FORCE vs PUSH 2 - Which Should You Buy??

If you've been wondering about whether to buy the Akai Force or the Abelton Push, this video is for you. This is considering the newest updates to the Force - 3.0.6 (2021 review). I've owned both of them, and these are my DEFINITIVE ideas! haha

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[PinkBuddhaAcademy]

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[TheAudioDabbler]

I was debating between the 2 but ultimately went with the Akai Force. Yes it has its quirks but it is an amazing inspiration box once you get to using it.

[BeauTylerMakesMusic]

Great video. Very informative, brother.

[thejamaican]

Thanks 🙏 came across your video and as some just starting out hugely informative

[jimmywheelo]

Also
I have a workaround for the drum racks problem
Simply setup a midi track on the force and use that in Step Seq drum mode (make sure that you're setup to Chromatic mode).

This will allow you to program/trigger the drum rack sounds.

Then just switch to Live Control mode to tweak automation etc.

[spesh]

All good points, the Push 2 also now has polyphonic;if aftertouch which is a step in the MPE direction that force does not as yet have. Thanks, RMS

[michaeldefondaumiere]

greta video, I already have push 1, I will buy push2 and force, you have convince me.have a great day

[DJSupe]

On the Force, how would I change the retrigger behavior of the clips on a pad? I want the pads to start/stop by pressing the pad once…independent of the rest of the scene? I still want it to be in sync with the rest of the project and adhere to a launch quantization relative to the project, I just don’t want the retrigger behavior that starts the clip from the beginning or restarts the scene.

[wdiprod]

One thing the force surprised me was the ability to show 16 physical midi ports of the iconnectivity mioxl. The two work very well together. The mioxl is cool because you can also have all ports show up also on mac at the same time as the force through rpt midi. So network cable from mioxl to Mac for rpt midi and usb cable from mioxl to force.

[christianschroer]

I dont know If I asked the question before but I dont have and use another DAW then the Akai Force DAW. Besides the shitty effect change on the rack or (delete instead of shifting them to the right play they need to processed in ) and the missing option of mastering your tracks without waisting very limited effect space, is it a big disadvantage to ONLY use the Force as a DAW ?
Thanks anyway for the video ! Keep them coming.

[jimmywheelo]

I've identified an issue with my Force and the Ableton integration.

The whole concept of controlling Ableton via the Force works over ethernet or WiFi. I'm a little baffled by this and have found that this method appears very unstable.
Very often my Force won't go into Live Control mode at all. Several reboots of the Force and Ableton usually resolves this.

However the larger issue I have identified is shown in the following setup scenario;

I make a midi clip on the force to control a VST (in this example D16 Phoscyon) inside Ableton.

I send this to the DAW to trigger the VST. No issues. The VST plays no problems.

I switch to live control mode on the Force and start tweaking automation of the VST.
This quickly starts to interfere with the midi note messages being sent to the VST and the pattern starts messing up!

I've raised this with Akai but am still waiting on a proper response.

What I have found is if I send my midi clip note messages to the VST via the Force midi out port (instead of via ethernet) then there is no interference, none at all. Its like the midi note messages are clashing with the Live control messages for the automation when they are both sent via the ethernet port.

My experience of the use of ethernet/WiFi on the Force has been very flaky.

The problem is shown in the following Video. Wondering what everyone else's experience of this has been?

[aaalllfff]

can anyone provide some updates on this? did akai add the ability to control drums with the pads with a new firmware or something? I am looking into buying a push 2 vs force, I have just watched this video in 2025 and I don't know what to do! Please anyone share me some insight ! thanks!

[wilkopiano]

The question I have is can you realistically use both side by side with good workflow? I have had a push2 for a while now and whilst it’s good I am hearing performance control is much quicker on force. Eg on push it takes 0.5 seconds to hold a button to arm a track. That’s enough for you to miss a beat. Another performance headache is having to press stop clip then the track column to stop the track. Doesn’t force have a direct stop button beneath each track column strip? It’s these performance quick wins of force that may make me buy a force as well. But the big question is how would click track work in ear from both daw computer AND force together. I would probably plan all recordings on force as audio loops ableton linked to an input channel on the daw then out via headphone track and front of house mix.

[damelos]

You actually DID answer the question. Push if you want tight integration (with a PC). Force if you want standalone.

[markusspitz]

I cannot understand why there is no list or statement of akai which Audio Interfaces are supported. My RME FireFace UFX II crackles and it is unusable. I would love to have more live Inputts to route my modular into it…

[lookingforplaces]

very interesting video! Greetings from Italy

[terrorbytez]

Pink Buddha Academy I have a question! I currently own a Elektron Rytm (Drums) and Elektron A4 (Synth machine) and had a Octatrack in hopes that it would be my daw replacer....sadly the OCT has limitations and I swapped out for the Force. MY question is do I even still need these elektron devices now with the Force and am I right to using the Force as the main Daw/brian for these 2 devices? I dont want to use a computer at all costs.

[yosantana]

Hey Buddha I know the For e is standalone but I don’t see much videos of it being used with Daws other then Ableton, can you make a video with it used in a daw like Studio one or others???? Thanks

[captainbleep]

Hello! Love your Force videos. I have a weirdly specific question for you... when you make music on the Force, does it feel like you’re staring at another screen? I spend all day on Zoom and struggle to get excited about making music on my computer with Ableton and Push 2. Thanks!

[LunchBandit]

Great video, I totally agree with everything you said. I have both the Push 2 and the Force. I like taking the force with me when I go to jam with friends or if I ever do a live show in the future, I'll take the force. The push 2 / ableton combination is WAY better for producing but I would hate to have my expensive $3k laptop at a bar surrounded by drunk people where it could get knocked over or stolen. The DAW aspect of the force is usable but cumbersome and it is pretty buggy, occasionally just rebooting mid-song (this is rare, it's happened to me like 3 times in a year). My advice, if you play live a lot, buy a used force otherwise stick with Ableton/Push.