Open Box Akai Professional Force Music Production System Level 1

Guitar center sold me a brand new unit, but sent me a used unit, that diod not even have all the parts in the box, much less the power plug and thought this was proper business. They sent me a second unit that is used, but had all the parts, and told me they would send a brand new unit as soon as it was back in stock. I sent a message a few days ago, and still have not heard back, and the site says they have them in stock. I really think they have gone down hill, and will find a new retailer to buy from.

With the Akai Force, you get the best of both worlds: a formidable live performance beast and a stand-alone production powerhouse. I am amazed at how thoughtful the Akai engineers and software developers are. The Force has made me schedule daily routines around its use. I couldn't be happier.

I actually traded my MPC Live II for the Force, and I have zero regrets. I know they are similar, but very different as far as learning how to operate and create…I liked the LiveII bit learning to love the Force.

I have had this unit for a couple weeks and I can honestly say it's more frustrating to use than anticipated. I would caution you that the demos on YouTube and elsewhere are likely staged. There's more to say but if your simple intention is just chop up samples and layer them over a simple beat then this is your unit. If you're trying to use this, as advertised, as a standalone studio then I would pump the breaks. You'd likely be better off investing in an interface and DAW. Not to say I hate this unit but it's been frustrating: 1. Your fingers, like mine, are not precise enough to easily edit errors from tracks in the "grid tab" in the clip mode. There have been MANY occasions where I wished I had the use of a Bluetooth mouse or something. I s 2. The user manual, now on version 3.0.6, is not abundantly helpful in describing the sub-sub-menus and why they're needed. The community isn't deep on this unit and so you typically have to try and translate MPC lingo for the force. The full 329 page instruction book isn't included in the box but easy to find. 3. There is a really, really, intimidating learning curve. I think yesterday is the first time I actually had fun using this machine. It has been challenging: had to overcome the "time correction" over correcting freely recorded drums, loops getting out of sync, a cumbersome browser interface, losing my projects somewhere in the menus, a cryptic instruction guide, audio track playbacks not working as they do in the vids and not being able to understand why (adjust your monitoring to auto after setting up the input, and turn up the gain) 4. That screen is at an inconvenient angle, admit it. 5. Understanding this can do much more but HOW do you do it. 6. Trying to work out what it is doing and how is it doing it… like what's the pattern or system behind the chromatic mode or progression scales…? I Still don't know that. I just bang away on it. It is built well, I'm persevering but it hasn't been an easy journey.

Akai update finally released and now brings a full song arranger mode and Control of Multiple External MIDI instruments through USB hubs. Took them a LONG time, but new users, this is the best bargain going for a powerful computer free production setup. Ableton LIVE export and Import and control when you want to use a Computer.

If you put in the time, the force is a beast! I am creating and playing awesome grooves and loops from a wide variety of software.