Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
19oclock
Posts: 68
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2014 5:40 pm

Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by 19oclock » Tue Dec 23, 2014 5:47 pm

Hey, y’all. I’m putting my APC40 MKII template/device up for download. It’s the product of a few months of learning the ins and outs of Live and M4L. I’ve put together what I feel to be a pretty good DJ template. It includes momentary effects, fixed clip launch buttons, native looping, effects reset buttons, send toggles, and some workflow enhancements. I use it on the regular and am happy with it. It is fast, lightweight, and crash free to-date (knock on wood).

Check out the video demo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eizM4qWioBQ

History
When I began DJing with Ableton and the APC40 a little over a year ago I had no idea what to use. I stumbled upon a pay template that looked promising. I installed it and began to use it at home and at performances. Sadly, I quickly discovered that it was unstable. Crashes were prevalent despite updates to the software. Adding to this were the built-in advertisements and excessive load times. This was not working as a solution to utilizing Live in a meaningful fashion for DJ performance. I needed something that worked.

I looked all over the web for solutions. I worked on custom remote scripts for the APC40, tried manipulating the MIDI I/O on my computer, and a good bunch of other plugins/templates. I finally found some forum posts and a couple of articles talking about the LiveAPI and access within M4L. More importantly, I found the JS object and then I really got to work. I am a long time programmer and using JS to run M4L and my template was the way to go. I got to work on my APC40 template. I built in everything mentioned in the first paragraph above. It was fast as hell compared to what I had purchased and rock solid stable. Life was good again.

I was pumped to see the APC40 MKII coming out. Ditching the power cable was enough to warrant the upgrade. When it arrived in August I had a few days to get it ready for a wedding I was doing that weekend. I ported everything over and took advantage of the RGB buttons to add some more fun to the template. Life was even better because now I had a newer control surface to run my software with. By now I felt confident in what I was doing to provide my template as a product for sale. I recorded a demo video and posted it online with contact information to get at me.

Stepping On Toes
Within hours of posting the video things went south. A fellow forums member and developer of the aforementioned template e-mailed me. “Disappointment” was sounded that I had been negative about their work, despite not mentioning them by name. We emailed back and forth, a veiled accusation of theft arose, and that was that.

My life went on. I was a little sour about being called out on by a developer I had not mentioned by name. I went back and forth on what to do but kept coming back to open-sourcing my work. I had the opportunity to build a simple device for one of the fellow forum members to make the MKII work the way he needed. It was fun and something I would have loved to have had access to when I was just starting this journey. It was time to release my work and be done with it.

In the past couple of weeks I started frequenting the forum again and looking at M4L threads. Discussions arose where I mentioned my overall disappointment with conventional M4L. At one point the developer-mentioned-above suggested excessive fixes to stability issues and I called them out on their crap template (see the “Any success with oktopush?” thread). I wasn’t going to talk much about my methods to a commercial developer until I had released everything open source, so I kept mum.

Then I received a PM.
rude_NHS wrote: Hey man. Where can I try out your dj template? I have the isotonik one too but am having the same issues you speak of.

Cheers man.
I responded back asking which APC40 they were using, I asked for their e-mail but then something stuck out to me. “rude_NHS” is an anagram of “Ned Rush” who is a developer for Isotonik. I replied back that I was uncomfortable sending my code to a commercial outfit. I don’t want to commercial developers a crack at my code before a general release to the community. He let it sit, and then I received a new message:
rude_NHS wrote: Just so you know, me and Darren worked on this range for five years. If you've lifted any of my code for a device you making free to the public, then I won't be happy.
The discussion turned to open sourcing, why we should or shouldn’t, and what I am doing wrong in using their software. By now I felt bad vibes stemming from the “pretending to be someone else to get your template” thing that Ned had pulled initially. I said that we ought to open all of these things up, that we can all collaborate. I suppose my last sentence sent to Ned is my thesis statement:
19oclock wrote: My efforts are in direct response to something sold to me that was buggy, a resource hog, contained advertisements (bloatware), and didn't suit my needs. The community deserves better.
That was the end of the conversation.

Conclusion
I tried to be cool by not mentioning people/companies by name. I’ve received accusations of theft, duplicitous statements by a commercial developer to try and snag code, and dismay that I hadn’t heralded their product a miracle. I’m anxious about all of this. I’m anxious about doing something with a controller that Isotonik doesn’t even develop for. It sucks and I want to take a break from thinking about it.

I don’t know this community that well. I am a musician getting into DJing and electronic music production for fun. I’m sorry if I pissed people off by doing this. If Isotonik works sensationally for others, that’s awesome, but on all of my desktops and laptops it has been a kludge. A kludge of the highest order. It just doesn’t work for me. I need reliability and speed in a live setting.

Once more, I’m sorry if I upset the community or anyone with this. I hope that what I provide can be used as guidance to fellow developers trying to get their controllers to work the way they want. I was prompted to do this by the failings of existing commercial developers. I’m happy for it because I’ve learned a whole lot about coding within the context of Live. It just sucks that I came under fire for trying to do so in the first place.

Thanks to everyone who asked me questions, watched my video, and encouraged me along the way. If anyone has any questions or comments, please let me know.

Download
Please see the download link below. Everything is packaged up in a .ZIP file to include the M4L device, .JS file to go alongside of it, and a quick Word file to explain setup.

http://www.drewreges.com/BLTDownload/BLTTemplate.zip
Last edited by 19oclock on Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ohigetbywithalittlehelpfrommyfriends
Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:54 am

Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by ohigetbywithalittlehelpfrommyfriends » Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:06 pm

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Last edited by ohigetbywithalittlehelpfrommyfriends on Mon Jan 12, 2015 3:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

TomViolenz
Posts: 6854
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 6:19 pm

Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by TomViolenz » Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:11 pm

Hey dude,
nice that you want to share something with the community, but let your template win on its merits and please spare us the forum drama :x

ohigetbywithalittlehelpfrommyfriends
Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:54 am

Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by ohigetbywithalittlehelpfrommyfriends » Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:13 pm

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Last edited by ohigetbywithalittlehelpfrommyfriends on Mon Jan 12, 2015 3:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

19oclock
Posts: 68
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2014 5:40 pm

Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by 19oclock » Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:13 pm

TomViolenz wrote:Hey dude,
nice that you want to share something with the community, but let your template win on its merits and please spare us the forum drama :x
I'm with ya. I just wish I hadn't suffered the drama for trying my hand at development in the first place. I guess I just want people to know what can happen if you put yourself out there.

TomViolenz
Posts: 6854
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 6:19 pm

Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by TomViolenz » Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:21 pm

19oclock wrote:
TomViolenz wrote:Hey dude,
nice that you want to share something with the community, but let your template win on its merits and please spare us the forum drama :x
I'm with ya. I just wish I hadn't suffered the drama for trying my hand at development in the first place. I guess I just want people to know what can happen if you put yourself out there.
Nonsense

I had the dubious joy of reading your back and fore with S4Racen and your posts came across as barely informed but speaking with great authority.
I found S4Racens responses measured and yours a bratty: I know better

And I find the accusation of theft hard to prove one way or another, but it's certainly not implausible.
Getting us involved is not going to bring any light to the issue either. So please drop it :x

19oclock
Posts: 68
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2014 5:40 pm

Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by 19oclock » Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:26 pm

TomViolenz wrote: So please drop it :x
Roger that. I guess that's why I'm posting my stuff here.

S4racen
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Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by S4racen » Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:59 pm

Hi All,

Firstly I'm proud of the work i've done on my own and now part of a larger team, i'm especially proud of the personal support i've provided to countless numbers of people.

I will post one reply on the points you have raised is as my right to reply, as before though i don't expect you to take any points on board.

1, I was obviously disappointed with your earlier comments, you hadn't contacted me to say you had had an issue that i could help with but instead used youtube to vent your dissatisfaction. I understand if the template crashed on you you should be upset, i would've expected that you'd then raise it with the developer.

From my messages from you i find praise and questions on how to customise the template further with specific questions around disabling the Scene Launch Buttons on the APC40. I won't quote your messages directly here as in the case of the Sony Hack debacle i feel that personal messages are exactly that and should stay that way. In those messages we'd fixed a problem with the looping and the initialisation of the device as we released new versions and i was grateful to you for the feedback.

2, From my download records you hadn't updated the template to the latest version, so your comments on Isotonik are dated.

3, As i've yet to see another template or device that can stably set Loop points, especially in the manner that we did it, and so i was concerned from your video that you'd used our code directly. I asked you to share which you refused and i wished you luck believing you would go on with your template and it's benefits. I'm sure you'll understand if you had nothing to hide you would have shared, especially as you were launching your template as a commercial venture which it now seems is open source... Which is cool by the way!

4, You did hail the product as a miracle.

5, You don't own Oktopush and felt as an expert to comment on the code within it.

6, The principle of working in M4L between the MKI And MKII is wholly different, working in JS maybe similar, i wouldn't know and this is my lack of knowledge in this area. My apologies!

Feedback both good and bad is invaluable to us, you'll see i've taken everything on board from the Oktopush thread and am now working on version two which takes into account subscribers requests, it is after all a premium product and should be the best it can be....

I'll not be commenting on this thread further, in both Facebook messages and emails i've wished you luck with your template and i'll leave it at that...
ohigetbywithalittlehelpfrommyfriends wrote:i rather buy a volvo before i buy from isotonik 8)
I can't help with that i'm afraid but if you're in the market for a new car i can certainly help you with one of the premium brands...

Cheers
D

ohigetbywithalittlehelpfrommyfriends
Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:54 am

Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by ohigetbywithalittlehelpfrommyfriends » Tue Dec 23, 2014 7:27 pm

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Last edited by ohigetbywithalittlehelpfrommyfriends on Mon Jan 12, 2015 3:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

ned rush
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Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by ned rush » Wed Dec 24, 2014 12:25 am

I'm gonna wank sooo hard thinking about this thread tonight.

ned rush
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Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by ned rush » Wed Dec 24, 2014 12:40 am

TomViolenz wrote:
19oclock wrote:
TomViolenz wrote:Hey dude,
nice that you want to share something with the community, but let your template win on its merits and please spare us the forum drama :x
I'm with ya. I just wish I hadn't suffered the drama for trying my hand at development in the first place. I guess I just want people to know what can happen if you put yourself out there.
Nonsense

I had the dubious joy of reading your back and fore with S4Racen and your posts came across as barely informed but speaking with great authority.
I found S4Racens responses measured and yours a bratty: I know better

And I find the accusation of theft hard to prove one way or another, but it's certainly not implausible.
Getting us involved is not going to bring any light to the issue either. So please drop it :x

19oclock
Posts: 68
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2014 5:40 pm

Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by 19oclock » Fri Dec 26, 2014 5:08 pm

Re-upped up to include the .ALS file.

docizzen
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2015 1:22 am

Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by docizzen » Sun Jan 04, 2015 2:39 am

I really appreciate the hard work and time you put into this template. It's really very good at what it is designed for. I like your web site too, you are very talented. I look forward to seeing more of your work and concepts with Ableton.

19oclock
Posts: 68
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2014 5:40 pm

Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by 19oclock » Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:50 am

docizzen wrote:I really appreciate the hard work and time you put into this template. It's really very good at what it is designed for. I like your web site too, you are very talented. I look forward to seeing more of your work and concepts with Ableton.
Thanks, bud! It means a lot.

Let me know what features I should include in this animal. I've been using this iteration of the template since mid-October and haven't really found a reason to add anything new just yet. Some pitch-shifting automation for transition ideas I've heard other artists use, so I think that's next. Otherwise it's effective for DJing right now, so party on!

irrelevance
Posts: 463
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 7:31 pm

Re: Akai APC40 MKII DJ Template Free Download Now Available

Post by irrelevance » Mon Jan 05, 2015 8:47 am

Yeh this template is lean and damn good fun! Testing on win 7 and Live resources are under a 1gb (850mb) with the base template makes me think I can also run this nicely on my aging macbook pro. Love the parameter resets, playing track focus and range of effects and looping, makes for a real inspirational play.

I don't understand the cue setting as when I stop playback in live the track will always jump back to the start (cue) point. Would be great if playback of track could be paused or at least stopped and started from a place other than the start which is the only time I would then understand the need to cue to the start again. Am I missing something here?

Things noticed:

That LED feedback is not always updated to show the reset 0 value on button press but the actual value is reset.
Also pressing shift loses all of the LED feedback on device and seems theres no way to get it back unless relaunch set.

Funny things going on with sends. Have Push encoders controlling the eightknobs device and find that sometimes if parameter is turned on before Deck Send pot is turned that sometimes the effect does not activate/become apparent. Inversely sometimes the effect does not go away when send pot is reduced to 0 value but will once pot is moved from 0 up and down to 0 again.

No loop indication. In youtube vid you mention blue LEDs that indicate looping clip but I don't see these.

Would really like the cue to be cue and not tempo accidently knoked this a few times in a 170bpm d&b set and tempo skips to 160! lol wtf! Couldn't figure out why then realised after watching youtube vid why :oops:
The filters have a bit of a jump/hump in the lower area not a smooth transition.

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