Products like the APC40 or ZeroSL (I own one) are nice for what they are, but will inevitably have a limited number of years usage until something breaks, or the unit itself becomes obsolete and unsupported by the manufacturer.

I've had my ZeroSL for 3 years, and one of the knobs has stopped working. I know its not worth trying to find spare parts, let alone fixing it myself. I'll have to post the whole unit back to Novation (at my expense), who will source the parts from China, fix it themselves, post it back to me, and probably charge me half what I paid for the thing.

I know that eventually my Zero SL will end up in that big cupboard full of random electronic equipment I don't use anymore.

With the Ohm64 I know I can order the parts directly from the factory, open up the unit myself (without voiding any warranties) and replace whatever needs replacing.

Ohm64 is definitely on my shopping list

Products like the APC40 or ZeroSL (I own one) are nice for what they are, but will inevitably have a limited number of years usage until something breaks, or the unit itself becomes obsolete and unsupported by the manufacturer.

I've had my ZeroSL for 3 years, and one of the knobs has stopped working. I know its not worth trying to find spare parts, let alone fixing it myself. I'll have to post the whole unit back to Novation (at my expense), who will source the parts from China, fix it themselves, post it back to me, and probably charge me half what I paid for the thing.

I know that eventually my Zero SL will end up in that big cupboard full of random electronic equipment I don't use anymore.

With the Ohm64 I know I can order the parts directly from the factory, open up the unit myself (without voiding any warranties) and replace whatever needs replacing.

Ohm64 is definitely on my shopping list

also, what's the functionality of this device with MAX/MSP?

I got the APC40 because it suits what I wanted to do live. I weighed up the monome, launchpad, livid block and the APC40 before buying and the APC40 was right for me.

The launchpad and APC40 are for the masses but the livid block and monome are for people who really want a complete open source controller. All these controllers have in common is they have a button matrix, they are for different markets.

That said it's not great that Akai and Novation have jumped on what was a niche market and are now bringing it to the masses. Eventually people will want more control and quality and I can see this developing into sales for Livid and monome.

Don't be dis heartened by the APC40 or launchpad Livid and keep doing what your doing. Respect for putting in so much hard work to create an original product.

The Monome and Ohm64 are handmade. For a small audience of the hardest of the hardcore. The same people who will pay $800 dollars for filter module for a modular synth.
Its really not the same audience.

Its a little like Ferrari saying "Honda stole our cup holder design"
Ferrari does not care what Honda does becuase Ferrari does not make a 15,000$ car.
Monome and Livid do not make a sub $400 controller.

Will they lose money to Akai or Novation? Probably.
But only becuase most people don't have $500+ to spend on a controller.

Right or wrong. It always comes back to money.