The new Akai APC40 was designed from its inception to be the
perfect hardware companion to the popular production and performance
software Ableton Live. If you've never used Live before, you can simply
plug the APC40 into a computer and get acquainted with the included
Ableton Live APC Edition software without hassle, because it's designed
to plug and play on both Mac and Windows. If you already use Live for
music production, performance, songwriting, DJ'ing, post-production
video, television production, live theater, art installations, or in
any capacity - you will immediately appreciate the APC40's exclusive
ability to "talk" to the software.
The unusual front panel of the APC40 is packed with glowing
buttons. It looks this way because it's designed to let you to take
complete control of Live's unique Session View. Session View features a
grid that allows you to load audio and MIDI clips into its cells. You
can play and stop each of these clips in any sequence, and you can
launch groups of clips together as a "scene." You can choose to have
the software time-stretch and quantize all of these sounds so they flow
together musically. It's an extremely simple yet wildly creative
approach to manipulating sound, but until now there has been no true
hardware solution that could free the user from staring deeply into
their computer monitor with a mouse in their hand.
The APC40 has finally answered the need for a dedicated Session
View controller for Live. When you press a button on the APC40, the
command is sent to Live and the software carries out the task. The new
and exciting capability here is the result of your command is fed back
to the APC40 and displayed on its respective control. For example, if
you don't have an audio or MIDI clip loaded into a cell in the
software, the respective button on the APC40 will not be illuminated.
If you put a clip into a cell in the software, the respective button
will illuminate orange. If you press on an orange glowing button to
fire a clip, the button will turn green while the clip is playing. If
you decide to record into a cell, the respective button will glow red.
You are not limited to the 8 tracks and 5 scenes in the matrix.
You can create as large of a Live Set as you please, and use the
navigation buttons on the APC40 scroll around to access any of your
clips. The portion of the program you currently have control of with
the APC40 will be highlighted in red in Live's GUI.
The APC40 also has 8 track faders and a master fader, with the
ability to change banks. Each of the 8 tracks has a dedicated mute,
solo, and record button. The solo buttons can also be used as cue
buttons for DJ'ing.
The APC40 also features 16 endless encoder knobs, each with its own LED
ring. The upper right portion of the APC40 is the Track Control section
with 8 of these knobs. This area acts as a global control for which
ever bank of 8 tracks you currently have selected. You can quickly
access track panning and control sends A, B, and C. Pressing one of the
Track Selection buttons located below the clip launching matrix will
assign the other set of 8 knobs on the lower right portion of the
APC40. The knobs will map to the device (such as an effect or an
instrument) the chosen track holds. There are dedicated buttons for
turning devices on and off, scrolling from device to device, and for
switching between Clip View and Track View.
If you don't care to use the APC40's pre-mapped controls, all
of its 109 buttons, 16 knobs, 9 45mm faders, and replaceable 60mm dual
rail-guided crossfader are freely assignable so you can customize its
workflow in any way you please. The freedom to reinvent the APC40
doesn't stop there. Users can purchase an additional piece of software
called Max For Live, which runs seamlessly within Live 8. Max For Live
(which was created in collaboration with Cycling '74) allows users to
edit and invent their own custom devices within Live 8, and utilize all
of the control capability of the APC40 as a blank canvas. For example,
a user can build a custom step sequencer with Max For Live and program
the trigger matrix of the APC40 to act as an input device for building
sequences, rather than launching clips.
However, you don't have to commit all of your time and energy to
building custom instruments and effects with Max For Live. The
multitude of different devices that hardcore users build will be shared
amongst the Ableton community, so you can download and use the fruits
of other's users labor. With an APC40, Live 8, and Max For Live, the
only limitation for what can be accomplished is the collective
imagination of its global base of creative enthusiasts.
Akai APC40 Ableton Live Controller Video
Features:
- Dedicated USB performance controller for Ableton Live software
- Co-designed by Ableton and AKAI
- 40 Buttons for Launching Clips
- 8 Encoders for Track/Device control
- Transport and Global Control buttons
- 8 Bankable Encoders for Track Control
- Tap Tempo and Nudge Left/Right buttons
- Replaceable Crossfader
- Can be MIDI-mapped to Over-ride Preassigned Functions
System Requirements for Mac:
Any G4 or faster (Intel Mac
recommended), 512MB RAM (1GB recommended), Mac OS X 10.3.9 (10.4 or
later recommended), QuickTime 6.5 or higher, DVD-ROM drive
System Requirements for Windows:
1.5 GHz CPU or faster, 512 MB
RAM (1GB recommended), Windows XP or Windows Vista, Windows compatible
sound card (ASIO driver support recommended), QuickTime 6.5 or higher,
DVD-ROM drive
