Akai Professional APC40 MKII

Description

<p>In 2009, Akai Professional started a close collaboration with the developers of Ableton Live, the powerful software for live performance and music production in the recording studio. This partnership led to the production of the Ableton Performance Controller, the MIDI USB Controller APC40. The design of this instrument radically changed the standard layout of MIDI controllers, revolutionizing the integration between hardware and software, and providing an essential control solution for Ableton Live software in any situation. Based on this experience, 5 years later, the <strong>Akai Pro APC40 MKII</strong> was born: a natural evolution, directly USB powered and updated with new features requested by Ableton Live users.</p><p>The new APC40 mkII is therefore based on 5 years of feedback received from users all over the world, which has allowed for a review and improvement of functions, as well as providing extended features for a smoother and more immediate user experience. Not only a more modern, slimmer and less bulky design, what will immediately catch the eye of veterans of the APC series will be the clip control grid, which uses multi-colored (RGB) backlit rubber pads, a different arrangement of the knobs, which, like the faders, will prove to be more robust to the touch.</p><p>The renewed 5x8 clip launch matrix of the <strong>Akai Professional APC40 MKII</strong> utilizes 40 trigger pads that provide intelligent visual feedback of the operating status of individual clips: loaded and ready for use, playing, and recording. This will allow you to perform your live performances without looking at the computer monitor, even allowing you to program the colors of the various states as you wish, and by using the arrow buttons in combination with the Shift key, to move the 5x8 matrix up and down the Session window of Ableton Live software, allowing you to manage even the most complex projects with many clips.</p><p>The layout of the <strong>Akai Pro APC40 MKII</strong> mimics that of an 8-channel mixer, plus a master channel. Each channel strip provides a robust fader, solo buttons, track arming, crossfader assignment (A/B), and channel selector, a larger rectangular button for channel activation/deactivation with dual functionality via the Shift function for selecting the project's quantization value. Moving upwards, each channel provides a "Stop Clip" button, 5 RGB backlit pads, and a rotary potentiometer surrounded by a LED ring that will allow us to visualize the value of the controlled parameter. This rotary potentiometer will control, depending on the selected bank, Pan, Send, and whatever we configure in the User bank. On the Master channel, in addition to the fader, we find the rotary potentiometer for controlling the pre-listening volume, a button for channel on/off, a pad for stopping all clips, and 5 pads for playing the scenes of the selected clip matrix. For remote control of devices (effects and virtual instruments loaded on the channels), the 8-rotary control section operating on multiple banks is also present, which automatically maps once the device is selected using the relative arrow keys that allow us to scroll through the effects loaded on the channel. As is traditional for APC, for this section too, each potentiometer offers the classic visual feedback of the value of each parameter via the LED ring surrounding it. As in the previous model, we find the crossfader, then a "Tempo" potentiometer for setting the speed in BPM, the tap tempo button, two nudge + and - buttons for simulating pitch bending, and the button for activating/deactivating the metronome.</p><p>APC40MKII is naturally factory pre-mapped to work simultaneously and in full synergy with Ableton Live software. Connected to the computer via USB, the physical controls of the hardware will precisely correspond to those of the software's virtual layout. This does not mean that you cannot use customized mappings as you wish; being a MIDI controller, you can freely reprogram the mapping as you wish, based on your production or live performance needs. Akai Professional APC40 MKII is a plug-n-play USB/MIDI device, which is powered directly via your computer's USB port, so it can be used wherever you want.</p><h4>Akai Professional APC40 MKII in a nutshell:</h4><ul style="margin-left: 17px;"><li>USB-powered pad matrix MIDI Controller</li><li>Perfect "1 to 1" integration with Ableton Live</li><li>5x8 clip matrix with RGB backlit pads</li><li>Master section with scene control</li><li>9 faders, crossfader, 16 rotary potentiometers</li><li>Buttons for quick assignment to the 8 sends</li><li>Play, Record, Session, Tap Tempo buttons</li><li>Crossfader assignable via A/B button on each channel</li><li>Shift and directional arrows for matrix management</li><li>USB Class compliant for Windows PC and macOS &nbsp;</li><li>Ableton Live Lite and Puremagnetik Effect Racks</li><li>SONiVOX Twist spectral morphing synthesizer</li><li>Hybrid 3 high-definition synth by AIR Music Tech</li><li>5 GB of loops by Toolroom Records and Prime Loops</li></ul><h4>Software and Samples Included*</h4><p>Akai Pro APC40 mkII comes with a <strong>Lite</strong> version of **Ableton Live software, the two virtual synthesizers ***AIR MUSIC TECH HYBRID 3 and SONiVOX Twist, and the <strong>Puremagnetik Effect Racks</strong> collection, which includes various device configurations in the form of channel strips, for a total of about 200 effects optimized for live sets: &nbsp;glitch racks, amp racks, modulators, filters, beat processors, and noise generators. The package is completed by <strong>5GB of audio samples</strong> (one-shots, drum kits, and audio loops - instrumental and drum) produced by Toolroom Records and Prime Loops.</p><p>*<em>Eko Music Group, as the distributor of the hardware only, cannot provide technical support, commercial assistance, user guides, and/or warranty for the included samples, effects, and third-party software. For information: </em><a href="http://www.eko.it/supporto#software-le-demo"><em>http://www.eko.it/supporto#software-le-demo</em></a></p><p><em>**Ableton Live Lite is owned by Ableton AG. </em></p><p><em>***Akai Professional and AIR Music Technology are registered trademarks of inMusic Brands Inc. inMusic is the exclusive distributor of SONiVOX.</em></p> <p style="text-align:center"><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/IAWy2TVtXo8" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align:center"><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/EDxsbS49ejc?list=UUidn7JF0IjiczL74qvQoaGA" width="560"></iframe></p><h4 style="text-align:center"><strong>DEMONSTRATION VIDEO OF AKAI PRO APC40 MKII</strong></h4><p style="text-align:center"><iframe frameborder="0" height="281" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wNwZXXTjhco" width="500"></iframe></p><h4 style="text-align:center"><strong>INTRODUCTORY VIDEO OF APC40 MKII BY AKAI PRO</strong></h4><p style="text-align:center"><iframe frameborder="0" height="281" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/mAPCz2274kw" width="500"></iframe></p>