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AKAI Professional APC 40 Mk2

261 Customer ratings

4.7 / 5

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1 Review

AKAI Professional APC 40 Mk2
4.999 kr
Free shipping incl. VAT
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L
Handy control board
Laniakean 18.07.2020
all controllers are "tweakers" or "launchers-triggers" or "keyboards". This one tries to cover all.
As a Keyboard Akai APC 40 Mk2 is not good. Pads are not velocity sensitive - not nice for recording drums or instrument parts - but still you can do it at on-the-go conditions.
As a "Launcher" - I personally find it very nice. 8 channel scenes is cool. When I work at the live sport events I need a variety of samples at my fingertips - Akai APC 40 Mk2 just shines here! I created my own template based on the default one.
As a Tweaker Akai Apc 40 Mk2 offers you 8 knobs-per-selected channel + 1 knob on the top - These knobs are endless spin with a nice travel. But it is often not enough. When Dj - I use a different Template and here I need an extra "Tweaker" to expand tweaking abilities of the device (I use DJTT Twister which is an amazing tweaking device) and for the reset (quick set-to-default) feature.

Mechanically Akai APC 40 Mk2 seems to be proof enough. Not a single issue while using it for 2 years (carefully but intensevely)
Faders and knobs are reliable not flimsy. I would recommend a plastic cover to lingering the lifetime of the device.

so Pro's:
- Universality and functionality within live or studio conditions
- Great launcher (Trigger)
- Fair Tweaker
- Made quality
- light weight
- Well thought Templates available
- Keeps your eyes away from the computer screen
- Foot controller switch functionality
- USB powering
- Price for all that

Con's:
- Not for a Keyboard-ing or Drum Pad-ing
- Not as compact as you may think (not a Con for me though)
- Volume faders a bit tricky to spot on the "0" level (I use fabric tape)
- Triggered clip is indicated in green weakly pulsing (I avoid green color when colouring the steady clips and miss hard pulsing)

I would recommend it for Ableton users as a "Launcher" ("Trigger") controller to pair it with some other "tweaker" deviceand keyboard if needed for a beautifull setup !
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Does it's work pretty well! but a misfuction occurred! fixed by thommann servise team!
Chryschristo 06.09.2016
I've bought it 4 years ago.

Pros:
It is very steady, very easy to use with ableton live, superb if you use it for triggering clips, mixer and fx processing.A very good daw controller.
Good for live shows and studio. Very nice light buttons colored function. It helps you understand without looking on the screen which clip is playing and what you can choose next. It is a plastic but solid enough hardware.

Limitations/Cons:
Fx knobs: The fx functions are following a random appearing order on the dock, depending on the specific effect you want to manipulate. So you have to customize sometimes.
Not easy to use the volume faders, if you want control more than 8 channels.
The volume faders are not reacting according to the values / (fader position in the software) of the new channels.
If you move them a bit the track volume can change rapidly in to an extreme high or low position.

Problem:
Until few months ago it worked perfectly well.Then a problem with solo buttons occurred. The buttons suddenly stopped working - also no lights on -. AKAI told me there was maybe a problem with the usb connection/power system.
Thanks to thomann warranty and the great work of thomann service team it now works as new.

I recommend it even though the cons and the solo buttons problem.
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Ableton Live essential
Subleam 23.10.2019
The great successor of MKI, smaller and much better. The only thing I'm still missing is the ability to map the controller by myself, especially when it comes to faders. Playing live and not going beyond 0 db mark is always difficult and I wish I could adjust min and max values of the faders
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A
Works good with ableton!
Anonymous 22.02.2022
It is all about fun! Works very good with ableton.
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Decent
hackstage 20.02.2023
I use midi controllers for Ableton and Resolume Arena for live performance.
The APC40mk2 is barely of a quality that I feel comfortable bringing onto a stage.
We have gone through 3 or 4 of them at this point as they do not handle the abuse of stage-life as well as one would hope.
For knobs, I much prefer the quality and the feel of the midi fighter twister.
Sadly, the apc40mk2 remains the best 1-in-all option still.
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DM
Daniel Morunas 13.03.2019
Setup was such a breeze that it was almost counter-intuitive. I?m so used to having to download remote scripts for Ableton, that I spent ten minutes trying to figure out where to download one, before I read the manual and found out it was already installed. Go figure... Once I?d chosen the APC40 MK II from the list of hardware, I was up and running. And, I have to say I was impressed from the start.

Construction-wise, and like all of the current Akai controllers I?ve seen come around in the last few years, the APC40 MKII is nicely put together. The pad/buttons feel and look really nice. There is also high level of LED goodness, here, too. As soon as you?re in Live, cued scenes and the clips, therein pulse green, slowly within the APC40 MK II?s own grid of buttons. And, to be honest, out of many of the controllers that I?ve looked at, I?d have to say that the way the LED default color assignments are set up would have to be one of my favorites. The default color assignments of the LEDs, for me, were very helpful in guiding me in to trying new things, with the APC 40 MKII.

Just intuitive in every single step and way.
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A
APC40 mk2
Anonymous 05.01.2015
I bought it for live use with Ableton and Traktor. The unit is very slim and lightweight so it fits perfectly in my laptop bag, while still being really sturdy and good build quality. It works with Ableton straight away, and takes very little time to learn. I haven't used the mk1 version, so it's all new to me. Mapping it to Traktor is a bit more challenging, as Akai hasn't published specific midi implementation charts which would help e.g. with assigning different LED colors, but for the most part it seems very easy to setup to any software.

I'm really looking forward to actually taking it to gigs and I'm sure it will perform really well.

Deciding between this and the Push is simply a matter of needs - if you need something to actually make music with, buy the Push. If you need a controller for performing, this seems to be the best at the moment.
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HR
Highly Recommended.
Highly Recommended. 12.02.2021
I mostly compose in MIDI tracks - this machine is helpful for arranging my tracks in rhythm (with the adjustable tempo volume), and the easy integration with Ableton is very simple - you just plug the USB and it is ready to go.. That simple.

For me, there are no cons, only pros.
You can also use this APC40 controller to record tracks in the session view with the first few buttons, but I generally record my midi tracks in the arrangement view.

With the upcoming MIDI 2.0 update version, and the MIDI 2.0 cables, this machine will do wonders I think.
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D
Fun device, works very well
DoesThisCompute 18.06.2019
Great addition to my workflow. Both for jamming, and live performance but also in the studio this device gives easy to access control over Ableton. The layout is straightforward and smart. I'd fancy some more user-dials, I rarely use the adaptive dials that change mapping per active plugin, since I want to control more plugins at a time. I think the color representation of the clips is a bit off, which can be confusing if your color coding is important in bigger projects.
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Great piece of kit
Dreadscape 13.06.2023
Amazing unit, so simple and robust for live performance with Ableton. Shipping from Thomann was super quick.
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AKAI Professional APC 40 Mk2