Akai APC40 Abelton Performance Controller
Jan.22, 2010 in
Music Equipment
- Designed in partnership with Ableton
- Unique clip matrix with multicolor lighting displays current clip status
- Exclusive bidirectional communication between the APC40 and Ableton Live
- Comes with Ableton Live Akai Professional APC Edition, free upgrade patch for full versions of Live
- USB plug-and-play connection for Mac and PC
Product Description
Ableton Live performance, perfected. The APC40 is the world’s finest Ableton Live control surface. Ableton and Akai Professional worked in a joint partnership to make the APC40 the perfect Ableton Live control surface. Whether you are an electronic-music performance artist and Live is your canvass, a DJ using Live to mix tracks, or a traditional musician using Live on stage or in the studio, the APC40 is designed for intuitive, powerful control. DIRECT DE… More >>
January 23rd, 2010 at 1:21 am
So, I got this little gizmo because I had taken a trip and needed another controller for a show. After messing around with it for an entire night, I can say it has it’s pros and cons.
pros:
its really really easy to use. the apc40 is a pretty intuitive piece of equiptment. You just plug it in and go, it really is that simple.
cons:
If you have OSX, you are stuck with the “akai” version of ableton. Have fun NOT using that. You can’t map anything unless you have Max for Live, and so forget trying to set other buttons. In my opinion, it doesn’t have enough effects options, or options for anything else.
If you are smart and use Live for more than just switching audio clips (lol), than you probably want to look for something different.
Also, i’m sure this is something that will be fixed in the future, but there are some major latency and selection bugs when using knobs and faders quickly, if you are a fast moving DJ than you do NOT want thing.
Overall:
get it and try it out, its a really cool piece of hardware, just not developed enough.
Rating: 2 / 5
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:39 am
I started my keyboard hobby with a Casio CTK4000 (still loving it) but eventually wanted more out of the experience. SO I decided to to look deeper into sequencing software. After testing several programs I ended up with Ableton Live since it lets you *do* things without having to go over endless amounts of settings and controls in order to produce results. But since controlling Live using a keyboard can be quite tedious and I also wanted to get a licensed version I decided to grab the APC40.
It should be obvious by now that the APC40 is a MIDI controller which is fully aimed at Ableton Live. Not surprising if you realize that APC stands for Ableton Professional Controller. But do keep this in mind because there are specific key features which this devices “protects”. In other words; options which will only work when connecting it with Ableton Live.
The first thing you’ll notice when picking this critter up is that it feels very solid. Its about 3kg in weight, so don’t expect any cheap plastics in here
The whole thing is quite robust; the sides have sturdy hard-rubber strips attached to them which protects the device from impacts. All controllers feel very solid, however you’ll soon notice that the cross fader feels “different”. Thats all part of the rugged design; they expect some tear on the cross fader (which is said to be able to withstand some abuse) and if it eventually should break; no sweat. You don’t have to replace the entire device; simply remove the cross fader and replace it with another. Thats right: you can easily replace it by removing 2 screws, then you can simply detach it from the APC40. Now thats a smart design in my opinion!
The APC40 handles itself very well with Ableton Live. My version shipped with Live 7, but also had a leaflet which allowed me to upgrade to 8. The latest Live version will have no problem with picking up the controller, and you’ll be done setting things up in no time.
Unfortunately there are a few caveats here and there.. Sometimes it can be a little hard to discover the logic behind certain settings. For example; the knobs on the lower right of the device control the several effects or software instruments. It can be a little disorienting to sometimes see a knob on the right actually steer a controller on the left of the screen.
Another small caveat can be found when controlling devices which have several sections. As soon as you control such a section (for example a separate oscillator in the Operator instrument) the controls will work flawlessly; but don’t be surprised if you don’t see anything changing on your screen. Although you now control another oscillator the screen isn’t always updated.
But apart from these small glitches I have to say that the APC40 fully delivers on what it claims to hold. It is more expensive that the Novation pad but then again it also has to offer more. If your goal is to easily and quickly control Live without having to look at your screen all the time, to have the same options for tweaking controls like cutoff, sustain, release like on any hardware synthesizer AND to gain full control over your Live sets then this is really the controller go grab. What you see is what you get, personally I prefer this “no brainer” approach over other alternatives where you always need to think if what you are looking at is actually that which you expected.
Rating: 5 / 5
January 23rd, 2010 at 4:03 am
There are a lot of controllers out there but none that are as perfectly suited for use with Ableton.
I DJ and do production work with Ableton and I couldn’t ask for a more perfect controller.
Once you start using it, you’ll wonder how you made do with anything else.
Rating: 5 / 5
January 23rd, 2010 at 4:18 am
The APC40 feels like a quality product. The knobs and sliders have good feel, the buttons are precise. The integration with the software (Ableton Live
is surprisingly intuitive and I managed to figure out how to use the APC40 within a few minutes of playing around with it.
The only thing I am missing is some more visual cues that makes it easier to see which “track control” knobs belong to which track. A backlit LCD might be a good idea for the next revision.
Rating: 4 / 5
January 23rd, 2010 at 7:15 am
I’ve been drooling over this since it was announced, and I am so happy that I finally broke down and bought one. It’s a shame that there are no reviews up yet, so let me be the first to say that this controller is amazing. Make sure that you erase any previous midi mapping that you’ve done and then restart Ableton, and you’ll find that it has perfectly automapped itself. At first I thought that it was a little strange that there’s no manual included… but after five minutes, I realized that it DOESN’T NEED A MANUAL. That’s just how intuitive it is, from top to bottom.
The hardware itself is up to usual Akai standards: the knobs and faders feel weighty and responsive. This thing is both larger and thinner than I thought it would be, but after playing around with it the size feels perfect. The two-way communication is killer- just drop an audio clip into Live and it will instantly appear on the grid, color-coded to match its status. Recording and triggering loops couldn’t be easier, and the entire interface perfectly emulates what you’re used to seeing on the screen.
In the upper right-hand corner you have control over the pan and sends A through C for tracks 1-8, which is really nice. My only complaint is that I would have preferred to have it become all the sends for whatever track is highlighted, but I’ll get used to the new workflow. Part of what makes Ableton Live great is that it accommodates so many different styles of music, so making a universal controller for the program was a bit of a challenge. Akai really stepped up and once you get your hands on it, you’ll see what all the hype is about: this really is the be-all and end-all of hardware for the program.
One downside I’ve found is that navigating the plugins can be sort of clunky. First you highlight a track and then the knobs in the lower right are assigned to the first plugin you’ve placed there. Then you use the left and right buttons to scroll through each unit, and when you do the knobs reassign themselves to control the appropriate effects. I find that having to click through them all is sort of difficult, but there’s nothing stopping me from using the mouse like I used to. I guess the only thing that is stopping me from handing out a 5-star rating is that the APC40 sort of forces you to use the workflow they’ve designed. Remapping the controls isn’t difficult, but everything is laid-out and labeled in such a way that it sort of corrals you into getting used to doing things their way.
This review is starting to look a little long, so I’ll just sum it up: I absolutely love this thing. I wish I had picked it up sooner and if you are AT ALL considering this purchase, just do it already. Well-constructed, well-programmed, and absolutely worth the money. Like me, you’re probably used to using an assortment of controllers and you’re wondering if you need to spend the cash. Well, this thing will replace all of those and more, and you’ll quickly get used to the layout. Just do it!
Rating: 4 / 5
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