Akai APC 40 - First gig
Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 2:59 pm
Hi folks,
I've played a gig on Sat night in a Berlin bar for a private bday party. My performance is closer to a traditional DJ mix than a "live set" (i.e. I play mostly full tracks, in a pretty linear way). First part of the night: funk, soul, disco. Second part much later: hip hop and live bootlegs.
My usual setup is a Macbook Pro with a Vestax VCM-100 controller and an M-Audio Fast Track Pro. Sometimes a VCM-600 instead. I was given the opportunity to try the Akai APC40 in live conditions and you best believe I wasn't gonna miss this!
Some thoughts:
PAD MATRIX
- awesome experience, all the more when you're used to controllers requiring you to have the right scene highlighted before firing clips. This feels like a liberation
- this is going to be perfect for live performers launching A LOT of clips. For more linear performances, it's still a big improvement, but not as breathtaking.
- playing around at home with a lot of prepared minimal techno tracks was so much fun! Jammed two hours in a row without stopping playback once!
- can be fun when using clips with low quantization values (below 1 bar) to create short loops (kind of like CDJ stutter) during transitions
- banking is happening really fast (although one needs to hit the arrow for every jump, no continuous scrolling)
- the overview feature (down pressing Shift) is really useful for long sets (8 tracks x 200 scenes)
GENERAL
- very intuitive controller: it does what it says, no need for any user's manual or anything. Plug. Play. Have fun.
- good quality of materials as you can expect from Akai
- the APC is cool by day, but really reveals itself at night. All these LEDs (backlit buttons and pads, rings around knobs) allow you to find all controls instantly (even after several Cuba Libres)
- the only "dark" section is the arrows (up down L R) to control the Ring. Not so convenient. Might have to add some white stickers around it
- having to bring an external power supply is annoying
- the APC doesn't fit in any of my backpacks => good merchandising opportunity here people!
- remapping some controls is a breeze (I mapped filters and delays to the upper 8 knobs, weird FX to the lower section, disabled the transport section (too close to the xfader)
- if you don't need them, you can remap the Activator/Solo/Rec buttons to anything you want, and make use of the MIDI feedback sent by Live (i.e. is an effect on or off). This is really helpful if you have a series of beat repeats with different settings on the Master Track for instance. (and if you've already deafened an audience when failing to turn off an effect as you couldn't see which one was on!)
CONCLUSION
- best controller I've used so far for live performance / DJing (at least it beats all the controllers I know..)
- ready to work out of the box, but totally customizable
- still some minor improvement areas
- must leave office right now and practice some more!
I've played a gig on Sat night in a Berlin bar for a private bday party. My performance is closer to a traditional DJ mix than a "live set" (i.e. I play mostly full tracks, in a pretty linear way). First part of the night: funk, soul, disco. Second part much later: hip hop and live bootlegs.
My usual setup is a Macbook Pro with a Vestax VCM-100 controller and an M-Audio Fast Track Pro. Sometimes a VCM-600 instead. I was given the opportunity to try the Akai APC40 in live conditions and you best believe I wasn't gonna miss this!
Some thoughts:
PAD MATRIX
- awesome experience, all the more when you're used to controllers requiring you to have the right scene highlighted before firing clips. This feels like a liberation
- this is going to be perfect for live performers launching A LOT of clips. For more linear performances, it's still a big improvement, but not as breathtaking.
- playing around at home with a lot of prepared minimal techno tracks was so much fun! Jammed two hours in a row without stopping playback once!
- can be fun when using clips with low quantization values (below 1 bar) to create short loops (kind of like CDJ stutter) during transitions
- banking is happening really fast (although one needs to hit the arrow for every jump, no continuous scrolling)
- the overview feature (down pressing Shift) is really useful for long sets (8 tracks x 200 scenes)
GENERAL
- very intuitive controller: it does what it says, no need for any user's manual or anything. Plug. Play. Have fun.
- good quality of materials as you can expect from Akai
- the APC is cool by day, but really reveals itself at night. All these LEDs (backlit buttons and pads, rings around knobs) allow you to find all controls instantly (even after several Cuba Libres)
- the only "dark" section is the arrows (up down L R) to control the Ring. Not so convenient. Might have to add some white stickers around it
- having to bring an external power supply is annoying
- the APC doesn't fit in any of my backpacks => good merchandising opportunity here people!
- remapping some controls is a breeze (I mapped filters and delays to the upper 8 knobs, weird FX to the lower section, disabled the transport section (too close to the xfader)
- if you don't need them, you can remap the Activator/Solo/Rec buttons to anything you want, and make use of the MIDI feedback sent by Live (i.e. is an effect on or off). This is really helpful if you have a series of beat repeats with different settings on the Master Track for instance. (and if you've already deafened an audience when failing to turn off an effect as you couldn't see which one was on!)
CONCLUSION
- best controller I've used so far for live performance / DJing (at least it beats all the controllers I know..)
- ready to work out of the box, but totally customizable
- still some minor improvement areas
- must leave office right now and practice some more!
Thanks for posting..