Akai APC40 thoughts, reviews ?

Lately, I've been pissed off at cracked software so I'm thinking of actually buying Ableton Live 8. There is always some kind of limitation (see: bugs) with those cracked softwares and I just want the whole stable thing. I don't really see myself using something else than Live for the next few years so the purchase would be worth it.

I'm also very interested with the Akai APC40 controller for Live. Do some of you guys have it ? how is it ? buggy ? well-made ? cheap-plastic ? there are not so much reviews on the net yet and I'd like to know what watmm has to say.

and what about Live 8, is it stable yet or should I wait a few months for some updates/patches/whatever. thanks.

for what it is, it's too expensive.

wait a while till they drop the price.

or buy a couple of padkontrols and a uc33e

it's cheaper in the states than europe... here it's around 450 euros and i've seen it on zzounds.com and musiciansfriend.com around 400$. from what i know it works good with cracked ableton too, so i'm gonna get one hehe

$400 for an AKAI controller I think is well worth it.

It has a great build quality and seems very rugged (the sides and the corners are almost like rubber so I'm pretty sure I could throw this thing against a wall and it would survive).

With the monomulator you can run monome apps which makes it 100 bucks cheaper then a 64 monome, but also includes all the sliders and knobs.

I find myself reaching for it more then I thought I would. I set it up to the left of me keeping my synth infront of me still.

I've had an occasional problem with it where it would just stop responding altogether, but this would only happen if I left my studio and came back hours later. This has only happened twice in the past month that I've used it every day.

im thinking about one of these too, im waiting for the price drop tho

I love mine.

Haven't found a single bug. Its very well made, I think the (US) price, is totally fair.

I have no hesitation to recommend this to anyone using Live.

Its a great piece of equipment. Extremely well integrated into live, very customizable (especially with 3rd party software such as bome's midi translator).

It turns the live interface into a very intuitive and tactile environment. If you like producing or performing your songs live with clips you will find it extremely useful. If you mostly produce songs with keyboard and mouse only and have little use for the live control of several functions, you will probably find it less useful (as you probably would most midi devices).

One thing you might take note of, is that the pads are not velocity sensitive, so if you want to drum out tracks, you should use another device. On the other hand with some editing in bomes, you can set up a nice drum rack matrix for laying down some basic beats.

Its also worth adding that when maxforlive comes out, the uses for this device will increase dramatically.

  On 7/17/2009 at 4:37 PM, candlestickmaker said:

it's cheaper in the states than europe... here it's around 450 euros and i've seen it on zzounds.com and musiciansfriend.com around 400$. from what i know it works good with cracked ableton too, so i'm gonna get one hehe

you're right it certain works with cracked versions of Live. though you gotta be sure that you have AT LEAST the version 7.0.15. I'm on mac and it takes forever to have a new torrent with a more recent version.

BTW, thanks to everyone who said some comments about this APC40 thing. I don't think the price is that ridiculous, maybe a bit expensive but oh well...

I find myself dreaming of setup Ableton Live 8 + APC40 and one of those new little controller:

this little thing would just complete the "key aspect" of ableton live. whatever.

MORE COMMENTS / THOUGHTS / REVIEWS ARE WELCOME.

thanks again.

  On 7/17/2009 at 6:37 PM, acid1 said:

$400 for an ALESIS controller I think is well worth it.

Fixt.. or did Akai NOT go kaput some time ago? Who knows who actually designed this thing...

The Akai company was bought by the same people that own Alesis and Numark in 2004.

I had the joy of fiddling with Kcinsu's some time ago and it's pretty awesome. Once you have all of your loops together, it's completely intuitive and fun to use.

  On 7/17/2009 at 3:07 PM, mosca said:

for what it is, it's too expensive.

 

wait a while till they drop the price.

 

or buy a couple of padkontrols and a uc33e

2 x padKontrols ($200 ea) + uc33e ($260 ea) = $660

APC40 = $400

WTF? I think your maths is broken.

  On 7/20/2009 at 12:42 AM, Braintree said:

I had the joy of fiddling with Kcinsu some time ago and it was pretty awesome.

  On 7/21/2009 at 10:47 PM, Kcinsu said:

  On 7/20/2009 at 12:42 AM, Braintree said:

I had the joy of fiddling with Kcinsu some time ago and it was pretty awesome.

 

Don't worry, you were asleep, so it doesn't really count.