Vst Control

Is it possible to play vst instruments from the APC 40 or will I have to use a midi keyboard
QFS

You can map the APC40 to control what ever you want, but depends what you want to do.

These two videos may help a little bit.

https://www.youtube.com/user/ona1r#p/u/7/EVRnmJYVsG0

https://www.youtube.com/user/ona1r#p/u/6/YuvOEf7Odls

it is possible with one of the APC40 remote scripts that can put the APC40 into note or scale mode. I use this mode to trigger effects in Stutter Edit or other MIDI based effects plugins. The downside for playing instruments is that the pads won't be pressure sensitive.