The Best Budget Controllers for Ableton Live? Akai APC Mini MK2 vs APC Key 25 MK2 // Tutorial/Review

In this video I compare the new Ableton Live budget controllers by Akai, to other available options, including LaunchPad Mini, X and Pro, and LaunchKey 25 Mini and above.

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APC Mini MK2:

APC KEY 25 MK2:

Don't Panic! Ableton Live Explained in 37 minutes or less:

Sounds used in this video:
► Massive from Native Instruments (my own presets - lead and bass)
► Drums also from NI (Abbey Road 50s and some other snares I forget from which kit...)
► Mellotron V from Arturia
► Raum is on the reverb send
► Ableton Echo is the delay

Other places I hang out:

My music:

TIMELINE:
0:00 Intro
1:05 What’s new?
1:40 RGB pads
2:05 Note mode
4:15 Drum mode
4:25 Mini MK2 v 1
4:45 Key25 MK2 v 1
5:35 Key 25 v Mini
7:20 Setup
8:15 Takeover mode
9:10 Soft keys
10:30 Key controls
11:15 Knobs, faders
14:00 Pros & cons
16:45 Outro

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NOTE: Occasionally I’ll try out affiliate marketing and include affiliate links. This means that I may earn a commission when you click on or make purchases via affiliate links to stores like Amazon, Sweetwater, Thomann and others. The content of this clip is entirely my opinion, and was not paid for or dictated in any way by the company creating the gear. Without addressing the particulars of products shown here as they might be under NDA, gear shown on this channel may be either sent by the manufacturer, on loan for review or bought at a discount.

[naeyo]

always good to see a video from someone who know's what to show. I got that apc key 25 thanks to your video. It fits my needs as I live in a travelling bag for years and only on occassion is home and use my other gadgets. this little piece will make my laptop happy .:O) Great video ( I know its 1 year ago) still appreciated

[D-One]

3:10 that scrolling text on the pads is both funny and ingenious, a small oled screen would be so much more elegant.

[StrayMedicine]

The new design for these is nice, much improved. They look less budget now

[VTOLKits]

What is with step recording drums, notes and chords is the most important for me! Like Push and Akai Force!

[peabodyscientific]

Ugh, the lack of full Ableton device control on these is even more disappointing than the MiniLab. How can they say they are "built for Live" and not even go the extra step to have device selection and all parameters? I have a 1st gen Maschine that can cycle through devices on a track and all the device's parameters, yet these newer controllers can't.

Anyway, greatly enjoyed the review as always. I'm glad we are finally starting to see some new midi controller gear coming out again, these are my favorite reviews. Can't wait for more.

[JakeSweeper]

Wouldn't mind seeing a side-by-side comparison of the APC mini mk2 with Novation's Launchpads.

[dragonstone]

Nice. Now we need a MK2 version of Akai midimix.

[samprock]

Good music always supplied with Loopop reviews!

[shanithezimhoni]

THEY WERE SO FUCKING CLOSE MAN. All it took was velocity sensitivity and this would be my ultimate budget controller. WHY CANT WE HAVE A LAUNCHPAD WITH FADERS???

[krasky]

lol wut? Just saw AKAI's announcement on Twitter and wanted to check if there's a video of it... Here is loopop ahead of the time!

[abhishekv]

Man. What a wonderful video this was! 100 percent supporting you buddy! You're amazing! ❤

[drindy]

You are a product review warrior. Every video on point and a gem to discover. Great work brother! 👊🧡👍

[Hanoveur]

Cute! I love the tiny form factor...always like the smaller alternatives when the desk space is at a premium. $90 is a no brainer too.

[wimvandenborre]

Now make a 37 with knobs and faders, velocity sensitive and aftertouch! :)

[enchantingmusic]

Thank you, so much for the valuable information sir, hats off to you, clear explaination, and slowly explained which was very important to me. Keep going.. keep up the good work

[douglasfugazi]

I loved this before showing the gear but ableton live too in the video. Keep it up the good work 👍

[eaman]

The APC Key is nice if you are a guitarist and want to save space: you can control 5 scenes for the parts of your song / training and you have the keys to enter chords in the piano roll, some bass lines... Yet the keys were totally terrible in the old version, much better to remove those and use it as a small luncher /device controller for a "standard" keyboard that lacks devices and launch pads, es an NI m32.

On and all Novation minis are more fun and useful with the custom modes, yet kudos to AKAI for the multiencoders and the faders: Novation refuses to understand that knobs are unusable and we do want at least small faders / knobs on the launchpads.

[GregRband]

Xlnt review and info to ponder. Demo song was very cool and a great example/inspiration of what can be done with these. thanks so much.

[johnking]

Sun Machine One might be my favorite Loopop song. Great version!

[DaGard-pswb]

I get no lights at all when I connected to ableton.the keys work, sound is fine.is there a button to turn the lights on?or is just a lemon?thank you, great tutorial