it's sort of a compromise; you can control 4 at the same time; you still have feedback and auto switching when changing pages. encoders work too but you can't use several at the same time. I don't mind the touchstrips as a modwheel on my midi keyboard.
From a performance point, for fingerdrumming I see a lot of benefit on touchstripes over knobs. like quick jumping to specific values, or changing multiple touch stripes at once with one hand. Actully the main reason for me getting a mashine jam instead of an APC where the touchstrips.
Yeah, I get the advantage for multitouch, and quick recall, but they’re not substantially different than say TouchOsc on a tablet. So much of what’s fun with electronic music gear is moving faders and turning knobs 🤷♂️
Sold my push 2 and can’t afford the push 3 so just got this ,after a couple of hours I can see its potential and at this price point seems unbeatable ,thanks for another superb tutorial
Hey there! How do you compare this one, the APC 64 versus the Push 2? I'm in doubt between a new APC 64 or a used Push 2, they are the same price range here in my country. Thanks a lot!
@@PedroLucianoBenpp if you want the full Ableton experience then push 2 is the way to go but this beats all the other competition hands down ,the sequencer is brilliant and the APC64 maps CC easily to any plug in,faders take some getting used to ,very sensitive but I still like them ,hope this helps your question
I am very fascinated by this as an affordable hardware standalone sequencer, honestly. I know many people will find it an inferior Ableton controller to the Push series, but $400 US for a hardware sequencer with 8 controllable CCs per track with 8 tracks is pretty nuts, TBQH
No way is it inferior; I can't be the only person who feels this is the best of both worlds between the APC40 and Push, and sold at a much more accessible price point (in fact I believe adjusted for inflation this is a tiny bit cheaper than the OG bulky APC40, insane to me). APC40 was the first MIDI controller I ever picked up and it made me forever prefer faders over encoders, and this basically addresses everything that's never jived with me about my second gen Push.
Damn. From an Ableton user perspective all we needed was a fixed length button on the MK2; not more menu diving and shift-clicking to get to key live mixing functions. The (small) screen is a welcome addition though.
Now I regret not getting an APC40 mk2 (have a mk1, but you know). They've ruined all the things where it was better than a Push or Launchpad. Having to switch between mutes, solos, stops etc. is a major pain in a live performance. Same goes for levels, pans, device control etc. Losing the crossfader is pretty damn annoying, it could be setup in so many cool ways for instant performance awesomeness. This is all lost now, reduced to the dregs of mediocrity. APC40 would do all of this, 1:1, without annoying inbetween steps. It was perfect for performing in a number of ways. And far superior to all the other controllers for a majority of workflows. The only thing it was really missing was a note-mode, and this was easily remedied with any key- or pad controller. And could easily have been added to a new one, without removing all the cool things. By comparison having any 2 other controllers, even be it 2 Push, will not afford you the same immediate performance and/or mix control as a single APC40. I've tried performing with my Push, it's cumbersome, not nearly as intuitive, and makes a lot of transitions and effects impossible to do live. This is just another Push/Launchpad, with poorly placed touch faders, and nothing to actually warrant its existence. It's got nothing unique about it. Nothing that boosts its workflow. And it's very clear they only focused on how it looks, not on how it works. Sure the note modes and 8 sequencer tracks are cool. But considering most of the functions seem lesser than the Launchpad Pro, paying a 50% mark up for some poorly placed touch faders, isn't exactly gonna entice anybody. If all the features were atleast up to Novations level, the 4 extra sequencer tracks would make it a viable choice, albeit one with many competitors. They ruined a product was the only choice for a number of workflows, to make one that's fighting (and probably losing) for middle of the pack in a crowded field. Thanks for the detailed video, as always very useful and well done.
oh, no crossfader? bye bye. that changed the game for me production wise. love my sparkling shiny white apc40, those are still the best! i keep lookin, but then i'm like why? i just need to take mine apart and clean the faders.
Same feeling here, but I did get the MK2. Using it next to my Push 2, where it really completes the hands-on control of Live. The only USP for the 64 would be integration of CV-based synths with Live (?) otherwise I don’t get it.
I have both the apc40 mk1 and 2 and kept both. In some ways I prefer the 1. I prefer the form factor of the 2 more but the knobs on 1 are more useful to me.
yeah i would agree, it's not a live performance device by any standards. As a creative tool in the studio it's got some nice things at a cheaper price level than other options. Being able to use it as a central sequencing hub to get creativity going and then being able to send the sequence through at the touch of a button is pretty compelling to me.. I agree though, theres been a lot of odd choices here.. they should have gone for a bigger footprint and proper faders!
@@Grant82gc for sequencing and cv I would definitely go for a BeatStep Pro. It has a much lower price tag then the 64 (or KeyStep Pro) and offers midi and cv, has two melodic and one drum sequencer, which holds multiple lanes and can be assigned separate midi channels for each drum sound (via control software). It has one touch strip, multifunctional pads and a controller mode with decent knobs and MCU compatible play controls. It’s built as a tank and leaves you money for a pad controller or keyboard (standard KeyStep offers you an extra sequencer). There’s so much to choose from in this price range.
Definitely excited to dive in to your deep dive into this piece of gear! Thank you in advance for your efforts in sharing this information. You good sir, are a legend!!! 🔥🤘🧡👍🔥
I'm new to all this. Re-watching this video after having bought an APC64; so much of it I only vaguely understand right now, so will be referring to this video quite a lot, thanks.
Great overview, as usual. Feels like I can replace my Keystep Pro, Push 2 and Roli Lighted and Keyboard Blocks. Especially since I don't really play keyboards.
On another note... Loopop, your voice is what I picture I would hear coming through the P.A. as your landing the plane LoL 👊🤣👍 very calming... even if one of the engines was on fire... weigh the pros and cons.
No use for my workflow save for a couple of functions. I use all of the tactile knobs/faders/buttons on my 40 mk2 and can’t be bothered to select mutes and solos stop clip, etc every time. I don’t use step sequencing much but if I do I use my maschine mk3 and hardly work in session view. If mk2 had no clip launch buttons I wouldn’t even be upset 😂 Glad I don’t have to but this one 😅
The APC has the best endlesss encoders i ever have experienced. And the only 1 encoder they added is on the worst possible location. I can live with touch strips for faders but removing 16 high quality endlesss encoders with feedback is just a bad design decision. It could have been a amazing symmetrical design.
Tempting, but in the end, sitting in the middle kind of hurts this; launchpad pro is nice and portable, right to the point, and an (affordable) Push 2 gives a more complete interface. Sitting in the middle doesn't get you either in the end.
Hello bros . It's a well thought device..and been designed like this so we can use more as an instrument. APC 40 is a controller only. So when we use APC 64 and 40 together .. We will be laughing 😺😺 Touch bars are a great way to play , They may look like not good option. However once you use them you are gonna love em...😊😊
More menu diving and shift clicking is exactly what we didn't need for live performance. Akai just ditched what made the specificity of the APC 40 and made a cheaper Push. I can understand the need to have a cheaper option for a Push though, but it's still a big waste
people in these comments are very salty. thanks loopop for the goated review as always. The Push 3 is absurdly expensive for me and buying a 64 pad workhorse sequencer used (Push 2) gives me trepidation. Honestly this product seems perfect for a market that looked at the price tag on the Push 3 and said "yikes" but still want to be able to do live sequencing and stuff. I just wish the touch strips were replaced with 16 digital encoders for my massive 16-macro instrument racks (and touch strips kinda suck).
So... let's redesign our flagship... We take some buttons from the push and pop them onto it, then remove the best of our former product, and replace a third of it with something that will show its limitations live in no time... At least they sell it for less than they did the APC40 mkII...
Reliq would be the device I compare to this combo. Which comes with a CV mod matrix UI and a large CV breakout board. Like a larger push for harware synths. This is a similar modular market, but not the same. This is more affordable but has less I/O.
As an Akai Force owner this saddens me as it is everything we wanted to be available in the now abandoned Akai Force. I think this is a fantastic device at an incredible price point. Akai really nailed this. The only thing I would have liked to see is a modular design where the top bar with outputs are the main component and you could magnetically snap the rest in whatever configuration you wanted. They could sell individual touch strip modules to be snapped on in whatever layout you want. You could have additional screens, encoders, etc... similar to how Roli Block pads snap together with the pogo pins / magnets. Oh and I 💯 % agree the touch strips should have been 1-4 on top and 5-8 on the bottom. This not being default means they didn't get input from actual Ableton live performers / genestive artists and instead made marketing / education pr team into "performer trainers" to give demos for videos / expos.
I've tried doing the kind of thing I do with live in a 64 steps sequencer and it wasn't enough. so besides drum it's pretty limiting. you could use microtimings to go around that but that's not very practical.
@@alejandrorangel3257you hold the first project (sequence) pad, and then the last, and all the projects (sequences) in between are chained - up to 24 can be stored on board
Thank you so much for the review, Loopop. I'm an Ableton user, and I will get this. I can't imagine to be an Ableton user and not be excited by this release, unless you have the Ableton Push 3 already. For the price this is an amazing Ableton controller. Thank you Akai!
The sequencer needs real time or microtiming. Also randomization, probability and dedicated ratchets......... why always Ableton? Why dont all the Daw programmers come together in the MKS technology so these controllers can be unbiased in regard to which daw or vsts you prefer. Sanjay C mentioned Launchpad from Novation as a possible future competitor in this price range and I look forward to. Thanks for the Daw controller reviews Loopop . I think they project the most innovation today.
Nice device. Cant help to be a bit disapointed though. No mixer faders and no knobs. I miss my old mk1 now suddenly.......so I bought a second hand mk1 last week. 😊
holy taking out of context batman - specifically tell people a sentence before that they should remember knobs as an alternative, and then mention motorized faders as better alternative to touch faders (which would obviously have made this cost much more)
Ableton must have a patent on a 64 pad midi controller with 8 rotary encoders because why would you come up with a design like this. I wish some will make a 32 pad midi controller with encoders the size of the Novation Circuit. I do like the CV options of the Akai..
The original push was desgined by Akai... Akai was the first one to make a controller for Ableton. But still, this product in thr video is another cash grab..
Akai already has the force, which besides beeing a standalone groovebox, is an Ableton controller as well, and a really deep one, far deeper then this APC.
I dont get the choice to leave encoders out either. One of the great things of Push is using it with Simpler. Editing samples without encoders is going to sck on this.
@@Claidheambmoroh for sure, just disappointing that it's so small for a device that can also be used as a standalone sequencer. I mean they were small on the Pioneer Squid too but at least it had more than one of them!
this controller to me is much better to buy then ableton push 3.cos the price of it is just crazy,,,this is a lot more afordable and it does almost all stuff as Push...Thank you AKAI
I just fiddled with the APC64 for a couple of hours. It is very well made. HOWEVER I am finding issues with the step sequencer mostly, and with the MIDI config. The manual just says to activate the apc64 ports. Your video shows reality - four, six inputs and outputs. Only a very special combination of checkboxes will work, it seems. I wish the step seq button would just activate the step sequencer in Ableton (like push) and start the clip playing... but it does not. It seems to only step seq via the internal sequencer. Maybe I just have some kinks to work out. I see the potential for a cheaper/lighter/more portable and more streamlined controller to launch clips and such... but for comprehensive control over Ableton - the "close the laptop and make music" feeling - I'll keep my Push3.
I guess we’ll see a response from Ableton soon… an entry level Push 3 SE to replace the discontinued Push 2. So the new controller without audio or standard midi interface, solely for use with Live like the legacy controller. But again, expandable like their other boxes. It would nicely fill the gap between the APC-64 and the current Push 3. Price and features, because from a UX perspective the screen and knobs on the Push are essential. Something where the APC-40 MK2 added some extra value by its faders, launchpads, x-fader and additional encoders.
Great review as always. This is Akai's new flagship Ableton Live controller so does that mean that it's better than the Akai Force or does Akai not consider the Force a legit Ableton Live controller?
Thanks! No I don't think it does surpass them in all ways (perhaps some). Force (and MPC) are great Live contollers, but I think they're other things first, and in some ways indeed surpass this, for example, seeing which parameter is controlled by which knob on screen.
Wow REALLY good video. I will most likely purchase this new unit over the push-3. push-3 has gone way overpriced for what it is. I remember when push was much cheaper priced, then slowly started to get extremely expensive as ableton company are getting more greedy by the second. Currently they want $999.99 for a controller and $1,999.99 for a stand alone. Its getting way too crazy now. I will rather buy the APC64 instead as its more affordable. By the way I own the push-1 and I was going to purchase push-2 when it came out, but I saw the price and said nah never mind. Then saw the price of push-3 and said "h3ll no" So I will most likely get this Akai APC64 instead.
I think they were trying to do too many different things with this and messed up the basic functionality for people who are looking for a good Ableton controller. It's good if you don't have a separate sequencer but they removed all the faders and knobs, which were why someone would buy an APC or something like a Novation Launchpad. Does anyone actually want to do a live set relying on touch strips for your fader and encoder controls? You pretty much need another controller (like an APC40 MK2) in tandem with this.
Actually quite the opposite - yes, in a perfect world Moog would have remained independent, but as we now know, that was not possible, so, better InMusic/Akai than a worse fate
But this device has nothing that force dosen't has too. So I don't know if they where actifly workin on a force 2 they probaply would have had used this one to try out some new stuff.
13:44 shouldn't it be possible to change the drum notes also via the up and down buttons? Best Overview Videos in the net by the way. Musst Look before every purchase. Thanks a lot...
Erm 8 touch strips lol. Watched this from start to end, you had me captivated. I've been short listing a sequencer for last 3 months, I had a LPP M3 and never got on with it, this seems better. Screen is in the right place for once, this will replace my Force which is too cumbersome for a sequencer. It's ticking all the right boxes atm, some things are missing like poly input and ties, but I am sure Akai will change this. Price is right too. I was all geared up to get the G2 but this has taken place with some other gear.
I didn't make it - I just review it, and of course, this issue is discussed in the pros and cons and in this comment section. However, it's not all cons, considering the number of things these faders can do, they'd need to be motorized ($$$) to be useful in physical form.
I loved the touch faders on the native instruments…they were versatile and handy for parameter changes. Akai should have lined up all 8 faders, that way more than two parameters could controlled by each hand at a time
Novation is probably dropping a new launchpad soon. If not this year then certainly next year. Overdue for an updated line although their current line is still more than capable
I wasn’t clear what you meant by the TRS MIDI jacks being copies of the MIDI out. Which MIDI out, USB or each other? Also what is the voltage range of the CV outs, sorry if I missed it in the video. Thanks as always for another comprehensive demo/review.
I might have missed it, but one thing that annoyed me about the APC40 mk2 is that you can’t select a clip without launching it. Is this the case with this one as well?
Loopop thank you for these amazing videos. You are one of the best and hope you are doing well! That being said, hate the design of this launch. The touch strips 🤮🤮🤮 and no encoder knobs 🤮 make this extremely unusable for me in a live setting. Sticking with the APC MkII, and really disappointed that AKAI made such a big departure, and with a different intention for this controller.
Thanks for the kind words about my videos and yes I'm doing OK. Yeah the APC40 MK2 is hard to beat - they went for different, for better or worse depending on your taste
I think the APC name is misused here. It's nothing like an APC for live use: no knobs, no per-track faders, no per-track a/b selection, no a/b mix fader. So, the whole live triggering and mixing workflow is gone, unless you hack it back in - and even then it lacks the proper controls. This is an off-brand launchpad pro, with cloned software, and a random bunch of random control surface stuff around it.
Great video as always. So much competition for musicians fingertips and Brain. And being churned out at such a rapid rate. Paralysis by analysis is becoming the new King if the hill. I need to sell and stream line. Rant over. RU-vid cabin fever kicking in. 🤩🎹🪄😵💫
Novation next need to show the way forward and create a pedal loop controller for live ableton performance instead of trying to compete. Apc 40mk2 had a hidden gem of a loop control pedal function start/stop recording active clip. Backed by a special script api. Akai have dropped pedal support with this apc64. No one has tested multiple apc64 stacked use case and the hidden options.txt feature “dont combine apcs”. Does it still work or have they dropped that also?
Thank you for your review, the longer I try and study AKAI's products the more I personally realise. They don't have a good strategy with their products. The example with the own sequencer implementation is a good example on 28:12. Why aren't they the same in terms of function? Makes no sense to me. They have good approaches in the various products and certainly get a lot of feedback from customers. But in my opinion, they make far too little of it.
The thing I’m actually upset about is the fact that there’s no capture midi button (or even shift button function to access it) AND NO ISOMORPHIC KEYGRID?? Huge miss I hope we see updates soon. Of couse every single one of these companies are gonna miss these details smh
I purchased this unit and its fantastic. Unless I missed it I was wondering what do the time signatures do just below the track select buttons? I have read the manual and cannot see this at all. Thanks
I do apologise. I must have missed that bit. Thank you very much for your help. I was really hoping it to be a way of controlling the length of a clip. That is a feature Id really like. To be able to play one clip at 1 bar and change another to be 1/2 bar etc on the fly. I wonder if this is possible. Thank you kindly and I absolutely love the video.@@loopop
Yes it was after recording I was really looking this for. To adjust the length of a clip. Any clip. Just it would be good for jamming sessions I would be able to play about with the length of audio clips. Thanks@@loopop
