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Forum: General Discussion

Topic: Akai apc mini
VDJ RonPRO InfinityMember since 2010
Is there a guide for the Akai APC mini's usage with vdj8?

It setup its drivers all by itself, and very rapidly in win7.
That's a good start.

Any tips on using it with VDJ8 ?

Some led's are not lit?
What colours are available ?
I take it blue is one that cannot be used ?

It's worth noting that the supplied USB cable has an in line choke, and is good quality.
The build is such that it appears to be suitable for mobile DJ's being both compact, and tough.
It's less than an inch high including its faders !

On the downside the buttons are very thin in comparison to the Traktor F1.
I doubt that will trouble me once I'm use to the unit.

I now have a controller for Ableton 9 !
I've killed two birds with one stone.
Those birds are have a tough time.

Bought new from Ebay, it arrived in two days, and cost £54.
Wow !


I never knew about its sexy red bottom !
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 11:20 am
VDJ RonPRO InfinityMember since 2010
The vdj default mapping is totally dedicated to the sampler.
That is a good thing when using with my MC6000, however modifications will be needed to fire hot cues , and control effects when using my cdj's.
I'm thinking of using the two far right columns of buttons as hot cues. Eight in a line for each cdj would be great, though I know some people desire sixteen. That would not be hard !
Three of the volume faders dedicated to sampler group volume control could be used for controlling the effects.
That would still leave five faders to control the group volumes, and one fader for the sampler master volume.
This thing looks very good for using with cdj's !
It's very good anyway.
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 11:57 am
Yup an awesome little unit, been using mine for quit some time now although I use it for Resolume and not VDJ.

Have fun......
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 1:21 pm
VDJ RonPRO InfinityMember since 2010
Interesting, I started my cdj's, and the Akai in a random manner with absolutely no USB configuration problems.
The Akai is what is called class compliant, it does not need drivers.
That's only once, we shall see. I'm used to messing around with USB stuff. Back in the days of Vista it could take 15 minutes to set up, in fact if you looked at it the wrong way it might not even work !
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 1:50 pm
VDJ RonPRO InfinityMember since 2010
It looks like it's just tri colour, not as pretty as all the colours on an F1.
Red-Green-Yellow.
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 2:19 pm
VDJ RonPRO InfinityMember since 2010
There may be a slight problem with the VDJ default mapping.
The script reads: sampler_volume_group x
where x= group number.
This does not work?

When I assign group volume to a fader I get:
sampler_group_volume x
..and this does work !

This might turn out to be a vital controller for those who use cdj's, and vinyl.
Especially those with vinyl.
They don't have any buttons, or knobs.
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 2:51 pm
Naw I'd say an SP1 or the Reloop unit would be better but yeah it's a nice little unit.....
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 3:14 pm
VDJ RonPRO InfinityMember since 2010
Akai are missing a big trick which could make them a lot of money.
Silly boys !

VDJ users vastly outnumber Ableton users, if they mapped this properly, and did a proper VDJ8 version they could make a lot of money.
It's so easy to do, just a simple mapping, a VDJ8 logo, and some modified printing to suit VDJ8.

Dumb.
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 3:27 pm
VDJ RonPRO InfinityMember since 2010
The Akai price point is terrific.

I've already mapped the effects in accordance with the skin I use, and fixed the group volume faders.
Hot cues coming up.

Beatbreaker it's the number of faders (=knobs), and buttons which is important.
The two sub controllers you mention are well short.
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 3:29 pm
VDJ RonPRO InfinityMember since 2010
I decided to put the hot cues on the bottom, I've done one row with 4 hot cues per side using the 8 buttons in the bottom row.
I'm wondering if I need 8 hot cues per side using a second row at the bottom?

I think 4 per side is fine, it corresponds to the buttons on my skin.

Loops next !
I'd guess that the row above the hot cues would be ok.
Loop sizes of 1,2,,4, and 8 on each deck is enough, again requiring the 8 buttons of a row.
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 4:18 pm
For me it's the fact it doesn't say what does what. That's a shit ton of buttons to remember and in the heat of the moment it's to much for me. And the other two have a way better build, lol!

But yeah as I said I've had 1 for a long time and it is a decent controller I just wouldn't use it with VDJ.

 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 4:32 pm
VDJ RonPRO InfinityMember since 2010
The heat of the moment is a big problem. When we're under pressure it's easy to make a mistake.
That's why I don't like multiple functions mapped to a single knob, or button.

Hm the layout needs to be logical.
It is going to be hard to remember everything unless its well thought out.
I might have more buttons than I need?
Maybe more hot cues might be ok.
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 4:36 pm
Now your thinking like a DJ, lol!

I'm sure you'll firgure it out
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 4:58 pm
djdadPRO InfinityDevelopment ManagerMember since 2005
bigron1 wrote :
There may be a slight problem with the VDJ default mapping.
The script reads: sampler_volume_group x
where x= group number.
This does not work?


Fixed for the next controllers update. Thanks for reporting.

 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 5:31 pm
VDJ RonPRO InfinityMember since 2010
There are too many buttons for a sampler controller alone.
It can also easily control hot cues ( 8 hot cue buttons for each deck ), loops ( each deck has buttons for 1,2,4,8,16,half,double, loop exit ), and effects ( in the style of the MC6000 using 4 faders like knobs ).
That is ideal for using with my cdj's.
I've still got a few led's to sort out for the loops, and hot cues.
It will suit my needs.
Basically I split it into two halves, the LHS controls the sampler, and the RHS the rest.

I don't know if I will use it with my MC6000 since the F1 is good for confusing people.
It is more compact so that is a +1 for the Akai.

The LHS of my Akai looks a bit like an upside down F1 !
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 10:50 pm
VDJ RonPRO InfinityMember since 2010
The 27 samples of project@8 fit fine on the 32 button LHS !

I wish you could see project@8 in action !
It's brilliant !
My F1 could only handle 16 samples properly.
 

Inviato Wed 09 Sep 15 @ 11:45 pm
Hola, mi AKAI mini APC funciona pero no me prende ningún les. En otras máquinas si. En la mía no prende ninguno. Puede que tenga problemas con el sistema operativo? Tengo iOS 10.8. gracias
 

Inviato Wed 05 Sep 18 @ 2:04 am
Viniciusdisco, este es un foro de habla Inglesa. Por favor, prueba nuestro foro de Espanol ubicado aqui, gracias.
 

Inviato Wed 05 Sep 18 @ 3:15 am
Hello, I have this Akai apc mini, and like it alot, someone had helped me before with a photo
To mapp sliders to control the volume decks. I use the four decks can someone help me again to set correct mapping please, forgot to save this and had a pc crash. To control volume for individual decks and mic volume. Thanks again

Thank you
 

Inviato Thu 07 Nov 24 @ 5:41 pm
locoDogPRO InfinityModeratorMember since 2013
deck X level
mic_volume

that's all there is to it.
 

Inviato Thu 07 Nov 24 @ 6:14 pm