All user reviews for the Akai Professional APC40

- For how long have you been using it?
I use it for about two months.

- Did you try many other models before getting this one?
Yes, UC33e, BCR/BCF2000.

- What thing do you like most/least about it?

+ Ergonomics, everything is at hand.
+ Ease of implementation and use (from the moment you know how to use Ableton Live
the APC40 is a breeze)
+ Colored pads that indicates the status of videos
+ Low latency
Crossfader + handy

- The only downside that I could give this jewelry, it does not have motorized faders,
reassign the slider every time and sometimes a problem in live use.


- What is your opinion about the value for the price?
About 400 euros it's still pretty expensive for some of us, but it is possible to find
hand, some people buy it and do not find most useful, therefore, you can find
APC40 very well maintained for about 280 euros.
Once the investment, and according to the utility you have, I do not see why the change to
another machine ... ?
In any case it's a very good machine, the pads are well made, the crossfader is
Replaceable, the chassis is metal, the LEDs around the knobs are the most beautiful effect,
integration with Ableton Live is phenomenal for my taste ...

- Knowing what you know now, would you make the same choice?
Yes, yes and yes, I even plan to buy a APC20 and more.


Conclusion:

To me this is the most ergonomic controller that I know (integration with Ableton is absolutely bluffing), good quality and easy to use I recommend it to anyone wanting to play live, has changed the APC40 my vision of live machine.

The Akai APC40 is a unique MIDI controller that's designed for use with Ableton Live. Ableton is a DAW that's becoming more and more popular and for good reason as it's really intuitive and easy to use for creating music in the box. The APC40 makes this process even a little bit easier as it gives you access to controls in the DAW on an external piece. It's perfect as a controller for live shows if you're using your laptop on stage. I only recently got to try out the APC40 with Ableton, and while Ableton isn't my main DAW since I don't do all that much music creation in the box, it's a great tool for those who are using Ableton on a daily basis. You can control pretty much everything in Ableton using the APC40, as it's got nine faders (including a master), buttons for clip control, knobs for track and device controls, as well as transport and channel controls. It's pretty in depth with everything that it can do but if you know Ableton Live well, I don't think you'll have a hard time adjusting. Since I don't use Ableton all the time, it'll take me a little more time to get used to using the APC40, but I think those a bit more experienced will feel pretty comfortable with it. The price is about right for the APC40 considering all that it brings to the table and it's nice build. Of course for it to be worth it you should be using Ableton a lot as this doesn't work with other DAW's that I'm aware of, or least it's modeled after Ableton and wouldn't really translate over. For those who do have Ableton Live, definitely check out the APC40 for hands on control of your DAW.

I use the APC for 3 months.
Prior has had the Korg Nano, no report! PCA is very robust, works flawlessly and does everything asked of him. Obviously, it does not make it CIF Live pilot point (so the pads are not as teractive MPC)

I use it mostly at the stage of composition and recording. It allows me to record very easily DIFFERENT parts of guitars, basses, keyboards (track is armed, pressing the button on the clip you want and save dcompte begins. Tamping on it the button the clip To stop, the play continues back) Then, having recorded some riffs I juggle until it finds the structure ... Then I reworked the effects on the heart (the knobs are gniaux) and finally, I record a version model in understanding the view still juggling with the clips / scenes / effects

This is not necessarly the initial use of PCA (djing live ...), but it suits me IDAL and I bought for this purpose. I earn a lot of time and return trips of the mouse!

Only BMOL okay, you can assign any parameter or any knob pad, activating the remote control mode BUT if he does, the transport keys (read: play, pause ...) no longer work! Too bad!

So yes, it's expensive, but really I do not regret my purchase, so it is what I wanted.