AKAI APC 40 and Resolume Avenue

[Fischje]

I'm interested in templates too.

Got the Apc 40 and i want to see some examples working at my pc.

[subvert]

First off, thx for the info about piano mode, i never saw this option because of my tiny laptop screen, it was hidden
Now everything works great!

A word about templates & Midi translators:

So far, there is no way to get the APC40 to respond to what you do in Avenue.
The technique with the midi translator works by duplicating the incoming MIDI-Data of the controller. One Set of this data will control Avenue, the other Set is routed to the midi translator for processing and sending notes back to the controller - so adpating the lights is a purely cosmetic thing as long as Resolume doesn't support MIDI out. It does not directly communicate with Avenue!

However during all the shows I did since I got the APC, I found that having a basic indication of what the buttons are mapped for is of great help, so this is definitely worth spending some time on, even if it does not reflect what Resolume is actually doing.

Getting the lights to work:

Now as this is only a workaround it will work with ANY Vjing Software. If you have a Software that is able to directly send MIDI Notes back to the controller, you won't need any of this, you'll just have to map by hand which light have to be triggered (see mapping diagrams linked below).

You can build simple routines in Bome's translator like switching on/off or changing the color of multiple buttons when a certain button is pressed, or changing how the LED rings of the knobs behave. However this is all you can do. You can't reflect which clip is playing or what layer is selected, all you can do is build workarounds, for example to indicate which button you just have pressed.

I have attached a simple diagram of how I am using those programs outlined on page 1 together, hope it can help someone get the idea. Now based on that, you can trigger different LED states on different button by pressing one button alone - in bome's you can decide which notes to send out at which volicity.

APC40 LED Workaround

apc40-diagram.png (23.91 KiB) Viewed 41288 times

Below you'll find an overview of the assigned channels & notes. For more in depth information on how to control the lights I recommend you'll read the communications protocol of the APC40. There you'll find tables with exact descriptions of which notes will trigger what light.

APC 40 Mapping overview (JPG)
APC 40 Communications protocol (PDF)

Example:

For Buttons, basically you have to send back the same NoteON with the velocity corresponding to your desired button color (00:off, 01:green, 02:blinking green, 03:red, 04:blinking, 05:orange, 06:blinking, 07-127:green).
upper left button:
when released the button sends: 80 35 7F
to trigger the led, send back to the controller: 90 35 01 (or 02/03/04/05/06 whichever you like)

For LED-Rings you have to trigger the mode by sending the knobs controller-nr + 8 on the same channel with the following parameters: 00:no LED ring, 01:simple, 02:solid, 03:pan/solid back to the controller. You can trigger this with the knob itself, or set the mode with another button, just like with the color of the buttons.

upper right knob (track control 4):
when turned, the controller sends: B0 33 val (00-7F)
to trigger the desired led mode, send back: B0 3B mode (00/01/02/03)
(33+8 = 3B - proceed like that for every controller you want to change)

Hope I could help someone out!

[newfuturenow]

Thanks Subvert, Implementing midi feedback is a mindfield man and this really helps . .

[Basic]

Very interesting thread. im considering the akai apc 20. Are the problems with the APC 40 the same as the APC 20 Problems. midi that is?

[werlin]

the only major one, is feedback (lights and stuff) and this goes for both the 20 and the 40...

if i can share some advice: i bought the 20 but traded it for a 40.. its just that much control.. 80 more dials and a crossfader
if you're thinking that the faders have internal banks, you're wrong, unless res3's feedback comes with a "shift" function to double controls, you'll be stuck with 9 faders...

[olivepixel]

Very interested to see how other people are using all this control, I think sharing mappings here will help everyone get the most out of the APC.

I've had mine for a couple of weeks now, so still tweaking but this is the set up so far:

apc40_web_large.jpg (121.66 KiB) Viewed 41183 times

By using the 'device control' for effects, I'm able to have 12 effects on each year (4 modify only, 4 modify and on/off and 4 on/off only). At the moment I'm using the same selection of effects on each layer to make it easier to remember where I am.

I have a lot of the controller unmapped at the moment leaving room for future expansion. Not tried the midi feedback bodge yet.

[Basic]

the only major one, is feedback (lights and stuff) and this goes for both the 20 and the 40...

if i can share some advice: i bought the 20 but traded it for a 40.. its just that much control.. 80 more dials and a crossfader
if you're thinking that the faders have internal banks, you're wrong, unless res3's feedback comes with a "shift" function to double controls, you'll be stuck with 9 faders...

cool thanks for this werlin. Im stilling reading into the light problems. i thought about the 40 but i think the 20 will be best for me. i dont mind having what is there.

One thing i would like to do is have the 'master fader' set as the global layer speed? so when working in AV i can change it for all.

Also i would like to map one of the other faders as a crossfader, is this possible?

Thirdly i'd like to set the cue level to global opacity, is that possible? I really need to get my hands one one and mess about with it to see what i can map and i cant! also i dont think im too bothered about the lights.

Cheers and thanks for the mapping template too. good to see how people use there

p.s The Final thing i would like to ask is... when you get to a gig is it plug and play or do you have to reassign everything again and go through the process?

[Basic]

another question i have is... can you assign something to cue level knob?

Thanks

[arnovj]

Hi all,

A couple of months ago i started vj-ing using resolume.
First i hooked up Resolume to my Xone-4D using midi mapping, but the A&H Xone-4D is an audio mixing console and not quite suitable for resolume. I did some google-ing and decided to get myself a treat and bought an Akai APC 40.

First thing i stumbled upon was no feedback from Resolume and no easy way to get the lights and led-rings to work. I attemted to use Boom's miditranslator but got stuck rather quicly and couldn't quite do the things i imagined doing.

This is when i started Visual Studio and decided to create my own peice of software to do the things i wanted to do.
From my app I use midi to communicate with the APC 40 and use OSC to send commands to resolume.
In the mean time remembering the different state of clips, layers, effects and things so i could give proper feedback to the APC 40.

I'm still in the progress of getting the dials and led rings to work but i'm fairly happy with the buttons grid, and am able to control both clip launch and effect bypass from it.
I use a button on the APC to switch from clip start mode to effect bypass mode.
When switching between modes the leds get updated accordingly.

The only thing is that when you use your mouse in Resolume there's no feedback from Resolume back to my app so things get out off sync. If only resolume would give me that feedback, so the setup would be really intuitive.

The app i build is a .NET WinForms app, so for now only Windows.. no Mac. Maybe i'll try and get it compiled using mono to target OSX, if the demand is there.

If somebody is interested in this please drop me a line and i'll try and share my app somewhere on the web for you guys to play with.

I'll post an update here if and when i get some more progress with the dails and led rings.

Check out this video to see my APC setupo in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lix9oMgj ... r_embedded

Cya

Arno

[alfaleader]

Wow, nice program you made. Would you like to share it with us? (and could you also release the source?)