Novation

resilient quality, the 25 velocity-sensitive mini
keys have a very light action and shallow travel,
which, although making them extremely easy to
play and great for quick runs, gives them a
slightly clacky feel. There’s no aftertouch, but
that’s not really to be expected at this price
point, so we won’t complain.
The pads can be conigured so that they
form an extra two octaves in addition to the
range of the keys, playing either in a diferent
register or, as they’re set up to transmit on MIDI
channel 10 by default, a totally diferent
instrument to the keys, which transmit on MIDI
channel 1. You can then select the scale that the
pads trigger (natural minor being the default),
with root notes at either end, which makes for
an inspiring new way to play and compose lead
lines and melodies, even for the more
experienced musician.
The new performance controls are a huge
bonus, with the pitch strip, in particular, being
great for trills, as it licks back to the central zero
value instantly when you lift your inger of from
either end. Conversely, the modulation strip
behaves like a physical mod wheel, sticking to
whatever value you set it at until you touch
again at the bottom to reset it to zero. Connect a
sustain pedal, meanwhile, and lowing pads and
atmospheric piano parts suddenly become a
breeze to program.
Looking shifty
The dedicated navigation buttons of the Mk2
have been changed to a Scene Launch button
and a button that turns the lower row of pads
into Stop, Solo and Mute switches. Located in
the top left corner, next to the touch strips, the
Shift button is the key that unlocks many of the
Mini Mk3’s long list of capabilities – from
changing the mode of the pads to navigating
within Live. You do, however, have to hold the
Shift button down to access these, making it a
two-handed job. We can’t help thinking that
some form of Shift Lock would be more
convenient, so that the button latches when
pressed, enabling you to select the relevant
function with the same hand.
The Launchkey Mini is a versatile controller
capable of playing nicely with any DAW, but its
stock in trade has always been its in-depth
integration with Ableton Live, and the Mk3
builds more than capably on this foundation.
The addition of the control strips and sustain
pedal input in particular transform the
expressiveness of the device, turning it from
merely an array of buttons and key switches into
more of an actual instrument. If you already
know your way around Ableton Live, it’ll be
intuitive enough to get the hang of quickly, and
it really does demonstrably increase the speed
of your worklow for a fraction of the price of,
say, Ableton’s own Push 2.
The Launchkey Mini Mk3 represents a huge
leap forward for what was already our favourite
budget controller for Live. It looks like this
particular success story looks set to continue for
‘mini’ years to come, then.
Web novationmusic.com
Verdict
For Works brilliantly with Live
Responsive Pitch and Mod strips
Sustain pedal input
Innovative arpeggiator
Hardware MIDI Out
Against No mains power option
MIDI TRSDIN adapter not included
The third version of this small wonder
constitutes a major upgrade from the
extremely successful Mk2 model
9/10
Alternatively
Arturia MiniLab MkII
241 » 9/10 » £89
Arturia’s mini controller boasts
pitch and mod touchstrips, 16
rotary encoders and more
Akai MPK Mini Mk2
161 » 8/10 » £73
This one has four-way pitch/mod
joystick, eight MPC pads with note
repeat, and eight assignable knobs
The Mini Mk3’s arpeggiator modes can
be found stencilled above the keys and
control knobs, and are accessed by
holding down the Arp button while
tapping or adjusting the relevant
control. All the usual suspects are there
– up, down and up/down patterns,
switchable rates, swing, gate (note
length), octave range and latch
functions – but this particular arp has a
couple of rather clever tricks up its
sleeve in the form of the Mutate and
Deviate functions.
Enabled by tapping the respective
key, then varying the depth of the
efect with an assigned knob, these two
parameters work on note pitch and
rhythm respectively. With an arpeggio
running, turning up the Mutate control
introduces increasingly varied note
choices to the pattern, while Deviate
alters the rhythm by increasingly
removing note events from the
sequence. Using them, it’s possible to
start from a simple chord and build up
to something radically diferent with
just a few tweaks. The current mode is
relected in the illumination of the
pads, which can also be used to change
settings once you’ve got the gist of
where each mode is represented in the
grid. Hitting Record will capture the
notes output from the arpeggiator
(rather than just the chord you played
to generate them) onto the currently
selected track.
Arping on
“Pleasingly slab-like”: The Launchkey Mini Mk3 improves on Mk2 in terms of build quality as well as functionality
The Mini Mk3’s onboard arpeggiator has a few surprises in store
“The control strips and
sustain pedal input, in
particular, transform
the expressiveness of
the device”
January 2020 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 97
novation launchkey mini mk3 / reviews <
CMU277.rev_launchkeyminimk3.indd 97 08/11/2019 14:14