garageCube

[jockety]

Just unboxed the new akai ableton performance controller. Nice bit of kit. Tested with modul8 and the rotary encoders work really smoothly. Clip launch buttons also work but dont send a midi note off when released. Faders have a nice bit of resistance, No lights on the controller work in standalone mode with modul8 but that was expected.
Anybody got any ideas if 2 units could be used simultaneously, i.e 1 for modul8 and 1 for ableton?

[jockety]

just spoke to akai, they say on os x leopard running ableton live 8 it is possible to run 2 apc 40's (1 for each application not 2 for live) Also they said it may be possible to upgarde the firmware to send midi note offs when buttons are released, but would depend on how many people requested this feature.
If anyones interested in this feature send akai a suggestion here:

http://www.akaipro.com/content1024

[ilan]

Cool. Keep us posted on your progress with this. Quite a few eager modul8 users on this one.

[jockety]

here's akai's reply to the suggestion i sent them>

Hello Andrew,

This is a very good suggestion. I have actually made a feature request for
our engineers to review for you so that this could be considered for a
firmware update.

Let me know if there is anything I can help you with,

Andrew Tomasello
Technical Support & Return Authorizations

[jockety]

If Akai/ableton cant/wont provide a firmware upgrade it may be possible to get midi note off's from the apc40 using this.

http://www.bome.com/midi/translator/screenshots.html

anybody have any experience with it?

[jockety]

Wow, There is 8 device control rotary encoders assigned to each of the track selection buttons (of which there is 8 ) and 8 more on the master track button. This gives me 72 separate knobs, plus the track control knobs ( 8 ) and the cue level= 81 fully assignable within modul8 or anything else and the led's line up with modul8's controls so long as the position is the same when mapped.
WOOP WOOP!!

[tb_101]

just plugged the apc40 in and want to do a simple mapping.
it seems not to be possible to map all buttons and faders
with a normal midi map in modul8.

modul8 does not discriminate between note data and controller data.

the apc40 sends notes and controllers with the same values/channel.
(for example record arm button and track control 1 )

is there a chance to get this working without writing a
apc module ?

perhaps it is a good idea to fix this in version 2.6.
i think the apc40 is the best vj contoller on the market.

all the best,
t.

[anomad]

modul8 does not discriminate between note data and controller data.

. i've come across this issue using a livid instrument's Ohm controller (and it *always* sends ch1 data by default, then you can use a separate application to send to additional channels/set OSC data)

. i ended up changing sliders/knobs to midi channel 2 and buttons to midi channel 3 to prevent collisions

. i would suspect that you could probably do that w/the apc as well ?

-james
(a nomad. )

[tb_101]

i have not found a way to change midi settings at the apc40.
now i am write a module. it is realy hard to do all the mapping in python

not very comfortable ....

[The Midi Thief]

I have a question about the APC40 - how are the rotary buttons sending their data? I know they have endless rotaion but do they keep on sending data or do they just stop sending after it has gone a full circle?

The reason why I ask is that if they keeps sending you can make them rotate objects seamlessly (like a jog wheel does) Many controllers that has endless rotation stop sending at 127 for some reason. The Behringer BCF/BCR2000 at least keep on sending 127 when you reach max/clockwise (or 0 counter clockwise) which makes it possible to interpret with a module. The Faderfox has some kind of highress message that I never had the time to wrap my head around during the short time I had the Faderfox in my hands.

If the APC40 restarts after a full circle or keeps on sending it would make me very happy and likely to buy one.

[jockety]

I will test this for u in the next couple of days

[The Midi Thief]

I will test this for u in the next couple of days

I got an answer from AKAI tech support yesterday. They say that the APC40 keeps on sending 128 when you turn the knob past max and 0 when you go past min. This is good, you can probably pretty easily hack my BCF2000 Rotation (layer) module to work for the APC40. I think you just have to match it to the midi messages of the APC40.

The values are found in the Init() section of the module code. Change midi_channel to whatever channel you APC40 is sending on. Then set param1_rot_z, param1_rot_x,param1_rot_y to match the APC40 and same for param1_reset_z, param1_reset_x,param1_reset_y that you will have to map to a button that resets each axis to zero.

Use PrintDirectEvent (tool) to figure out what the APC40 is sending and to see what Modul8 is receiving.

Some day I will make a more universal rotation tool that can be used by serveral different controllers.

If you want to make your own endless rotation module for the APC40 from scratch, the concept is pretty easy:

If the midi value is 128 and the last value is 128 you must still be turning clockwise. Rotate the layer 1 degree.

If the midi value is 0 and the last value is 0 you must still be turning counter clockwise. Rotate the layer -1 degree.

[VJFranzK]

What I"D like to do (with the APC 40 I'm about to pick up from the store! hooray) is to control BOTH Ableton and Modul 8 with ONE APC 40!

"one to rule them all"

will that work?
will both programs respond to midi from the same controller?

[mowgli_uk]

I use a codanova vmx to rule them all and it works fine,.

[DerPhip]

just plugged the apc40 in and want to do a simple mapping.
it seems not to be possible to map all buttons and faders
with a normal midi map in modul8.

modul8 does not discriminate between note data and controller data.

the apc40 sends notes and controllers with the same values/channel.
(for example record arm button and track control 1 )

is there a chance to get this working without writing a
apc module ?

perhaps it is a good idea to fix this in version 2.6.
i think the apc40 is the best vj contoller on the market.

all the best,
t.

for all who want to use the apc 40 to control modul8 download this program and all the problems are solved!

http://telematique.de/en/telematique-to ... er-en.html