Akai APC 40 – The one and only, or just one of many?

Akai APC 40

The midi controller market is just overflowing ATM, everyone seems to be into this trend of doing so called “live sets” or making the DJ life way simpler or more advanced depending on how you look on things. Up till now I’ve been trying to find my way in this jungle of midi controller’s, where they all promise the ultimate experience.

So what creates the “perfect midi controller”?

It has to be a solid machine, you must be able to manhandle the knobs, the faders as you would do when you rock out at the club in front of your crowd.

Easy to set up – Plug and play. Lets face it, there’s nothing more annoying as a DJ, when the DJ after you comes in drunk, and needs to hook up 300 different cables and then struggle to get the shit running.

Easy to use, or at least easy to program so you can make it as complex or as easy as you would prefer.

I still haven’t tried a controller who has all these parts! Where most controllers fail is in the quality feel of the knobs and faders. Last thing I would want playing out is to be worried I’d break off 3 knobs and a fader in the process.

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Will the Vestax VCM 600 kill the Akai APC40?

So, it havent been long time since the Akai APC40 was introduced to the market with full support from the Ableton developers. But now it seems like we have a new gadget which takes the step further (atleast for me) with the new Vestax VCM 600 comming into the market. Sure, many may argue that how could it possible beat the Akai APC40…

I think that the VCM 600 got a better overview, less messy trigger/button organization and it gives you a better overview of what actually is goin on. The VCM 600 is abit more expensive (around 700 euro) though and it doesnt have the smart play triggers like the APC 40 has… I wish someone could combine these two into one solid piece of midi performance gear!

Ohm 64 – Yet Another MIDI Spaceship?

It’s not to long ago Livid Instruments launched their new MIDI controller Ohm 64, lets have a look at it!

The first thing that catches my eye is the trigger pattern in the middle of it, will it be 100% synced to Ableton Live or do you have to programe it yourself and can it handle more then more then just 8 Samples of in 8 tracks ? A question I really can’t find any answer on on the official website, although I dont see any screen roll trigger on it or a scene changer in the pattern itself which is more or less why the Akai APC 40 is what it is today.

Although the Ohm 64 comes with its own midi-editor and I’m pretty sure you can set that up if you are really skilled and have the knowledge about programming MIDI OUT from Ableton. But okay, Livid doesnt claim its a 100% Ableton Live suited. But we are not a VJ blog, so lets focus on the music performance side of this little cool gadget!

The little trigger buttons all have program able LEDs which makes this thing abit more cool, but is it useful?

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