Is this the right choice for me?

Hey I'm brand new to this forum, and to producing as well. I am currently running Ableton 8 and have an MPKmini. I am starting to sample some things and am creating my own beats/riffs using the instrument packs that come with Ableton. I am looking to expand my setup, and was going to go pick up an APC40 tomorrow for $200 from a guy who had listed it on craigslist. I just wanted to make sure that this piece of equipment is the right thing for me, as I was also looking into the MPD32. The stuff I am creating is very "Pretty Lights" esque, and I know that he uses and MPD32 in his live stuff. Because of already having the MPK (which has 8 pads and 2 banks, so essentially 16 pads) I thought it would make most sense to go purchase the APC40 because of it's more vast capabilities (mainly because of the extensive trigger functions). Am I making the right purchase by going with the APC40? I'm on a tight budget, so it's really between one or the other.

Prompt responses would be greatly appreciated, as I am supposed to go purchase the APC40 tomorrow. *P.S. I realize that this forum is "MPD" oriented, but it seems like it's a broad enough community that you guys would have some knowledge relating to other similar Akai equipment.*

-Thanks, Max

MPD= (drum) sample triggering. A controller to control sounds. Off course it has the transport buttons and you could program the mpd to trigger clips, but that's not it's primary purpose.

APC40= all about controling Live. Launching the clips and stuff. Might come in handy when recording clips, but to me it feels like this controller was really designed to trigger the clips during a recording session or during a peformance.
I don't know if you can set up the APC to trigger the pads in the drumracks and other instruments, either way, the buttons/pads on the APC are not ideal for triggering and playing individual samples.

It depends on you what part of your workflow you are trying to improve. Sample programing or triggering clips?

Menco wrote:MPD= (drum) sample triggering. A controller to control sounds. Off course it has the transport buttons and you could program the mpd to trigger clips, but that's not it's primary purpose.

APC40= all about controling Live. Launching the clips and stuff. Might come in handy when recording clips, but to me it feels like this controller was really designed to trigger the clips during a recording session or during a peformance.
I don't know if you can set up the APC to trigger the pads in the drumracks and other instruments, either way, the buttons/pads on the APC are not ideal for triggering and playing individual samples.

It depends on you what part of your workflow you are trying to improve. Sample programing or triggering clips?

I'm looking to improve both really. I plan on putting on some very small live performances in the future, but while also on the other hand being able to improve the production of samples that I mix. If I'm not mistaken, the MPKmini (which I already own) has the same pressure-sensitive (5 level?) pads as the MPD series. If I still were to go with the APC40, would the MPK provide a vast enough functionality in order to program decent samples? (The MPKmini isn't pre-mapped with Ableton at all, I would just have to individually map the knobs and pads for each Live set.)

It all depends on you how much you rely on the pads when programming.
For only drums 8 pads might be enough. If you want to program your chops with the pads then you might want to have 16 pads. But that depends on your workflow and is a decission only you can make.

Why not best of both worlds: apc20 and mpd16?

About the midi mapping:
Just midi map all your knobs and pads to ableton in a blank session. Then save that session as your template.