First Look: Akai Force (Standalone Music Production Studio)
There was a lot of buzz around the Akai booth at NAMM this year, and with good reason. The Force seems well-built (not that there was any doubt), and seemed to leave a positive impression on everyone that spent a few moments with it.
First, the unit sounds really nice. The included sounds and the onboard synthesizer engines make for a pleasing auditory experience.
First is Hype, which combines four different types of synthesizer: wavetable, FM, subractive, with a giant preset library that makes for great hard-hitting plucks and lead melodies.
Next is Tubesynth, a sort of polysynth emulator with an advanced analog modeling algorithm for a classic vintage sound, which includes 5 effects.
Then there’s Bassline, for creating classic monosynth sounds. It does this by utilizing variable oscillator waveshapes, sub & fifth oscillators, low-and-high-pass options, and 4 integrated effects of its own.
And finally, there’s Electric: an e-piano simulator which includes pickup, envelope, bell, and noise parameter sections and 5 more integrated effects.
Plus, the different scale and chord modes make it easy to jam on top of the more quantized meat-and-potatoes backdrop of your track.
The Force is great for DJ/producer types and perfectly bridges that gap, without having to involve a computer. DJs can seamlessly assign tracks to the crossfader, load full tracks/stems/loops into the pad matrix, and fuse this all with scene and clip playback. It’s a remixer or mashup-artist’s dream.
