Akai APC40 mk2 for Arrangement?

[AlienableTone]

I'm looking for a controller to assist me with the arrangement phase of production. To control faders, sends, effect racks, etc. But all while in arrangement view. Would the apc40 mk2 be a good choice?

I'm not thinking about using it for live performance, at least not in the near future. I just want something to put together my tracks once I have all my sounds ready. I'd really like to use a controller through the whole process, trying to use the mouse as little as possible.

Thanks!
AT

[yur2die4]

The faders are indeed handy. Along with the mute/arm/solo at your immediate disposal.

Plus, at least in the mki but probably the ii also, there are functions for switching between clip/device view.

The APCs do have a similar general appearance to a mixer.

The only major difference between an APC and a Push for your case is that Push would show values on the device. The APC will give you an LED ring indicator but if you're mostly looking at the computer screen it shouldn't really be a problem.

[Lojik]

I find limited use for my APC40 MKii when putting tracks together. Yes you can do arrangement with it by creating scenes in session view, then recording the triggering of them into the arrange window, but to effectively use all the controls requires an amount of setting up which I can't be bothered to do when writing music. Performing live is a different story because you can boil down your elements to a performable template in banks of 8 channels, but personally I find it a little restricting compared to a mouse for composition.

True you can control faders, mutes and solos but you can only control 1 send at a time OR pan.