Naturally though, things have moved on significantly over the past ten years, and the slightly simplistic nature of those original Launchpads now looks rather dated. As we said in the introduction, the basic Launchpad design is over a decade old now, and that says something about how popular and adaptable the platform is. Launchpads work for newcomers or more seasoned types who need a portable way to trigger clips and scenes. These maybe aren’t worth abandoning your current grid controller for, unless you really want the Mini’s clip colours (or the X’s MIDI out), but they are viable candidates if you’re starting out and budget and/or mobility is important to you. The Launchpad is a well-established name and the inclusion of Ableton Live Lite means that you can get busy immediately. These two ‘pads are incredibly compact and portable. Who knows, perhaps the next incarnations of these will have to be foldable! Do I really need this? velocity-sensitive RGB pads – see and control your Ableton Live Session View and play instruments expressively

Creating a template on the Launchpad is done through the use of Widgets, each of these has different functions:Then set the Launchpad X DAW Out and DAW In for the Input and Output ports and then match the settings below: Extending Launchpad X and Launchpad Mini’s remit beyond Ableton Live, you can customise the MIDI mappings of each within three (Mini) or four (X) custom modes using Novation Components, for control of almost anything. Send out MIDI CCs, notes and program change messages, and even use rows or columns as faders – the only limit is your imagination. And both models come complete with a comprehensive bundle of included software, including Ableton Live Lite, a range of plug-ins by AAS, XLN Audio, Klevgrand and Softube. Marking ten years since the arrival of the original Launchpad, we’re immensely proud to release the latest full-sized and portable versions of the world’s favourite Ableton Live grid controller: Launchpad X and Launchpad Mini [MK3]. Made to perform.

It’s all very easy-to-use and flexible, making the Launchpad X an excellent option for creating custom performance setups to control your favourite instruments or creative effects. It’s just a slight shame the unit has no MIDI Out, allowing these to be patched directly to hardware. Launchpad X is our essential MIDI pad controller for Live, enabling fast and effortless clip and scene launching, expressive instrument play, and direct transport and mixer control. Launchpad X’s 64 velocity- and pressure-sensitive RGB pads are our most responsive yet, while Drum and Note Modes provide automatic switching between percussive and melodic instrument triggering, and the dedicated Capture MIDI button means you’ll never lose a great idea again. Dynamic Note and Scale modes keep your basslines, melodies, chords and leads perfectly in key, and crucial performance controls – stop, solo, mute, record arm, levels, pans and sends – are a button press away. With USB-C connectivity and no drivers to install, Launchpad X puts everything you need right at your fingertips, so you can spend less time mousing around and more time making music. CC Button allows you to send a Control Change message. You can determine the CC number, the 'on' value, the 'off' value, the channel, and the behaviour (Momentary, Toggle, and Trigger which lets you increment through values). Control Change messages are useful for mapping to various functions, you can map them to things in Ableton such as device or transport controls.Softube Time & Tone Bundle – Consists of Powerful Reverb, Delay, Distortion & Mastering Tool Plug-Ins. Launchpad X is the essential 64-pad MIDI grid controller for Ableton Live and Logic Pro. It gives you everything you need to make music – launch, play, and perform your sounds with the large, velocity-sensitive RGB pads and mixer controls. Each widget has different settings, some of this has been explained above. All widgets allow you to change the MIDI channel, and Widgets on the same template can have different channels. Selecting “Global Channel” will mean this widget uses the channel selected from the Launchpad itself, allowing you to change what the control is interacting with from the hardware. Then go to the Preferences (Options > Preferences on Windows, Ableton Live > Preferences on macOS) and go to the Link/Tempo/MIDI tab:

To use multiple Launchpads, use multiple instances of MIDI Out set to different MIDI ports (make sure IN/OUT ports match for each Launchpad). 115 is the default if you want to share projects with others.Bundled together with the Launchpad X is a whole host of wide-ranging software and plug-ins. Pioneering companies such as Softube, Klevgrand and many more have provided you with a selection of their products – granting you the tools needed to increase the variety and quality of your sounds. Logic Pro X 10.5 Live Loops

A great little USB-powered device that manages to fit a keyboard, knobs, and a set of launch buttons into a very small footprint. I’m a big fan of this versatile layout. Drum pads? You can’t have everything. Includes a copy of Ableton Live Lite and a plug-in bundle. The Scale Keyboard includes up to 8 notes from a scale. You can choose which scale, which root note, which MIDI channel and which octave this uses. The Custom Mode editor can be used with or without a unit connected, but this article will assume that one is connected.Although Ableton Live remains the Launchpad’s primary focus, the X also comes ready-made for use with two other Novation-built tools. MIDI Note lets you assign a note to a single pad. You can customise the note, the octave, and the channel, as well as change the behaviour of the note to be: The first is Ampify Launchpad, the company’s accessible, DJ-style music-making app that allows users to trigger, manipulate and perform with loops from their mobile device.