Akai

Sunday was very quiet at the 2009 Winter NAMM Show this year. Some areas were ghost towns – like Yamaha’s vast space. While this may not bode well for the music industry, it meant that we got to spend a lot of time talking to manufacturers and also getting great photos of the new gear.

You can check out the hundreds of shots from the show at our 2009 NAMM Winter Show Flickr set.

Here are some of the highights of Day 4 of the 2009 NAMM Show:

• There was pink gear everywhere, like the pink control keyboards from CME.
• Arturia was showing Brass2, which is pretty impressive if you’re interested in physical modeling synthesis
• We had a chance to get hands-on with the Akai APC40 Ableton Live controller.
• The Roland VP-770 Vocal Keyboard sounds really really good, but the interface is a little confusing.
• I had a chance to take an in-depth look at the update Lemur, which looks droolworthy as ever.

Here are some photo highlights: Read more…

This is an official Ableton video introducing the Akai APC40:

The Akai APC40 (Ableton Performance Controller) is a dedicated controller for Ableton Live, designed by the same engineering team responsible for Akai’s iconic MPC range of products. This is a dream come true for the Ableton Live community and an exciting first step into the world of Ableton Live for new users.

The APC40 is a very nice piece of gear. If you’re an Ableton Live user, you’ll definitely want to check it out. Read more…

This is the official Ableton intro video for the Akai APC40 Ableton Performance Controller.

The 2009 Winter NAMM Show is underway, and Synthtopia is on site to bring you the news about the latest electronic music software and gear. 

Day 1 was a whirlwind of announcements. We’ve already posted news about:

• the Native Instruments Maschine,
• the Roland V-Piano,
• Roland’s new keytar the AX-Synth,
• the awesome Akai APC Controller for Ableton Live, 
• Ableton Live 8
• Updates to the Jazzmutant Lemur

Celemony demonstrated the latest Melodyne, easily some of the coolest technology at the show, which lets you edit polyphonic audio files.

And we’ve seen more than our share of NAMM oddities:

We’ll have more news throughout the day, so check back throughout the weekend for complete NAMM coverage!

2009 NAMM Show: Akai Professional announced the APC40 Control Surface – a sexy new hardware controller designed specifically for Ableton Live. Akai Professional partnered with Ableton to make the APC40 an optimal Ableton Live control surface.

Because Akai Professional and Ableton designed the APC40 specifically for using with Live, you won’t need to map or configure its controls. If you want, though, the APC40 will let you remap every one of its controls.

The APC40 communicates bi-directionally with Live, so the controller can display information from Live on its clip matrix of 40 triggers and on LED rings surrounding each knob. The clip matrix provides you with an instant view of clip status: what is loaded, what is playing and what is being recorded.

The APC40 has two sets of eight knobs: one for Track parameters such as pans and bus sends, and the other for instrument and effect parameters. The second bank of eight knobs is dynamically re-assigned to the track selected by the user. This unique capability enables performers to control at least eight track parameters per track – a total of 72 – using the same eight knobs and the nine track-selection buttons. Channel faders, bus faders and a crossfader enable smooth control of key values.

Akai has not officially announced pricing and availability yet.

Check out the details below, and then let us know what you think! Read more…