Customer Reviews

Novation Launchpad Ableton Live Controller

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have owned one of these for four months and have gotten a good grasp of its relative strengths and weaknesses. The Launchpad is a natural extension for Live's Session View. There is just enough visual information implanted on the interface for you to identify clips easily. The User1 User2 modes are great for a few MIDI triggers but lack any serious expression as the pads themselves aren't velocity sensitive. The mixer mode might be useful for some but I never touch it due to the limited resolution of expression and the immediacy required for their proper function (if minimalism is your goal in this department, seek the Korg nanoKONTROL USB Controller, Black). The saving grace, outside of its Session mode, is the user created software. The Launchpad has been transformed into a monome like device, a visual harmonic table, a step sequencer and a few other creative apps that are hard to describe in a concise fashion. When loading Live 8.1.1 (Vista) the Launchpad will sometimes not be detected and will need to be replugged into the USB port and Live restarted (it only seems to happen less than 3% of the time).

Physically the device seems sturdy 'enough' it has fallen a few feet onto a rug a couple times but I wouldn't call it 'road worthy' since it's still made of plastic. The pads have a nice soft rubber texture though kinetically clunky when being pressed dead center. There is a decent amount of give on the pads before it triggers but in practice it isn't a big deal especially without velocity sensitivity. The LED lights aren't entirely uniform in brightness and color. You might receive a unit with a few slightly brighter pads or ones that display more red but it's only noticeable when all pads are lit up of the same color.

I don't know of any other open grid interface device that comes close to its price which probably explains the $199 price tag. Regardless of the competition, the Launchpad feels more like a $100-$150 device (due to aforementioned limitations of the device). When all said and done, I would buy one again if I had to. There isn't anything on the market right now at this price for the utility you gain from having it. The Akai APC40 Abelton Performance Controller might be an alternative solution if you don't have any other control devices for Live and don't need its alternative functions or its minimalism.

I make music for fun. I don't even think I'm very good at it, but I can spend hours and hours making loops, adding layers and sampling stuff on Ableton Live.

This product allowed me spend a lot less time using the mouse, specially once I get most of my samples down and want to start stitching things together. I love the lights, feel of the buttons and actually focusing on the music, and the flow of things instead of running with the mouse to activate clips.

I have also tried using it as a step sequencer and it's a lot of fun. At the price it's at right now, it's a great option for people like me.

I bought it to use it with five12 Numerology 2.3 step sequencer software.

It is a joyful experience, fun and incredibly productive.

My only complaint: I don't like how the USB cable attaches to the unit, it is oddly located, solid but clunky and not very comfortable.

Aside from that, this controller is a hit.

The launchpad is an elegant and minimal grid of 64 buttons. Unlike the Other Ableton grid controller, the launchpad's 8x8 grid of buttons makes it a perfect device for emulating the Monome and running any of the many Monome apps. Search for "nonome" and you will find plenty of information on turning the launchpad into a universal grid controller.

The only downside seems to be that the Launchpad requires a driver, and that it speaks slow MIDI rather than the faster and more flexible OSC protocol. Given the very low price, it is easy to overlook these compromises.

I was also surprised that Novation used a full sized USB-B plug rather than the Mini-B that my Korg Nano and Akai LPK25. Again, not a big deal, but Mini-B would have been nicer.

I'm currently using Logic as my primary DAW. I installed the Launchpad edition of Live and verified that it works with the launchpad, but my main interest is in using the Launchpad as a Monome. The included version of Live has great tutorials and is very complete, so I may start to do more work with Live.

*** Update ***

I started using Ableton Live at the end of 2010, and the Launchpad is an amazing Live controller. I don't know of any other way to launch multiple clips at exactly the same start time. Not only is the LaunchPad an excellent Monome emulator, but it works very nicely with Ableton. Definitely get one if you don't already have a Monome!

Simply put, an astonishingly useful device with the ability to be used in a large variety of situations - and it comes with a license for Ableton Live[granted this is launchpad edition, so it limits you to 64 clips, but still]! I have a pseudo-band at [...], and have created one and a half songs with it so far [I bought it approximately a month ago, but music is just an expensive hobby for me so I haven't had the time to do more]. I own an Alesis Micron, Yamaha QY300, Akai LPD8, and a few guitars and basses and this is the only piece of kit I have been returning to consistently - and when I'm not using it I want to be using it. It's more of a studio tool than a live tool, and for sure it isn't as good as a monome [which I want oh-so-dearly] - the triggering can be a bit intermittent because of the feel of the pads and it's not a great drum pad because of the lack of velocity sensitivity, but if you just want to be able to trigger clips/have fun pretending it's a monome or changing loops in the background while you do something else, you can play for hours with this. It's the cheapest solution for that by far. Looks cool, is intuitive, it's fairly small and light so it's also portable - I've been dragging it and my laptop with me in my bag along with all my books for school and it adds almost nothing to the weight.

In short: it's fantastic, don't miss out.

The launchpad seems fairly limited in what it can do, but it does it very well. I'm a total newbie to Ableton Live. I recently bought Live 8 Suite, and I've been spending a good deal of time learning it. I'm fairly versed on the basics of the software now, and I can create scenes, clips, tracks, etc.

The launchpad is super easy to use...there is a one page instruction sheet, which is all you need if that. It works right out of the box with Ableton as advertised...no hiccups there, and it is really fun to play with. Once you've got some tracks setup, and some basic clips to bounce off, you can quickly record-arm a clip and record on the fly. My one year old son gets a kick out of pushing the buttons :) You can also control the mixer settings for clips with it. I believe you can also tweak the sends which is one way to dynamically modify audio/midi efects, but I don't think you can do much to control any other effects, which is my only minor grievance. I kind of wish it had some knobs or sliders, but then again those would make the unit less portable -- subject to breaking. This this is built well, and I'm impressed with Novation and the integration with Ableton is solid.

I've had the launchpad for about 6 months. You really can't beat what you get for the price. It's one of those things where it can be as deep as you want. Some folks will use it for basic clip and scene launching, but the launchpad really shines when you incorporate 3rd party stuff into Ableton. With max for live you can do monome emulation which is cool for getting out-of-the-box ideas. The best application I've found traditional music production is nativekontrol's LPC mapping. LPC turns the launchpad into a fully integrated front-end for Ableton and increases the workflow way beyond the default modes. It makes Ableton a hands-on powerhouse. I've found that the combination of Ableton + Launchpad + LPC gives you the flexibility and functionality of Maschine or an MPC at a fraction of the price.

Ableton live 8 is a great piece of software and the launchpad works well with it. I own one of these already ever since it was released and purchased another one for more controls. I have gigged with the older one and it has lasted a lot longer than I thought it would (the plastic housing feels kind of cheap). I have even went through making my original launch pad act like a monome.... so why the 3 stars?

The -1 star is due to the lack of faders/knobs/and a dedicated solo button. After purchasing the Akai APC40, I realized just how important all of the features it offers over the launchpad really do matter be it in a live setting or in the studio. I still love my launchpads because they are relatively cheap and take up a small footprint, but if I had to do it all over again I would only purchase the APC 40.

If you truly want to make ableton much easier to use, I absolutely reccommend getting the APC 40 over this if you are especially in a studio setting where you have access to power. If you do a lot of traveling (like me) then the launchpad will serve you well, because it only needs USB.

To reiterate,

launchpad for traveling/extreme customizing

apc 40 for real production

I received the Novation Launchpad in time and have no complaints about that part of the order. The Novation Launchpad is very intuitive and easy to use if you have a good grasp on music, electronics, software, and technology. The weight of the product is not too light but heavy enough to where you can bash the buttons and it will stay in place. My only gripe about this product is the software it comes with. I'm fairly proficient at using Ableton Live 8, however you HAVE TO USE the Ableton Lite Launchpad version that comes in a disc. It is programmed to recognize your Novation Launchpad, and doesn't come with the instruments I'm used to using in my production process. So currently, I would have to build my Livesets in an older version of Ableton and create a new Liveset in the Launchpad version.

If you are making music with computers the novation launchpad is probably one of the first non-keyboard based controllers you should purchase. very sturdy, inexpensive and bus powered, it is the perfect form factor for performing grid based music making (via ableton live), or step sequencing (via numerology monome style emulators)