Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of Synthesizers
May 7th, 2009 – In the interests of increasing my productivity, I’ve been looking at pad-type controllers. Or at least that’s how I justify it to myself. The two out there that I believe provide the best value for the money are Native Instrument’s Maschine, and Akai/Ableton’s APC40. (Read this Synthtopia post for release information on the APC40)

The reason why I am looking at these two over say a Monome, is that I don’t have a copy of Ableton right now, and these are designed to be tightly integrated with their respective included software. At around $500 street for the Maschine and an anticipated $400 for the APC40, they represent quite the bang for the buck.

The APC40, while lacking velocity sensitivity with its pads, and relying solely on a software sampler to make any music, has tight integration with Ableton, and would work great for a performance controller. Really, it’s not much different from any other controller except that Ableton had a say in how it was designed. Sort of like the Vestax VCI-300 and Serato Itch.

Maschine, on the other hand, doesn’t have as many controls as the APC40, but it has velocity sensitivity and onboard sounds; it is its own instrument. From early reviews (Maschine is available now while the APC40 is hitting the streets soon), the Maschine looks to be a solid device.

While they they were created with same goal of making you more productive, they go about it slightly different ways. I expect that when the APC40 is released, most reviews will compare it directly to the Maschine. Both can help you create your new track in the studio, but performing might be a different story. In the ideal world where my resources are unlimited, I’d have both. But in the meantime, I look forward to them being pitted against each other so I can determine which will help me most in the studio. To quote “Highlander”: there can be only one!

GearWire’s look at Maschine.
GearWire Maschine Demo 1
GearWire Maschine Demo 2

APC40 Overview from Sound on Sound