By aspect — in detail
Controls
Contested · 8 srcThe defining argument about this product, and the widest split in the record. Akai removed every rotary encoder and physical fader from the APC formula and fitted eight capacitive touch strips instead, four down each side of the grid. Most sources think it worked: the side-by-side placement means both hands stay on the unit with the pads in the middle, the strips hold their position when you bank or when automation moves, you can grab several at once, and you can jump a parameter straight to a value instead of dialling to it. A smaller group — one critic and a persistent seam of owner reviews — reports the mechanical costs: fine slow adjustment is hard, a strip can jump when you first touch it, and because there is nothing to grip you brush them by accident. Sound On Sound, firmly in the pro camp, reports both sides of that honestly, noting it accidentally knocked tracks to silence mid-session and that Akai includes an Off mode for the strips presumably for exactly this reason.
Measured
Akai's spec sheet and Thomann's parameter table agree on what is physically here: 8 assignable touch strips with RGB LED indicators, 0 rotary encoders, one push encoder, a graphical full-colour LCD, plus dedicated transport and 8 track mute/solo buttons. There is no motorised anything and no crossfader.
⚠ vs. listeners — The pickup jump has a documented fix — Sound On Sound reports that with Shift held the strips pick parameters up from their current position and give fine relative adjustment — yet an Amazon owner describes hitting exactly that jump, adding that a strip set to a value “always resets to a random number when touched”. Both accounts can be true: the capability exists, and a chunk of owners never find it. Read the split as a discoverability gap rather than a contradiction.
Where it splits
The strips are the best thing on the unit — precise, ambidextrous, and they stay in sync when you bank or automate75%
“They can be a good solution compared to non‑motorised faders, as they stay in sync when you bank around or when there’s automation.”
Simon Sherbourne · Sound On Sound
Touch is the wrong control for fine work — no slow nudging, values jump on pickup, and they catch stray fingers25%
“The only one thing I dislike are the touch faders. It’s hard to play with the parameters when the faders are touch sensitive, it makes it very difficult to move at a slow decimal rate.”
Eddy · verified owner, Amazon
Sixty-four velocity-sensitive RGB pads with polyphonic aftertouch, in an 8x8 grid that changes role by mode — clip launching, a scale-aware melodic layout, a 4x4 drum-rack block, or the step-sequencer surface. Most sources find them responsive and genuinely playable, and owners single out the poly-aftertouch as the expressive surprise at this price. The one dissent is the most methodical pad claim in the set: MusicRadar had a Launchpad Pro on the desk for a direct comparison and found the APC64's pads the same size but less playable, particularly for sliding between pads, and noted there is no MPE and no per-pad wiggle for vibrato. Magnetic Magazine reaches the same limit from the other direction, arguing the eight touch strips give back the multi-parameter expression the pads do not have.
“The pads are sensitive and responsive enough for expressive playing with instruments or drums.”
Simon Sherbourne · Sound On Sound
“The pads are smaller and less responsive than on some other controllers.”
Martin Delaney · MusicRadar
“It feels solid, the RGB pads are super responsive, and it just works right out of the box with Ableton.”
Victor P. · verified owner, Amazon
Measured
Akai specifies 64 RGB velocity-sensitive pads with poly aftertouch. MusicRadar's side-by-side confirms they are the same size as a Launchpad Pro's. Poly aftertouch is sent per pad and can be enabled for note and drum groups in the Project Editor; MPE is not supported.
Connectivity
Strong consensus · 7 srcThe strongest agreement in the record and the clearest reason to pick this over its rivals. The back panel carries eight assignable CV/gate outputs, a MIDI input and two MIDI outputs — all on 3.5 mm jacks, with three DIN adapters in the box — plus USB-C that supplies both data and power. Every source that mentions it says the same thing: this is more hardware I/O than a Push or a Launchpad Pro offers, at a lower price, and it turns the controller into the hub of a modular or hardware rig rather than an accessory to a laptop. Two honest asterisks: the two MIDI outs mirror each other rather than acting as independent ports, and there is no analogue clock output, so a clock has to be faked with a gate pattern.
“The connectivity options on the back of the device are pretty unmatched, especially for a controller at this price point.”
Will Vance · Magnetic Magazine
“The inclusion of CV/gate outputs on the unit is a fantastic touch for anyone who uses analogue synths or Eurorack modules”
Greg Scarth · Juno Daily
“That’s a lot more than what Push and even Launchpad Pro have to offer!”
Dirk Behrens · gearnews
Measured
Akai lists USB-C, eight 3.5 mm CV/gate outputs, two 3.5 mm MIDI outputs and one 3.5 mm MIDI input; Thomann's table gives the CV range as 0–5 V and confirms bus power and no 5-pin DIN sockets (adapters supplied). Sound On Sound confirms the missing piece directly: “One thing not available is analogue clock.”
Software
Contested · 7 srcSources split almost evenly here, and both sides are describing the same feature set accurately. The onboard sequencer runs eight tracks of up to 32 steps with per-note velocity, probability and mutation, works with or without a computer, and can push a finished pattern into Live as a clip — the Send To Clip function that reviewers keep calling the best-kept secret on the unit. Against that: 32 steps is a hard ceiling that owners and critics both want lifted, patterns cannot be recorded in from a MIDI input, note lengths are not captured when you play them in, there is no way to back up sequence data, and standalone mode records no automation. gearnews found the firmware unfinished in places at launch and the sequencer's Live integration awkward. The bundle is generous by controller standards — Ableton Live Lite 11, a set of AIR instruments and effects, and a 1.2 GB CR2 sample expansion — and a free Mac/PC Project Editor handles deep custom mapping.
Measured
Akai specifies an internal 8-track, 32-step sequencer with Probability, Velocity and Mutate, and ships Ableton Live Lite 11, a set of AIR plug-in instruments and effects, and a 1.2 GB Sample Tools by CR2 expansion. Akai's downloads page currently lists firmware 1.2.1.6 and Project Editor v1.0.9 — the unit has been patched past its launch build, but no headline version-two rewrite has shipped.
Where it splits
A real sequencer, not a token one — probability and mutation on board, and patterns drop straight into Live as clips55%
“Sequences can be stored on the hardware, and sent individually to Live where they appear as MIDI clips – we really appreciated using this convenient feature.”
Martin Delaney · MusicRadar
Capable but unfinished — 32 steps, no MIDI-in recording, no note lengths, no sequence backup45%
“Unfortunately, you can’t record into sequences from the MIDI inputs, and note lengths are not captured, only the triggers.”
Simon Sherbourne · Sound On Sound
Integration
Moderate · 7 srcBroadly reliable, and the least controversial thing about the unit. Ableton detects the APC64 as a control surface on launch with no driver install, and reviewers and owners describe being productive immediately: Session view mirrors on the grid, track select also arms the track, the note layout switches itself between drum-rack and melodic modes, and the little screen names whichever strip you last touched. Bitwig later added support, and Custom mode sends plain assignable MIDI for anything else. The qualifications are specific rather than general: gearnews needed to install the control script by hand on a pre-release unit, Sound On Sound misses the APC40's Device Lock and its dedicated per-track buttons and finds device navigation now needs two hands, and one Windows owner on Ableton's own forum reports the unit being recognised only intermittently — an isolated report, and the thread's own follow-up points at a script-versus-MIDI-mapping conflict rather than the hardware.
“Once the APC64 is connected, Live detects it on launch, and we’re straight into familiar territory.”
Martin Delaney · MusicRadar
“this connects flawlessly with ableton, it is highly customizable.”
Sifos · verified owner, Thomann
“The APC64 is recognized by Live, sometimes yes, sometimes no, while the Minilab 3 is always the first device to be recognized.”
Ableton Forum
Measured
Ableton ships an APC64 control-surface script; the unit needs no drivers and appears in Live's Link/MIDI preferences. Akai's downloads page provides the firmware updater and the Project Editor that handles custom pad, strip and colour assignments; pads are limited to note messages, CCs are reserved for the strips, and there is no Program Change support.
Portability
Moderate · 5 srcLight and genuinely mobile for its size, with one honest caveat about footprint. It runs entirely on bus power over a single USB-C cable — no wall wart — and at 1.6 kg it is far lighter than a Push, light enough that reviewers powered and sequenced from an iPad Pro. That makes a laptop-free or tablet-only rig realistic rather than theoretical. The trade is desk space: at 272 x 371 mm it is noticeably bigger than a Launchpad, which is the one thing owners raise when they raise anything at all.
“The unit is, unsurprisingly, bigger than a Launchpad but is very light and portable compared to a Push, and needs only a USB‑C cable for connection and/or power.”
Simon Sherbourne · Sound On Sound
“My main complaint is that it is on the bigger side, but that is probably so that it can accommodate so many features.”
Claire · verified owner, Amazon
Measured
Akai lists 272 x 371 x 34.5 mm (10.7 x 14.6 x 1.4 in) and 1.6 kg (3.5 lb), powered over USB-C. Thomann's table confirms bus power. MusicRadar reports a 12.9-inch iPad Pro M1 supplying enough current to run it.
Sources are split into two clean groups on the same chassis. One hears a well-made piece of Akai hardware; the other notices the plastic, mostly by comparison with the metal-shelled Push it is repeatedly measured against. Nobody reports anything failing — the disagreement is about feel and expectation rather than reliability, and the sources that call it mid-range generally add that the price reflects it. Two smaller notes recur: the pad and strip LEDs are bright and well-liked indoors, but one owner playing outdoors found them hard to read even at full brightness, and there is a Kensington lock slot for anyone leaving it on a stage.
Measured
A plastic chassis of 272 x 371 x 34.5 mm weighing 1.6 kg, with a Kensington lock slot and a rear power switch. Two Thomann owners independently describe the housing as plastic, one adding that metal “would have been nicer and sturdier”.
Where it splits
Solid and well made — normal Akai build, nothing to worry about54%
“All in all it’s a solid, well‑built device, as you’d expect from Akai.”
Simon Sherbourne · Sound On Sound
Mid-range plastic — fine for the money, but you feel it next to a Push46%
“The APC64 is lighter than expected and feels like more of a mid-range device in build quality terms compared to the sturdier Push, but we feel this is reflected in the pricing of the devices.”
Martin Delaney · MusicRadar
Most sources call it good value and a couple call it a mistake, and the honest answer has shifted with the price. The majority case is comparative: it does far more than a Launchpad Pro for a similar outlay, and it costs a fraction of a Push while covering most of the same ground. The dissent is also comparative and sharper — that stripping the knobs turned a distinctive controller into a Launchpad Pro with strips, and that a Launchpad Pro plus a cheap fader box gets you there for less. Two things have happened since those reviews. Street price fell from a $399 / £329 launch to about $299 in the US and £233 at Thomann, which removes a good deal of the overpriced argument. And the APC40 MkII, the mixer-shaped model the critics wanted continued, is still on sale at £299 — more than the APC64 — which suggests the demand the dissenters described was real.
Measured
Launch pricing was $399 in the US and £329 including VAT in the UK (Sound On Sound, December 2023). As of August 2026 two US specialist retailers list it at $299 (Perfect Circuit, Detroit Modular) and Thomann UK at £233, against £299 for the older APC40 MkII on the same site. Amazon's $384.52 sits above street.
Where it splits
One box does the work of several — far more than a Launchpad Pro, far cheaper than a Push76%
“the APC64 does a whole ton more in a single device, combining hands‑on control, expressive instrument playing and sequencing.”
Simon Sherbourne · Sound On Sound
Priced above what it delivers — a Launchpad Pro with strips, and the knobs it lost were the point24%
“I think it’s a bit more expensive than it should be and I really miss the knobs that the APC40 used to have.”
Sinesquares
