Question? I need Help Implementing my TouchOSC replica of the AKAI APC40 MK2 with abelton.
>>>Project will continue soon 🙂 got a new device.
Because my 2016 iPad Air 2 is on it’s last leg the display is see trough like a ghost showing the home screen while app is open.<<<
Note. This Post has been edited and the bellow answered questions will be different from the first initial question being answered.
The reason being is I don’t wish create another post and flood the communities blog with similar questions scattered around so it’s more inline of my questions. Thank you kindly for understanding.
My TouchOSC – APC40 MK2 Replica Controller
Mixer View – Highlighted Yellow coloured tab under Pan encoders.
Mixer View – Highlighted Yellow coloured tab under Pan encoders Showing Sends.
Pads grid, Scene select button on the right, Stop clip & Track Select below.
Transport control & FX encoders. 
My modified CSS APC40 MK2 template
Duplicated the PAN encoders added containers & moved FX encoders which were hidden behind the 8 controllers.
I’m trying to create a custom script for the Apc40 Mk2 to work with my custom recreated version of the Apc40 Mk2 in TouchOSC.
The challenging parts for me are wrapping my head around the vast majority of options available and their implementations such as the modifiers/ action/ functions and reactions stuff. But I will try my hardest.
What I have trouble with implementing so far are some of the actual Apc40 Mk2 controllers paremeters/features below:
- Â Track Select button
(Not sure if this is the right way. But I used the Highlight Navigation mapping type and it semi works. I’m only able to select the tracks 1-8 but outside of the sessionbox).
So my question really is how would I implement them so they work while being selected where ever the session box is?
From Akais Apc40 Mk2 manual:Press and hold (emphasis on the SHIFT button) Shift and then press one of the first eight Track Selectors to select a Global Quantization setting: None, 8 Bars, 4 Bars, 2 Bars, 1 Bar, 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16. - Pan, Send, User buttons
(On the Apc40 Mk2 the Pan Encoders act as Send and User by being activated with the SEND or USER buttons).
How can I set them up the same way as on the apc40 mk2 so they switch between their states and which Im assuming are Banked & Grouped together but work independently meaning depending on their state selection?
For example when I move the SEND A Encoder on my touchosc controller only the sends are activated/triggered they work.
But when I try the created User Encoders (keep in mind as mentioned above) they are currently just copies of the PAN encoders and have the same Midi CC values they move the PAN encoder in Abelton, to what CC numbers would I have to change the midi cc messages for the encoders so they don’t clash?
From Akais Apc40 Mk2 manual:Assignable Knobs: Use these knobs controls track panning, track send levels, or other user- assignable parameters. Press the Pan button, Sends button, or User button to put the these knobs in the corresponding mode (described below).Pan:
Press this button to put the Assignable Knobs in Pan Mode, allowing them to control the panning positions of the current eight tracks.Sends.
Press this button to put the Assignable Knobs in Sends Mode, allowing them to control the levels of Send A for the current eight tracks.You can select a different send by pressing and holding Sends and then pressing a Track Selector (Track Selector 1 will select Send A, Track Selector 2 will select Send B, etc.).User: Press this button to put the Assignable Knobs in User Mode. You can then assign them in Live’s MIDI Map Mode, allowing them (while in User Mode) to control whatever mappable parameters you want. - SEND button
For Now I’ve coppied the Pan Encoders x2 in the CSS template and set them up as,
using the Track Send Mapping to control 1-8 Track Sends A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H.Only work in Track Selected state.
From Akais Apc40 Mk2 manual:
(To adjust send levels, press the Sends button to put APC40 mkII’s Assignable Knobs in Sends Mode, allowing them to control the levels of Send A for the current eight tracks.You can select a different send by pressing and holding Sends and then pressing a Track Selector (Track Selector 1 will select Send A, Track Selector 2 will select Send B, etc.).To use the Assignable Knobs to control other functions, press the User button to put APC40 mkII’s Assignable Knobs in User Mode. You can then assign them in Live’s MIDI Map Mode, allowing them (while in User Mode) to control whatever mappable parameters you want). - BANK/Quantisation ButtonÂ
On the Apc40 Mk2 is tied somehow to the Track select button which switches/activates their state to Bank Select buttons as well as Quantisation buttons function.So my question is how would I implement them so they change change their state/ switch/ and act as a Bank Selector and Quantisation buttons? - BANK Left/Right buttons
On the Apc40 Mk2 they act as FX encoders bank switching selection buttons.My question is how can I make it that when the Bank Left/Right buttons are triggered/pressed they switch the FX encoders page going left/right to access more encoders?Ideally I would like to be able to use the Bank Left/Right button to change the 64 Encoders are implemented in the Apc40 Mk2 CSS template/script.
For now I have them implemented and I can change the FX encoders selecting the respective Page Tab in my touchOSC Page.
Which lets me use them in Abelton and are working and i can change the encoders page in touchosc.
Ideally I’d like to be able to use the BANK left/right button if that makes sense? - SHIFT button.
Which has a lot of functions and function changes.In the Apc40 Mk2 the manual states that the shift button does the below:Track Selectors: Press one of these buttons to select its track, allowing you to use the Device Control Knobs for a device on that track. The right-most button (labeled Master) selects the Master track.Press and hold Shift and then press one of the first eight Track Selectors to select a Global Quantization setting: None, 8 Bars, 4 Bars, 2 Bars, 1 Bar, 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16.
Also The BANK button….
Bank: Press this button to activate or deactivate while using the Bank Select buttons to move the selection by 8 tracks (left or right) or by 5 scenes (up or down), effectively shifting the entire 8×5 matrix controlled by the Clip Launch buttons (represented in Live by a rectangle). The Clip Launch buttons’ colors will match the clips’ colors as assigned in Live.Shift: Press and hold this button to access certain buttons’ secondary functions.When holding down this button, the 8×5 matrix of Clip Launch buttons will enter Session Overview Mode. In this view, each Clip Launch button represents an entire 8-track-by-5-scene matrix of clips in Live. You can then press one of them to view that 8×5 matrix in the Clip Launch buttons. This allows you to access and use more than the 5 rows and 8 tracks represented by the Clip Launch buttons. While in Session Overview Mode, the Clip Launch buttons’ colors represent the following:
From Akais Apc40 Mk2 manual:
-
- Select a track by pressing the desired Track Selector.
- If the Device View is not shown at the bottom of the window, press the Clip/Dev. View until it is.
- Use the Device Left/Right buttons to select the desired device.
- Use the eight Device Control Knobs to control the parameters of the current device’s first bank. You can use the Bank Left/Right buttons to select the previous or next bank in that device.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
PS. Am not able to upload the TouchOSC, CSS Script, Template or Mode.
So I just linked them in my google drive for download below:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dLgtRx_STjpDMBAnWGK3OuYDgKd0LBUw?usp=share_link
Ps. If you have a spare iPad lying around just download TouchOSC and use the free desktop(Which does have a 7 second wait pop up message every time you save the template but still 100% usable) enjoy.
A little remark on your post, it would’ve been useful if you had separated specific issues in a numbered list, to make it easier to reference each point.
As a disclaimer: I don’t own an AKAI APC40 MK2 and have never used OSC before.
Hopefully other people can share their APC40 script, even if it’s just as an example? I don’t know if it’s possible to send DM’s in this forum, but if so, you could try sending one to a person who has the controller you are using and ask them if they’d be willing to share their script.
A year ago, Wim (one of the users on Remotify) started a Google Drive folder where people can share scripts, templates and functions. Here’s an APC40 MK2 json file, but I don’t know what it’s about, it could be just a Template.
“The issues that have my head scratching are the differences between the CSS APC MK2 template parameter values such as: NOTE Numbers CC values compared to what’s written in the AKAI APC40 MK2 Communications Protocol v1.2 manual.
I’m so confused when trying to reference AKAI’s Communication Protocol Manual but it seems to have slight difference in the NOTE ON/OFF messaging numbers.”
It is possible to change the parameters/values of a pre-defined template and save it as a custom one.
Also, I’ve seen your picture and you’ve got the hex to dec conversions wrong in the Note chart. I’ve made a little table using Google Spreadsheets to show you.
The left side contains all the decimal values, the right side contains the hexadecimal values. The selected cell in the image (with Hex 57) is linked to cell G12 (which you can see at the top of the image) which is the cell in the decimal table containing number 87. In your picture you point to number 98.
Also, the column “Octave”, in the table you referenced, contains the number “-1” twice, which makes all the following numbers appear in the wrong position.
“And to add more to my headache, how in the world would i be able to Activate the Shift button to switch to SEND’s button to change parameter to actually work and activate and to able to move the same PAN Radials/Encoders and back like on the original hardware APC40 MK2?”
Have you watched the tutorial about modes?
“I don’t think I’m asking to much. Please kindly tell me otherwise.”
Honestly, I think the post gives off a very chaotic energy which makes it feel like a lot of work just to get to the same level of understanding. A bit of structure in your post would’ve been nice, with less flair to be more concise, more direct. That’s only one person’s opinion.
“I’ll try to add pictures but am having trouble keeping keeping then under 40kb.”
Do you know you can take screenshots of a portion of your screen using shift + cmd + 4?
Here’s another link with more in depth info + instructions on how to change hotkeys (shown in the pic below). This is the way I take screenshots and post them, without the need of scaling down or anything. But I do use a 1080p monitor, don’t know how big 4K screenshots get.
“I have to add that i have No Clue in scripting python, sysEX, or any of the CSS Reactions, Mode types stuff either. I basically go by trial and error and common knowledge.”
I made a companion guide spreadsheet for working on Reactions. I too need to use trial and error to learn the boundaries of the app.
My advice: make a temp script wherein you can experiment with a very specific issue you’re having; if you succeed, you can always export your mappings and import them in the larger script; you don’t need to constantly start a new script, just throw away the mappings and start a new experiment when you’re done with the previous experiment (this way you don’t need to constantly change the Control Surface in Ableton’s MIDI settings). I named my experimentation script “Temp” and use it all the time, especially when I’m trying to figure out other people’s issues from the forum.
About the screenshots, I noticed I had been able to share 80 KB screenshots and checked the limit on the website: the max. size limit is 0.48 MB which is about 480 KB (so not 40 KB).
When taking screenshots of my entire desktop, the size of the pictures is usually between 1 and 1.5 MB. But when taking partial screenshots (using the shortcuts described in my earlier post), I almost never get images of a size larger than 480 kb.
For larger images you can use the native image app on a mac to resize pictures (don’t know the English or German name for it, it’s the standard app to open images with). You could also make a Quick Action in automator: https://support.apple.com/guide/automator/welcome/mac
Quick Actions are accessible from a right-click menu, so that way you could more easily resize pictures than having to open an app all the time.
You are absolutely right I was wrong the default community remotify picture size is limited to 0.48MB and not 40KB.
After using your provided guide using shift-command-3, I was playing around with the native Preview mac’s photo viewer to be specific with the Adjust Size option.
And noticed in my own testing that the best adjust resize aspect ratio for me is 1920×1920 outputs which gave me a file size of 518Kb.
I’m glad I was able to sort that out for future posts.
Thank you very much Glenn.
Sign up
User registration is currently not allowed.
Hi Glenn, can’t thank you enough I really appreciate your help, explanation and beautiful information you have supplied.
Also I would like to apologies for my sporadic post/questions.
They were written after spending a couple of sleepless and frustrating night’s of getting nowhere and everything going wrong.
I will cleanup(edit) my post and try to make it more digestible and understandable in an orderly fashion in the future.
1.) Thank you for taking the time and writing up the spread sheet and pointing it out to me the mistakes I did. This gave me the Ahhaa moment when you said that the Akai’s Protocol are Decimal and Hexidecimal which i was clueless about.
Lol i thought they were NOTE Numbers done weirdly. My bad sorry for that.
2.) I just finished and rewatched the Modes tutorial and now it makes sense.
What I didn’t understand is that the modes only work while selected, but now I’m wiser and can change the different mode states with the Shift mode selector.
Now I should be able to set/access the different modes with the Shift button to Toggle Release back to the 1st mode, which is what I needed like in the actual apc40mk2 controller to be able to use the SEND, USER (defined) button in order to have it mapped to the controllers PAN, SEND, USER buttons to switch the different modes setups and activate the Ableton’s Pan/ Sends/ Return/ Clip Quantasation/ & FX Radials(Pots) BANKS and Return/ Sends Tracks.
As-well as the Clip Quantisation option which are the same track Select button but change their state while using the Shift button to select the different mode. i hope im not too confusing with my writing.
Amazing stuff im stoked :). Once I’ll get it up and running.
3.) I am aware of mac’s screenshot app and that is exactly what i’ve been using.
But all the screenshot pictures I taken result a high Mb output.
What is your tip on keeping them below 40kb or resizing them?
I did try to use the Export option and lowering the jpeg quality, or switch to png but pictures are still above 40kb.
4.) Thank you for supplying your hard work, what I mean by that is your Companion Guide Spreadsheet for working on Reactions. I will have to dive deep and read it thoroughly, much appreciated.
Ps.
Just a bit of clarification.
I had the vision a long time ago of creating an exact custom TouchOSC Apc40Mk2 controller ever-since i first purchased my apc40mk2 way back in year 2016 so my goal is to preserve my controller as nowadays you can hardly get them anywhere unless they are too used or to worn out units.
I knew about Remotify’s and CSS powerful scripting abilities for a long time too, and only now trying to dive deep into it.
So now i can bring my vision into reality, which is having a working version of my fully functional TouchOSC ApcMk2 copy or Replica as I like to call it.
Which once I’m done will happily share with the remotely and css community.
Just would like to also clarify my thinking patterns are sporadic at best of times as English is my Third language and I am from a non english speaking background with my education being disrupted trying to escape war.
To be Exact Bosnian and Herzegovinan is my mother language, German my secondary language as i was born there and spend 8 years there and now permanently live in Australia.
So at the best of time I sometimes subconsciously switch for eg, the 21 english(Twenty One) to 1 in 20 german(One in Twenty) I should know better with my German upbringing and bring order to my posts lol.
Thank you again for your candour and all the info you generously supplied Glenn. You absolute legend.