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AKAI Professional APC40MKII - USB MIDI Controller for Ableton Live with Clip Launch Matrix, Knobs & Faders, Plug & Play Setup for Mac / PC and Pro Software Suite Included

£169.5£339.00Clearance
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First-time setup is literally three steps: load Ableton Live, plug in and power up your APC40, and select the APC40 as Ableton Live's controller. The biggest change, though, is with the pads; the APC still has 40 pads in a 5x8 grid (barely enough to be worth having, in my opinion), but they've evolved from small dull grey squares to colourful rectangles - instead of the amber/green/red colour array, still found on the other APCs, the Mk II has a full RGB colour range, so for the first time on an APC you can see your clip colours laid out before you. I hope that what I provide can be used as guidance to fellow developers trying to get their controllers to work the way they want. Alongside the launch of the APC40 MkII, Akai have extended their Ableton controller range with the APC Mini and APC Key 25 (the original APC40 and 20 are also still available). MPC Beats comes free with this controller but is also free to download and use with any class-compliant USB MIDI controller regardless of brand.

APC40 Ableton Live Clip Launching Controller | Akai Pro

Dexterous, versatile, and powerful, the only thing “mini” about this Ableton controller is the size.It’s compatible with ALL MIDI capable software (just remember that Ableton Live ‘may’ not correctly work with ARC running as we use three of the default buttons). A handy set of soft buttons gives you easy access to controls you need often, and the plug-and-play Ableton integration makes the Akai Professional APC40 MKII controller intuitive enough for studio and stage. APC40 mkII features a 5x8 RGB clip-launching grid, so you can launch clips using 40 responsive triggers. The crossfader's still present, although you can no longer replace it via the removable back panel found on the original APC. The new shape and multi–colour capability of the pads really bring the clip grid to life (though an upgrade to eight rows would have been welcome).

APC mini | Akai Pro Compact Clip Launching Pad APC mini | Akai Pro

But of course the touchscreen cannot match the tactility and predictability of dedicated pads, pots and faders. APC40 mkII’s hardware controls correspond to Live’s interface, so you can plug in and play without MIDI-mapping each control first. I’ve received accusations of theft, duplicitous statements by a commercial developer to try and snag code, and dismay that I hadn’t heralded their product a miracle.While there’s a lot of crossover between these products, there are genuine points of difference that will steer you toward one or the other. The design has been updated, though, with a lower, wider profile with quite a heavily damped action. The APC40 also enables special clip-status views and feedback that only the APC40's matrix can display. I’m happy to say that these have almost all been addressed in this new version without losing any of the essence of what made the MkI so usable. The designers at Akai haven’t stopped at tweaking the APC’s form–factor and layout, they’ve also looked at integrating it a little further into the Live experience.

APC40MKII - USB-Powered Ableton Live AKAI Professional APC40MKII - USB-Powered Ableton Live

Whether you are an electronic music artist and Live is your canvas, a DJ using Live to mix or remix tracks, or a more traditional musician using Live on stage or in the studio, you will find the APC40 to be the intuitive, powerful instrument that directly links your inspiration with Ableton Live.From my download records you hadn't updated the template to the latest version, so your comments on Isotonik are dated.

Akai APC40 mkII review | MusicRadar Akai APC40 mkII review | MusicRadar

As it's designed for Ableton Live, it naturally comes with Ableton Live Lite, a slimmed-down version that's a great starting point for music production. I wasn’t going to talk much about my methods to a commercial developer until I had released everything open source, so I kept mum. I ported everything over and took advantage of the RGB buttons to add some more fun to the template. Andertons Music Company acts as a credit broker and not a lender and only offers credit products from Secure Trust Bank PLC trading as V12 Retail Finance. Some pitch-shifting automation for transition ideas I've heard other artists use, so I think that's next.On the original, the knobs could only be switched between Pan and Sends A–C; now a single Sends button gives access to up to eight Sends.

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