BPM REVIEWS APC40
See what BPM has to say about the APC40
Posted By: So Roberta
This past January at the big “industry only” sneak peak they call NAMM, I came across something that really got me excited, and no it was not Mini Kiss signing autographs. It was the new Ableton controller from Akai, the APC40. Finally there was a controller specifically designed for the mighty Ableton Live that was something you really could use. The question was when could I get my hands on one? After about 7 months of patiently waiting I finally got my hands on one.
The Akai APC 40 is a controller that is really going to allow users to push the Live experience to new levels, I can’t wait to see what Girl Talk will do with it.
Unlike other controllers this one has an interface called the ‘clip launch matrix’. This matrix of pads allows direct access to start and stop clips in Ableton itself. Something that I really liked (still being an intermediate user of Ableton Live) was the LED based system that let’s you know what’s happening in each clip. There are forty buttons in total that give you a complete overview of your session. Essentially the light color indicates what’s happening in the Live session, green means it’s playing and a yellow button mean the clip is loaded and ready. You can stop and start a scene all at once as well, along with other really intuitive functionality. A lot of this stuff is just common sense for the experienced Ableton user and the APC 40 just makes the experience seamless.
The controller knows what Ableton is doing and Ableton knows what the controller is doing, they work together incredibly well. This is really the only way to go if you are serious about Ableton and especially if you are going to be doing live performances. Excellent!
Posted By: So Roberta
This past January at the big “industry only” sneak peak they call NAMM, I came across something that really got me excited, and no it was not Mini Kiss signing autographs. It was the new Ableton controller from Akai, the APC40. Finally there was a controller specifically designed for the mighty Ableton Live that was something you really could use. The question was when could I get my hands on one? After about 7 months of patiently waiting I finally got my hands on one.
The Akai APC 40 is a controller that is really going to allow users to push the Live experience to new levels, I can’t wait to see what Girl Talk will do with it.
Unlike other controllers this one has an interface called the ‘clip launch matrix’. This matrix of pads allows direct access to start and stop clips in Ableton itself. Something that I really liked (still being an intermediate user of Ableton Live) was the LED based system that let’s you know what’s happening in each clip. There are forty buttons in total that give you a complete overview of your session. Essentially the light color indicates what’s happening in the Live session, green means it’s playing and a yellow button mean the clip is loaded and ready. You can stop and start a scene all at once as well, along with other really intuitive functionality. A lot of this stuff is just common sense for the experienced Ableton user and the APC 40 just makes the experience seamless.
The controller knows what Ableton is doing and Ableton knows what the controller is doing, they work together incredibly well. This is really the only way to go if you are serious about Ableton and especially if you are going to be doing live performances. Excellent!
