Novation

four panels of 4 x 4 drum pads corresponding to
the currently-loaded drum rack will be
displayed. If it’s an instrument track, the whole
grid is laid out according to the currently
selected scale. Select a scale by holding down
the Note button and choosing your required
scale pattern from a selection that includes 16 of
the usual suspects (major, minor etc).
Overall, drum and instrument playability has
been improved exponentially by the Launchpad
X’s velocity-sensitive pads. The Capture MIDI
button is a welcome nod to spontaneity, the
added MIDI controller functionality a huge
bonus, and the various Scale modes nothing
short of inspiring. It may not turbo-charge your
worklow in quite the same way as the Push 2
does, but for the money the Launchpad X
certainly represents a worthwhile addition to
anyone’s Ableton armoury.
Web novationmusic.com
hardware MIDI connectors like those found on
the Launchpad Pro and the Launchkey Mini
Mk3, relying on a single USBC connection for
both power and MIDI.
Button up
Even though it might lack some of the controls
of its larger sibling, the Launchpad X is still
suitably festooned with buttons. Across the top
of the unit, the irst four buttons are used for
navigating around Live’s Session view. As you do
this, so the range of triggerable clips moves
around the display according to your
movements, with the pad illumination shifting to
match. The area of clips currently visible on the
Launchpad’s grid is shown on screen by a
coloured border, so it’s easy enough to tell
which pad corresponds to which onscreen clip.
After this, you get three mode buttons – Session,
Note and Custom – and a dedicated button for
Live 10’s Session Record and handy new Capture
MIDI function, which efectively records
whatever you last played as a MIDI clip, even if
you weren’t in Record mode at the time.
The eight buttons arranged down the right
side of the grid are Scene launch buttons by
default, but double up as selectors for the
diferent modes the pads can fulil in Mixer
mode. The irst four of these transform the rows
and columns on the grid into virtual volume, pan
and send A and B controls. Meanwhile, the last
four buttons turn the bottom row of pads into
stop, mute, solo or record-arm toggle switches,
controlling each vertical track above them.
There isn’t a global play/stop button though – as
featured on the Launchkey Mini Mk3 – which we
found a little odd on a device that is so geared
towards live performance.
Mode diggity
In Session mode, the pads function as clip
launch buttons – just hit a pad to launch the
corresponding audio or MIDI clip, and then hit
an unlit pad on the same track to stop it. In Mixer
mode, the rows of pads turn into virtual faders
or pan pots for control of onscreen tracks while
mixing. Faders are velocity-responsive – hitting
a pad hard moves a fader quickly, while tapping
it softly will change the value more gradually.
Select Note mode and the Launchpad
intelligently senses what type of track is
currently active and deploys the pads
accordingly. If you have a drum track enabled,
“If you are not an
Ableton user and
wondering whether to
buy it, then this could
be the deal breaker”
Accessed via the Custom button,
Launchpad X can store four custom
layouts of MIDI controller messages
across the pads, for control of any DAW
or softsynth outside of the Ableton
universe. This means you can use the
pads to transmit notes and drum
events, set them up as program change
buttons, or conigure them as virtual
faders of the kind found in Mixer mode.
Selected by the upper four buttons on
the right hand side, layouts one and
two are conventional drum and
keyboard pad layouts by default, while
three and four are empty, ready to be
set up by the user.
You can edit the factory layouts or
create your own using Novation’s free
Components app, a visually intuitive
editor that’s easy to use and makes
assigning controllers to the pads a
breeze. Just drag prefabricated
widgets – a bipolar fader column, for
example, or a single-octave chromatic
keyboard note layout – onto the grid
area and select which of the four
layouts you want to apply it to before
transmitting it to the device. So if you
were wondering whether there was
any reason to buy a Launchpad X if
you’re not an Ableton user, this alone
could be the dealbreaker.
You configure it out
Verdict
For Great-feeling velocity/pressure-
sensitive RGB pads
Easy setup and Components editor
Four custom MIDI controller layouts
Handy ‘Capture MIDI’ Button
Generous software bundle
Against No hardware MIDI In/Out
No global play/stop buttons
An expressive way to bring Live’s Session
view to your ingertips in full RGB colour
9/10
Alternatively
Novation Launchpad Mini Mk3
£100
Smaller footprint, fewer features
and non velocity-sensitive pads,
but a more afordable Launchpad
Novation Launchpad Pro
222 » 9/10 » £229
This adds more dedicated buttons
and a hardware MIDI In/Out, but
could also now be due a refresh
The X sits in the middle of the range in terms of features, size and price, and lacks the Pro’s MIDI connectors
You can control any DAW or soft synth using custom layouts
February 2020 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 93
novation launchpad x / reviews <
CMU278.rev_launchpadx.indd 93 04/12/2019 10:24