Ableton Forum

Hey guys,

Looking for a bit of advice regarding getting the best contoller for my setup please.

Been using Ableton for a couple of months now.. love it! Looking around at what's on the market and the AKAI APC40 seems to be 'the daddy' of controllers and it does look great from some of the demo's I've watched but I think it's got a lot of features that I won't really use.

For a start, I use Live ONLY for DJing. Even then, I play funky, vocally house (sort of Derrick Carter style) so I'm not going for the 'Ritchie Hawtin' of having 4 tracks all looped playing at once and I don't need all the trigger buttons the APC40 gives you. I use mainly just 2 channels, 3 at the most.

A crossfader and channel volume fader controls would be essential but again, 4 would be plenty (think the APC40 has 9). What I really love to do and would want is lots of knobs for controlling FX's, that would be a must too.

Currently, I use my laptop connected to an M-Audio Fast Track Pro purely to give me two channels that I connect to my basic 2 channel mixer. This setup works fine but I'm using keyboard macro's and the mouse to control FX's which I'm not too keen on. I want one unit that will do eveything. I only ever want to be going to the mouse to swap over tracks.

I saw another brand, think they were called Foxfader? (any thought on these?) But like I said, my current setup is ok and I want something that's really going to make it better. Don't want to spend a lot of cash on something new and not notice too much difference to the setup I currently have.

Also... I'm kinda on a budget (trying to buy a house at the moment too).

But thanks for reading and any help is much appreciated! Let me know if you have anything to ask about my setup.

Thanks again

I recomend you really thinking about your controller purchase, and
just buy the one that fits better your template in Ableton. There is
not the "unique" controller for Ableton, there are plenty and the most
important bit is how you use them. I have got two, the BCR 2000, and an
evolution uc33 that I use for different setups and porpuses.

Hope it helps,

Thanks!

you were referring to the Faderfox midi controllers. Seems they are really good controllers, solid build, and compact. Cons, though, are that they are not USB so you would need a midi interface and they are pretty expensive.

I can not recomend the faderfox controllers enough. Just anyone that got one and he/she will say the same. Just get one of these and you are ready to rock.



Loving my Lv-2!

If you want a crossfader i would recomend the Lc-2

Thanks guys,

I've had a look at all the ones that have been mentioned and they all look cool as but it's just like inakiesarte said. You need to really make sure you get the one that suits you and I'm still not 100%

Another problem is I'm curently living in New Zealand a lot of stuff I can't get without shipping costs. I did phone up and speak to the guy I've bought all my equipment of so far, he seems to know his stuff. I gave him an idea of what I was looking for and he recommended something that he's got in stock by Stanton called DaScratch. Been watching a few videos on youtube and it looks quite interesting, looks like it could do everything I want and it's not badly priced. My only concerns are A) I like to use knobs to control FX's and this as none. And B) My first impression of looking at it was 'looks like I Kaoss Pad'.. which was probaly the biggest waste of money I've ever spent on music equipment. Thought it was great when I 1st got it but was collecting dust at the back of my setup a month later; Don't want to buy another novelty item!!

He's told me to go round if I want to see it in action in front of me and he'll give me a demo and I trust the guy but,,, he's a salesman. Do any of you guys have an unbiased opinion about the DaScratch?

Oh! and with regards to my original post, I guess having a crossfader isn't as essential as I first thought. Guess I don't mind still having my mixer in my setup. It's getting away from having to use the keyboard and mouse every 5secs that I want to get away from. I would still like one that 2-4 volume fader contols on it though.

Thanks.

These guys distribute crazy midi controllers

Videos here