bluzeplayr Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 I ordered an Akai MAX 49 a couple of months ago, and it finally arrived the other day. It has touch faders with LED indicators (8 faders x 4 banks), and I thought they would be the perfect drawbar form since they always show you the correct status and are easy to adjust. (I always thought Nord should use touch faders on the electros, but they do it differently.) It looks really cool and the drumpads and arpeggiator are pretty awesome. Anyhow, unfortunately, there is no way to get the akai max 49 to invert the faders so they increase toward you instead of away from you. So, you would need to get used to having the drawbars increase as they move away from you (the usual trick of setting min to 128 and max to 0 resulted in making the lights move opposite to the direction of your finger!). Also, the action is very stiff (they say the akai's are like that, but they soften over time), and there are no rotary faders, so you would need to switch to bank 2 and use the faders to adjust things like distortion and reverb. Anyhow, it had one key sticking up too high, so I returned it right away, and the quest for the perfect organ controller continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashville.Guru Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Just curious, what were you trying to control? Hardware/software? This is really what MIDI was originally about encouraging cooperation between companies that make the world a more creative place." - Dave Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzzz Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Just curious, why did it take a couple of months for you to receive your order? SFO is not exactly out-of-the-way......? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Just curious, why did you believe something with only 8 faders would operate in drawbar mode in the first place? Secondly, as Ashville.Guru hinted at in his post, if you were controlling software, there are a number of ways to make the faders behave as you wanted... a moot point now that you've returned the unit, but... Just curious, why did it take a couple of months for you to receive your order? SFO is not exactly out-of-the-way......? Akai products are notoriously slow to come from their distribution channel. APC40's have been backordered throughout N.America for well over half a year now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 I always thought Nord should use touch faders on the electros, but they do it differently Yes, I really expected this would be the next direction for Nord, and was surprised to see the drawfaders. I agree, this does seem like a perfect match for them. But as for the Akai, yeah, as Sven kinda said,, 8 of them is a problem for an organ controller anyway, as is 49 keys (though my old X2 only had 49, and a single manual of an M3 style only had 44...)... and I also wondered whether the Akai would have any practical way to assign controls to percussion on/off, 2nd/3rd, decay and volume. Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashville.Guru Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Perceptive as usual, SG... ... and I also wondered whether the Akai would have any practical way to assign controls to percussion on/off, 2nd/3rd, decay and volume. There are 4X8 assignable buttons for on/off controls. In fact, in a pinch situation, you could also map pads/buttons to discrete values of continuous parameters, like reverb/decay. For example, you could have the (4X)12 pads controlling 3 parameters, with 4 settings each. Then there's also the mod wheel, which can be remapped. Not as good as a rotary fader, but arguably usable - in a pinch situation. Assuming software sounds, of course . The touch faders are perhaps one of the most interesting hardware innovations in keyboards in recent memory. All the advantages of motorized faders, and then some - sans the disadvantages. Potential for preset recall, with intuitive visual indication. Here's hoping for widespread adoption on all keyboard models! Pity Akai hasn't shown the same enterprise in the keybed area. While I empathize with the OP regarding the lousy keys, and respect his experience, the thread title is a tad misleading... This is really what MIDI was originally about encouraging cooperation between companies that make the world a more creative place." - Dave Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humannoyed Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 The touch faders are perhaps one of the most interesting hardware innovations in keyboards in recent memory. All the advantages of motorized faders, and then some - sans the disadvantages. Potential for preset recall, with intuitive visual indication. Here's hoping for widespread adoption on all keyboard models! +1 Also this unit adds a cv out to a midi/usb controller. Anyone interested in that combination? "It is a danger to create something and risk rejection. It is a greater danger to create nothing and allow mediocrity to rule." "You owe it to us all to get on with what you're good at." W.H. Auden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluzeplayr Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 It was available for order from Guitar Center after the NAMM show, but of course, NAMM stands for "not available for many months." So, I had to wait. I thought I could get by with 8 drawbars since I usually keep the first one all the way out. If they had a rotary fader I would have made that #1, but otherwise it would have gone in bank 2. Of course, it's never quite right with only 8, but the touch faders were so cool I could have made the compromise. My intention was to control mainstage vb3, which I believe will transmit the fader settings to the touch faders. I suppose mainstage could have inverted the settings, but I also wanted to be able to control a backup hardware module (PC-2r) in case the mac failed, so that was enough to stop me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluzeplayr Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 Re the faders: the lights on the faders only go from bottom to top, so even if the software could invert the fader values (both on the way in, and when it updated the status), it wouldn't look right, because 'no lights' would mean the drawbar was all the way out, and a couple of leds at the bottom would mean the drawbar was most of the way out, and all led's lit would mean the drawbar was all the way in. So, it looked kind of funny, though I suppose one could get used to it. There are enough clonewheel models out there that someone should do touch faders while most of us are still playing, or at least put together a do-it-yourself controller kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbee Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 I have the Max 49, I am not having any success to make it work with Ableton Live 8.2.1. in OSX 10.7.4 The path directory as mentioned in the manual to install drivers is incorrect. I managed to instal the drivers by going to Application>Live>Show package contents. I can see Max 49 in my preferences in control surface but I don't know which option to select in Input and Output (Whether Midi or remote). I tried all the different options, the instruments work but unable to stop, play or record from the midi controller and also I don't know how to midi map the touch faders, as of now the touch faders don't do anything.Any help or resources would be appreciated. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Any help or resources would be appreciated. Thanks. Presumably you've watched the tutorial video on setting up your MIDI controller on the Ableton website? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 I can see Max 49 in my preferences in control surface but I don't know which option to select in Input and Output (Whether Midi or remote). Directly from the manual: 5. Open Live's Preferences window. Windows: Options f Preferences. Mac: Live Menu f Preferences. 6. Select the MIDI Sync tab on the left-hand side. 7. Select MAX49 as the Control Surface. Windows: Set the Control Surface to MAX49 and set the Input and Output to USB Audio Device. Mac: Set the Control Surface, Input, and Output to MAX49. Note: MAX49 will be the last item in the Control Surface drop-down menu. 8. Under MIDI Ports, next to Input, set the Track and Remote settings to On. This allows Live to accept Track and Remote MIDI from MAX49. 9. Close the Preferences window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbee Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Thanks guys, still no luck. I chose MAX49 as control surfaceThe input and output options are:Akai MAX 49 (Port A)Akai MAX 49 (Port B)Akai MAX 49 (Midi)Akai MAX 49 (Mackie)Akai MAX 49 (Remote) Screenshot:http://i45.tinypic.com/34qlkdv.png Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Well, first of all, why do you have all the "Sync" options set to "On"? Secondly, you shouldn't have all of those MIDI Ports active. Try selecting only one of each Input & Output and try again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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