New akai ableton controller

CR78 · Post by **CR78** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:17 am

Nick at Sonic State will have a full hands on video of the APC40 sometime tommorrow(Friday).

Can't wait...

wovenskin · Post by **wovenskin** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:26 am

they better ramp up production..these babies are gonna sell like hotcakes!!
And no changing the price dammit! We're holding you to this, Akai!

smutek · Post by **smutek** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:14 am

jonny72 wrote: He actually says it will be 399, no mention of the currency. He probably meant USD but then he sounded British rather than American. But he was an Akai employee so I think its safe to assume its 399 of some currency.

He was talking about Somali Shillings, I'm pretty sure.

Exchange rate of 1,453 Somali Shillings per US $1.00, so the controller will retail for ¢.03

It isn't unusual for British reps to talk in Somali Shillings.

mkelly · Post by **mkelly** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:03 am

smutek wrote:He was talking about Somali Shillings, I'm pretty sure.

Exchange rate of 1,453 Somali Shillings per US $1.00, so the controller will retail for ¢.03

It isn't unusual for British reps to talk in Somali Shillings.

I commend your logic.

blaugruen7 · Post by **blaugruen7** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:07 am

i have just realised that with the max extendion there is a module to use the akai controller as a midi programming device....

julienb · Post by **julienb** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:17 am

beautiful.

but it is "only" a monome + several knobs

I mean, with max for live, you can customize your own controller cheaper

but it is a fact: it is cool for those who don't own their own hardware yet!

all the ableton's partnership are software-based partnership (by reading carefully the website's page, you'll see ... I don't really understand this choice.. but I'm not a marketing expert...

jimmynitcher · Post by **jimmynitcher** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:30 am

I just pre-ordered one and the guy said "around £400" - so £399 it is then I guess.

4.33 · Post by **4.33** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:32 am

have you noticed in the video that upon ONE mouseclick on a clip - APC switches from Session view into step sequencer view (this is a max feature i believe)!!

stefanvdm · Post by **stefanvdm** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:02 pm

Tone Deft wrote: it's just a USB knob box FFS, little to no brains in that box, just a USB chip and a simple microcontroller. no more than $400, more like $250. you guys are too easily impressed.

Knobs and Faders and a sturdy case are MUCH more expensive than "brains" these days, a decent CPU doesnt cost much.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:07 pm

stefanvdm wrote:
Tone Deft wrote: it's just a USB knob box FFS, little to no brains in that box, just a USB chip and a simple microcontroller. no more than $400, more like $250. you guys are too easily impressed.

Knobs and Faders and a sturdy case are MUCH more expensive than "brains" these days, a decent CPU doesnt cost much.

yeah, I'm excited about the form factor, the layout, the multi-coloured LEDs, the whole deal, the design that went into doing this, so that *i don't have to* build it myself, set up pwm-controlled LED matrices and such.

Any DIYer worth his salt would take a look at LED-rings and say "nah ah - I ain't soldering that!"

I imagine that right now there are people all over ditching their DIY midi projects, simply because the work has now been done for them, and the 3 months saved, and big purchases from Sparkfun avoided are easily worth 399usd to them.

steffensen · Post by **steffensen** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:25 pm

Machinate wrote: I imagine that right now there are people all over ditching their DIY midi projects, simply because the work has now been done for them, and the 3 months saved, and big purchases from Sparkfun avoided are easily worth 399usd to them.

Yes.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:31 pm

steffensen wrote:
Machinate wrote: I imagine that right now there are people all over ditching their DIY midi projects, simply because the work has now been done for them, and the 3 months saved, and big purchases from Sparkfun avoided are easily worth 399usd to them.
Yes.

haha yeah weren't you going through the motions with LEDs and arduino a while back at the same time as me?

*sigh of relief*

chris_in_london · Post by **chris_in_london** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:43 pm

wovenskin wrote:they better ramp up production..these babies are gonna sell like hotcakes!!
And no changing the price dammit! We're holding you to this, Akai!

the akaimpd32 (the closet previous akai product to the APD) has basic firmware bugs that have still not been corrected since it's launch. there are also live compatibility bugs:

- The mpd32 doesn't save all the global settings (including pad sensitivity/curve etc) when powered off (the manual states it should). this is incredibly annoying in daily use.
- The mpd32 faders don't work with soft takeover in live (or any other DAW)
- Live on os x 10.5 is unable to remember mpd32 midi preferences. Also very annoying in daily use.

hopefully this new akai/ableton partnership will mean that these things get fixed. however, akai support have been very very poor so far, so don't be surprised if they manage to bungle what should be an excellent product.

dcease · Post by **dcease** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:08 pm

when i woke up yesterday and saw this, i breathed a sigh of relief... i have been putting off using my pre-existing controllers to mimic what this thing will do, as it would be annoying, and time consuming. for me personally, it's what i thought of in a controller for live. kudos

i then thought that the c74 collab would allow us to build our own devices

i wasn't expecting l.8 to be announced as well- i was shitstatic when i got home from work and found out that we would be able to make our own devices AND l.8 looks like such a nice upgrade... sure, detachable windows would be nice, but i ain't bitchin...

save for the fact we have to wait

bravo-bring it on

BinaryB · Post by **BinaryB** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:31 pm

chris_in_london wrote:
wovenskin wrote:they better ramp up production..these babies are gonna sell like hotcakes!!
And no changing the price dammit! We're holding you to this, Akai!
the akaimpd32 (the closet previous akai product to the APD) has basic firmware bugs that have still not been corrected since it's launch. there are also live compatibility bugs:

- The mpd32 doesn't save all the global settings (including pad sensitivity/curve etc) when powered off (the manual states it should). this is incredibly annoying in daily use.
- The mpd32 faders don't work with soft takeover in live (or any other DAW)
- Live on os x 10.5 is unable to remember mpd32 midi preferences. Also very annoying in daily use.

hopefully this new akai/ableton partnership will mean that these things get fixed. however, akai support have been very very poor so far, so don't be surprised if they manage to bungle what should be an excellent product.

Lucky this is an Ableton product too :p