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The pad controller market is certainly a fast-moving one, and we have all the latest releases in our round-up, and look out for new devices over coming months including Behringer’s BCR32 MIDI controller and sequencer, the Erae Touch MPE-compatible expressive MIDI controller, and the OXO One.
#USING LAUNCHPAD WITH FL STUDIO SOFTWARE#
So don't think of a pad controller as just for tapping out beats or triggering notes, as many have been designed to be so integral with today's gear that they are almost an extension of it, instruments in their own right, enabling you to compose and record melodies, chords and basslines, or sequence entire songs together to trigger both your music software and other hardware – great news for players and non players alike. But overall our experience with the Launchpad Mini was a good one.Pad controllers are available in all sorts of shapes and sizes to suit just about every production and performance task, from small-form pad-based sequencers, equally as home controlling a Eurorack setup as they are virtual instruments, through NI's Maschine range of controllers with dedicated software, right up to Ableton's Push 2, a pad controller specifically for controlling the company's Live DAW. One downside of the smaller pads is that they could be more difficult to trigger – those with bigger fingers might need to be careful not to trigger two at once. The three instruments, although all good in their own right, click together well, resulting in a highly versatile control system that inspires new methods of composition and performance possibilities. The harmony between the instruments in the Launch family is something that Novation has been keen to trumpet, and when all three are working together you can understand why. We first got our hands on the newly announced instruments in the Launch family at the Novation stand at this year’s BPM Show and had a wonderfully fun time, triggering loops with the Launchpad Mini while constructing elegant melody, lead and bass lines with the Launchkey Mini, then tweaking filters and effects with Launch Control.
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Adding the Launchkey Mini to your studio setup very much completes the Novation jigsaw however, the Launchpad Mini is a useful standalone tool as it is. Users of FL will enjoy using the Mini’s grid to activate loops and samples you also get packs of custom overlay stickers to make things more straightforward for both FL and Live. Noticeably, Novation has done away with the Ableton branding that the Launchpad S sported, going instead for its own logo and imagery. The Launchpad Mini comes with Ableton Live Lite, so if you’re new to the DAW you won’t feel left out. Clip and scene triggering in Live is a doddle controlling volumes/sends feels natural and is an organic way of interacting with your projects. In a studio environment the Launchpad Mini works well, boasting effortless integration with Live 9. You can import WAV and AIFF samples organised by bpm via a DropBox account to create whatever libraries you want. Pads to ’Pad Once connected to your iPad, Launchpad Mini becomes a versatile instrument, triggering the Launchpad app’s vast range of loops and samples that come courtesy of Loopmasters, although with a recent app update, it’s now possible to add your own to the app. Connecting to the iPad is straightforward, but you will need to purchase the iPad Camera Connection Kit (£25), which mind-bogglingly isn’t included in the box. While the Launchpad Mini fluidly connects with Live, FL Studio and DJ software such as Serato and Numerology, what’s integral to the iPad Generation ethos is the interaction with the (free) Launchpad for iPad app.
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The unit draws power from your iPad or computer, so leads that would nullify its mobile nature are absent. The customisable performance buttons that run down either side are labelled A–H and 1–8. Like its siblings it features 64 bright, three-colour pads (arranged 8 x 8) that activate loops, effects and sounds, with a lightning-fast response time (despite not being velocity-sensitive). The Launchpad Mini is perhaps the most user-friendly of the three, and one that is perfectly suited to this kind of on-the-go music-making, yet also works just as well in a home studio context. Novation promoted the trio with a slick and focused marketing campaign that emphasised the appeal of composing in the great outdoors, the company’s target audience being the ‘iPad Generation’ – a roaming horde of homeless nomads who never know when inspiration may strike, be they on a park bench, in a taxi or halfway up a flight of stairs.