Novation SL mkiii

In the top half, things get decidedly colourful,
with an RGB LED-festooned plethora of knobs,
sliders, buttons and screens that looks more like
the cockpit of an aeroplane than a MIDI
controller. Speciically, there are eight rotary
encoders and associated buttons, ive LED
screens, eight sliders, 16 backlit velocity-
sensitive pads with polyphonic aftertouch, 16
‘soft buttons’, and a transport section for
operating the sequencer or a connected DAW.
The SL MkIII comes preloaded with mapping
templates for a wide range of hardware devices
– Octatrack, Peak, Sub 37, Nord Lead 2, Prophet
6, etc – selected and loaded from the front panel.
These are managed and added to using the free
and fairly intuitive Components software editor/
librarian, so making and storing your own (up to
64 on the unit) is certainly no great chore.
Opening DAWs
While templates are used for hardware and
standalone software control, getting the SL MkIII
talking to your (supported) DAW is even more
straightforward. Press the InControl button and
the encoders, sliders, pads, soft buttons and
transport section all hook in bidirectionally to
Live, Logic, Cubase, Pro Tools, Studio One
Reaper or Reason, facilitating a degree of hands-
on control that varies from one to another.
Thanks to Novation’s experience with the
Launch range of controllers, Live is the best
supported of the lot, with the rotaries and LED
screens enabling visually guided control of
devices and plugins, the pads launching Session
View clips and triggering Drum Racks, the
sliders and soft buttons operating the mixer, and
so on. Despite the simplistic representation of
parameters in the screens, it’s not a million miles
away from the control aspect of Ableton’s own
Push. Reason compatibility covers particular
instrument and efect parameters but not the
main mixer; and although Logic doesn’t allow
access to full plugin interfaces, it does assign the
rotaries to that DAW’s Smart Control macros.
Cubase, Pro Tools, Studio One and Reaper,
however, use the HUI protocol, and only grant
access to the transport and mixer.
The magic number
Playing to such a diverse array of functionality,
the SL MkIII could easily have ended up being an
unfocused jack-of-all-trades, but Novation have
unequivocally hit the mark, building a
ridiculously versatile controller keyboard that
shrewdly taps into the current electronic music
zeitgeist. Not only is it a good DAW controller (a
great one, indeed, if said DAW happens to be
Live), but it brings together – and goes to town
with – everything in your studio that accepts
MIDI or CV. And rather than being the
impractical novelty feature we half-expected
before we actually ired it up, the Circuit-style
sequencer provides a refreshingly tactile and
self-contained alternative to your regular
onscreen equivalent – it’s so much fun.
Incredibly well designed, hugely empowering
– both creatively and functionally – and Swiss
army knife-like in its versatility, the SL MkIII sets
a new standard for controller keyboards.
Web novationmusic.com
Verdict
For High quality keys and pads
Brilliant onboard sequencer
Play and control eight things at once
Tight DAW integration
CV/Gate/Mod/Clock outputs
Against InControl varies by DAW
No of-grid nudge in sequencer
A supremely lexible central hub for all your
hardware and software, the SL MkIII is a
massive step up from its predecessor
10/10
Alternatively
Native Instruments
Komplete Kontrol Mk2
250 » 10/10 » £479/£559
NI’s alternative only ofers control
over NKS-compatible plugins
Nektar Panorama P4
182 » 9/10 » £440
Control a range of popular DAWs
with this lexible keyboard and
plugin/mixer control surface
One of the things that sets the SL MkIII
apart from the competition is its
onboard eight-track/Part sequencer.
Polyphonic sequences (Patterns) of up
to 16 steps in length are programmed
step by step or recorded live, looper
style, with the pads used to select, clear
and visually represent steps, and notes
input via the keys. The output and MIDI
channel of each Part is easily adjusted,
so you could have one Part triggering,
say, a hardware drum machine, another
playing a Eurorack setup via CV/Gate,
and the other six routed to separate
plugin instruments in your DAW. A Part
can comprise up to eight chainable
Patterns, the keyboard can be zoned to
play/sequence multiple Parts at a time,
and Patterns are fully editable from the
unit. As well as note data, automation
of pretty much all of the SL’s controls –
wheels, rotaries, sliders, etc – is
recordable, too. There’s also an
arpeggiator (active for only one part at
a time, alas), the rhythm of which is
programmed on the pads.
The SL MkIII’s sequencer is
surprisingly powerful and fast to work
with. Our only signiicant issue with it is
that notes adhere rigidly to the grid at
all times, quantised on the way in and
un-nudgeable afterwards, which rather
limits its expressiveness in terms of
‘human’ timing.
Seeing Patterns
Design your own custom templates with Novation’s free
Components editor/librarian for Mac and PC
The eight-track/Part sequencer is unarguably one of the highlights of the SL MkIII
“Thanks to Novation’s
experience with the
Launch range of
controllers, Live is the
best supported”
February 2019 / Computer musiC / 91
novation sl mkiii / reviews <
CMU265.rev_slmkIII.indd 91 06/12/2018 15:30