The first encounter
Nice coloured box as compared to most gears I got - which usually comes in dull brown or the Pioneer black and white cardboard boxes.
The APC40's protected by a foam bag which sits in 2 styrofoam shock absorbers; not very eco-friendly and well supported IMO. At least Pioneer's equips are supported with heaps of cardboard whenI first got them.
The APC comes with an Ableton Live 7 Lite CD (which has its limitations - http://www.ableton.com/live-le-feature-comparison) , a blardy short USB cable for connection to PC/MAC, an external AC power supply (tucked in one of the foams), a quick start guide and a safety instruction & warranty information guide.
Out of the box and in action
This thing's huge, it's the size of a regular CDJ1000 MK3, only thinner. Faders has resistance like the DJM800's and the infinity/endless knobs feel solid. I guess we can always count on AKAI's reputation for gears.
Hooking up the APC was a breeze, no drivers required. The APC will have to be turned on before Live and it seems to detect it instantly after a few minor configs.
The APC's unique matrix of 40 buttons has 3 colour arranged in a 5-scene-deep by eight-track-wide grid. The smart coding system lets you know exactly what's happening in each clip, and simple directional controls lets you move around inside the session view.
Clip colours
Yellow: the slot contains a clip
Green: this clip is playing
Red: this clip is recording
Many aspects of Live's interface are replicated in the APC. The controller tells you what's going on in the software, but, importantly, the software also reflects what's happening on the controller.
The Pros
Have only been routing the audio from Traktor through Live so it acts as a post effector from Traktor and pre effector from the DJM800. So I can't vouch for latency through launching of clips etc etc yet. Not much as of now, response on this thing's accurate. Live synchs pretty well with the Midi sends from the DJM800. Am going crazy with the heaps of efx available in Live, layering them etc etc.
The Cons
No LCD screen to view which one of the 64 banks you're at. I guess this is where Novation SL wins; things can get really confusing if you have heaps of EFX devices.
Problems
Spoke too soon - The Live 7 lite APC version works with the APC, the trial Live 8 Suite didn't. The configs and usual troubleshooting's been done (swap USB ports etc) but they're not communicating with one another; maybe quarreling. At the moment, the APC is just a midi controller with Live 8 suite. Will see if I can sort this out. That's the problem with new products, you can't google sh*t for answers.
Update:
After 1 day of trial and error. It turns out that this config (pic attached below)works! I was like, WTF ? Why would it be listed as a 4th controller? And why do I have to select APC40 as the 3rd controller without enabling any Input / Output for it to operate? Obviously the routing or smth is screwed within Live. OR it could be my USB ports. Heck, at least I solved the problem. Ok.. less talk, more work to be done.
Am trying to see if I can create an EFX1000 template with the EFX available on this thing...More updates to come.
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