Going to give myself an small xmas present in the form of a mini Midi controller and would like some opinions , pro-cons etc from a shortlist : Akai APC Mini <> Novation Launchpad Mini MK2



use for starters:
switching / launching various titles/overlays
start stop recordings
basic replays
audio on of
switch between live and various promo clips , playlists , full screen graphics
etc

really need visual feedback on status and function (labels?) !!

opinions ?

thanks
Guy

ps often to be used @ outdoors situations (button lights visibility ? )

thank you @al4video

currently more interested in how both compare to each other in terms of use
seems the difference is mainly the sliders and size/shape of the buttons, currently for me I see no use in the sliders but that could change
how is the visibility of the lighted buttons compared for example
shortlisted these 2 due to their compact (travel) size
Price wise they are about the same here
Does anyone use labels on them ( or similar ones) ?

I use the Akai APC Mini with paper labels with glue that sticks to the button. The labels are still easy to switch out.

I bought the labels in the local bookstore, and they fit more or less the size of the button.

If there were more space between each row of the buttons, I would prefer to stick the labels right above the row, so the label is not on top of the button, but just above the button on the device.

I've looked up the Launchpad device you are looking at, and it's really up to you whether you like square buttons, or more rectangular. I prefer the rectangular, which allows me to stick on a label with a bit of text, I usually put two or three words.

I like using sliders to zoom and pan either individual inputs or the contents of the output window.
This is particularly useful in a picture-in-picture mode where is can be handy to adjust the position of the larger image so the smaller image doesn't block something important.

@ doggy

Again, I don't know whether this applies to newer Launchpads or other MIDI devices, it's just my experience with mine, and sorry if my description is somewhat confusing but I will try and clarify.
I used the "Overlay" function as an example as I believe it is the most 'visual' example of a toggle button I am referring to, Click once and it's ON, Click again and it's OFF, but it applies to any similar toggle function in vMix like 'Record', 'Stream' or Start/Pause of a Timer.
With the dual stage nature of my Launchpad buttons, it acts like two mouse clicks when you Push and Release each "MIDINote" button, one click when you PUSH and one click when you RELEASE, thereby negating (actually ON/OFFING) the very function you want ON with each PUSH of the button (unless of course you hold the button down, which as stated is not practical).
Hope that helps clarify a little.
Perhaps others can chime in as to whether this "Dual Stage" nature of my older Launchpad applies to newer or other devices.


Ice


EDIT: Solution/FIX illustrated by ARGO82 below

Ice, all the devices (x-keys, APC mini, Korg Nano devices etc) that have buttons seem to trigger two signals, a button down, and button up state. I generally will set shortcuts to activate on button down, which means selecting find in the shortcut dialogue, hold the target button down on the midi device, then set the function in the shortcut you want the button to activate. Then I release the button. That gives me the most immediate response on the shortcut.

Thanks for the feedback, xmas came and left me a apc mini :-)

First impressing ; is going to be useful once programmed to the specifications of my tasks

To make my life easier I got myself a template for within vMix ( asked Martin how to added it to the templates as for now I only managed replacing the other Akai's image and label coordinate files)

the activators make thing even better once i figured out some sequences: say I have a mute button it standard would light up in a sort of opposite way (light when not muted) . to get this more correct had to set a default state first prior to a color state when muted

pity though that one can only choose 2 states (colors) rather than all of them per button , say on an input have different color for active, preview or none of those , seems lowest in the list will take over previous state specified. (asking to much I guess ;-)

anyway useful tool after some prep work

@ Argo82

Thanks Mark, I'm not sure either if this is a "fix" or has always been the answer (as it seems I thought I had tried it before without success, but I don't know for sure).
In any event, it's a solution that works across the board and makes my Launchpad usable professionally!


Ice