Hi all fellow Force users,
I’m looking for some advice on getting samples onto my the Force. I’ve been been using the force for a few months-mostly using the internal plugins and samples-but wondering about using samples more.
Is there any good sample packs people would recommend (thinking something like mini moog or Juno 60 sample packs) and then how to I get these into the Force-loading them onto SD card?
Thanks
Any attached storage on your Force (that would be SD Card, USB stick/drive, or - preferably - an installed SSD into the bottom) all show up as removable storage on your computer when you have your Force in Computer Mode. So, copy the samples you want onto your Force that way. Have you signed up for your free Splice account that you get? You can also get some content via Wifi direct to your Force that way (just have to peruse and sync said content on your computer first). There’s a ton of Expansions out there, so no idea what to recommend. Check out MPC-Tutor’s Juno 60 and Oberheim OB-Xa Expansions (all MPC Expansions work on Force as well):
Pro tip: make sure you software “eject” your attached storage from your computer before switching back into standalone mode, or you will corrupt your storage medium (including file structure and data stored on it). This is also the same when you have your Force on and in standalone mode - make sure you software “eject” your SD Card from your Force in the browser section before physically removing it from your Force. Failure to do this even once can cause data corruption over time.
The Samples From Mars pack is on offer at the moment… this is a great combo of pre-made Akai programs and raw samples for synths and drums. It really is a fantastic sample resource.
I would love that sample from mars package, but my internet is so slow that I would need a week to download. He he. Hopefully that deal will come back.
That ob-xa pack could be cool.
@CCMP - that Samples from Mars pack has actual Akai Keygroups that work on MPC and Force?? Had no idea.
It’s a mix, some do have MPC format programs and some don’t. Most that don’t have Ableton programs, and everything has separate/individual samples available.
When you buy the full pack you get an ‘Essentials’ pack that’s a good summary.
I really like the SH101 pack.
I’ve just got it so will see. Just downloaded the essentials pack so far and going through the one shots. Don’t yet know how to make key groups so that’s my next lesson!!
Thanks. I ended up getting it (I’ve spent $40 USD on far less/worse things)… 
don’t think anyone in their right mind would ever buy this collection for it’s “regular” price of $1834 USD 
, but $40 USD for 56 GB of content isn’t bad at all, assuming at least half is usable. Hell, they sell Modular Creations for $20 USD by itself on sale, and that’s less than 2 GB of content - but it sounds awesome to my ears. Picking up their entire catalog for basically twice that cost seems like a no-brainer if you’re into samples and clips/loops (like I am)!
I just entered in the Akai Force realm. Tough experience, but after a few days, I’m beginning to understand the beast. It has a lot of potential for sure.
Hope this doesn’t seem like spam… When you come to keygroups you might want to look at this: Instrumap (my product). I made it partly to solve the problem of making keygroups for large sample sets and was particularly looking at it for Samples from Mars but it works with lots of libraries. You can do it manually but it’s very slow. Happy to answer questions.
Thanks very much, I don’t know think it’s spam at all; cheers for the tip. I’ll have a look-sounds great. I’ll drop you a message with any questions
Thanks
til as well.
If I understand correctly this is the correct process for using external midi device:
So using the dual inputs, or an external mixer (or class compliant); you are still limited to the eight audio tracks?
I can recommend Instrumap. it’s a great tool to make keygroups out of your sample library.
Question: how does Instrumap create 8 layers for Keygroups - doesn’t MPC and Force only support 4 sample layers in standalone?
Come again?
til = today I learnt.
Didn’t know Samples from Mars came in MPC formats.
Oh gotcha - yeah that was kinda cool. Going to start digging through this stuff in a few.
This is a really good question. I’ve been meaning to make a video explaining some of the details of things like this.
Firstly, its somewhat irrelevant for Samples from Mars because as far as I remember they do not have any instruments with > 4 layers. The Maschine 2 Factory has a piano with 5 layers and that maps beautifully.
Within a keygroup program you can have up to 128 “keygroups” and each of those can have 4 layers. The key ranges for each group can overlap. So what instrumap will do if there are more than 4 velocity layers is stack keygroups on the same key ranges with the velocity overlapping between them. This is completely supported by the file format and the hardware but incredibly unpleasant to do manually on the hardware (but definitely possible).
Now there’s no actual limit that says you have to stop at 8 layers - you could go much further (so long as you don’t hit the overall limit of 128). I chose 8 as a limit because more seemed excessive (or even that seems excessive).
Hope I’ve made sense here.
General comment: afaik the Samples from Mars packs come with drum programs for one shots but not keygroups for multisampled melodic instruments. Instrumap generates keygroup programs but not drum programs (yet).