OHM64 = higher performance and less lag (I am rather sensitive to lag). Custom mapping is a base need for my set period! The editor and assignments are not perfect yet. I had a lot of problems, but after 100+ hours I am starting to see the performance I wanted all along. It was a struggle to get the OHM64 mapped to my very high standards but worth it in the end 101%.

APC series = MIDI hog – 10 channels in use (yes 10). No reassignment of notes (eliminates much of what I do), poor poor quality (that x-fader is an Alpha $3 retail sliding 10k pot), lots of wasted space and some other fatal flaws when you finally graduate to pro. A great bet for the beginner – a required step to the more advanced controllers.

Akai owned by same company as Alesis – a huge brand NO-NO!

Launchpad = If you think APC quality is low you should see how Novation builds. I have documented physical engineering flaws that would make your jaw drop – they don’t care either. Just like Alesis when I called up the Alesis dev team I ended up having them admit a feature in the instruction manual that was not on the unit (really). Novation Automap is a nightmare (borderline virus). The lag introduced using Automap is so bad I can’t play using custom mappings.

Having been a dealer for these companies and having contacts in the music industry I can tell you from first hand experience that Livid is a company worth doing business with – I am very happy with my O64 despite some near tragic issues out of the gate.

Keep up the good work guys, quality, attention to detail, and maintaining a good community is what it is all about!

If you’re an exclusive Ableton user who is specifically interested in the features the APC40 provides out of the box, then the APC40 is probably an excellent product for you. If, on the other hand, you are interested in doing pretty much *anything else* with your device – anything other than clip launching and effects/device twiddling in Ableton (i.e. playing your own software built in Max/MSP, performing VJ software, controlling soft synths, doing lighting control, driving a robotic fire-breathing sculpture, etc.) – I believe the Ohm64 is a far superior device with a much more open-ended design.

The 5×8 button grid on the APC40 (or 7×9 or 7x9x3x8, depending on how you look at it) doesn’t make any sense for musical/visual instrument control compared to the 8×8 grid on the Ohm. If you’re making your own software tools in Max or similar platforms, the mathematical sensibility of an 8×8 matrix is very elegant. Similarly, the Ohm64 can be re-programmed to output sensible MIDI messages that will save a lot of time programming/mapping, whereas the APC40 is hard-mapped to output messages that probably don’t make sense outside of Live.

Some points outside the realm of software:

I did like the faders and knobs on the APC40, but the buttons on the Ohm64 beat the pants off the APC40 buttons (in my own humble opinion). The faders and knobs on the Ohm64 are also really solid and great-feeling.

The Ohm64 is bus-powered whereas the APC40 requires an external power supply. This might seem like a small point, but I find that a minor convenience like that will mean I end up using a device a lot more. And when you’re on stage having one less power supply to plug in is a godsend.

The Ohm64 is has a friggin wood body. And it’s hand-made by a small company that is deeply invested in the arts. I already feel sentimentally attached to this device in a way that I just can’t with my factory-assembled made-in-China gear. Maybe I’m just sentimental.

That being said, the APC40 is a very cool device and the out-of-the-box functionality in Ableton is great. The $200 price difference is probably not small potatoes either, especially to students. I’ve been in the game for a long time so for me the extra $200 was not much at all when taking the long view.

Happy twiddling,
Jesse

http://jts3k.com