Akai Professional - APC40 MKII

  • Share
  • Five years ago, Akai released the APC40. It was part of the first wave of Ableton Live-specific MIDI controllers, along with a scaled-down version—the APC20—and Novation's Launchpad. The APC40, though, offered the tightest integration, with a straightforward and fully functioned mapping to the controls on screen. It consequently became a staple for both live performers and studio producers. Live itself has gone through a few significant functional changes with version 9, so the time feels ripe for the APC40 MKII. In updating the original, Akai incorporated feedback from users, making the revamp more than just an exercise in keeping up to date. The original APC40 had a five-by-eight grid of clip launch buttons on the left, a fader for each track and buttons for each track that controlled record arm, track on/off and solo/cue. The area controlled by these tracks was outlined in the Live session, and this outline could be moved around using bank select buttons. Several buttons around the periphery allowed group operations such as scene launching. There were endless rotary encoders on the right that allowed you to control sends and panning (with one group of eight) and devices on a track (with another eight). There were transport controls, a crossfader, tempo controls and buttons that let you perform a selection of actions (such as turning on and off the metronome and MIDI overdub) or control the views. The new version isn't wildly different—a tidying up rather than an overhaul. Some of the changes were crying out to be made. Why put the pan and send controls over to the right, when they should be above each track? That's where they are now, and you can cycle through up to eight sends, rather than just three, and assign them elsewhere with a user setting. The clip launch grid is a much more beautiful thing now: the buttons are not only rectangular, which mimics the shape of the Live clips on screen, but they also light up in the actual colours you see onscreen. It not only looks fantastic; it also means that you can colour-code clips and launch them without looking up, which greatly increases playability. The solo, record-arm and on/off buttons for each track are joined by a crossfade assign button and grouped into a neat cluster. The clip-stop buttons are recessed into the surface, making them less likely to hit by mistake, and the faders are also recessed, making them less likely to get bent sideways. Over to the right, the track encoders have been moved, allowing for some much-needed tidying up. On the original APC40, a number of the buttons in this section had sat in a blind spot for me, due to a combination of not really needing them and a general lack of clarity. The only function dropped is record quantization, and the choice of what's been added—as well as an overall reorganization—means that this area now feels a lot clearer. Below the eight rotaries, there are four buttons that allow you to move quickly between devices on a track and controller banks on a device, and a bank button, which allows you to quickly select a particular bank (gains, frequencies or Q factors for the EQ 8 device, for example). Onscreen, at the bottom-left, you're told which bank you're currently controlling if it's one of Live's devices. In addition, you can lock the controls to a device so that it stays controlling that one even when your focus is somewhere else in Live. This all makes these rotaries a great deal more usable. The transport controls have been moved up to the top, which makes them less accessible—but that's the point, because you're less likely to hit them accidentally. A lot of the changes seem to be geared specifically to live performance. It's now completely USB-powered, meaning there's no plug. The dimensions, on paper, haven't been drastically reduced, but the changes in form-factor have made the APC40 MKII a whole lot more portable. The breadth has been reduced by 7 cm—not a huge amount, but it's now only just bigger than a 17-inch MacBook Pro. Rather than its awkward previous shape, it's now a sensible cuboid, which makes it a lot better both for transportation and fitting onto a surface with your other equipment. It's a great deal lighter, losing the metal chassis for a plastic one (it still feels sturdy). It's also got a slot for a Kensington lock. The tempo control knob will be useful for lining up with other musicians, and the footswitch, which now works in conjunction with Live's session record, is a lot more useful, too. Studio functions such as automation arm and MIDI arrangement overdub, meanwhile, are still absent. I wouldn't be surprised if the loudest shouts Akai heard were from people who were tired of hulking the original around the road. (I don't doubt that the company realises that the more professional musicians that are seen using it, the better.) So should you replace your old APC40? (Or, if you don't already have one, should you buy the mark one instead, for £100 less?) It does feel a lot nicer to use, whether in the studio or the club. In particular, though, some of the improvements strike me as a potential godsend for people who are gigging regularly. In terms of choice, there are a lot more MIDI controllers than there were five years ago. But the APC40 has always been the big daddy of Live controllers, and now that it's been refined, it looks set to keep its place for a few years yet. Ratings: Cost: 4.5/5 Build: 4.5/5 Versatility: 4.5/5 Ease of use: 4.5/5
RA