AKAI Pro APC64
Is this going to become the best budget Ableton Live Controller?
AKAI’s APC line has been very successful mainly for Ableton Live users and their products have been in studios and stages all around the world. Their latest release, the APC64, is trying to set the bar higher and become the number 1 Ableton Live controller for the studio and on stage. Although it doesn’t have anything groundbreaking or new, the APC64 ticks all the boxes on what you’d want on a MIDI controller for Ableton and your studio.
So let’s go through its main specs and find out what it’s all about!
APC64 has an 8X8 pad matrix of 64 RGB pads with velocity sensitivity and poly-aftertouch. On each side of the matrix, you’ll find 4 touch strips (8 in total) that have RGB LED indicators and can assigned to do whatever you want within Ableton or via MIDI. You can control your tracks’ volume levels, plugins, or even VST instruments. On the bottom right, there’s also a small, color screen that gives you real-time visual feedback of your parameters. To be honest, the screen looks very small and I doubt it will make that big of a difference. It’s no way near the screen you’d find on an Ableton Push.
It also has transport controls (Play, Stop, Record) with dedicated buttons, a button row for Track selection, and the bottom button row can be assigned to Arm, Solo, Mute, and Clip Stop. Lastly, there are also Scene Launch buttons next to each row to launch your Ableton scenes easily.
As expected, the pads can also be used in a few more ways. There is a Note Mode where you can play notes (you can also set a scale) or control a Drum Rack, a Chord Mode for chords, and a Step Sequencer!
A very cool thing is that the APC64 has 8 CV/Gate outputs and 3 1/8” MIDI ports so you can control any type of instrument you have in your studio. If you have a Modular system, a Synthesizer, or a Drum Machine you can use the APC64 to send notes or use the Step Sequencer to create sequences. The Step Sequencer has 8 Tracks with a maximum of 32 Steps per sequence. The 32-step limit is a bit weird to me. I don’t really know why there is such a limit but it feels very limiting not to have a 64-step sequencer.
There are a few more features on the APC64 but since this is just a first look and not a hands-on review we’ll just stay on the main ones.
Initial Thoughts
AKAI’s APC64 looks like a solid MIDI controller for Ableton Live and other gear. It checks all the boxes on what an Ableton controller should have. At the same time, there’s nothing new and exciting about it. All its features have been also on other controllers like the Push and the Novation Launchpad so AKAI does not bring anything fresh to the table. The APC64 is essentially a Launchpad Pro MK3 with the addition of the 8 touch strips which are a very welcomed addition but that’s it.
The older APC-40 MKII on the other hand had a lot of differences compared to the Launchpads and was a much better solution for playing live sets with Ableton Live mainly due to the 16 knobs it had plus the 8 faders. The APC64 has the 8 fader - which now are touch strips but the lack of knobs is a big con for me. At this price point, I would love to see a beefed-up version of the APC40 keeping all the knobs, upgrading the build quality, and keeping the position of the 8 faders on the bottom.
I really feel that the APC lost its identity with this release and turned into a Launchpad alternative while the older version had a more unique character. Plus, at 400€, I don’t believe it’s that tempting. The Launchpad Pro MK3 costs around 300€ and the Push 3 (controller version) is at 950€.
As you can tell, I have mixed feelings about the APC64. I think it’s a bit more expensive than it should be and I really miss the knobs that the APC40 used to have. It’s definitely fine but does it really worth the extra cost? If you want a solid grid controller for Ableton you can get a Launchpad X or even Mini that costs 150€ and 100€ respectively and add a simple fader controller for less than 100€ paying almost half of what the APC64 costs. If you really want a standalone sequencer that also has CV/ Gate, it’s great, but again 32-steps are quite limiting.
If I can get my hands on one, I’ll definitely dig deeper and find out of my concerns are true so stay tuned!
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