Review: Novation Launchpad
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 1:32PM Review at a Glance
What is it?
A dedicated controller for Ableton Live based on the "Session" view
Who would use it?
Live users who want a controller that works more like Live does.
How does it sound?
N/A
What is so great about it?
Allows a very intuitive workflow especially when working with clips. The user can improvise, rearrange, etc. all without using a mouse.
What is not so great about it?
While possible, using it for serious mixing seems like a bit of a stretch.
Review Summary
The difference between working with Live with the Launchpad and with a typical controller is like night and day. It takes moments to get started with the Launchpad but it's deep with functionality not to mention extensibility with Automap. For the price of a mediocre keyboard controller, you can get a solid, intuitive, purpose-built interface that closes the gap between ears and hands.
Full Review
If you are an Ableton Live user, you have probably at least once dreamt of a control that worked like Live worked. Sure you could map clips to keyboard keys or drum pads but that involves some strange geo-spatial transformations to go on in your mind to translate the clips to the keys to your fingers to the noise. How about “See Square. Touch Square. Square Make Sound”?
That’s more my speed.
Last year Akai came out with the APC, another controller dedicated to Live. But generally I thought it looked too much like an ordinary controller with an extra set of tiny pads. Not to bad-mouth it but it wasn’t quite “Live-like” enough for me to drop some money and kick another controller off the desk.
But the Launchpad caught my attention for two reasons: Firstly was how directly they worked with Ableton to design the controller (the controller bears both the Novation and Ableton logo). Secondly was how different it was from anything other control. No knobs. No faders.
Heck, even an MPC has knobs, but clearly the Launchpad was meant strictly for button pushing. Is that innovation or limitation, we’ll let’s see.
The Launchpad has 4 major modes, Session, Mixer, and 2 User modes, each selectable by a clearly labeled button at the top. The Session mode is clearly where the Launchpad shines. How do you work the Launchpad? How you work Live. Press a square on the grid to launch a clip, press empty square in the same column to stop the clip from repeat. Press the arrow keys on the right side and launch an entire row of clips at once.
Of course unless you have a very simple song you are going to have more clips that is allowed by the 8x8 grid of the Launchpad, but dedicated arrow keys allow you to shift your “focus” to different sections of your Session, and a red line in Live shows you the section that you are currently focused on.
This means that you can manipulate a lot of things in the Session without touching the mouse. Which means you are doing fewer mental acrobatics to get your music going. That’s a good thing. Additionally you can do things that you can’t do with the mouse such as trigger more than one clip at a time. That’s come up more than once.
So basically the learning curve on using the Launchpad with Live is almost zero. A few seconds to learn about how to move about the grid and you’re off. So that’ll keep you busy for a while.
The other dedicated mode, the Mixer, is not quite as exciting but quite useful since it allows you to fine tune your arrangements even more. The default mode for Mixer gives you access to the “below the fader” controls on a mixing board. Solo, Arm, Mute (well, track on/off). You can switch to Volume mode to control the faders, with the columns of colored lights acting as your visual indicators.
I would be lying if this was an ideal way to mix for me. While workable, it did seem clumsy and counter-intutive. However, I do already have a strong bias towards physical faders so someone coming to it without that psychological baggage may find it more natural.
I also liked that one of the “User” modes mapped to a drum map, another way that getting going with the Launchpad was quick and smooth. However, having them all mapped to 127 velocity did limit how far I got before I had to break out the manual.
Of course, just being easy-to-use is not enough, people love flexibility. And if you want to get in there and program the controllers to do whatever you want of that’s there (great for drum machines of course). Also, the Launchpad is compatible with it’s AutoMap software making mapping easier if you own one of the many Automap support devices/software.
The Launchpad can also be controlled from Live, and if you wanted to use it as part of your next installation at the MOCA, you can break out Max for Live and get all orthogonal with it.
While the Launchpad probably can’t be your *only* controller, it can definitely be your main compositional tool for Live. It’s easy to understand interface, relatively small footprint and lack of “breaky” knobs and faders make it excellent for taking with you for those on-the-spot breakbeat sessions*. I have moved my Axiom out of the center stage and and replaced it with Launchpad and have not regretted it. I mean, I still need to use the Axoim, playing minor 7th chords on the Launchpad is not so easy, but the bulk of my work gets done on the Launchpad. And at $149 it’s not a major (“what can I sell?”) purchase. And while the build may feel a little flimsy at first, it’s just that it’s light. It’s taken a lot of abuse (I am hitting it after all) and looks like the day I bought it.
Summary: For Live users, especially those who may already own a control with keys/knobs, the Launchpad is a game-changing addition to your rig. It works like Live and that means it just works. I love my Launchpad and am not giving it back.
*never actually happens
To purchase the Novation Launchpad click HERE.
Review by Brent Hoover