@@DmitryPuffin i have the force for about 4 years... and always look for new ideas how to use it. What you find on youtube is so basic, that after 2 years i just stoped watching force related stuff. Thank you :)
Thanks for taking the time to break all this down. Also, putting the drums in the middle of the clip matrix is a great tip! I'll pass this demo around. Peace.
Thank you! I will make another video about setting up live set in Ableton with same structure, there will be more Ableton Live related tips tricks for those who don't own Force :)
Very interesting, love how modular the Force is, there are so many ways to set it up! I would love to see a video of your set to see how you handle transitions and go about the performance.
thanks so much for putting this together and sharing. can please explain how you achieved the kick repeat macro? it seems that you used the stutter effect to do it. but I'm having trouble doing it myself...
@@DmitryPuffin But are you able to play audioloop seamless? I have big problems with clicks at longer loops (8-16 bars), no matter if the loops have exact the same tempo as the project, or if they're warped to another tempo
This is an excellent video thank you ❤ I plan to use akai force as my drum machine predominantly, regarding midi clock may I ask why not make akai force your clock, or does it matter? Thanks again
Thank you! I have easy access to Circuits tempo in one button press, and I just got used to that. Force can be easily master clock. It's my personal preference :)
@@DmitryPuffininteresting, I'm switching my work flow so this is very helpful. Tempo change is certainly on my mind so will explore some external clock possibilities. I might ask you a question or 2 if you don't mind while I get my rig setup ❤
I love to have ducking effect on delays as well. I am using this trick both in production and live sets. It really gives a lot of space for a kick, keeping the drive of music.
Can you do more force tutorials? What about a short track build between ableton and the setup in force? the complete proces? and let know where to buy it....
I moving from Force to Ableton based sets. Force doesn't really cover all my needs in terms of flexibility. Other than that, I pretty much explained everything in the video.
@@Fixme_12 I was thinking of getting Push 3, but decided to get a macbook with m2 pro chip. It's about the same price, but macbook can do much more stuff. I have couple old controllers and hooked everything up, and my live set became even better using laptop/Ableton setup, keeping the same weight and size of total setup.
Great stuff! Do you export everything from Ableton Live as an Ableton ALS project, and import it into the Force with Akai's Ableton import function? And how do you "compile" the different parts you intend to use in a set? Do you have a larger repository of parts in store in Ableton, and from there you select new pieces to add clip-by-clip and maybe remove something, or is this one Force project basically a huge catalog of everything you have?
"Do you export everything from Ableton Live as an Ableton ALS project, and import it into the Force with Akai's Ableton import function?" - Yes, I prepared core of the set in Ableton Live and imported Ableton project into the Force. "And how do you "compile" the different parts you intend to use in a set?" - In Ableton I was time stretching, consolidating and applying effects to certain loops & samples to make it sound balanced within one drum block (each block has 4 energy levels with corresponding rows as I described in the video). Since exporting project doesn't support any effects, I needed to apply effects to the samples, so it is already in the sample. On the Force I added HP filters to remove unnecessary low end information on certain channels, added side chains, and some bus processing to make it sound more polished. Also applied limited on master so I don't go over certain threshold by accident. "Do you have a larger repository of parts in store in Ableton, and from there you select new pieces to add clip-by-clip and maybe remove something, or is this one Force project basically a huge catalog of everything you have?" After I made initial set, I was adding elements as samples directly on Force. Unfortunately, when you made a big project on Force, you cannot import part of Ableton's project into existing one on Force, so I was creating new scenes, adding samples to the drum racks. Basically I try to have my Force project as a "drum part library" which I can use during my set, as I was going to replace my Korg ESX with it (which was used mainly as drum machine).
I hope I understood your question correctly. Each drum part has 4 scenes: Intro with kick and rumble; Buildup with hats and some percussions; Drop with all elements playing; Outro with some elements muted, but different ones from the build up. This way I can build a song live and launch corresponding scene. In DJ sets I was usually playing only best parts of songs, so that creates a feeling of DJ set, but with more freedom over instruments which are playing on my Circuit.
Great video Dmitry, agree with the previous comment about practical use! One Question, how does the memory on the force handle this large project? Thanks!
There is still plenty of headroom in memory and CPU. The whole project size is about 400mb, so there is still enough free memory. CPU usage hits about 40-50% when everything is playing, so this project can be even expanded with more samples. I am not using synths and keygroups, only samples and FX, so that helps a lot.
That makes a lot of sense. It is obvious you put a lot of work into you samples outside of Force! Thanks for the reply and great video, would love to see a live performance!@@DmitryPuffin
Thank you, great video! Do you recommend purchasing a Circuit Tracks to put next to a Force or only doing so if you already own it? Alternatively, what can best be paired with Force? Thanks again!
Circuit is a key piece of kit in my live performance, because I am very quick with it and can jam on the fly. It's nice to have it, but not mandatory. I have it since 2017, and since then I was using that in all my techno-oriented live sets. Back in the days I was playing with only Circuit and Roland TB-3 :D
@@spirale7477 I am not sure about that. I quickly checked Fx reference in the manual and didn't find any related fx with reverse functionality. The only idea that comes to my mind is to have a clip with reversed sample and trigger that when its needed. Or make a very long MIDI clip where it ends with reversed kick samples.
@@DmitryPuffin ok thx for answer its sad i see this technique in this video ruclips.net/video/2g9dH1Zi0ZQ/видео.html this function i love use in hardtek mental core acidcore i love reverse sometime my kick for add punch a bit at my groove
@@spirale7477 Ah, you actually can map pad's reverse button to the macro according to video you posted. If you set the encoder mapping to toggle it will work as its assigned to the pad. So you can actually do that ;)
@@controllerbrain To be honest, I was trying to get the same sound, but I failed. You can get close with TubeSynth or Bassline. Keep in mind that big part of acid sound are slides and accents.
@@controllerbrain Also put that thru the some distortion FX, that it's also part of acid sound that I am using. Experiment what works, and what is not.
@@shroomatic Достаточно плохо звучит warp алгоритм на сэмплах, нет автоматизации темпа, ограничение по аудиодорожкам. Я брал себе форс исключительно под лайвы, если на нём музыку писать, то такие ограничения не особо сильно влияют.
Meanwhile, the question of stability all of this? Did you faced sometimes with unexpected crushes of the Force during the production or live performance? Wish you never get faced with that!!!
I played somewhere around 10 shows with this setup and I have only 1 issue when one macro knob was stuck. I disabled macro and continued with the show, music didn't stop. The longest show I played was around 3 hours without any issues. I had issues with Force when I was using synth plugins. Looks like they are not really stable, and I am not using any synth plugins in the set. It's whether samples or sound from Novation Circuit.
@@DmitryPuffin thank you, this might be. About midi learn - I noticed that there are no way to configure mapping of behaviour, like min/max value range etc. Hope they will add this in a future.. Same as we have on macros settings but for the external controllers
@@yaroslavkozatskyi9074 This is why I moved to back to Ableton for live sets :D Force lacks some features that I would like to have in live set, like tempo automation per scene, proper follow actions, good sounding warp algorithm. Mac + Ableton is more superior option in my opinion.
If you want to get more views about your skills, get a more basic drum pad that most people can afford. Not a lot of people can dig your expensive hardware. Use a hardware that most people can relate with.
I recorded video for other Akai Force owners to share my approach for live set. Same approach can be used in Ableton Live as well.I don't care about views :)
Force is probably the cheapest and most comprehensive piece of hardware you can buy for dawless(ish) performance, especially since the release of the Push 3 the used price has nose dived. I paid $2100 AUD 2 years ago and have seen them listed for $900-1200 the same price range as a used Digitakt. That's within the reach of most people working full time.
Finaly someone explaining how they use the force in practice, not theoreticaly or just basic things.
This is exactly why I made this video. I was looking for something like this and spent quite a while figuring out how to arrange my live set.
@@DmitryPuffin i have the force for about 4 years... and always look for new ideas how to use it. What you find on youtube is so basic, that after 2 years i just stoped watching force related stuff. Thank you :)
Thanks for taking the time to break all this down. Also, putting the drums in the middle of the clip matrix is a great tip!
I'll pass this demo around. Peace.
Thank you!
I will make another video about setting up live set in Ableton with same structure, there will be more Ableton Live related tips tricks for those who don't own Force :)
@@DmitryPuffinI made a video called the Clip-Bank Method that you may find helpful.
Probably the best video I've seen on this thing
What a brilliant video !
I dig your setup. Thank you for sharing.
I was learning a lot from your videos, starting from old ESX related ones. So thanks to you as well!
Yeah, very helpfull. Thank you!
Very interesting ! Thank you for this vidéo :)
Well done...👏🏻👏🏻 Thank you...😊
Very interesting, love how modular the Force is, there are so many ways to set it up! I would love to see a video of your set to see how you handle transitions and go about the performance.
Yeah, I think I need to make one as follow up to this one while I still have Force laying around.
thanks so much for putting this together and sharing. can please explain how you achieved the kick repeat macro? it seems that you used the stutter effect to do it. but I'm having trouble doing it myself...
Very informative, like you clip layout 👍👍
very nice set up!
Espectacular Dmitry! Muy buena explicacion y disposicion de los elementos
Thank you!
Súper usefull man!! Thank you for Sharing!!! 🎉🎉
That exactly was the tutorial I was looking for! Thank you :)
I'm glad to hear that!
@@DmitryPuffin But are you able to play audioloop seamless? I have big problems with clicks at longer loops (8-16 bars), no matter if the loops have exact the same tempo as the project, or if they're warped to another tempo
@@cw752 I was adjusting small fades using ADSR in drum racks to eliminate clicks.
@@DmitryPuffin Many thanks! I'll try that :)
Great video, thanks🤙🏴
thanks for this tips!
Gracias Dimitri por tu aporte! Genial
Great video. Thanks!
Thank you!
Very nice and unique video
This is an excellent video thank you ❤ I plan to use akai force as my drum machine predominantly, regarding midi clock may I ask why not make akai force your clock, or does it matter? Thanks again
Thank you!
I have easy access to Circuits tempo in one button press, and I just got used to that. Force can be easily master clock. It's my personal preference :)
@@DmitryPuffininteresting, I'm switching my work flow so this is very helpful. Tempo change is certainly on my mind so will explore some external clock possibilities. I might ask you a question or 2 if you don't mind while I get my rig setup ❤
@@xntricity6446 Yeah, sure. I'm far from being Force expert, but had plenty of hours invested in Ableton-based and DAWless live performances
Hey thats very interesting. Can you explain your use and purpose of the mother ducker on the return delays please ?
I love to have ducking effect on delays as well. I am using this trick both in production and live sets. It really gives a lot of space for a kick, keeping the drive of music.
Can you do more force tutorials? What about a short track build between ableton and the setup in force? the complete proces? and let know where to buy it....
I moving from Force to Ableton based sets. Force doesn't really cover all my needs in terms of flexibility.
Other than that, I pretty much explained everything in the video.
@@DmitryPuffin push 3, as force replacement?
@@Fixme_12 I was thinking of getting Push 3, but decided to get a macbook with m2 pro chip. It's about the same price, but macbook can do much more stuff. I have couple old controllers and hooked everything up, and my live set became even better using laptop/Ableton setup, keeping the same weight and size of total setup.
Great stuff! Do you export everything from Ableton Live as an Ableton ALS project, and import it into the Force with Akai's Ableton import function? And how do you "compile" the different parts you intend to use in a set? Do you have a larger repository of parts in store in Ableton, and from there you select new pieces to add clip-by-clip and maybe remove something, or is this one Force project basically a huge catalog of everything you have?
"Do you export everything from Ableton Live as an Ableton ALS project, and import it into the Force with Akai's Ableton import function?" - Yes, I prepared core of the set in Ableton Live and imported Ableton project into the Force.
"And how do you "compile" the different parts you intend to use in a set?" - In Ableton I was time stretching, consolidating and applying effects to certain loops & samples to make it sound balanced within one drum block (each block has 4 energy levels with corresponding rows as I described in the video). Since exporting project doesn't support any effects, I needed to apply effects to the samples, so it is already in the sample.
On the Force I added HP filters to remove unnecessary low end information on certain channels, added side chains, and some bus processing to make it sound more polished. Also applied limited on master so I don't go over certain threshold by accident.
"Do you have a larger repository of parts in store in Ableton, and from there you select new pieces to add clip-by-clip and maybe remove something, or is this one Force project basically a huge catalog of everything you have?"
After I made initial set, I was adding elements as samples directly on Force. Unfortunately, when you made a big project on Force, you cannot import part of Ableton's project into existing one on Force, so I was creating new scenes, adding samples to the drum racks. Basically I try to have my Force project as a "drum part library" which I can use during my set, as I was going to replace my Korg ESX with it (which was used mainly as drum machine).
f'ing great vid
Nice lots of vertical scenes on the matrix there. Would love to know what kind of sound spectrum you have through each scene level
I hope I understood your question correctly.
Each drum part has 4 scenes:
Intro with kick and rumble;
Buildup with hats and some percussions;
Drop with all elements playing;
Outro with some elements muted, but different ones from the build up.
This way I can build a song live and launch corresponding scene. In DJ sets I was usually playing only best parts of songs, so that creates a feeling of DJ set, but with more freedom over instruments which are playing on my Circuit.
Great video Dmitry, agree with the previous comment about practical use! One Question, how does the memory on the force handle this large project? Thanks!
There is still plenty of headroom in memory and CPU. The whole project size is about 400mb, so there is still enough free memory. CPU usage hits about 40-50% when everything is playing, so this project can be even expanded with more samples.
I am not using synths and keygroups, only samples and FX, so that helps a lot.
That makes a lot of sense. It is obvious you put a lot of work into you samples outside of Force! Thanks for the reply and great video, would love to see a live performance!@@DmitryPuffin
Thank you, great video! Do you recommend purchasing a Circuit Tracks to put next to a Force or only doing so if you already own it? Alternatively, what can best be paired with Force? Thanks again!
Circuit is a key piece of kit in my live performance, because I am very quick with it and can jam on the fly.
It's nice to have it, but not mandatory. I have it since 2017, and since then I was using that in all my techno-oriented live sets.
Back in the days I was playing with only Circuit and Roland TB-3 :D
@@DmitryPuffin thank you!
you can reverse kick assign with potentiometer during the live when you want ?
What do you mean by that? I have assigned on/off switch of high pass filter for kick/rumble channels on the first macro and kick mute on third.
@@DmitryPuffin I wanted to know if it is possible to reverse a kick during a live techno with a key or a potentiometer
@@spirale7477 I am not sure about that. I quickly checked Fx reference in the manual and didn't find any related fx with reverse functionality. The only idea that comes to my mind is to have a clip with reversed sample and trigger that when its needed. Or make a very long MIDI clip where it ends with reversed kick samples.
@@DmitryPuffin ok thx for answer its sad i see this technique in this video ruclips.net/video/2g9dH1Zi0ZQ/видео.html this function i love use in hardtek mental core acidcore i love reverse sometime my kick for add punch a bit at my groove
@@spirale7477 Ah, you actually can map pad's reverse button to the macro according to video you posted. If you set the encoder mapping to toggle it will work as its assigned to the pad. So you can actually do that ;)
серьёзная штука
How to get that acid sound?
I sampled patterns from my Roland TB-3. If remember correctly its preset A16 or A17.
@@DmitryPuffin I don't have one of those. Can the sound be made with hype or odyssey synth?
@@controllerbrain To be honest, I was trying to get the same sound, but I failed. You can get close with TubeSynth or Bassline. Keep in mind that big part of acid sound are slides and accents.
@@DmitryPuffinThank you. I will try with TS or BL.
@@controllerbrain Also put that thru the some distortion FX, that it's also part of acid sound that I am using. Experiment what works, and what is not.
А что за макросы такие?
Можно включить ручки в режим макросов, когда они в независимости от выбранного режима будут делать то, что на них замапишь.
@@DmitryPuffin Офигеть. Я до этого ещё не добрался. Аппарат конечно космический.
@@shroomatic да, аппарат крутой в целом, много чего может, но есть некоторые моменты, которые мне не нравятся.
@@DmitryPuffin а ты поделись, может для меня что-то откроется или я чего подскажу)
@@shroomatic Достаточно плохо звучит warp алгоритм на сэмплах, нет автоматизации темпа, ограничение по аудиодорожкам.
Я брал себе форс исключительно под лайвы, если на нём музыку писать, то такие ограничения не особо сильно влияют.
Meanwhile, the question of stability all of this? Did you faced sometimes with unexpected crushes of the Force during the production or live performance? Wish you never get faced with that!!!
I played somewhere around 10 shows with this setup and I have only 1 issue when one macro knob was stuck. I disabled macro and continued with the show, music didn't stop.
The longest show I played was around 3 hours without any issues.
I had issues with Force when I was using synth plugins. Looks like they are not really stable, and I am not using any synth plugins in the set. It's whether samples or sound from Novation Circuit.
@@DmitryPuffin thank you, this might be. About midi learn - I noticed that there are no way to configure mapping of behaviour, like min/max value range etc. Hope they will add this in a future.. Same as we have on macros settings but for the external controllers
@@yaroslavkozatskyi9074 This is why I moved to back to Ableton for live sets :D Force lacks some features that I would like to have in live set, like tempo automation per scene, proper follow actions, good sounding warp algorithm. Mac + Ableton is more superior option in my opinion.
If you want to get more views about your skills, get a more basic drum pad that most people can afford. Not a lot of people can dig your expensive hardware. Use a hardware that most people can relate with.
I recorded video for other Akai Force owners to share my approach for live set. Same approach can be used in Ableton Live as well.I don't care about views :)
Force is probably the cheapest and most comprehensive piece of hardware you can buy for dawless(ish) performance, especially since the release of the Push 3 the used price has nose dived. I paid $2100 AUD 2 years ago and have seen them listed for $900-1200 the same price range as a used Digitakt. That's within the reach of most people working full time.
@@ghostinplainsight4803 Yeah, its better to buy laptop and launchpad instead of buying Push 3 :D