Akai APC 40 help please!!!

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Chopper
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Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by Chopper » Sat May 30, 2009 11:15 am

Ive just received my APC40 and I'm having a problem.

I have live 8 installed and when i go to the preferences to select the apc40 as my midi controller, the option to set the apc as input is greyed out. No matter what I do i cannot select this as an option.

I tried installing the version oof live that comes with it but its the same......its doing my head in as Ive installed it on my mates mac no probs.....what am I doing wrong???

I feel like throwing it out the window tbh!!!!

Shaheed
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by Shaheed » Sat May 30, 2009 5:27 pm

You are not doing anything wrong. The same thing happened to me this morning and after restarting the computer with everything plugged in it let me turn on the inputs/outputs.

I hope this helps

Chopper
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by Chopper » Sat May 30, 2009 5:33 pm

Yeh ive tried rebooting, it appears to me that the driver for the apc is not installing correctly. I've treid removing it from device manager and every time it reinstalls as USB Audio Device. Iss this correct or should it appear in device manager as APC 40?

As it doesnt come with a driver as such its impossible to install manually, which to be quite honest is a real pain.

Anyone got any suggestions? And can you tell me whether the APC is installed correctly?

TekMonki
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by TekMonki » Sun May 31, 2009 8:56 pm

Same thing here, just got the APC40 and Windows wants to call it a USB Audio Device. It first recognizes it as an APC40, then changes over to USB Audio Device. Deleting/re-adding from Dev Manager, restarting the machine, restarting live, re-setting all of the MIDI/Sync devices, no love. There's no in/out for the APC in live prefs, it's only listed under the "control surface" tab. Also nothing listed down in MIDI ports when APC 40 is added to the Cotnrol Surfaces.

Normally you can extract the drivers and then do an "update driver" and point it at the temp folder where the drivers were extracted to get around this USB Audio Device nonsense - no drivers for this bad boy though, so . . . halp!

myarnell
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by myarnell » Sun May 31, 2009 11:25 pm

+1 here. Just got the APC40 in the mail. I'm on WinXP SP3 using Live 8.0.3. Dev Manager listed APC as a "USB Audio Device". In Live Prefs, USB Audio Device is NOT listed under Midi Ports nor is it listed under Input and Output next to Control Surface.

Any help would be great.

TekMonki
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by TekMonki » Sun May 31, 2009 11:27 pm

I've emailed APC about it, quoted response time is 24-72hrs.

myarnell
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by myarnell » Sun May 31, 2009 11:31 pm

A driver release would probably make it easier for windows users. I bet it's a snap on the Mac side.

TekMonki
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by TekMonki » Sun May 31, 2009 11:59 pm

Here's what the install process looks like. In Dev Manager (background window) it first sees it as the Akai APC 40 as it should.

Then the Found New Hardware Wizard (foreground), you'll note, says USB Audio Device. Manual (from a list or specific) selection ends up at the same spot, no way to choose another driver.

Image

sacredgeometry
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by sacredgeometry » Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:08 am

have you tried a different usb port, if that fails install the dll from the found new hardware window
Peace + Hugs

Brian

TekMonki
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by TekMonki » Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:22 am

tried a diff usb port, same thing. dll? what/where is that? disc just has Ableton Live install, no drivers.

TekMonki
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by TekMonki » Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:15 am

Also. Just removed all devices from dev manager and re-added the APC 40 first. No love there, but of note is that when I then added the PadKONTROL, I got the same thing, "USB Audio device". However, right clicking it, going to "update driver" and then manually selecting it gets you to the below dialog box. Selecting padKONTROL sets it up fine in Live. Point being, this should also be available for APC 40 somehow, but with no driver . . .

Image

TekMonki
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by TekMonki » Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:20 am

Same thing with Axiom just now. But again, can go "update driver" for it and specify that it's not a "usb audio device" but the Axiom.

Chopper
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by Chopper » Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:13 am

hey guys,

Ive installed this on my old pc upstairs also XP and it worked fine. Incidentally are all you guys using Dell?

My Laptop is a Dell Precision M4300 with 4gb Ram so it should run everything pretty well.

I also emailed Akai about this on Saturday, but I think there response time is 24-72hours during the week, so it could be Thursday before we hear back about this. :(

I suppose I could phone them and speak to someon but its a bit difficult as I am at work today.

I would also like to add I even got it working on windows 7 on a macbook, so its very weird that the one place I need it working it just wont work...aaarrgggghhh!!!!

myarnell
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by myarnell » Mon Jun 01, 2009 4:46 pm

i just got a response from akai. no epiphanies just yet, pretty basic troubleshooting...

---

Thank you for your interest in Akai Professional.Sorry to hear about your trouble with our product. So you have an XP computer w/ SP3. Laptop or Desktop? What USB ports are you connecting too? Are you using a Hub? What have you tried in terms of your own troubleshooting, so far?

Please connect directly to the rear USB ports of your computer.
Do not connect through a hub.
Do not connect through front USB ports, keyboard USB ports, or monitor USB ports.
Please disconnect all other USB devices other than a keyboard and mouse.
Try and use the APC40, does it work now?
Try a different USB cable.
Try and use the APC40, does it work now?
Do you or have you ever had a Logitech or labtech camera?
Have you tried to use the APC40 on a different USB cable? Please try this.

---

Update: I just got off the phone from AKAI. If you have previously installed a Logitech web camera, the device drivers conflict with the basic windows drivers used for the APC40. They are emailing me a zip file with an executable that will uninstall the Logitech drivers. I'll report back when I try this out.

TekMonki
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Re: Akai APC 40 help please!!!

Post by TekMonki » Mon Jun 01, 2009 5:46 pm

I got the same thing via a phone call. Support was quick and helpful. They sent me the zip and I did the manual instructions, but ran out of time before I could verify that it worked or not. Will update when I have a chance.
myarnell wrote:i just got a response from akai. no epiphanies just yet, pretty basic troubleshooting...

---

Thank you for your interest in Akai Professional.Sorry to hear about your trouble with our product. So you have an XP computer w/ SP3. Laptop or Desktop? What USB ports are you connecting too? Are you using a Hub? What have you tried in terms of your own troubleshooting, so far?

Please connect directly to the rear USB ports of your computer.
Do not connect through a hub.
Do not connect through front USB ports, keyboard USB ports, or monitor USB ports.
Please disconnect all other USB devices other than a keyboard and mouse.
Try and use the APC40, does it work now?
Try a different USB cable.
Try and use the APC40, does it work now?
Do you or have you ever had a Logitech or labtech camera?
Have you tried to use the APC40 on a different USB cable? Please try this.

---

Update: I just got off the phone from AKAI. If you have previously installed a Logitech web camera, the device drivers conflict with the basic windows drivers used for the APC40. They are emailing me a zip file with an executable that will uninstall the Logitech drivers. I'll report back when I try this out.

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