Akai APC20 Unleashed !

[masterwilkes]

Billy Jean I want to fuck you like an animal.

[womblemaster123]

Hi there, i've searched everywhere for some advice regarding my apc20 to no avail and was wondering if you could help?

I'm using ableton live 8 on a 2009 mac. My mac crashed after a software update and apple fixed (i'm not sure what they did but they did not wipe it). Anyway since the fix my apc20 freezes. Ableton doesn't become unresponsive but the apc buttons fail to work the lights stick and the only way to remedy this is to switch it on and off again. Any suggestions?

[insidmal]

i get the point but this mashup blllowwwss

[MrJas1991]

Fucking prime!

[JakeMccloskeyMusic]

btw this is amazing haha

[JakeMccloskeyMusic]

Hey are the buttons on the APC velocity sensitive? also how in general do they feel?

[helmutuhlmann]

Love the beats toward the end - gotta get me one of these

[machinefiend]

i love this thing, makes performing electronic music more organic.. machinefiend.ca

[novo740]

Mate, gota say...well done...that ending is bloody brilliant!

[raOngaku]

wow, awesome dude. lol

[Dihan22]

shouldn't you be wearing 1 white glove? :)

[ssidao12]

Is it worth getting the apc40? Or should i just go for the 20? Thanks a lot :)

[digitally2007]

nicely done....

[basemuzic]

Продам такой агрегат. Куплен в июне. Пользовался 1 раз. Состояние идеальное. Цена 6800 рублей. Гарантия. Все вопросы по эмэйлу: germoads [собачка] yandex [точка] ru

[jamester80]

My god. outro is phenomenal.

[MauricioMorkun]

Hi,

could you pls eplain me, what you did to get the clips starting directly by pushing the pads on the akai apc?

thx a lot!

[LumiNiscentMusic]

I might just get one because of this video.

[epelectronic]

Nice! But what are your settings that the drum clips in the end seem to play directly?

[V19torrent]

A little bit sloppy... Love the NIN bits though. haha

[carsea74]

Take this as a constructive comment: The samples and loops are alright but try to keep your songs selection around the same BPM and more importantly, melodic harmony. Keys are off and there's no flow and continuity throughout the demo so it sounded murky . When triggering the pads, it seemed like you were trying to put out a fire..LOL...relax, memorize your pads and effects, and try different combinations and sequences. But overall, great effort and I really enjoyed the demo.Keep the hard work.

[Mineheads]

How do you make only certain clips quantized to 16th notes so everything else is global?

[TheSpecialGuest]

@Mineheads

clip properties, under ""Lauch". and of course, rtfm :)

[mysterymediacorp]

@TheSpecialGuest is there a big difference between the APC 20 & APC 40 ?

[anyonechagt]

@TheSpecialGuest Thanks for being helpful as well as dickish :)

[AerioNauts]

It all started a bit slow, but the end was fan-fuckin-tastic my friend.

I just bought this, I have my first live set performance in exactly a month.

Thanks for showing what's possible :)

[Jimbomohn]

@AerioNauts how'd the performance go? oh and def agreed - awesome ending!

[Pierceher]

btw :) awesome work :) thanks for sharing and teaching :)

[djcoletrain]

So awesome

[eneXeon]

Nice skills!

I tried the thing towards the end with samples, but even if i press the buttons on my apc 40 EXACTLY in time at higher speeds, the clips dont play in sync, they lag somewhat. What can I do?

What interface do you use?

[Pierceher]

@eneXeon what are your settings ?

[eneXeon]

@Pierceher Quantization set to none, ASIO buffer size (Focusrite Saffire 6 USB) set to 5ms, no USB hubs, no other devices via USB except audio interface. When I use the keyboard of the notebook, i can launch the clips fluently, but with the APC40 theres too much lag.

[Pierceher]

had this problem with other software, only thing that worked for me was a combination of upgrading/uninstalling/install­ing drivers and changing the buffer size, windows 7 ? make sure the asio driver is actually being used and not the wasapi(shared) one :)

try installing everything from scratch, if nothing else works :)

it is surely a config problem, not a hardware one :)

[eneXeon]

@Pierceher: I'm in contact with Akai to solve this, but i think the reason is the way, the clip launch pads are built. They do not really have a defined amount of pressure needed to trigger and are after all not sensitive. Tried NI Maschine and found those pads to be quite awesome. Maybe i'm getting the new Korg nanopad2 or Korg padcontrol to do it!

In the video theres also 16 notes quantization, so you can't tell the author would do any better with quantization off.

[Pierceher]

@eneXeon

weird, yup theyre not velocity sensitive, but that shouldnt cause delay, on the contrary, no matter the pression they should instantly activate :S , oh well, you wont be siappointed witht he Pad Kontrol, its a beatiful monster :)

[ollie633]

can you stop clips individually on the APC20? or can you only stop them all with the shift function?

[PatAttack1000]

You've well played that at a slow speed the sped the video up???? Bollox

[Zawadzke]

For someone looking to get into this sort of thing, would it be worth investing in? The controller is not the most expensive thing in the world at around 140 bucks.

I have a ton of idea, just no way to properly execute them.

Awesome video by the way.

[djkleen408]

i wanted to say thank you for this video!! very informative & i like how you show both what's going on on the screen as well as you doing it on the apc20. ---and the little pop up comments with the outlined boxes that show what you're talking about as you explain it really help a lot! I really wanted the apc40 but only had enough for the apc20. Just bought it on ebay & should be getting it later this week. Cant wait to play with it. Appreciate all the info on this vid! Keep up the good work! =]

[MrConorO96]

does it come with any version of live?

[mgarandsniper]

thanks for showing the monitor screen too.

[devilsaysyes]

im disappointed with this because i love bjork, mj and nin so it seemed promising. dj needs to work on this more.

[sonictwin]

very cool at the end... im trying to figure out how to launch the clips immediately rather than waiting for it to sync up to bar 1 .... that what it looks like your doing at the end...just free styling. nice work

[joshuagen0cide]

I don't know if this has been answered already or not buy can the APC20 do effects? I don't see any knobs so i don't know how it would (sorry i'm new to producing and using midi controllers) but i was thinking of buying either this or the MPD26, this has a lot more pads but the MPD26 has the knobs. So i'm not sure. I'd love the APC40 but it's a bit too pricey for me

[wtfhdmsupermantaken]

@joshuagen0cide APC20 is a dumb midi controller for the most part, a good portion of the magic here is the ableton live software (this is an over-simplification, the apc20 offers more features than just a dumb controller, but it doesn't do the processing)

[joshuagen0cide]

@wtfhdmsupermantaken Well yeah i guess that could be said for most midi controllers if you think that way. it is true all the power and tools come from Ableton. but they allow you to utilize ableton a lot faster than having to use your mouse for everything. and especially if your playing a live set you can't exactly do that. what midi controller would you say is a good or decent one then?

[wtfhdmsupermantaken]

@joshuagen0cide Exactly.

The magic of midi controllers is that since they all basically perform the same function, quality can be measured by how much you like the feel of the controls.

Some of my favorites: mpc26, akai lpd8, kontrol x1, launchpad, and for the more all-in-one approaches, the kontrol s4, hercules dj console rmx, or mayyybe numark mixdeck (on a hard budget)

[joshuagen0cide]

@wtfhdmsupermantaken Yeah that's true. i've heard a few were pretty poorly manufactured though.

ok thanks for the input, i've heard some good things about most of those.

[MassiveBase]

Very interesting and inspiring (especially 6:50 to 8:00 )

Thank you for this video!

[bluwaterclimber9]

hey how did you get the songs as samples? do you record on the akai and it just shows up on ableton?

[meltdownband]

hi! i am fairly new to ableton! how do you get the clips to just play once and not loop?

[mpain6cd]

at first I was a little bit disappointed, but that part in the end is awesome. Thanks alot for sharing this!

[faderpaul]

Good job. Its a nice performance and you made a very nice and interesting video out of it. Thx for explaining and all the effort you put in the video!

[SimasSavickas]

Can you connect this controller to FL and use it similliary as on Ableton, or does it only work on Ableton?

[tiffuhny]

is the apc20 worth it? or would you recommend the apc40? im really new to this and i'm deciding between the apc40 and apc20.the apc20 is alot cheaper but the apc40 has so many more knobs...

[PumpkinKyuubi]

i was thinking about getting this with an akai lpk25 keyboard and an lpd8 drum pad (which has 8 knobs on it)....with those would it mean that i wouldn't need the apc40? it is just a bit too expensive for me to get it =Z

[DJBobzilla480]

holy APC batman!  fuck the 8 people that hate this!

[kindofblue02]

Man I really need to get this.

[Jimbo2289]

hey thanks a bunch for putting these up I just got my apc 40 2 days ago at guitar center. Fucking love it! I'm new to the whole dj scene though and I was wondering if maybe in the interest of people like myself you would host one of your dj sets so the newer generation can get some practice in. But if you don't want to do that which I totally understand, could you post in HD? I'm having a hard time seeing what your pushing on the software side.

[Cthun]

The Björk remix is Badass! Ill Controllerism!

[montecarlo666]

Nice!!!



[Raener]

Nice mix man, keep it up! (:

[xbuster17]

nice review stuff, looks like a nice controller, i've got the launchpad allready .i just think that 8x5 grid is a bit small ,otherwise, a great controller , and, IMO, much better than the apc 40 wich is unnecesary big just to hold a couple of knobs, go korg nano =) . intresting mapping too, good luck man

[downsalas]

hey , stupid but quick question please answer !! , does the apc comes with ableton live, or do i have to spend another 400 $ on buying the software?

[TheSpecialGuest]

@downsalas comes with live lite apc edition. It gives you about half of what the full version does

[sonicmasterworks]

Well done. It must have taken awhile to put the Live set together for this. Thanks for sharing it!

[dcplus14]

The last 3 mins. of this was just insane...good stuff.

[aglabab]

what an awesome ending! dnb trip hop baby!

[theinfinate]

fuck yeah that ending was cool!

[tompuce84]

how do you quantize the way you play clips (at the begining "to 16th notes") and make it different from global quantize?

anyway, thx, it's the only demo of APC 20 that is worth watching, I'm suscribing ;)

[irishlaxer9]

dude.

this mix.

blew my mind.

and has convinced me to purchase the apc20.

any tips on getting started?

[pabloivanrv]

I mean , just seen the video and how to used APC-20... is good, the music, well in my honest opinion.... sound horrible... but well this is a review for the Midi control right?...

Unfortunately for me I have to wait until the nd of May to get my APC-20......

question... since al ready map on ableton... how you avoid to have conflict with other assigned controllers as Axiom 25?

[TheSpecialGuest]

@pabloivanrv well if there are conflicts you can put your other controllers on different midi channels. Put your axiom on Channel 9

[JousterinJudge]

so, can you control effects with the apc20 or is that just with the apc40?

[TheSpecialGuest]

@JousterinJudge only apc40 will map to the effects.... you could chose to use the faders to control effects.. each mode gives you a new set of midi cc's to map, so you could for example ditch pan mode and use that to control 8 effects

[nathnullobject]

Ableton Live is killing modern music.... think for yourself people.

Thankyou for making music generic and boring.

[ElHypno2007]

@nathnullobject Its just a tool nothing more or less. Was making music before Live.

[MrJohnnyeatsmonkeys]

@nathnullobject I use Ableton to start and stop drum and synth patterns live that I created. Not everyone who uses it only does mashups. It's tough trying to create a full range of music by yourself. Ableton helps me add a lot of variety very easily.

[metredeux]

whaut the fuuuack määääyn.....

killah ! i love it...especially @ björk....

big probz !!

[metredeux]

whaut the fuuuuuack !!!!! great man absolutly !!!

the apc is mine ;)

[alanclimb]

fast fingers and the best demo of this kit I have seen. really shows what it will do with practice. nice one doooooood

[mentok11]

it's the first time I'm moving to live set, after a couple of years of classic djing and I was looking for a programmable pad controller like mpd24, but now I'm sure that I need a solution like apc20... simply amazing!

pratical and immediate!!

thank you for the video, very explicative!

[MockingScott]

Watch the video until it ends, the best is the last . I was going to buy a programmable drum pad, but I think this will do what I need, and more...Thankx for the demo, keep jamming! Ableton Live 8 Suite is Powerful and Fun with a Midi Controller.

[jars1]

how were you able to buy this. please let me know as soon as you can.

[mouthbreather1]

Also, the bit towards the end where you go apeshit with the 8 or so samples was fucking great too. But is there enough space to do something like that? I do that with my Trigger finger on occasion, but it seems like there wouldn't be enough space to do that comfortably on the 20 (or the 40, for that matter) since the buttons are so damn small.

[TheSpecialGuest]

@mouthbreather1 well, i'm doing it... so yes! :)

[eneXeon]

@TheSpecialGuest

So you basically trigger drum samples over the beat of the tune (in that last part of the video)?

Do you think this can be done with a focusrite saffire 6 usb as audio interface or could the latency be to high?

[mouthbreather1]

Hahahaha, Nine Inch Nails vs. Billie Jean. Fucking epic.

[gordonlindsay83]

that was awesome - really enjoyed the explanation behind what was going on as well... i feel like a total total noob now

[dkuz001]

O My GOSH!!!! This Is AMAZING!!!! PLEASE make a tutorial!! I have been looking for somthing like this.!!!!!!!!!!!1!!

[housekid14]

a tutorial, definitely!!!

[drumz95]

I'm loving the gloves. Nice demo, thanks

[surfrecordslondon]

the bjork dnb techstep stuff is sick at the end! the beginning sucks though

[Dresnin19]

what a mess. technically, a good demo though. thanks

[seroeface]

I dont understand what hes actually doing?

Has he got the bjork/mj etc accapellas, and then made his own version of each, on one session, and is then mixing his own remixes together?

Im a bit confused

[TheSpecialGuest]

@seroeface its the full tracks actually, then i just grabbed start positions at different indexes within the tracks to make samples or loops. at the end i add some sampled percussion and drum loops

[gomachols]

why do you suggest the 40 over the 20 if you can afford it? I'm just starting off with ableton and everything... this looks like a good intro into it...i have the cash for the 40, but i can always buy it later... what do you recommend? Just got a new imac w/ i7, ableton suite... taking classes on ableton...just wondering what controller i should get (i'm dirt poor, my aunt passed and left me money for schooling. didn't want to sound like a braggart w/ all the cool stuff)

[1000Errors]

@gomachols , takeover mode on sliders vs endless encoders makes sliders horrible to use for swapping control over mulitple devices. as in having to look at the screen and match the physical position of the slider before it will control the onscreen nob or slider takes away for instant control without having to double check on screen. i personally find endless encoder essensial

[EoghainCarroll]

a very good demo mate, you have given me allot to think about, apc 20 or apc 40 tough call... i think i will buy the apc 40 even though it is quite a bit more expensive

[gomachols]

im in the same boat, whats your thinking? both aren't necessary, just a glorified mouse.... this 20 has the basic functions and half the cost... what would be your thinking in getting the 40? cheers

[TheSpecialGuest]

@gomachols u probably already decided, but i personally need the 40 for the knobs. I control a lot more effects that those used in this video. Someone brought up the idea of a knob box plus a launchapd.. imo, too big. remove APC40's wings with a screw driver and u have everything except a keyboard... and you can stick an LPK25 on the bottom same dimension. Very compact and fulfills what I need... but to each their own. I've had many many setups and APC40 is the actualization of what i wanted

[uwudentwantawarmbeer]

does that software come with the controller?

[jooomitooo]

dude that is amazing! very nice skills!

[jbpelham]

i like your mix and this makes me want to get the apc20

[bboyspaz]

Not a big fan of this mix. But I want an APC 20 SOOOOO bad

[TheSpecialGuest]

Let's see your Live Mashups :)

[burtonkd1]

you like it better than the APC40?

[bboyspaz]

I do. Only b/c the price point is a little better. Plus you don't miss much.

[gomachols]

what exactly do you miss? thanks

[mrnextmusic]

the APC 40 needs a power supply. The novation doesn't, but it doesn't have the faders....or note mode, so it's a trade off. I have the novation and tried to combine it with the Korg NanoKontrol (a fader/transport controller) I'm getting the APC 40 instead.

[nukage9000]

I haven't used either but from what i've read the launchpad's user mode 1 and 2 can be used like the 'note mode' from the apc20. and it seems like with max for live it can do some interesting things like a light up step sequencer monome style. getting launchpad this week!

[TheSpecialGuest]

FYI with MFL you get a Control Surface Step Sequencer that works with APC20 and also Launchpad. Novation has just been more advertizy about MFL support, a good tactic, but these things are supported for APC as well, and indeed all Monome patches run on APC40 currently with monomulator

[nukage9000]

ah, good to know. the other thing is that i wish the apc20 and 40 had a 8x8 grid instead of 8x5 because the monome is 8x8 and it seems like the monome patches would work better with the grid size they were intended for.

[TheSpecialGuest]

APC20 and 40 actually have the largest grid, 9x7 or 8x10 plus a 7x1 depending on how you divide it. 8x5 is tri color, but monome patches are single color anyway so it matters not. 8x5 clip matrix, but 9x7 or 8x10 + 7x1 actual available led buttons, which max of course can take advantage of however it likes (monome patches written in max)

[Flo010]

to bad there are no knobs above the faders so you effect and volume change at the same time :-(

[NakedEar]

I'm also trying to decide between this and the Launchpad... advice anyone?

[TheSpecialGuest]

Totally depends on what you already own and what you are trying to do. Because of the faders APC20 is a more complete solution if all you can get is one 199$ controller. Also APC40 will be more studio friendly as a single solution IMO. APC20 shall sit next to my production setup, APC40 wings removed in my Live Performance case... which has everything plugged into a power strip so all you do is plug in the power strip.. another reason why plug in power is not a factor to me.

[ttaralli]

Is there a way someone can do a video on how to do that drum clip playing that is happening at about 6:10, I think I understand but in depth video would be a HUGE help. APC20 looks, I'm trying to decide between this and the Launchpad. doe anyone know the dimensions of this unit?

[neiltrix]

wow... is it bus powered, as a mobile solution i would hope so..

[XpanderXT]

there isn't enough power on the USB bus to light the LEDS. The Launchpad does it but the LEDs are not high intensity and they flicker a lot.

[neiltrix]

@XpanderXT thanks, the Launchpad video i saw didnt seem to flicker at all, are you sure about this ?.

[newmanafterall]

I'm pretty sure it requires a power supply, if it were bus powered i would have considered buying it.

[TheSpecialGuest]

It's funny when I see people get the idea that it needs to be bus powered. That would make the LEDs flickery and dimmer. Yes the Launchpad indeed does flicker. Obviously its your prerogative, but are you really saying you're not going to plug in your lap top? If so you do realize the Launchpad will drain that battery like a remote control car on rechargables.... if not then you have power. In my setup my APC40 and previously my BCR2000 required power. It's no problem whatsoever.

[blacklabelnic]

oh shit

just bought a launchpad cos i couldn't afford an apc40..........dammit!

[tradingpilot]

I was about to buy a launchpad then i saw this!!

[fermixx]

awesome controller, awesome performance.

I believe its even better than the big 40 brother. I like to have the knobs controlling things constantly, withouth having to select one or other channel.

I believe this one + bcr2000 would be a dream come true. Lots of knobs so you have constant control over eq and other things + all what the apc can offer. you dont need to change between pages and you have a really powerful set up for barely 400usd

[gomachols]

i'm thinking this over the 40 as welll...

[MUFFINWRATH]

Is it just me or does that have no navigation buttons? Doesn't that take away the main concept of it.

Just bought a launchpad when i first saw it i thought shit i should of waited but now looking at this more a launchpad + Korg NanoKontrol would be better.

[TheSpecialGuest]

Yes, all navigation is there and in the video. Done and annotated around 4 min. Of course all shift function navigation is also there, in groups of 5 using clip launch or 25 using scene launch

[1000Errors]

thats a fucking sweet video, just wondering, are all the additional modes something that comes as standard or something youve added yourself with midi bomes or something similar? thanks

[TheSpecialGuest]

This is all standard. In this video I chose not to add all my Max stuff as it's meant to highlight just this controller.