New In FORCE 3.1

Never miss out on the moment’s inspiration with new Disk Streaming support. With Disk Streaming, quickly access audio files from your storage devices instantly. Cue up dozens of loops for on-the-fly clip launching or play back and record instruments parts with seemingly unlimited audio file lengths. Even for your largest projects, Disk Streaming cuts down project load time to mere seconds, enabling you to get back to the music faster than ever.

Bring out the best of your vocal performances with the new Vocal Suite. This collection of 3 plugins provides everything needed to record and mix the perfect vocals. Vocal Tuner is the versatile pitch correction plugin, capable of subtle tuning to the ubiquitous auto vocal tune sound of contemporary music. Vocal Doubler quickly transforms any vocal into a wide, spacious layer effect, bringing in-your-face presence to any vocal track. Finally, dial up an instant background part with the Harmonizer plugin. Instantly create a full 4-part harmony section for your project with the touch of a button. Whether you need a creative spark or are putting the final touches, Vocal Suite will deliver perfect vocal parts.

Take on bigger and more creative projects with expanded audio I/O support. FORCE now supports 3rd party classcompliant audio interface devices, offering you up to 32 input and 32 output channels of audio routing simultaneously. Record larger multi-tracking sources or route your audio our to analog gear for processing. Expanded I/O cements FORCE as the central hub of not only your workflow, but your entire recording studio.

No update would be complete without the right workflow enhancements to increase productivity and efficiency. A wide range of updates for FORCE cover every aspect of the creative process. Sample key detection cuts down on time spent finding the key of a loop and new Akai Sample Tail intuitively smoothes out your drum samples and breaks by applying an even delay. When you need to give your drum kits an added touch of process, quickly pull up a Drum Pad Effect to add from 10 effects like BitCrush, RingMod, and Soft Clipper for extra character and texture. Add dynamic feel and expression to Submix, Return, and Master channels with expanded Track Behavior enabling creative recording & editing of automation and more. Reinvigorate your creative process with these features and more, now in FORCE 3.1.

Hybrid music production and performance platforms – we’re thinking of the likes of NI’s Maschine and the Ableton Live/Push combination – have been with us for a while now, so there’s obviously been speculation that, one day, someone would eliminate the need for a computer and produce a completely standalone device. Well, Akai Pro has now taken the plunge and announced Force, a self-contained ‘production instrument’ that adheres to the clip-based workflow that many of us are so drawn to.

As well as clip launching, via an 8x8 RGB matrix, there’s also step sequencing, sampling, effects and a selection of built-in synths (TubeSynth, Bassline, Electric and Hype), while everything can be controlled from a 7-inch multitouch display. The eight touch-sensitive knobs have graphical OLED displays, while connectivity comprises two audio inputs, four audio outputs, MIDI and CV I/O.  

Features:
• 8x8 clip launch matrix with RGB LEDs
• 7” full color capacitive multitouch display
• Mic/instrument/line inputs, 4 outputs
• MIDI In/Out/Thru
• 4 configurable CV/Gate outputs
• Remix, mash-up, DJ and produce with 6 track types for complete audio/MIDI/CV sequencing and
performance capability
• Performance Modes including 16-Pad Drums, Notes, Smart Scales, Chords & Progressions
• MPC Sample Editing
• Automatic BPM detection, real-time time-stretching and pitch-shifting
• 8 touch-sensitive knobs with graphical OLED displays
• 4 powerful, fully-editable synth engines
• 16GB of on-board storage (over 10GB of sound content included)
• Full-Size SD card slot & 2 USB 3.0 slots for thumb drives or MIDI controllers
• User-expandable 2.5” SATA drive connector (SSD or HDD)

AKAI PROFESSIONAL SUPERCHARGES MPC AND FORCE WITH DRUMSYNTH, A POWERFUL NEW SYNTHESIZED DRUM SOUND CREATION PLUGIN INSTRUMENT

High-powered DrumSynth Instrument Plugin delivers advanced synthesizer drum sound design to MPC and FORCE in free update.

Calling all producers, live performers and DAWless jammers, this is the update you have been waiting for! Akai Professional has just announced the add-on of DrumSynth to their MPC and FORCE lines of music production tools with MPC 2.9 and FORCE 3.0.6 firmware updates. DrumSynth joins the unparalleled power of the existing virtual instruments already included in MPC and FORCE - TUBESYNTH, BASSLINE, ELECTRIC and HYPE*.

Powerfully Creative Drum Synthesis

At the heart of DrumSynth is a multi-synth sound generation architecture. Powered by FM synthesis, physical & analog modeling, and sample-based algorithms, DrumSynth propels the FORCE and MPC user into unrivaled dimensions of standalone sound design. This revolutionary plugin features 8 individual instances (Kick, Snare, Clap, Toms, Percussion, Hi-Hat, Crash and Ride), each with its own unique sound generator combination to deliver dynamic drum and percussion sounds. 

With DrumSynth, users can quickly tweak any of the 8 engines for an unprecedented degree of sonic manipulation. Fine tune synthesized drum sounds with a selection of effects and processors, including Transient Shaping, Tuning, EQ, Compression, Reverb and Delay. Add further character with multiple processing textures within each sound engine. Users can even access all 8 engines in multi-mode where sounds can be mixed and balanced against each other and saved as a custom user preset. This truly is next-generation drum synthesis at its finest.

Users will quickly grasp the DrumSynth interface, and on the standalone hardware devices, find the touch screen enables precise editing and lightning-fast manipulation of countless parameters. Fuse this with incredible visual feedback and DrumSynth maximizes users’ productivity with a graphic experience to keep creative responses flowing in the midst of the most inspired moments.

Key Features of DrumSynth

• Build and design any synthesized drum sound
• Powerful sound generators driven by completely new FM synthesis, analog & physical modeling, and sample-based algorithms
• 8 Individual Engines: Kick, Snare, Clap, Percussion, Tom, Crash, Hi Hat, and Ride
• Built-in sound effects, including Transient Shaper, Tuning, EQ, Compression, Delay, Reverb and more
• Multi-Mode to access all 8 engines simultaneously
• Save and store your designs to user presets

*Hype only available in FORCE