Electronic Music 411 - Akai APC40 review

Well, I picked up my APC40 last week, and from that point on, making music has become fun again, just like how it used to be. I've had several controllers for Ableton over the years - an Oxygen 8, Trigger Finger, BCR2000 and a nanoKontrol, and they've all been fun, and to a greater or lesser extent, inspiring. What separates the APC from the rest is the ease with which it integrates into Ableton. I should add a disclaimer at this point - I haven't actually tried it in a live situation yet, I'm writing this review based purely on the APC's functionality and use in the studio.

Firstly, it's not cheap. I sold my MPC in order to buy it, a decision I thought long and hard about. It was painful to part with it. Akai have made a controller that, so far, seems to be pretty high quality. And I suppose that is where the price comes from, in part. The pots feel nice, the sliders are solid, and the pads are great, solid and pleasingly firm. The crossfader doesn't really have a long enough throw for my tastes, but it does respond well - it feels almost like a worn-in Technics. The case seems rugged enough, but when it comes to transporting this, I'm going to invest in a flight case - too many knobs pocking out to risk carrying it in a backpack.

Onto the features. Well - it does exactly what Akai says it does. It's a completely integrated control surface. You can skip through your tracks, select your FX and trigger clips with ease. There are some omissions - firing off a clip doesn't select it for some reason, although there is a workaround for this. Getting to your sends is a pain - ie you have to use the mouse, but you can assign other buttons to this.

In the studio - it's a dream, for me personally. I have my APC on a laptop stand, which raises it a good foot above my desk(see pics). This means I can STAND UP and work!! I can shake my (sizable) booty when making tunes. I don't have to poke around with my trackball. This has made my time in the studio much more fun. Of course I still spend time sitting down, editing stuff, programming patches etc. But when I have my sounds ready, I can stand up, groove, tweak, and record a track as a jam. Great fun - electronic music as it is meant to be. The first night I had it, I spent three hours just playing about with a track that was already half finished and came up with an arrangement far superior to the first one, simply because I felt in touch with the what I was doing. I can't stress enough how different I feel about making a track with my hands on the APC. It feels like working with a machine - I don't have to look at the screen, I listen more and the latency is so low that the mind to groove ratio (i just made up that term) grows exponentially. Yes, I'm gushing here - but I feel justified in that as the APC has shown me so much love.

I can't play keys. Frankly, I suck as a pad drummer. But with the APC, I really feel part of my tracks again - just how I did when I started making music.

If you own Live 7 or 8, and you feel frustrated by the huge array of options but relatively hands off approach that it offers, go down to your local gear shop with one of your own live sets and try one of these bad boys out.

Right - I've spent enough time at the keys. Time to get back onto the APC!