OpenTube

Akai Force Review: The Standalone Music Studio That Replaced My Laptop

The Field Geek

4,723 views

The Akai Force isn’t just another piece of music gear — it’s a step away from the computer.

Built as a fully standalone music production and performance workstation, the Akai Force challenges the idea that making music has to revolve around a laptop. From clip-based songwriting and chord progressions to recording vocals, guitar, and full arrangements, this deep dive explores what it’s like to create music with zero software distractions.

In this review, I break down how the Akai Force actually feels to use, what it does exceptionally well, where its limitations show up, and why this kind of hands-on, laptop-free workflow might be exactly what many creators are looking for right now.

Watch until the end for my honest verdict:
Who is the Akai Force really for — and can it truly replace your computer-based music setup?

Learn more about the Akai Force:
🔗 https://www.akaipro.com/force

Follow The Field Geek for more deep dives into creative and emerging tech:
📸 Instagram: Instagram: thefieldgeek
🎵 TikTok: TikTok: thefieldgeek
📺 YouTube: @thefieldgeek

Learn more about our work at ZETA:
🔗 https://www.connectZETA.org

🕓 Timestamps
0:00 Intro
0:42 Hardware Overview
7:02 Workflow
14:02 Who It's For
17:32 Final Thoughts

20 Comments

@NeatFreakFlow 7 months ago

It’s good to see the Force Getting some love. 🔥✨🎶🎵🎶✨🔥😎👊

@DrematikRyZN 6 months ago

Little fun fact: Akai helped engineer the first Ableton Push and then decided to drop their own version with standalone capabilities ...The Akai Force

@mark35mi 8 months ago

Appreciated this. It's a refreshing reminder that someone does not have to buy or spend a lot and yet still have an incredible production device.

@DannyGeronimo510 7 months ago

The Force is amazing. It’s the only touchscreen MPC I like.

@WannaBeCanadians 8 months ago

Great, please do more on Akai force!

@EloTheSource 7 months ago (edited)

I use the force in standalone and as a controller in my Reason DAW & Bitwig and IOS music apps on IPad Pro also I route audio from the force to both via audio inner face and sample from any VST or IOS AUV3 to the Force its an amazing device it’s the center of everything in my studio it’s better to Sample in the force through the inputs. I’m very technical and it took me some time to get the workflow down. Read the manual and teach yourself then watch vids on it. I even printed the manual that really helped.

@FadRaxMuryMoad 4 months ago

If you’re on the fence about the Akai force but worried about the limitations of plug-ins… one of the really nice things as you can bounce the recorded audio to a drum track or key group and still have a pretty vast way to manipulate the audio. The editing tools in the MPC three update are pretty powerful and work well with the Akai force.

@tyreebecker8465 4 months ago

As someone who learned production in FL Studio and is by no means a master, I bought the Force and Akai plugins to get started. The Force easily brings me out of an inspiration drought, but I have never finished a beat on the machine. Normally, I play around for an hour or two, and then I go back to my DAW. My main issue is that I hate all the drum kits built into the Force, and I haven't spent time with the Force enough to make my own kits. I find a kit where I like the snare but hate the kick or I find a high hat but hate the rest of the kick. I think the majority of my problems with the Force is I haven't spent the time to master everything. I underestimated the learning curve and at the same time, relearning kills my creativity. I wish I had a smaller MPC for on-the-go producing and maybe digging into sampling more. The Force is a little too big for mobile production but the size is also what I love about it.

@DA22A-Audio-Productions 7 months ago

Its worth mentioning that if you use Submixes then you can get 4 additional fx plugins on a track aswell as the 4 on the master, but if you skip the master and send the submix out to 3/4 and then bring that into the audio inputs and that input to its own seperate submix thats another 8 fx on one source aswell as the master output fxs. How the latency affects the overall sound i havent tested, but once your happy with a series of fx you can always bounce to a sample and start again with the above.

@InRoB-Music 7 months ago (edited)

I like your vid buddy! Sold everything but force.. free the money for my children and family and keep the tool i can do all! I sold almost more than 10 synth and 3 drummaschine.. i hope they do another force, not a new one, i only wanna more tracks 😂 keep it going 👊🏻

@noelsharp 4 months ago

Great video! I really like the Force. I purchased mine in 2021 to replace old stand alone multitrack recorders I had. I started using Bitwig as my main DAW in 2024 and no longer need the Force for recording. I keep it for when I don’t feel like looking at a big computer screen. I like to use it sometimes to “launch” CV/gate patterns on my analog gear. I also like using it in place of a traditional keyboard as a midi controller. I’m no good at playing real piano so the scale and chord modes help a lot. Lastly, it’s an excellent drum machine. I play 1-2 drums tracks along side my hardware synths. I have an MPC live 2 as well which mainly has one benefit over the Force for me, the 8 CV/gate outputs vs 4.

@Harlem-Instrumental 4 months ago

Great overview of a old unit by a new user! There many videos on it for great tips, but many of the MPC video are helpful as well, as they both have many of the same features. I posted the videos I could find on the Force reditt sub - I got ban from reditt but my post are still there. There's a rumor of a Force 2 dropping but even the current one still one of the best Akai devices & it 's just got a new firmware update (3.8). I hope you make more videos. I got some on my channel showing the power of the 8 DrumFX in the Drum Track/Program. Peace!

@RichM-uo7ob 4 months ago

I got mine for $300 but the finish is not that great so I will get the skins for it but all the buttons and knobs are perfect.. The Force has 128 tracks 8 dedicated synth plugin and 8 full length audio. The rest for samples and drums. You just bounce a track down an audio track or chop it up to make it smaller. I totally agree about the knobs. I like the screen option, so it switches to whatever screen you are on. I got mine less than a month ago and I have not played with the other pages much yet but will.

It is a great box. I really like it. I have an mpc key 37 and I prefer to input keyboard but the propack gave it the clip launch and I like that workflow best but having dedicated buttons to select clips and rows instead of having to use the screen I like even more. Gonna have to work on my finger drumming chops.

@Fixme_12 4 months ago (edited)

Akai's best unit and they discontinue it 😊 biggest mistake 😂 FORCE is 🎉 / FORCE 2 hopefully replacement for 😊 octatrack? 🎉🎉🎉

@OutThaAtticRecordsLLC 6 months ago

Sub mixed and returns for more fx. And 4 more in track edit

@theopinions47 2 months ago

Bro you are not limited to 4 if you use a submix you get 4 more.

@thomaskurumassery5433 4 months ago

☝️
👏👏👏

@jurgenmuller3599 6 months ago

Im actually selling mine.
The new mpc's, also offering Clip-Workflow! I think also the older mpc's got updatet for Clips...

@anticssmantics8446 8 months ago

It's not "little known", it's the genesis of the 3.7 operating system that current MPCs have including the MPC XL and Live 3. The FORCE changed the game with CLIPS and people are STILL sleeping on that. Wait until you discover you can have the RAM upgraded🤯 we love young folk discovering old things🙄

@ARGENTUM-TECHNO 6 months ago

Very good video, it´s a pity that AKAI discontinued this amazing machine, as there is no one MPC with this workflow, it´s seems complex at first but when to spend some time with it, ther is no limit on inspiration, this machine, if you include the plugins and effects, do almost all the things can be done with mono, poly, granular, wavetable synths, etc etc etc.