Same. I've always made music over DJing, and I was never able to afford a real turntables. When I started, Ableton was on version 2 or 3, and Traktor had just come out. The first version of Traktor had a number of issues (e.g. the minimum bump in pitch increment was way too big)... so I ended up sticking w/ Ableton, and I used an M-Audio Ozone controller (a good # of years before the APC40 came out)... aaaand now I feel old.
Currently, I use a Livid Instruments CNTRL:R. You should check out the Livid stuff. To me it's gives a bit more control in Ableton (for live performance) over the Akai stuff. Plus, they're just a really cool company in general :)
That thing is sexy, I like your taste in controllers. I'm a sucker for plug-n-play functionality (hence, the APC), but it'd be good for me to get something and map it out customized. That CNTRL:R is a pretty penny though. I want a Push more than anything, but... $ame problem.Currently, I use a Livid Instruments CNTRL:R.