Table Of Contents 2 Introduction 2 Launchpad Pro at a Glance -Labelled diagram 2 Setup in Ableton Live 3 Latch vs Momentary 3 Session Mode -Clip triggering and Colours -Scene Launch -Session Navigation 4 Mixer Buttons -Record Arm -Track Select -Mute -Solo -Volume -Pan -Sends -Stop Clip 6 Function Buttons -Session Mode vs Note/Device Modes -Shift -Click -Undo -Delete -Quantise -Duplicate -Double -Record 8 Note Mode/Drum Mode -General Functionality -MIDI Instrum
Introduction The Novation Launchpad Pro is a MIDI controller designed to inspire music making in Ableton Live and other software, whether on stage or in the studio. While the Launchpad Pro can be used with a variety of software and hardware (outlined in the final chapters), this user guide primarily focuses on its interaction with Ableton Live. The following pages will show you where all the buttons and pads are and how they function, as well as tips and tricks that we have found to be effective.
Set Sync On for the Output of Launchpad Pro so that the pad LEDs pulse and flash in time with your project tempo. Remote On for both Input and Output allows the Launchpad Pro to be manually mapped to parameters in Live, and to see feedback of that mapping. Track On for Launchpad Pro MIDI Port allows Live to playback and record any device connected to the Launchpad’s physical MIDI connectors.
QUICK TIP 2: How quickly your clips launch, stop, or begin recording depends on Live’s ‘Quantization Menu’, located in the upper-left corner of the screen. button. You will now see solid red pads indicating 8x8 areas containing clips. (If an 8x8 area does not have at least one clip the pad will be unlit). Simply press one of these red pads, or use the Up/Down arrow buttons, to jump the Session View’s focus in 8x8 blocks.
Track Select Solo Track Select allows you to focus on a given track, without record arming it. All of the bottommost pads on this page are dimly blue but brighten when selected. Note that only one track can be selected at a time, and one track will always be selected. The Solo page allows you to isolate the audio signal of one or more tracks. This is great for close listening in the studio or as a performance technique.
Pan It’s worth mentioning that although the full version of Ableton Live allows for twelve Sends, only the first eight sends are accessible on the Launchpad Pro. Also note that Session Mode capabilities, such as scene and clip launching, are not available on the Sends page. Production Tip: The most common effects to put on Return Tracks are reverbs and delays. Luckily, Ableton comes with a great reverb, and various delays. Make sure they are set to 100% wet and send away.
Undo Shift The Undo button does exactly what one would expect. Press it once to go backward one step (undoing one action of your Undo history), twice to go back two steps (undoing two actions), and so forth. The top Function Button is Shift. When pressed and held this button gives you access to secondary functions, much like Shift on a computer keyboard.
Note that Double works for MIDI clips only. Musical Tip: If your loops are feeling too repetitive try using Double to lengthen them, and then add variation. Record You can always quantise clips after recording as well. With the Session Mode visible, press and hold Quantise, then hit a pad to snap its MIDI or audio to the selected quantisation value. This can be done regardless of whether the clip is playing.
General Functionality Finally, here are a couple general rules to be aware of: With a MIDI device (Drum Rack or other) on a record-armed track pressing the Note button enters Note Mode. How LED feedback appears on this page depends on whether the track contains a Drum Rack, or any other MIDI instrument. These ‘other MIDI instruments’ can be Ableton’s (e.g., Operator), VST or Audio Unit plug-ins. If an audio track is selected, entering Note Mode displays nothing and has no functionality.
lower-left pad then the blue and pink pads are outlining the Eb major scale. “Creating LED Light Shows” tutorial for information on how to light up User Mode). Tip: Press the Up and Down arrow buttons simultaneously to return the lower-left corner pad to C1. Press the Left and Right arrow buttons simultaneously to return the scale’s root note to C, staying in the current octave. At any given moment, the Launchpad Pro can only display 64 of a Drum Rack’s potential 128 pads.
effects without a mouse—a tremendous asset, especially on stage. How to Create Macros To effectively use Device Mode, first press and release the Device button, entering the Device page. Next, engage Track Select momentarily and choose a track by hitting one of the bottom pads. You can now control the last selected device on this track with the vertical columns of pads, which act as virtual ‘faders’ for up to eight parameters.
Another Preference worth mentioning is ‘Select on Launch’, also located within the Record/Warp/Launch tab. By default, this is set to ‘On’ meaning that launching a clip will select it. This means that the faders in Device Mode will automatically apply to whatever instruments and/or effects are on that clip’s track. User Mode could be thought of as ‘blank slate mode’ as it is reserved for users to create their own MIDI mappings.
It is now time to get creative. A common approach is to set up multiple chains of MIDI Effects in a MIDI Effect Rack, and then use the Rack’s ‘Key Zone Editor’ (the yellow switch below) to give every pad a different LED feedback pattern. Pro Tip: User Mode operates on MIDI channel 6 by default. Pressing the Setup Button (see below) allows a different MIDI channel of User Mode to be selected.
Layout Select Note Layout—Enter this layout by pressing and holding Setup and touching the blue Note pad. This layout is nearly the same as the Note Mode found within the Live layout: a note grid rising from left to right in semitone (aka half step) intervals, and from the bottom up in perfect fourth intervals. As expected, the lit pads outline the white notes on a piano keyboard, which can be transposed in octaves or semitones with the Up/Down or Left/Right buttons, respectively.
softer you hit a pad the slower a parameter changes; the harder you hit a pad the faster a change will occur. • ‘Off’ simply means that aftertouch capabilities are disabled. Note that in Fader layout, aftertouch settings will not be available when pressing and holding the Setup button. If you are not familiar with aftertouch, it is indeed a powerful sound design tool. Common examples of aftertouch are adding vibrato or tremolo, or opening/closing a filter.
Using the Launchpad Pro, Ableton Live and Hardware To get your hardware’s sound back into Live connect the Line Out on the back of your hardware unit into an input on your audio interface. With a little knowledge the Launchpad Pro and Live become a great team for controlling your external hardware devices, such as synthesisers, drum machines, and so on.
Next, place Live’s External Instrument (found in the ‘Instruments’ folder) on a MIDI track. In the top ‘MIDI To’ chooser select your Audio Interface, and in the bottom chooser select the channel that will send MIDI to your hardware. want to ‘print’ your results as audio. To do so, create a new audio track and select the External Instrument track as its input in the ‘Audio From’ chooser. Then, simply press record in empty clip slots to make new audio clips.
customizing MIDI controls, or any other troubleshooting. You now have convenient, hands-on control of your Logic X session. Let’s look at how you might start using the Launchpad Pro with Logic X, but the methods shown here will apply to most other music software. With the unit properly connected, Logic X should by default receive MIDI from the Launchpad Pro (in Note layout) if you press its pads. This tiny circle above the time signature confirms that Logic is receiving MIDI when lit.
