I am hoping AKAI finishes this thing off and give me a chance to give the the 10.

[@palimo3653]

Actually most people are happy with the new software.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@palimo3653 agreed! I think it’s dope. I think it’s really really good. Way more user-friendly. I remember getting my first MPC and looking at the screens and just being like what the heck is going on how do I even use this thing I had to watch videos to even understand what I was doing. I popped the new operating system in, and it just makes sense in my opinion

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

@@Cap10NRGMusic But will it actually increase your musical ability? When it comes to a MPC then its obviously a no in My opinion, its trying to behave like a DAW but will always be heavily limited to the power of what even a basic laptop can do.

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

@@palimo3653 Really?

[@synthsamuraiproductions]

Mpc3 baby and akai Force.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@@synthsamuraiproductions hey SS WHATS up my man! I know you love the MPC, wink wink lol. You’ve been trying to pawn that thing off on somebody. I’m just kidding around. Man, the MPC and the force are very similar devices in a lot of ways and with the new operating system the MPC is even more like the force, I don’t know what they’re gonna do but they did officially drop the current version from production… There is speculation that there is a new unit in production or maybe in development rather I should say coming to production. Though no specs or timeframe is known. If I were to guess, I would say probably June 20 25 possibly April 20 25. We will see a new force or what might be called something else maybe like I said in another message the MPC - F special edition or something where they’ll take the Akai Force body make a few modifications. Bigger screen may be better processing more ram maybe some additional I/O and bring that to the table and flatline Ableton and native instruments’ attempt at the market. if anyone can do it, it is Akai! It’s crazy how much I like their equipment these days, and I didn’t even realize it. They just kind of snuck in under the radar and one device at a time they just kind of propagated.

[@SeanHyland]

@@Cap10NRGMusic Maybe we’ll see new details at NAMM

[@tyyywright1827]

i hope they give at least some updates or bug fixes or something, lol force user are the forgotten step children of the mpc household.... how you gonna just take all of our ideas and leave us outside in the cold i feel like this is a bad look for akai but then again this is how die hard mpc users were feeling once the force was released and kept getting updated.... i hope they just combine us all into one operating system and make us one big happyfamily

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

They’ll figure it out. It’s just a matter of time, hopefully it’s not too long. I feel like they’re keeping the cards close to their chest right now, but if I were to give you my two cents,/what I anticipate I guess. I expect new hardware with new features and an update to the old hardware for those of us who still have it I think the new hardware is not gonna be functionally different out of the box, other than that, maybe it’s running the MPC software, which I believe will be enhanced to the level of making the MPC act like the force in a lot of ways. From what I understand and have heard in the past from an undisclosed source, the MPC key 61 was originally supposed to be a force keyboard… So that makes you think about what’s going on maybe changes your thought process on it a little bit just something we’re waiting for something more solid

[@SMF-007]

maybe you cant buy it because a follow up is coming...one that gets it right from the start LOL

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@@SMF-007 hey you might be right! I’m not saying that the device as it is is bad I think it’s great. I use it all the time. But it definitely has room for improvement and some bug corrections. Lots of workarounds… So hopefully fingers crossed will know at NAMM that’s what I’m hoping anyway

[@scottfrost317]

Just like everything else in music does, after a few years they abandon it

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@@scottfrost317 that’s why we have vintage gear that costs 10x its original price ;)

[@jr4times730]

Nobody managed to make it the hip-hop bedroom beat maker purchase and the EDM folks would rather use Ableton itself. Akai attempted to lure big spenders with this release and the people with the money didn't care and THEY REALIZED THE MONEY GRAB FOR THEM AS A COMPANY... IS THE MPC.

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@@jr4times730 I kind of think it was ahead of its time though because when you look at the way that Ableton is going with their new Ableton push, they’re trying to do what Akai is doing. Makes you wonder. I have a feeling that if they try again with a new device, they might be able to make that happen my opinion just a thought

[@digitaldiezel5870]

Not the case

[@robmcdaniel2452]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZpPLhIqtm5KcZ80si=MqlvOc2fGvZx3Pw4 This right here has me speculating some sort of collaboration for an MPE capable Force!

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@@robmcdaniel2452 you know, I saw that video back when it came out like four months ago I guess according to the date on there and I thought to myself wouldn’t it be a kick in the head if they got Roger Linn to come in and work on the new MPC. And I thought that would be freaking amazing and if that happens that they integrate with Roger’s ideas and his instrument into a new AKAI Force / MPC plus throw some new features and functionality in there. As far as hardware wise they will destroy the rest of the market. And I am 100% here for it let’s go Akai!!!

[@robmcdaniel2452]

@@Cap10NRGMusic winter NAAM might be where we see something?

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@robmcdaniel2452 that’s a good point! I just ordered my ticket, online anyway I’m gonna see if I can swing get there in real life this year. Unfortunately, it’s a personal expense, I’d have to approve it with my business partner, a.k.a. my wife, 😉

[@GearGuy]

@@Cap10NRGMusic Good idea… Sometimes asking permission is WAY better than asking forgiveness…Spouses can have long memories, lol!

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@GearGuy this is very true. Lol 😂 especially if they’re in with you for the long haul. You don’t want something like that coming up later when all the sudden you can’t afford a new water heater for the car breaks down.

[@crazzylee]

Pull back on the stick 😂

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@@crazzylee hehe - you know , flight reference

[@abstractoable]

They could just unlock the force to work with Mpc… it’s the same hardware

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

@@abstractoable yes, it is - same everything except the bios and that can be updates…

[@R.G.777.]

Say it ain't so

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

I know, man it’s very upsetting in a lot of ways! I understand the overlap between the MPC and Force, but I kind of saw that as a strengthen away like that they were the same but different. Personally as a person who does house in techno type music versus hip-hop, I appreciate the extra pads. I still hope there might be a chance that we get MPC three running on the FORCE… That would close the gap

[@Geekraver]

@@Cap10NRGMusic when the first MPC 3 beta came out they said "we haven't forgotten about the Force" or something like that, so I think a lot of us were expecting convergence, so the discontinuation came as a surprise but doesn't make me hopeful. Best outcome is what you said: a new Force II with the software coming to the original too. Next best would be for them to support a proper grid controller on MPC (e.g. MPC with APC64 and all the modes of the Force properly supported).

[@Cap10NRGMusic]

Fingers crossed over here! I mean I am really hoping to get his video and all these reponses in front of Akai... So please feel free to drop thoughts here.

[@GearGuy]

@@Cap10NRGMusic My biggest hope (if there is a MKII) would be a generous trade-in for Force MKI owners to discount the Force MKII significantly. Being an unpaid guinea pig is not conducive to brand loyalty… After the MPC Live (MKI) abandonment, I think Akai is going to get a reputation for abandoning first-gen device enthusiasts. I mean (as they say) “you can sheer a sheep many times, but you can only skin them once”. Of course, It would be different if the Force didn’t take two years to deliver on it’s initial launch promises. I know it’s unlikely, but it would certainly generate a ton of good will. Just my 2 cents.