Novation Launchpad Pro MK3

Well, I just got this controller, but there are some issues I would like to point out. There are clearly some bad choices made by Novation, and there are flaws in their platform for customizing. The product gives people the impression that it's nothing more than a really well-made watch The note mode on their software looks so cool that you'd want to use it. They have designed everything inside and out. There are aspects of the controller that make it feel limited. Even with all the pads, the system offers a lot of functionality. I would like to highlight the fact that it only has four custom pages in order to set the tone for this review. With Note mode and 4 custom pages, you can take notes. Is it because there are only four? Right there down the right side are eight buttons, four of them of which are not illuminated. Were we really planning to hand out 8 whole grids? And to make matters worse, one of them is taken up by the ordinary piano keyboard. That's right, the keyboard with regular piano notes in an readable layout isn't I believe that keyboard is a The scale keyboard is the only keyboard available in note mode. How does this relate to you? You cannot transpose it on a standard keyboard since there is a 49-key layout. Transposing a keyboard without any transposing keys, using a device that includes a transposing Note Mode doesn't offer a regular keyboard with transpose, so you'll have to use one of your 4 custom layouts to set it up. *why is a regular keyboard with transpose not part of this? What are the reasons we have only 4 custom layouts? Let's get away from that and focus on note modes. In my previous statement, I mentioned how limited the device feels. It is my subjective opinion, so you can say. You should mention it, when you find out that the Launchpad Pro has 32 scales in its Note Mode, while the Launchpad X (not reviewed by youtube reviewers) has been arbitrarily removed from half of those. They are showing you 16 out of 32 scales in the note mode settings, because there are 2 rows with How can it be improved? This scale is the major pentatonic. Note mode can't be used with the major pentatonic scale. As I admitted, I am not really familiar with these scales, but it doesn't much These different hungarian scales exist in the piece, but the major pentatonic is absent. What's the reason? Are there any limits to the number of lines of code the device can store? It is not just the device that does not have it built in, because it is not just the operating system. If we make a custom mode, we can get the major pentatonic scale keyboard. I mean, we won't get the cool features of Note mode, but at least we'd have Adding scale keyboards to Novation Components in your customizer is easy. Do you think you can add a major pentatonic scale to There is no. Only the scale keyboards that already exist in the Note Mode can be added. You have to write the major pentatonic note by note if you wish to create one. Then why are they trying to remove it completely from the system? There is a recurring theme here that the product has a certain feature in mind, but then the main keyboard modes are unable to take advantage of it. When you have a product like this, which is designed to make scale keyboards, it is very strange that it is incompatible with The regular keyboard does not have a transpose feature, but note mode has this feature. The subject has been on my mind for a while now. My mistake was in learning a song in a key that was different than its original. After learning a tune on a regular keyboard layout, I realized I had learned it in a different key. My first thought was "This thing would be nice if it could transpose by semitones" (just like It can. Oh wait, it does. If I choose NOTE MODE, I would have to use two custom layouts to get any sort of transposition, and I wouldn't be able to get semitone transposition. This is possible on a device that was intended to serve that purpose, which has that feature built-in. Specifically, this device is designed to fulfill this function. While Note mode has the advantage of using scale keys, it's not really that useful for those who wish to use the software as a keyboard, yet this is where the majority of the There is also measley 4 custom layouts. I would like to return to the customization software and the creation of notes one at a time. Let's discuss If the developers of this software could make it as easy as possible to use, then that would be fantastic. If you were using a regular MIDI controller on your phone or tablet, how would you type the midi value for a note, like '65', below when you are assigning the pad? Getting the note value from the drum program and entering it to the pad is easy with this approach. How does Novation work? You have to look at the keyboard part of the drum program you are using, and determine So entering notes one at a time is a bit challenging. I have to glance at the keyboard, determine that it's F# on octave 4, select F# from the note menu, and then select octave 4 from the other menu. My drum program is not able to give me that information. No matter what editor you use, all other editors let you type in numerical MIDI values. So once you've created a note, you can copy it, and can copy whole sections of any layout, There is nothing that you can copy. There are a number of things you have to do In a sense, it is like describing the bare bones of a bare bone. The reputation Novation has seems to ignore this fact. I think this is an important point to make because I will be able to It is not possible to name the pads. In a custom page, all you need to identify notes is the note name and octave. For example, in my drum kit, I know that B#, octave 3 corresponds to my snare drum. Perhaps if I were triggering clips or something, it would be helpful for me if I could name it something other than B#, octave 3 in my layout editor? The fact that people want to have this functionality is like Novation never thought it was a possibility. A note can't be undone by dragging another note onto it, so you must create the note from scratch if you delete one by accident. It is impossible to undo a mistake. It is just that from observing glimpses of the program in videos, you would not be able to tell. If Novation stuff were polished, you would expect it. Then I've ripped on the greedy (brilliant? ii) decision to cut off and remove half the scales, including the major pentatonic scale, and to make the regular keyboard unusable and occupy a custom slots, without the option of transposing notes. I have ripped on the device for having only four custom pages, one of which is taken up by the keyboard, so there are really only three. After that, I claimed that the online program also did not provide the scale keyboards as an option for customizing. After that, I took issue with how cumbersome it was to add individual custom notes to the program. When I ripped on this, I pointed out that you can't name or copy these once they're added. Now notice that none of the popular review channels on Youtube made any of these claims. It wasn't mentioned that the scales were missing, was it? OK, now let's talk about the pads. How can you tell if they are the best in their field? My knowledge of how high to set this is limited These pads do not pick up light touches, but they feel like end pads. It is just a sign that people have low standards when they say something like that is normal. Putting tape under the pads on my Launchpad X is similar to what I did to my Akai controllers in the past. The reviewers were actually onto something with the pads, but I realized the moment I saw them that they needed the mod just like the Akai pads did. I wish I didn't have to do this, but I did notice that they need the mod as well. It was a large pain to mod it, but I am really happy with the result. Since these pads are not able to detect "super light touches," they cannot work. Though I did have to modify them, I expected that to not be necessary. The only problem is they miss a lot if you are playing with only My expectations were that these pads would perform similarly to my modded Akai pads, but they didn't. This means you'll either have to modify them or expect that. All I have to say on the subject is My favorite part of the product is when you modify it, however I haven't seen anyone else modify it and wouldn't expect anyone else to do that due to the difficulty of the I'm really bothered by the things they either left out of their software or failed to include in it, both in their device and in the utility they designed to program it. It's possible that I'd buy another one, but I'm willing to mod it. However, I would probably get the Pro and mod that since it has all 32 scales and 8 custom modes instead. The odds against Novation are stacked against me. If you want to live up to your "great workflow" image, then please add the major pentatonic scale and the 4 missing custom modes, make the standard keyboard a note mode, and enhance your editor with better workflow functions. I did not wait long for my pads to be sensitive like my tape since they are supposed to be so gentle Modified pads would earn that prestigious reputation of being "up there with the best. ". My sincere thanks to those of you who have read.

Hope Wall

| Dec 26, 2020

A DAW controller versus an instrument for me, the Launchpad X really shines as a I appreciate the ease of use, especially for simplifying my record-keeping process. Mixer Mode, Note Mode, and Drum Mode are by far the most common modes I use. The real power of the instrument is in its ability to control Ableton, which makes it a truly great tool for playing. As my primary instrument is a guitar, I love being able to control so many features with my thumb this means that I can stay on top of my pick the whole time. The Launchkey often requires you to use two hands in comparison to the several buttons that it has. You can hold the shift button with one hand and then press the secondary control with the other hand. In spite of that, the Launchkey is a totally different animal and offers a lot of features that aren't available on Launchpad. Further, if you already own a 'regular' keyboard by adding this to the mix, it becomes a whole new keyboard by adding MIDI controller capabilities to it. There are a few big limitations with Scale Mode and Drum Mode, which I will cover in more I have a full-sized keyboard with a USB MIDI connection that I use for mixer mode. My Guitar/Interface, my Launchpad, and my Launchpad combine to provide ease of switching between instruments and voices. I am able to achieve this exactly with a single hand using the mixer mode. On every track, you can record and pan. You can also control sends to and from the track. The Capture MIDI app is amazing and is a must-have for any musician. I find that it has a large buffer, so you can play many, many measures and yet still get It is now my preference to use Capture MIDI over picking record first because you are in a more relaxed state, so you can simply keep playing until the part is Once you've done that, click Capture Midi and make a few edits and you're good to go. I like it a lot! Mode

A cool feature, you have the option of the pads lighting up in a pattern depending on the scale you have selected.

Limited availability It only has a few scales, and omits some key scales, for example pentatonic major is not included
but it does include a few esoteric scales as well. The LaunchPad X does not cover the basics, which is its biggest flaw. It's like the designer wanted to demonstrate how cool and quirky they are without showing off first. The Novation website ought to offer a way for users to customize which scales should be configured online. I don't mean by wasting an extra custom mode slot, but rather there should be a way for users to customize it directly on Note mode. A real joy to use the drum mode, the touch sensitivity is excellent. In Ableton only, it only supports the drum rack built in. The drum plug-in you are using must be from a third party Unless you are in Drum Mode, it will not be visible. There is no way to recognize ROLI Drums, Spitfire Audio's Drum, or MT Power Drum as drums. So, you get Note Mode with drums. As you play the notes in Scale Mode, you will hear the drum sound corresponding to the keyboard notes you mapped. As an example, you would choose C to be your bass drum and so on. Instead, you will want to select Custom Mode and the second one that has a drum pad setup. After you do that, you are ready Even in that case, there are still some issues. By default, only the drum rack slots filled with music are illuminated in Drum Mode. When you are using Custom Mode, all of the pads are illuminated. There are no preset sounds here, so you will need to explore the pads to find them mapped. To be fair, this may be a limitation of Ableton. Also, you are not able to see the drum sound names in the piano roll when using a 3rd party plugin. For certain types of instruments and parts, Note Mode works very well. My favorite is this thing that's made by Spitfire Audio with their The saxophone from DSK works well with this instrument. Basically, it is quite easy and intuitive to use the pads to play the melody lines for these types of instruments. The movements are very small and you can move four octaves with just one hand. It is extremely easy to hop around on this if you combine scale mode with intervals, etc. You can also play harmonies, chords or a little bit of harmony, rather Likewise, Expressive Strings are very well suited to this method. Not So Much for Piano


What this doesn't work well is playing piano. Even with the custom mode that simulates the piano keyboard. It's a gimmick just figure it out. There is a wide range of custom configurations you can create in the Custom Mode. One thing I experimented with and failed to do was to set up something comparable to the Device Mode that comes from LaunchKey. Refer to the screenshot below for an example of how the Launchkey will map the eight dials to the setting on whatever device or effect you are currently selecting Basically I created a custom setup with 8 faders and mapped them to effects in a midi-mapped way. I was able to do that. However, when you change the focus to a different effect, the controls remain mapped to the previous effect.

I haven't found a way to make the mapping dynamic to the currently selected effect like the Launchkey Device Mode. This will allow Launchpad to do even more awesome things in the future. Please leave a comment if you know how to do it.

Aubrielle Madden

| Nov 20, 2020

I was highly disappointed at the build quality of the launchpad that I received after performing extensive research and putting much energy and excitement into the decision making process, and even convincing my significant other to let me spend $350 dollars on what she thought was a toy. There are four sticky pads in the center Depending on the configuration, a persistent press of the pad may hold even after you have lifted your fingers, sometimes for a second, sometimes forever. My playing in note mode was even interrupted by random "ghost" touches on the pads. The entire experience has been disappointing, and I can't even return it as I'm in an area where riots are raging and it's hardly safe to leave the area. Big bummer, hopefully I can find a working product in the future.

Arthur Huff

| Apr 08, 2021

My son's iPad did not sync with this app as it claimed it did. The USB 3 port ended up being the best purchase we made after much research. You will need a USB to 0 powered hub and a lightning-to-USB cable to make this work. My 14 year old son absolutely loves it! It cost more, but he is so happy about it!.

Augustine Eaton

| Jun 20, 2021