Akai Professional has released Force 3.2, a free update that adds a variety of features, including MPC instruments, Air Effects, probability and ratcheting, Ableton Link v3 and more.
MPC Plugin instruments/Effects – You can now purchase a range of new AIR instruments/Effects for FORCE. The new collection of plugins brings together the AIR team’s expertise in sampling, synthesis, and DSP. Each instrument comes in both Standalone and MPC Software desktop versions.
The instruments include:
Fabric XL
Air Stage Piano EP
Mini D
Flavor Pro
Air Organ
Air Piano
Air OPx4
Studio Strings
New Air Effects:
- AIR FLAVOR – Get that vinyl record feel from any sample or sound source using the new AIR Flavor insert effect. Select from over 30 different timbres including Radio Transistors, Tubes, Boom Boxes and Amplifiers to manipulate your source sound. You can then add and simulate analog record Distortion, Flutter, and Noise while also impacting the stereo field to create more mono sounding audio effects.
- AIR AMP SIM – FORCE 3.2 brings a new Amp and Cabinet Simulator to the FORCE platform for adding harmonic distortion to samples, vocals, drums, synths, bass, and guitars.
- AIR GRANULATOR – Granulator has also been updated making it easier to mangle your audio and create new timbres and tones using its granulation engine. The new update for FORCE 3.2 also gives users control over three new parameters: Reverse, Shape and Skew.
Probability and Ratcheting:
In FORCE 3.2 you can now add Ratchet effects to your MIDI and add groove to rhythmic elements or melodic lines. The Probability MIDI setting lets you choose the probability that a note from your MIDI track will play based on 0% to 100% probability.
Track Re-Order:
In FORCE 3.2 you can now re-order your tracks by simply changing the tracks position directly from the Matrix, Mixer, or Arrange windows. New track position will take effect when you leave the editing popup.
Automation Snapshots:
In FORCE 3.2, you can now capture a snapshot of all of the automation parameters in your project within a launch row. Once a snapshot has been captured to a row, automation settings can be launched with event data on that row.
Tuner:
FORCE 3.2 adds an integrated high-fidelity instrument Tuner to its arsenal of tools. Now you can tune your external MIDI CV synth, guitar, bass or any other musical instrument using the FORCE Tuner completely standalone.
FORCE 3.2 also includes other enhancements, improvements, and new functionalities
- FORCE now contains support for Ableton Link v3
- DrumSynth Multi now has mute groups
- FX Racks now include racks that use the Flavor and Amp Sim effects
- References to Master have now been renamed ‘Global’ or ‘Main’
- The TUI Project popup gets an Audition F-key
- Arpeggiator settings are now saved and recalled with the FORCE project
- XYFX location is now saved and recalled with the FORCE project
See the Akai site to download.
I’ll wait untill they release the next generation of boxes, these all seem like paid beta versions compared to their older, robust stuff. I don’t want endless “updates” because the products are rushed, I want a finished, polished thing that does what it says on the tin. And third party plugin support, which the current hardware is way too weak to handle. Maybe in five years or so the platform will have matured enough.
software updates are definitely a pandoras box… i remember when patches first started being available online for pc games, back in the 90s… even then you could tell it was training a bad habit – because developers were able to just release their product, and get those sales… then “fix it later” with patches….. (we promise…. also – the check is in the mail)
nowadays, you guys have it even worse with the whole “early access” situation
so yeh – dont piss off your mailman
I hear you, but in my experience the Force did what it was supposed to do. They have added functionality, yes, but what is wrong with that? You should only ever just buy things for the capabilities that they have now. Never for what people promise you it might have in the future.
You are making the mistake of assuming Nukai = Akai. Nukai will never release a product like that. Keep on dreaming..The old japanese owned Akai is a distant memory now, and tbh even the later Akai products had dodgy OSes when they launched. You long for a time that will never return
This is great. The Force has turned into a truly incredible piece of standalone hardware. This is great news. It’s nice to see Force users are now able to access the same synths and FX as MPC users. I thought they’d forgotten about us for a minute there! 🙂
came close to getting one of these many times over the years… especially when they were blowing them out a while back
who knows…. but i do like where the dev is at now
You should get a Ensoniq Fizmo instead
i didnt buy a Fizmo when they were blowing them out at Guitar Center for half-price… back in the 90s… when nobody was buying them
why would i buy one now? when they are like 2x the retail price? and 20 years older?
go ahead and try to explain that one
I agree, you should buy a Roland Mc-303 instead
Explain what? You buy one to sell to an insane collector with more money and less sense than Us. Ha. You know the drill.
Ensoniq and Alesis had some great gear that was released half-baked, a sadly common story, even today. They were fighting a very different market. The Fizmo was a brilliant, poor man’s Wavestation in one sense. Released today with a better GUI, a few design tweaks and an editor, it’d be a contender.
“explain what?” LOL ….. are you having trouble figuring it out?
thats called ‘RHETORICAL” btw, you genius
I had a problem under 3.2 firmware. The Force doesn’t work as audio interface. ( Win 11, PC).
When i go back to 3.1.3 firmware, problem solved.
The problem under 3.2.1. still stands.