Akai APC40 and TPro (MISA basic setup)
Akai APC40 and TPro (MISA basic setup) Posted on: 17.07.2009 by Estela Follansbee DJ TechTools Community:I was asked to post my basic setup of the Akai APC40. It should provide a decent starting template for anyone creating their own mappings. I created the tsi file section by section according to the hardware, so it should be fairly easy to figure out how to disable or change commands. PLEASE NOTE: I use the APC in conjunction with a VCI-100. As such, I didn't map out many basic mixing functions for the APC40. WARNING: If you try to use this tsi in conjunction with a VCI-100, many MIDI notes and CC values will be repeated and conflict. For things to jive using both, I used MIDI Patchbay (for OS X) to take all MIDI from APC40 channel 1 to channel 10 on Traktor Virtual Input and then output all MIDI from Traktor Virtual Output channel 10 to channel 1 on APC40. I will post that tsi and the directions to create that setup in a future thread. UPDATE: The problem with the APC40 and the VCI-100 using the same MIDI channel is resolved with the new way TPro 1.2 handles MIDI mappings. MISA APC40 1.0 TSI OVERVIEW Every deck on Traktor has 2 columns dedicated to it on the APC. Column 1 and 2 control Deck A. Column 3 and 4 control Deck B. Column 5 and 6 control Deck C. Column 7 and 8 control Deck D. Column 9 has different functionality to be explained later. I will explain column 1 and 2 in detail, but its functionality is repeated for the other 3 decks. CLIP LAUNCH MATRIX The first four buttons on each column select HotCues. Buttons 1-4 in Column 1 select HotCues 1-4. Buttons 1-4 in Column 2 select HotCues 5-8. These buttons are lit green [the next 2 columns are lit red, the next 2 are lit green, and the last 2 are lit red]. Button 5 in Column 1 toggles Play/Pause. Button 5 in Column 2 activates/deactivates looping. These two buttons will blink green when a song approaches the end [the next 2 will blink red, the next 2 blink green, the last 2 blink red]. CLIP STOP ROW There is nothing currently assigned to this row. TRACK SELECTION ROW You must press the MASTER button on this row for the mapping to work correctly. This really only affects the DEVICE CONTROL BANK of knobs and buttons, which are currently mapped to control FX2. If you need more controls for EQs and such in your own mapping, this section can easily be exploited. ACTIVATION ROW There is nothing currently assigned to this row. SOLO/CUE ROW The button in Column 1 turns on FX1 for Deck A. The button in Column 2 turns on FX2 for Deck A. RECORD ARM ROW There is nothing currently assigned to this row. I would suggest to leave this row as a placeholder for when TPro update 1.2 comes out and provides 4 banks of effects. FADER BANK The fader in Column 1 pans Deck A left to right. There is nothing currently assigned to the fader in Column 2. SCENE LAUNCH BUTTONS This column of 5 buttons outputs LEDs showing Master Level. The top button lights when clipping occurs. The lower 4 buttons create something like a VU meter. CUE LEVEL KNOB The knob changes the CLOCK MASTER BPM when Tempo Mode is set to Internal. Sensitivity can be adjusted in MIDI mapping to scroll faster through BPM range. MASTER FADER The fader changes the Tempo Mode from Man/Auto/Ext/Int. All the way down is Manual. All the way up is Internal. TRACK CONTROL BANK The top four knobs select the effects in FX1. Knob 1 selects effect in Advanced Mode. Knob 2 selects Effect 1 in Chained Mode. Knob 3 selects Effect 2 in Chained Mode. Knob 4 selects Effect 3 in Chained Mode. The lower four knobs correlate to the GUI for both Advanced and Chained mode of FX1. The buttons correlate to the GUI for the Advanced mode. The SEND A, SEND B, and SEND C buttons correlate to the GUI in the Chained mode. SHIFT BUTTON Pressing down the shift button activated MOD1. It also sets Browser View to default. BANK SELECT The left arrow loads selected track to Deck A by default/loads selected track to Deck C when SHIFT is pressed/always sets Browser View to default. The right arrow loads selected track to Deck B by default/loads selected track to Deck D when SHIFT is pressed/always sets Browser View to default. The up arrow scrolls up in the browser by default/scrolls up by a page when SHIFT is pressed/always sets Browser View to Browser Only. The down arrow scrolls down in the browser by default/scrolls down by a page when SHIFT is pressed/always sets Browser View to Browser Only. TAP TEMPO BUTTON Sets MOD2 and MOD3 to 0 value. The potential need for this will be explained in next section. NUDGE- BUTTON This button switches FX1 from Advanced to Chained mode. Advanced mode is MOD2 = 0. Chained mode is MOD2 = 1. If for some reason TRACK CONTROL bank appears to not function, this may be due to a desynchronization of MOD2. Simply press NUDGE- until FX1 is in Advanced mode. Then press TAP TEMPO to set MOD2 = 0. This will synchronize the settings and everything will function properly afterwards. It would be wise to set default view of Traktor GUI at startup to have Advanced FX panels. NUDGE+ BUTTON This button switches FX2 from Advanced to Chained mode. Advanced mode is MOD3 = 0. Chained mode is MOD3 = 1. If for some reason DEVICE CONTROL bank appears to not function, this may be due to a desynchronization of MOD3. Simply press NUDGE+ until FX2 is in Advanced mode. Then press TAP TEMPO to set MOD3 = 0. This will synchronize the settings and everything will function properly afterwards. It would be wise to set default view of Traktor GUI at startup to have Advanced FX panels. DEVICE CONTROL BANK This bank functions to control FX2 in a way identical to how TRACK CONTROL BANK controls FX1. PLEASE NOTE: For this mapping to function correctly, MASTER must be selected in TRACK SELECTION ROW. DETAIL VIEW, REC QUANTIZATION, MIDI OVERDUB, METRONOME, PLAY, STOP, and REC BUTTONS There is nothing currently assigned to these buttons. CROSSFADER The crossfader is assigned to the crossfader. FOOTSWITCH 1 and 2 There is nothing currently assigned to these potential controls. I hope this tsi proves useful for some people and gets them started on their own personalized mappings. I will be providing tsi files of my own settings including simultaneous use of the Akai APC40 and MPK25, Vestax VCI-100, Korg nanoKontrol and nanoPad, and iPod Touch running TouchOSC in the future. | |
| Nelda Prom 07.09.2009 | I've loaded misa's template (thank you) and done a bunch or further customization, but now that I'm ready to give it all a spin I realize that im having issues with all the hotcue buttons with LED lights on causing a stuttering of audio. This appears to only happen when the message to turn on the LED for that button pushed is active. If I turn off the LED output (even for just that particular hotcue) there is no stuttering issue. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm running XP SP3 |
| Ryan Konarski 07.09.2009 |
Originally Posted by Negredo
on the right side where it said assigment there u can focus that parameter to focus to one of the decks A,B,C or D hope this help |
| Avril Elom 05.09.2009 | Thank you so much for the map. It's a great start. It seems like the apc and traktor could be a sweet combo. I am new to midi mapping and am having some trouble assigning different parameters in traktor. For example, every channel fader I assign will only move the first deck's volume fader in traktor. Similar with the knobs. What might I be doing wrong? Also,the fx buttons have to be held down to remain active. Is there any way to change that? Can't twist those knobs while your holding down buttons. Anyhow, cheers and respect, and thanks again for sharing ;-) |
| Avril Elom 05.09.2009 | Thanks for you post and midi map. I believe the APC could be a great controller for traktor. Can you explain how to make modifications to your template? I am having a difficult time with it. For example, when I try and assign fader#3 to the second deck it programs it to move fader#1 on the first deck. Any suggestions? Thanks ;-) |
| Katheryn Barnabas 03.09.2009 | Thanks a lot for your TSI, this is a great setup! |
| Estela Follansbee 20.08.2009 | At first glance, it looks like problem 1 may have to do with your Traktor mapping. Try changing the buttons to Hold/Toggle/Direct. I don't have my gear right now, so I forget the nature of signal the buttons send. For problem 2, although pressing the Track Selection buttons is recognized by Traktor, they do not send out any sort of useful MIDI signal. As such, you can't really use them for much other than switching the channel on the lower set of knobs and buttons. For problem 3, again the buttons on the Track Selection row don't send out any useful MIDI but rather change the channel, so by pressing Master as a MOD, you're essentially changing the channel of the lower knobs and buttons and who knows where that takes you in your mapping. From the previous post, I was asking more specifically if you have commands in your MIDI mapping that are LED outputs, not what devices you are outputting to. Hope this helps. I have another post on the community showing the MIDI values of the APC40, maybe that can help you grasp what is going on. |
| Dave Lapka 20.08.2009 | Ok, well the plot thickens... this is really gonna sound weird. I turn the APC on and yes all four rows of lights come on. I start Traktor and everything 'appears' to be how I want and the lights stay on. However, bizarre things start happening, give you a couple of examples. 1. The 3 rows of buttons above the volume controls (ACTIVATOR/SOLO/REC ARM), I have them mapped to toggle FX1, FX2 and Filter on/off. I press one, it lights up and FX1 comes on. I press it again, the light goes off but FX1 stays on. I press it a third time and the light 'flashes' and FX1 turns off. I basically have to double tap a button to get them to turn off. These buttons above volumes 5-8, I have set as kill switches, same issue. One tap turns them on, 2 taps needed to turn them off. 2. The Track Selection buttons. 1-4 are PLAY/PAUSE, 5-8 turn on headphone cueing.. none of these buttons work. I click PLAY however with the mouse on the screen, the correct button lights on the APC. Click PLAY again, light goes off. Try pressing the button on the APC again, nothing. 3. The knobs below the SHIFT key I use to control FX, this seems to work ok. That is until I hold down MASTER which I have set as a modifer for these knobs. After I press that, it's like the knobs go dead, nothing works no matter what I do. I have actually found a solution to all this. I've found if I turn the APC on, open Ableton Live 8 on and wait for it to load, close down soon as it's done but leave the APC on, then load Traktor Pro, everything work as intended and all my mappings works fine. Don't have any of the above listed issues. My only problem.. the original one, I have no lights on the 8 knobs below the SHIFT key. Confused? I know I sure as hell am. In answer to your question about output signal. The only MIDI Input Device and Output Device I have selected is the APC40. I'll totally understand if you don't know the answer to this problem,, I don't know where to start myself. I guess I can live without the LED rings but it's a bit annoying. Especially when I know they should work. Thanks for reading |
| Estela Follansbee 19.08.2009 | Hmm...does an LED light up for each knob when you turn on the APC40 or are they all turned off? Are you sending any output signals from Traktor to the APC40? |
| Dave Lapka 19.08.2009 | Hey Misa, thanks very much for the post. Has helped me out with a lot of things!! I am still having one problem though and hoping you can help me. I seem to be having the same problem as Duttylectric... the rings around my knobs dont light up... or some do.. it's weird. The top 2 rows (above PAN/SENDS) have worked from day one and that's great, didn't need to do anything to make that happen. The bottom 2 rows however, below SHIFT, I can't get to light up no matter what I try or whatever I map to it. Would you (or anyone) have any idea why this would be. I use one row as LOOP SIZE and the other row as FX if that helps. Thanks very much! |
| Estela Follansbee 12.08.2009 | LED rings work without any adjustments. Even though you can continuously spin the encoder, the LED ring shows when you're at MIDI value 0 - 127. Haven't tried working with modifiers and seeing if LEDs respond to changes of state, but you have 9 TRACK SELECTION modes on hardware anyways. |
| Charline Dunch 11.08.2009 | has anyone gotten the LED rings to work for EQ knobs or FX yet? |
| Laurice Migneco 06.08.2009 | With Bomes you can set up a preset that does no midi message manipulation, it can purely be used to control the lights on the APC and indeed both the pad behaviour and the updates to the device control lights..... I've got it so that the pads can cycle through any number of states outputting a different midi message each time.... I don;t use Traktor though so most of what's been written above is in a foreign language to me! Cheers D www.vimeo.com/studiosessions |
| Estela Follansbee 06.08.2009 |
Originally Posted by jasonking8
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| Luvenia Deyoe 28.07.2009 | I believe I figured this out. Basically, I got the APC40 to work the way I wanted, just not exactly the way I wanted. For whatever reason, TraktorPro won't let me map a toggle with an output on the 8x5 grid; I could map a toggle command, it just won't send an appropriate "toggle" behavior to the LED. NO big deal because there are still LOADS of functions to be mapped that are trigger or hold. Basically, I took the 40 square grid and made the top row an FX button row (4 for fx1 and 4 for fx2 be they chained or advanced- same buttons work for both without programing any modifiers). This row will not send an LED signal the way I want so I left them off I took the remaining 48 squares and divided them in to 4 sections (1 for each deck). What I programed was a committed panel for loop/cue move, beatjump, loop in/out, loop activate, cue and monitor. Each deck gets 2 rows of 4 and looks a bit like the advanced window under the waveforms in each deck. FX1 and FX2 controls are in the top right corner (8 knobs) and the bottom right (8 knobs) are saved for FX3 and FX4 (1.2 update?). I reckon the clipstop row will become my buttons for FX 3&4. I got myself an old XSession Pro left over from Traktor3 so thats my mixer. Even after my future planning for the 1.2 update, I still have 47 buttons, 1 knob and 9 sliders...AND ALL THAT WITHOUT EMPLOYING 1 MODIFIER! I'm sure I'll move it all around again a few times before I get it right but after my initial map I have to give it to the APC40; this dude is a bad little Traktor controller! |
| Luvenia Deyoe 27.07.2009 | |
| Luvenia Deyoe 26.07.2009 | wait a minute.... I've got your TSI file on the TSI viewer online. let me see if I can decipher this... (I will post again to perhaps save you the trouble of explaining what I can clearly see) (30 minutes later) NOPE, still confused. Do I click "Add>output........????" to turn the light on or do I duplicate the command I already have in there and change it to an output? Any help would be awesome. I feel like I've done everything that would rule out my own stupidity. I imported your TSI so I could analyze the data entry (which meant ditching my custom layout but no biggie- it was early anyway). Can you just walk me through one or two examples? I want a light to come on at startup (top row, first button) Then I want that button to change color when I toggle that effect on and go back to the original color when I turn the effect off. |
| Luvenia Deyoe 26.07.2009 | @Misa: Holy COW!!!! Thank you so much for the link. I had been to that site a couple of times but never got to the PDF of how to use modifiers. Too bad about the LED's though, it's still nice to have someone to lament with. I do have another question if you don't mind: I'm mapping the things I want (just single use bottons, nothing fancy, turn stuff on and then off). I've got the top row on the 8x5 grid turning on effects (first 4 are for FXpanel1, second 4 are for FXpanel2). I want the first 4 to be green when off and red when I toggle the effect on. I want the second 4 to be orange when off and red when I toggle the effect on. I've got the effect I want mapped, now I want to turn the lights on. When I plug this bad boy in, all the lights are off; however, your description leads me to believe that yours lights up like a christmas tree when you plug it in. Can you walk me through or refer me? I know I need to duplicate the command and then change it from a toggle to an output to get the led options page. Range is min=0 max=1 midiRange is min=0 max=127 When I change midirange min from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 I get different colors and behaviors from the light on the second depress but I CAN'T make any sense of it. I know I'm in the right place I'm just not proficient in the mapping language. Can you guide me at all? |
| Estela Follansbee 25.07.2009 | Thanks guys. jasonking8: You can definitely use modifiers to toggle the function of buttons/knobs. There is an article written by Ean which can explain things. Basically, you make two commands. When MOD = 0, turn to 1. When MOD = 1, turn to 0. These are assigned to the same button, so it acts as a toggle between two states. At the moment, I don't believe the LEDs will behave like you would like (or how I would like for that matter), but I'll look into it. My instinct says that the LEDs stay in the same place when you toggle and you have to rotate the knob in soft takeover mode to sync up your position. The lower bank of knobs and buttons on the APC40 would work this way when switching through the TRACK SELECTION section, but this is a hardware function. As far as learning how to make mappings: I spent a lot of time reading through threads, I looked at how other people had made their mappings through the TSI Viewer available from http://www.traktorbible.com/en/traktorprobible.aspx (which won't work with TPRO 1.2 Beta right now), reading through the Visual MIDI Guide from the same website, and then just sitting down and spending time making it. I never used Traktor3, so those differences weren't an issue. I would suggest printing out the MIDI Commands Reference section of the Visual MIDI Guide and working your way through it as you make a mapping. http://www.djzerowan.eu/tbib/midiguide_en_v2.pdf Have fun with it. I hope to see some of your work in the future. Keep an eye out for a new APC40 mapping for Traktor 1.2. |
| Mertie Cassiere 25.07.2009 | excelent! keep up the good job |
| Luvenia Deyoe 24.07.2009 | This is great! don't let the lack of reply fool you into believeing your work went unappreciated. I just got my APC40 toevening
and I'm timidly starting to tinker with it (still handling it like its made of glass or something). I like some of your ideas but I will for sure tinker with them a bit... I just don't know how to work all the modifiers. Correct me if I'm wrong but I should be able to assign 2 tasks to the same knob and toggle back and forth right? Like- if I want deck A EQ to be controlled in the top row of the device control knobs, but then I push a button and they become the deck C EQ, I can do that right? And if I can, can I make it so the led gives me the right feedback when I do that? (you know, if deckA low is at 12-o'clock and deckC low is at 3-o'clock, the LED will move from 12 to 3 when I hit that toggle key) I'd love to know how you learned so much already about Traktor Pro mapping language (which seems to be quite different from Traktor3 language) Anything would help. |
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