Ableton Forum

Forgive me if this question has been asked and answered but I haven't been able to find a complete answer.

My musical counterpart and I are interested in building an Live Set in which we both have full control via our APC 40's. Last night we proceeded to hook both APC's to two of my Macbook USB Interfaces. Upon doing so, we went into Preferences -> Midi Sync and set Control Surfaces 1 and 2 to Akai APC40 and Akai APC40(Port 2). Both APC's linked up like they were mapped but anything that was triggered would trigger identically on the other APC. If he was triggering clips and I used my bank selector it would shift his grid, etc.

Now the Akai Website Mentions:

Can I use two APC40s at once?

Yes, you can use up to six APC40s at the same time. In Ableton Live, a red box around the clips is indicated for the first APC40. A yellow box is indicated for the 2nd APC, and so on. Each will show a different colored ring around the clips.

That configuration is exactly what I would want to do. A box defining my APC and a box defining his with completely independent focuses. Any ideas? Thanks!

Im am very curious about this also. I have an apc40 and im looking to start an electronic group with my buddy. I have been considering the idea of us both using an apc40 off of my macbook using the same project, having both of us be able to launch clips and adjust effects freely. Somebody please help us out!

to have two APC40 controlling different parts of your live session you need to use the options.txt function.
This function allows you to change some of lives options.
First you have to create a text file called "Options.txt" in the same folder where Live's Preferences.cfg file is located. Here's where to find the preferences folder (Live 6.0.9 or higher):

•Mac OS X: /User/Library/Preferences/Ableton
•Windows (Live 4 and later versions): C:/Documents and Settings/yourusername/Application Data/Ableton/Live/Preferences
•Windows Vista/Win7: c:/users/username/appdata/roaming/ableton/live/preferences/
Note that on some Windows systems the application data folder is hidden by default. Here is what you have to do to make it visible:

Windows XP/2000

1.Launch Explorer.
2.Select Tools/Folder Options/View.
3.Check "Show hidden files and folders."
You can activate several options in the Options.txt file but use only one per line. The syntax is very simple; each option begins with a hyphen and some options also require an additional underscore (see examples below). If you use the wrong syntax you will get an error message when opening Live. You need to restart Live to activate the option. The file format of the Options.txt must be plain text.

So to tell Live to Deactivate the APC combination mode: don't align and sync the session rings of multiple APCs so they can be moved independently.

Supported since: 8.1.4

Put this in the options.txt : -DontCombineAPCs

why can I only edit this post, but not delete it?

I mean I do see the little list of what I can and can't do with posts in this forum.

but not being able to delete "my own" posts is just retarded.

I'm positive if I cursed and spat out enough unpleasantness a moderator would come delete it for me, but what if "I" didn't like what i wrote?

Another option might be to try two different remote scripts. Like use hans apc6440 on one and the stock script for two. not sure tho.