Akai APC64

The 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.

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

The 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

Sources 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.

Broadly 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

Light 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

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.

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.