Take Control of AIR Reverb (AKAI Force and MPC)

[@unworthyServant08]

This is the sort of tutorial I'm looking for these days; in-depth explorations of the effects that come with the MPC family.

[@joefilbrun]

Hey Guy-Francis, I’m glad this hit the mark! I appreciate the feedback. You are not the first person to mention they are looking for more effects exploration videos, so I’ll make a note of that. Thanks for watching!

[@unworthyServant08]

@@joefilbrun Thanks for acknowledging my comment. I look forward to future updates!

[@UK-nf3ui]

I'd love videos like this one on all the effects in the MPC, I love in depth videos

[@joefilbrun]

Hey! Thanks for letting me know. I’m definitely considering doing more FX explorations. I feel like some of the effects in these machines are pretty intuitive, but others don’t give up their secrets so easily.

[@Noise-Conductor]

Thanks Joe, this was really informative. I bet this will be helpful to many people.

[@joefilbrun]

Hey, thanks Poetic Noise. I feel like this is one of the harder FX plugins in the Force/MPC line to understand. Or at least it was for me. Hopefully this helps people get more of what they’re looking for from it.

[@vertigev]

This was an amazing video. I had no idea about this and it's really great to learn about the concept, and how to use that concept on the Force in a real life example. Very well produced video as well. THANK YOU!

[@joefilbrun]

Hey vertigev, thanks for that! To be honest I had some doubts about whether to even make this video. So I’m glad to hear it was helpful for you!!

[@vertigev]

@@joefilbrun I just realized I meant to leave this comment on the FX Send explanation video haha.. I haven't watched this one but it's in my queue! I think it's great that you are explaining general music making processes and applying them on the Force. I'm absolutely love this stuff and I have a Force, but I I'm new to music making in general so your videos have been VERY helpful. I found your channel the other day and have been binging lol

[@joefilbrun]

@@vertigev That’s great, I’m glad you’re enjoying this videos. Also, thanks for letting me know where you’re at in the process. It’s helpful to know where the people who are watching my videos are at in their music making journeys. :)

[@christophremmery4520]

Joe : Take control of AIR Reverb video Me : drop everything at start watching Thanks Joe !

[@joefilbrun]

Haha, thanks for that Christoph! I hope this helps you get a lot more mileage out of this plugin.

[@awjaaa]

Man, this is one of those videos I will be watching 25 times. Pure gold. Chock full of good info/explanation, but also just plain inspiring. Your speed is perfect. The detail titles were maybe a wee bit quick (had to go back to read them, because I was concentrating on what you were saying). But no biggie at all. You've got the contrast of that dumb screen worked out just right on the camera, too. You keep the sound examples simple, not building an entire song that convolutes the point. After watching hundreds of MPC videos, all these little details do not go un-noticed. You've obviously worked hard on understanding everything you're talking about, but also on coming up with a script that makes sense moving from one section to the next. Thank you for these. I can't wait to see/hear you do more.

[@joefilbrun]

Hey Aw Ja, thanks for the detailed feedback! Definitely helps me to know what is and isn’t working for you. I will take a look at that title duration next time I use them. Thanks for watching!

[@awjaaa]

@@joefilbrun It was a reach to even come up with that criticism. Don't fret too much about that. Brother, this is one of those videos that, had it had the "Thenks" monetary option, I'd've tossed $5 at ya for the effort. Keep 'em comin'!

[@elMaxx5]

Excellent content. Will watch again to gain more information. Thanks.

[@joefilbrun]

Glad it was helpful, Leroy, and thanks for watching!

[@elMaxx5]

@@joefilbrun Subscribed now.

[@johnnylucid]

Awesome content Joe. Thanks as always and keep up t he excellent work!

[@joefilbrun]

Thanks @Johnny Lucid. I was on the fence about making this one. Wasn't sure how much interest there would be. So glad to hear you enjoyed it!

[@johnnylucid]

@@joefilbrun I think I could watch you talk about paint drying. You're a great teacher. It's very appreciated. Thanks again.

[@johanberube3490]

Love your content. Really clear and easy to understand. I'd like one of these tutorial on the new Air Delay Pro :D

[@joefilbrun]

Hey Johan - thanks for that! I’ll very likely do one on Delay Pro soon. I’ve been spending some time with it and working out what I think is worth covering that AIR didn’t go too deep on in their tutorial video.

[@spindlenine]

Thanks Joe. To be honest, I had kind of written off the reverbs for my MPC and Force. The presets are the worst-sounding reverbs out of all the gear I’ve ever owned. I took that to be a reflection of the algorithm and plug-in quality. But having seen this video, I’m wondering if maybe the presets are just not great. The plug-in itself is clearly quite powerful. I don’t think I’d ever noticed the second tab with the high and low cut - I don’t know why Akai doesn’t reformat the plug-in’s UI to show all the controls on one page since there is plenty of space to do so. I think I might run a signal from one of my other synths into my Force and see if I can simulate better sounding presets from my other gear on the Force, to save as my own user presets. Finally, a quick point of feedback: on touch screen intensive videos like this one, I’ve found myself zooming in on the screen since I can’t see it on my phone. Perhaps you’d consider focusing the camera on just the screen for a tutorial that isn’t really using the pads?

[@joefilbrun]

Yeah, i think it’s worth trying. AIR Reverb isn’t really my favorite reverb. That distinction goes to the Strymon Starlab (hardware) and FabFilter Pro-R (plugin). But this reverb isn’t nearly as bad as everybody thinks it is, in my opinion. It’s just that most of the presets aren’t that great. And quite a few of the controls just don’t make a lot of sense until you really isolate out what they do. But once you get past that, I’d rate it as pretty good. Thanks for the feedback on the camera zoom. I’ll look into that next time.

[@Drozas91]

Thanks! Akai doesn't do a good job explaining effects in the manual. If you are still taking suggestions, I'm interested on what you have to say about compression and side chaining. (I think you already touch on it a bit with the env. Follower video)

[@joefilbrun]

Hope you’re able to use it to get some better reverbs! I’ll put compression on my ideas list.

[@daniel_dumile]

This made me decide to use MPC for reverb instead of resampling my SP404mk2

[@daniel_dumile]

My only request is to record in 4k so we can read the labels

[@christian_blass]

Thank you for the tutorial, but after hours of fiddleing on the touchscreen I think the air reverb is the baddest sounding reverb on the market. Currently I'm using a Beringer X32 Mixingconsole as audio interface and external fx section for my MCP. The sound is without exception better and the workflow is much easier. And when it comes to mobility I use a Source Audio Ventris Reverb for my MPC.

[@joefilbrun]

Hey @christianblass6675, thanks for watching. I understand where you're coming from. Maybe Akai will give us a new reverb plugin at some point. I can make this reverb work for me a lot of the time, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to use on a system where I have lots of choices.

[@bartoszsowa5140]

so.... is input width modifying the input signal before further processing? i'm not sure if i understand this knob

[@ronsone8373]

Nice to know how a reverb ticks

[@joefilbrun]

Definitely. You can get a lot more out of this one than what the presets offer once you know what the controls do.

[@iswiu2bl]

Didn't see the second page all this time... Oh well... Thank you~

[@joefilbrun]

I feel like a lot of the secret sauce for getting this thing to sound like you want it to is on that second tab. Well worth getting to know those controls

[@loopmantra8314]

It ain't lexicon but it gets the job done 😊

[@user82938]

This reverb has always really confused me. I've really disliked it, but I'm going to try again with all of this in mind.

[@joefilbrun]

I’ve felt the exact same way in the past. It’s actually a pretty good plugin though, I’d even say its a “pro” reverb. But you pretty much have to dial it in yourself to get what you want. It’s not intuitive how to do that, and the manual offers zero help. Hopefully I’ve explained it well enough that you can start getting the sound you want out of it now.

[@suitandtieguy]

I've heard much worse reverbs. Just like everything else in the Force, what's impressive is not how great it sounds, but how bad it _doesn't_ sound. Nothing in the Force sounds better than the very complicated live rig it's replaced, but it's so easy for me to compose music and environments for interacting with that music that my music is _better_ even if the individual parts aren't the best kind of VA or the best kind of reverb. And compared to 1990s gear, it blows them out of the water. the only things from the 90s that it doesn't sound better than are Eventides and Lexicons. If you are just trying to make music that sounds like well-produced 1990s electronic music, the Force is king.

[@joefilbrun]

Hey suitandtieguy - well said. Agree, it’s amazing to have everything we have in one standalone machine.