APC40. Worth it?

[joeyfivecents]

I'm trying to decide if I should get an APC40. I usually record guitars, bass, vocals, etc into Session view but I always have to stop and move the loop brackets a little bit to get the loop right. This means that I also have some trouble getting the loop to start playing immediately after I record it. I'm wondering if the APC40 will help me to get perfectly in sync loops so I don't have to stop Live. Any opinions?

[JuanSOLO]

The APC40 does not move brackets, or do any kind of auto loop stuff for you. Sounds like you would still have to stop Live and make your adjustments. Also you would still have to push the Track Arm manually, as well as Play Loop manually. UNLESS you got into hacking the APC40 and customize it to your needs. Possibly a foot switch. In other words the APC40 wont be a "hands free" looping solution, but you could work it to get some fairly fast results.

HOWEVER, there is a cool Looper device built with M4L http://www.maxforlive.com/library/device.php?id=596

If your into recording loops with guitar, I would think something like this plus some kind of foot switch to activate recording. This looper device is pretty awesome, it has a "gate trigger" and a few sync functions. Basically you can have Live running, and Superlooper on "sync with Live", and adjust the amount of bars you want to record, click record (ideally with a footswitch), it wont start recording till you play something, and it will end and play the loop based on your settings. GREAT for Live Looping. It also has an Auto Export feature, as well as the ability to run multiple instances that work well together.

Also, Guitar Rig has a pretty good looper that syncs with Live nicely, but no Auto Export of your recorded loops.

[joeyfivecents]

thanks for the reply. I do have some midi footpedals I'm trying to use with Live (Apogee GIO and Logidy) and they work pretty well. The problem is I can't assign a bunch of buttons to clip record/play because I physically run out of buttons on the foot pedals. I don't mind using my hands if Live is set to "Bar" for record quantization. This is where I think the apc40 may come in handy: clip record then clip play on the same button for as many as I want. Does this sound right? (I will also look into that looper since I do have Max for Live). Thanks again!

[joeyfivecents]

Also, and this is extremely important, can the apc40 be plugged into a usb2 hub?

[JuanSOLO]

OK, at first I read your post as kind of trying to use the APC40 mainly for guitar looping. So I think your on the right track. So yes, with the same button, and setting Live's bars etc, you can, Press once - start recording, Press again - end recording/resume playback.


The APC40 is pretty handy, and even more so if you already own M4L.

[JuanSOLO]

Also, and this is extremely important, can the apc40 be plugged into a usb2 hub?

YES, but it does not run off usb power, it has a power plug.

[joeyfivecents]

Great. Looks like a winner.

[rydn]

I just got one and am sssooo glad I did. Huge workflow improvement. Much easier to be creative in composition and tweaking knobs is a lot more fun than on screen or with static knobs that need to hit a pickup point. Very worth it.

[Mixikyr]

Deleted post.

[JuanSOLO]

you can't go wrong with it unless you don't use Ableton.

Yeah but it works magic with Traktor too!

[kev herb]

also check out http://www.nativekontrol.com/apC_Series.html to dramatically expand the uses of the apc like playing drum rack cells on the apc pads/clip launch buttons

[joeyfivecents]

Well, I got one. It has totally changed my outlook about Live. My workflow is so much smoother. They seem to have put a lot of thought into this thing and so far.....its perfect. Thanks for all of your input.