I’ve just read that again and finally internalized it… That’s a sneaky way to stretch it indeed! Good idea!
To be fair, Akai put a lot of sneaky stuff in there.
I don’t know that we can call this “My Idea” or an exploit I came up with or discovered, because (in my mind) it seems to be clearly designed this way.
Audio Track(#)
+ Input Selection(##+## Input)
+ Monitor Status(Merge)
+ Audio File(Stereo/M+M)
+ Stereo Width(On/Off)
+ Output Selection(Hardware##/Bus#/Aux#)
=
Monitoring 2 inputs and 2 audio files simultaneously from 1 audio channel
while making them sound mono or stereo at will
Do you think that the engineers programmed that functionality accidentally?
Imagine the possibilities if Input## / Bus# / Output## were able to be automated
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Just found out something I didn’t think was possible - it IS possible to use the CUE functionality with an external audio interface. You just need to go into the “General” page of the main settings page, then choose your desired output pair for the “Audition Outputs”!
Provided you’ve chosen your external audio interface (in my case a UMC1820) in the “Audio Device” page, you can then select whatever outputs your interface makes available as your CUE outputs!!
And with the UMC1820, there’s a handy button on the front panel to switch the cans monitoring between Out 1&2 or Out 3&4, so this works but you cannot have a blend between “mains” and “cue”…
Although having just thought about it for a moment, it might be possible with some sneaky loopback routing from UMC1820 output 3&4 to input 1&2, then setting the Monitoring Mix control on the front panel to monitor just monitor input 1&2, then adjust the balance between input 1&2 or “PB” (playback from output 1&2) as needed. Might try that!
Use case is as follows:
Doing a intro to hardware jamming workshop with 5-6 participants where each person will have some sound source, all connected to the UMC1820 going into the Force. Want ability for me as the person controlling the master mix and generally provide some kind of direction / orchestration, to cue up new flavours from the devices in front of me without disturbing any improv jamming that the participants are doing.
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So, im looking into buy the Akai Force.
From the videos it seems that the arranger looks a bit off ( like recording into arranger ), like why not select clips and where to place?
Is there a sequencer a la polyend play?
Also, is it possible to use a powerbank with the force? I travel a lot.
Are the onboard synths doable? Although im more into piano and strings for the force.
Hows mixing/mastering?
The force will also be used as a companion with my Deluge. Like, recording from the deluge into the Force and mixing there.
What should i do? Save my pennies? Or just close my eyes and spend it on the force?
If these questions are already answered earlier,
Sorry for not reading the whole thread (kinda big).
Thanks in advance!
- Recording into The Arranger is a linear process. As of the current OS, there is no way to just slip Clips into the Arranger at will.
- There are 3 ways of sequencing on Force: 1. Via Clips (which are really just small chunks of the Arranger, 2. Into the Arranger, linearly, or 3. Using the Step Sequencer which works by step input or manually.
- Yes, you can use a powerbank. Just make sure it’s the right voltage (Force requires 19 volts only and 3.42 amps. There are plug adapters available that will fit the power jack (it’s a standard laptop style).
- The onboard synth plugins that come with it for free range from “OK” bread and butter basic to “pretty damn good”. YMMV. That said there are some optional paid plugins that are amazing (Jura, Mini-D, Flavor Pro are 3 that are must-have’s IMHO). Fabric XL is a close 4th IMHO. Studio Strings and Piano are really good, but not great. They do hog RAM.
- Mixing is fine - it has a fully featured mixer that’s not-arguably far better than the MPC’s - it truly is better. Mastering? I’d never master on Force (or MPC) - that domain is far superior in any DAW and where it should occur.
- Whether you should save your money or not is a question only you can answer.
Akai have some updates planned for Force OS, and it’s only going to get better.
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Worth noting you can use grid mode in the Arranger to edit, copy and paste audio, for example, so it doesn’t have to be completely linear - you could construct an arranger audio track via collage - but it’s not a particularly fast or enjoyable experience compared to something like Live.
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Thank you guys for taking the time to answer! I will sleep a night over it 
You can also use the list editor for the arranger track. I wish we could quickly convert an arranger track & or a range of tracks into clips.
I just had a quick bash to check that you can select a range of audio in the arranger, copy it, and then paste it into a new clip - and you can, but good lord it’s a tedious exercise, so ‘quickly’ is definitely a key element here. It feels like it fights you all the way for having the nerve to try using the touch screen. The Force has a lot of fortes, but waveform editing beyond a simple trim isn’t one of them. It could be, it just needs more accessible non-touch-based ways to go about it.
Yes, quickly is the keyword…
I couldn’t believe it wasn’t possible when I first tried to do. Like don’t they know that would be common desire?
They could’ve gave us more than 1 arranger seq, so we can make different variations like they offer on the MockbaMod. Many things about the Force makes it seems like the engineers don’t used it to make music.
I assume at the moment it’s a consequence of the arranger being a kind of modified MPC song mode, where the audio tracks are kind of tacked on. Editing within a sample is a little easier, but even there it’s just a poorly implemented touch UI that’s fine for simple things like dragging handles, but gets exponentially worse as the operations get more complex. As far as I’m aware it doesn’t use two-finger gestures for any editing purposes, so why do I have to tap to switch to and from the zoom mode (using buttons that need two or more taps to register half the time)?
We’re probably making it sound terrible here, but these kind of annoyances are largely a result of the fact that it just does so much - and I certainly prefer a Force with a somewhat clunky audio track editor to one without. But all its problems seem to be ones that other devices had already solved, which is frustrating.
One big QOL updates could clean up a lot the yucky parts, but I would still want a Force XL with a better button layout, tilt screen & most of the things on this list: AKAI Force - #2749 by Poetic-Noise
Anyway, this device truly is a force as is even without the hacked OS.
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Well, in time - we’ll inevitably get Clip Follow and a variety of other improvements. Looking forward to this summer. 
You mean we’ll get more features from the hacked OS? 
That would be a cool feature to have in the official OS.
I hope your right about this summer. It was rumored for spring so I guess the update got pushed back. Oh well, better late than never in this case.
Nah, I mean we’ll get better features that are implemented correctly with full support from Akai and not hacked.
I pulled the plug and bought an Akai Force. Fit in a 500GB SSD. After 30 minutes i fly on this thing, making beats and melodies.
So easy to operate!
One thing i notice directly, is that quality sound output. Damn good.
Btw, what is the “must buy” expension?
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What features will we get that’s better than what’s on the hacked OS?
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Amazing device. Love it so far!
Question, as i couldnt find it.
Is it possible to move clips or scenes to another row other than copy paste?
Tracks reordering ive found out.
Yes. Hold Edit + any Launch button. In the pop up, pick capture & insert, which will copy all the current active clips & paste them on the scene of the Launch button you pressed.
How would you like to move them?
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Has Jura ever gone on sale? It’s $150 now. Thanks.