Akai Force is AMAZING... and I almost sold it

[@DylanParisMusic]

Pickup the Akai Force at Zzounds and help the channel at the same time! www.zzounds.com/a--3981117/item--AKAFORCE

[@jaydogon8890]

You are spot on about the presets being lackluster, but man once you dive in the Force is a beast.

[@BeauTylerMakesMusic]

I relate to this video so much. It’s not my main Groovebox, but somehow it seems like the last one I could ever bring myself to sell. It’s not my favorite workflow, but it has my favorite set of standalone options. Love the Force. I love seeing it get more and more of the recognition it deserves.

[@DylanParisMusic]

You’ve been extra patient with it too, that full crash video was brutal! Agreed it’s really cool to see more and more folks using it and more features showing up on it

[@BeauTylerMakesMusic]

@@DylanParisMusic you know what though. That’s the only time I think I can actually remember that it has crashed like that, and I can’t rule out user error. I do find the more often than not… my ADD is to blame. Lol

[@DylanParisMusic]

@@BeauTylerMakesMusic that’s fair, one crash isn’t bad! I’ve had one or two glitches but nothing serious so far

[@iqnill]

Very true. The presets on Akai boxes star sounding all the same after a while. All drenched in same-same reverb... I understand they supposed to grab a n00b in a noisy shop ;)

[@kevinbirge2130]

It’s the best piece of gear I ever bought.

[@DylanParisMusic]

I can see why, there's so much it can do

[@josuearesav]

And that's the force by itself, the sampling capabilities are easy. The routing options are vast. The cv outputs are a nice way to modulate gear that has cv ins. The macro options are sick too. There is an envelope follower under macros, that can modulate pretty much anything. I like to use my kick output (Which i route to a submix track) to modulate with the env follower, to a cv output as destination. Then the cv input on my external synth can modulate the amp lvl. basically emulating sidechain compression. I am still learning new techniques to this day, but I get faster at it as time passes.

[@1000sofusernames]

Need to get back into this. Got a load of 8 bar loops sitting on mine that need finishing after I went back to the laptop. Miss the immediacy of the Force.

[@neonvoid]

i love my push2, it effectively turns ableton into a hardware synth. the possibilities are endless

[@bigthey1827]

Nice video, I love the force as well! It’s one of the most slept on devices in recent memory

[@DylanParisMusic]

thank you! and agreed!

[@VScriptedVizionairy]

Really appreciate the video. The Force is a great piece of gear. Your music sounds great also my friend.

[@DylanParisMusic]

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed this video, the force is awesome!

[@Johnmb23]

Cool video! I have my mc707 as it’s companion (along with other gear) the thing I do not like with the force is the sample drum kits! The 707 drums work great and it has way better sounding patches. Adding a TD-3 with the two is a blast

[@DylanParisMusic]

Nice! Yeah I mostly use Machine Expansions for drums by converting to MPC expansions with KitMaker

[@tricks-and-tips]

Nice to hear and see! And I hope you find joy in diving deeper and deeper. I'm at project 50 right now and jammed the xx out of the 707 the other day with the band after 4 weeks of not using it. (holiday). I think the Force can serve me well for these jams, but.... I'm not done with the 707 as of now. I've been using Reason a lot too lately, as I need to finish some background tracks for my other big hobby (videography) and the DAW just works quite well for this. But I do feel you are right and the Force is a powerhouse that deserves a lot of hours behind the knobs and if I will ever get it, I'm sure it will be funstrating :)

[@DylanParisMusic]

I feel like the force and the 707 could be a cool combo for you in the future for sure! But definitely a learning curve on the force, funstrating like you said haha

[@soulbeatzmajor]

I almost sold my force as well because I thought the workflow was to stressful but after learning the basics I realize that the workflow is actually easy and even though I’m working this machine like a pro, I have this uneasy feeling that there is still something about the force that I still don’t know yet

[@DylanParisMusic]

I’m still constantly learning new things about it but it’s fun to have more to find

[@michelvondenhoff9673]

Same experience here with Roland Jupiter 50, was about to sell and then I found out how much I like it.

[@DylanParisMusic]

that's awesome :]

[@Ast3rixMusic]

Nice songs!! I really like doing what you’re doing. Making songs as concepts and then moving over to Ableton to finish. It’s great for songwriting and Melodie sketching. The workflow is the closest to Ableton available.

[@DylanParisMusic]

Thank you!!

[@brynchurch581]

why on earth would you by a Force based on synth plugin presets? it's sooo much more than that. the synths aren't actually that bad if you take the time to edit them and when you start automating them they jump to life. if you have better sounds from other bits of kit just hook them up and record or sample them. the real power of the Force is as a work station and heart of a setup. also an awesome performance tool. and jamming out stuff in to the arranger can give you stems to import to a DAW if you wanna polish stuff there. i get that you need to put a lot of time into it, when you start using it, it can be like walking through treacle but it's totally worth the pain as far as fx go, they are similar to the plugin synths, the presets can sound a bit meh, however when you get in to editting and automating them they are really cool. on drum kits you get 4fx per pad, 4 on the track and 4 per submix. so you won't run out anytime soon

[@pierrefitch]

You using the keyboard in midi mode . With force how did you link them together with usb or midi cable

[@ildarkinildarkin]

I hope there will be a way to share patches for built in synths.

[@DylanParisMusic]

I’m pretty sure this is already possible by saving your entire program and the copying it to an external device

[@SamuMusical-Aprendatocar]

Pleases !! With stand, you use?????

[@AtomkeySinclair]

Listen here fella - you talked me out of it already with the last video from last month. And now you like... hmmm.. I think I'm going get a dedicated sequencer and call it quits :) Thanks for your content.

[@DylanParisMusic]

Hahaha fair, thank you for watching 🤣🙏

[@AtomkeySinclair]

@@DylanParisMusic Hehehe... but truly I'm still considering. Thanks again! :)

[@DopamineOverload]

Great vid, Dylan. Never tried Force and can’t afford shit these days but it looks cool. Do more vids on it as well as Maschine MK3. Keep up the great work, bro.

[@DylanParisMusic]

Definitely will do! There's some new NI stuff they sent over I'm gonna try out soon

[@remyvegamedia]

In almost every way I like the Force more than the MPCs, but it's globally stuck in 4/4 for clips. That's actually a 100% deal breaker for me. I use odd signatures and time sig changes regularly and not being able to smoothly change signature without annoying workarounds made me return it 😢 Hands down that would be my go-to standalone with that single change but there doesn't seem to be any plans to change that.

[@DylanParisMusic]

Yeah this sounds like it’s an issue for a fair number of people, I hope Akai updates to allow other time signatures

[@qtv6496]

Is the live 2 4/4 for clips too or does it do that better?

[@remyvegamedia]

@@qtv6496 You can change time signature on the One/Live2 etc. You can change time signature per sequence. I can't remember exactly what the steps are, but you can do it pretty easily.

[@jeffryarchambeau5441]

Use the Force, dyLuke.

[@devondetroit2529]

Is this with the new firmware ?

[@DylanParisMusic]

It was with the latest firmware at the time I made the video, but that was a while ago so not the latest as of now

[@heffe4257]

What’s your favorite piece of gear you own/use?

[@DylanParisMusic]

Oh man that's hard to answer! I feel like it's a rotating daily question for me. If we break it down by which piece of gear is actually creating songs that are going to be on my next album, the clear winner is the Maschine+ right now with at least 4 or 5 tracks that started on there before going to Ableton. I should make a video outlining some of my daily gear cause my favorites are my shure headphones, my NI Komplete Kontrol S61 keyboard, zoom h6 audio recorder, lumix S5 camera. those get used in almost every video now. As far as music gear that makes sound, probably a rotating three way tie between M+, Akai Force, and MPC LIVE II. I do really wish they'd bring Fabric XL and OPx4 to the Force though, I'm currently debating getting a Modal Cobalt or Argon8 as a sound source to go along with my grooveboxes.

[@heffe4257]

@@DylanParisMusic Great answer, man! Thank you! The cobalt is sick. Have had my eye on that for a few years now! But with getting the plus a few days ago, no way lol. Wanted to try the Lumix, but settled on the fuji x-t4. Sold my sony fs5ii, and the more I use the fuji, I kind of miss the fs5. Have you had the lumix for a while? Any other cameras you like?

[@DylanParisMusic]

I got the Lumix S5 about half a year ago I think, as a channel upgrade, before that I was exclusively using the Lumix G85 which is now my b cam on these videos. I have been super interested in Fuji's and Sony's but have managed to keep myself from buying anything camera-wise besides phones and stuff for the channel. Will potentially upgrade to an iphone 14 pro this year if the cameras are substantially better than the 12 standard I am using right now.

[@heffe4257]

@@DylanParisMusic For sure. Being so used to a cinema camera, I’m still getting used to the fuji. The picture quality on both the S5 and x-t4 are incredible though. As an apple user since the 3g, Apple is starting to annoy me with their phones. The base 14 will be most likely be the exact same as the 13 but cost more. I need to upgrade badly, thinking about getting a refurbed 12 or 13 pro.

[@DylanParisMusic]

yeah the 14 basic makes no sense based on the rumour. after testing basically every android flagship this year I'm still firmly in iPhone camp now. But a refurb 13 pro after the 14's come out is not a bad idea at all, you get the screen tech, great cameras, processor that will last forever.

[@symbiat0]

Your vocals on the first track kinda sound like Peter Gabriel 😉

[@DylanParisMusic]

An honor! 🙌

[@RusticRaver]

sounds terrible, but thx for demo!

[@DylanParisMusic]

🤣🤣🤣 no problem