AKAI Professional Force

I like the machine very much but I am not going to say it is very good. They could implement so much that I feel it leaves this machine almost not worth buying. I was expecting more from the sequencer, more from the clip matrix. It all depends on the future updates, let's see if akai improves this machine or not. I like it because I am a long time mpc user and I appreciate having ableton grid system with the mpc insides. I think this machine has everything to be one of the best machines out in the market with a proper update, and I am not referring to an arrangement but more towards clip interaction and behaviour as well with nudge functions for the step sequencer.

I don't regret buying it but I am not 100% happy, hopefully an update will fix that.

an A+ to Thomman for always delivering and helping out with everything.

Not long ago there was a great disturbance in the Force, as if all the owners suddenly cried out in joy and were suddenly able to create more freely. Yes I am using puns to review this. I'm strong with the Force, especially after 3.0.5 Firmware update and the Force is with me. There is a lot to unpack here and a video will probably be a better medium for it. My main point here is that I thought I was buying a pretty capable standalone device, and It was good for what it was but now with all the updates AKAI transformed it into something much better than I thought. I can't wait to see what will be added in the future.

I love the sound of the Force. It is an awesome sampler, has nice synth engines. It ist extremely extensive. You can record mic and guitar input, loop&overdub it in the looper mode, prepare a huge amount of snippets for live performance, create whole songs etc.

This complexity comes at a cost: It is heavy, I spend a lot of time tweaking sounds and thinking through patterns, micro adjusting notes and playing with plugins and tapping on the touch screen. This hindered me from being productive. I usually prepare projects with versatile drum kits, have user-defined synth sounds prepared and both audio tracks already prepared as a basis for all my new projects.

If you don't really need that many options and you want to be more productive on your couch, I would recommend smaller groove boxes e.g. Elektron Model:Samples over or in addition to the Force.