A custom remote script for the APC40 Mk1, incorporating sequencing capabilities from Ableton Push.
This project is maintained by martinpechmann
Will Marshall has ported many drum sequencing features from Ableton Push to the Akai APC40 MkII. This is an adaption of that script for the original APC40, adding some things such as encoder modes and automation sequencing.
Live version 9.2 or higher is required. To install the script, copy the APC400000 folder from the downloaded archive to [Live installation directory]\Resources\MIDI Remote Scripts. In order to use the sequencer mode for playing notes into a drum rack, [Track] should be enabled for the APC400000 input in Live's MIDI preferences.
Basic Operation of the APC40 remains largely unchangend from the original. There are some differences:
Nudge- now toggles between session mode and sequencer mode. Session mode is the default.
Nudge+ toggles between the two encoder modes (in session mode, and cycles through the three encoder modes in sequencer mode).
All mode toggles do mode latching, i.e. pressing the mode button and releasing quickly will enter the given mode and pressing and holding the button will enter the mode temporarily, until the button is released.
For example, you may want to keep an overview of the panorama positions of all tracks, but want to adjust the send A amount for one track. Assuming the track encoders are in Pan mode, you can press and hold the Send A button, make the adjustment, and on release the track encoders will control the track panorama again.
The buttons below the device control encoders are mapped out as follows:
| Device Lock | Device On/Off | Bank Down | Bank Up |
| Detail View | Automation Arm | Device Left | Device Right |
| Play/Pause | Stop | Session Record |
Foot Pedal 1 toggles session recording. Double tapping the pedal will prepare a new scene for recording. Foot Pedal 2 does not have any scripted function and can be mapped freely.
Shift still accesses session overview and the 8 device banks.Shift + Track selection buttons 1–8: Set global quantization to None, 8 bars, 4 bars, 2 bars, 1 bar, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16.Shift + Tap Tempo: Toggle Metronome.Shift + Nudge-/Nudge+: Undo/Redo.Shift + Rec: Toggle Arrangement Record.Pressing Nudge+ will toggle between the default track control mode and second device mode. In this mode, the track control section will mirror the device control section: Encoders will control the selected device; pressing Pan will lock the encoders to this device. Send buttons A–C are mapped out as On/Off, Bank Down, Bank Up. Typically in second device mode, you will navigate to the device you want to control and press Pan to lock the track control encoders to this device. Note that you can always switch to track control mode and back; the encoders will still be controlling the device they were locked to.
Pressing Nudge- will enter sequencer mode. In this mode, operation is similar to Push's Note mode for drum sequencing, and works almost the same as Will Marshall's original script, explained here: Free Step Sequencer for APC40 MkII: Tutorial.
The top row of clip launch buttons will control the editing position and loop length of the currently selected clip, assuming this is a MIDI clip. The lower left 4x4 matrix of clip launch buttons function as drum pads, if there is a drum rack present in the selected track. The lower right 4x4 matrix serves as a 16 step sequencer for the currently selected drum pad. Using the scene launch buttons, you can control the velocity of entered notes. The row of clip stop buttons selects the sequencing grid: The choices are 1/32t, 1/32, 1/16t, 1/16, 1/8t, 1/8, 1/4t, 1/4 from left to right.
When there are no tracks explicitly armed for recording, record arm on MIDI tracks will follow the track selection, so you will always be playing the drum rack on the selected track. The lower left 4x4 matrix of clip launch bottuns will mirror the contents of any drum rack present in the selected track. Pressing a button will play the sound present at that position in the rack and select that pad for note entry. If you want to select a pad and not have it play its sound, press the pad while holding Stop All Clips. Note that this will also select all notes of that pad for editing (explained below).
You can page through all 4x4 banks of sounds in a rack using the Bank Select ↑/↓ buttons. Holding Shift, you can scroll through the rack row by row.
(The following is taken from the Push manual.) The loop length controls allow you to set the length of the clip’s loop and determine which part of it you can see and edit in the step sequencer. Each loop length pad corresponds to a page of steps, and the length of a page depends on the step resolution. When working with drums at the default 16th note resolution, one page of steps is available at a time, for a total of one bar. To change the loop length, hold one pad and then tap another pad (or, to set the loop length to exactly one page, quickly double-tap the corresponding pad.)
Note that the page you see is not necessarily the page you hear. When you set the loop length, the pages will update so that the current play position (as indicated by the moving blinking pad in the loop selection section) always remains visible. But in some cases, you may want to disable this auto-follow behavior. For example, you may want to edit a single page of a longer loop, while still allowing the loop to play for the length you set. To do this, single-tap the pad that corresponds to that page. This will “lock” the view to that page without changing the loop length. To then turn auto-follow back on, simply reselect the current loop. (Note that single-tapping a page that is outside of the current loop will immediately set the loop to that page.)
When the view is locked to a specific page, holding Shift will display a finer grained loop selector spanning the lower right 4x4 matrix of clip launch buttons.
Pessing a button in the lower right 4x4 marix of clip launch buttons will add a note on the currently showing page of steps (assuming there wasn't a note already present). This uses the velocity selected using the scene launch buttons. Pressing and holding one or more buttons where notes are present will select these notes for editing. Pressing and holding a button where there isn't a note already present will create a note and allow you to edit this note immediately.
In sequencer mode, track encoders 5–8 are used for editing selected notes. Turning encoder 5 counter-clockwise will nudge those notes to the left and turning clockwise will nudge them to the right. Encoders 6 and 7 are for adjusting the note length (coarse/fine). Encoder 8 is used for adjusting the note velocity.
The track control button funtion as follows:
Pan turns automation sequencing on and off. When automation sequencing is turned on, turning a device encoder will create an automation step for the selected note.
Pressing Send A will duplicate the current loop, also copying all notes present in the original loop bracket.
Send B is a modifier button for muting drum pads and notes. Pressing a drum pad while holding Send B will mute/unmute the corresponding drum rack pad. Holding Send B and pressing a button corresponding to a note in the note entry section will mute/unmute that note.
Send C is a modifier button for deleting a pad's notes. Pressing a drum pad while holding Send C will delete all notes corresponding to the selected drum pad that are in the current loop bracket.
By default, all controls in the track control section function as just descibed. Pressing Nudge+, you can cycle to second device mode, and pressing again will cycle to track control mode. In these two modes, track encoders 5–8 will still be used for editing selected notes.
Known Issue: Simultaneously playing two drum pads that are on the same row can lead to notes getting stuck. This seems to be due to how Live handles MIDI data from the APC and probably can't be fixed in the remote script.
Sequencing for instrument (synthesizer) tracks is not natively supported, however there is a workaround: You can group your synthesizer in an instrument rack and add an empty drum rack as a second chain. This way, the track is recognized as a drum track and 16 chromatic steps are visible/playable at a time. Unfortunately, as long as the issue mentioned above is not fixed, this is only really useful for monophonic playing.
In principle, automation sequencing ought to work the same way even for audio tracks. At the moment though, this is not properly implemented.
The idea and implementation of using the track encoders for controlling a second device is mainly taken from Hanz Petrov's APC64-40 script.