Article Preview :: MIDI Controller For Ableton Live
Reviews : MIDI Controller
A reboot of the first dedicated Ableton Live controller brings with it many welcome improvements.
Simon Sherbourne Hardware companions to music software are now commonplace, but when the original APC40 launched in the pre–iPad days of 2009, it was one of the first of its kind. In my original review I was enthusiastic, bar a couple of layout gripes and feature requests. I’m happy to say that these have almost all been addressed in this new version without losing any of the essence of what made the MkI so usable. The question now is whether Akai’s take on what makes an Ableton Performance Controller stand up against the alternatives that have come since...
Ableton Control Relaunched
The new APC is significantly more compact that the original. The bulky bevelled surround is gone, and the launch pads are now slim rectangles instead of squares, trimming the size in all dimensions. The unit is also much lighter, which is a good thing for the travelling performer, right? Well yes, but it is a by–product of cheaper, more plastic, materials. The MkI was built like a piece of traditional pro-DJ equipment, with a tough metal enclosure and replaceable crossfader module. The MkII has more in common with modern music tech commodities that spend most of their time in the studio. That being said, it seems well built and sturdy enough to survive being carted around in a padded gig bag.
The core of the APC40 remains the 9x5 clip-launch grid, laid out above faders and track controls to mimic Live’s Session View. This maps to eight tracks at a time in Live, plus the Master and Scene Launch column. As well as the shape change, the most noticeable change is that the MkII’s pads are now fully multi–coloured, upgraded from the MkI’s green/yellow/red
Published in SOS April 2015
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