Caution: The normal operation of this product may be affected by a strong electrostatic discharge (ESD). In the event of this happening, simply reset the unit by removing and then replugging the USB cable. Normal operation should return. Trade Marks The Novation trade mark is owned by Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd. All other brand, product and company names and any other registered names or trade marks mentioned in this manual belong to their respective owners.
Contents Introduction...............................................................................................................................4 Launchpad X Key Features..............................................................................................................4 In the Box........................................................................................................................................4 Getting Up and Running........................................................
Introduction Launchpad X is our essential grid controller for Ableton Live. Launchpad X will accelerate your music production and allow your live performances to become fast and tactile experiences. Launchpad X makes launching clips in Ableton Live easy by bringing your Session View from the screen to your fingertips in full RGB colour.
Getting Up and Running We’ve made getting up and running with Launchpad X as easy as possible, whether you’re a brand new beatmaker or a seasoned producer. Our Easy Start Tool provides a step-by-step guide on getting set up that is tailored to your needs, whether you’ve never made music before or you just want to download your included software as fast as possible. To access the Easy Start Tool, first plug in your Launchpad X. If you’re on a Mac: 1. On your Desktop find and open the folder “LAUNCHPAD X”.
If you’re on Windows: 1. Press the Start button and type “This PC”, then press enter. 2. In This PC, find the drive: “Launchpad X”, and double click. 3. Inside the drive, click the link: “Click Here to Get Started.html” 4. You’ll be taken to the Easy Start Tool where we’ll get you set up.
Launchpad Intro If you’re new to Launchpads, Launchpad Intro is a great place to start. Choose from a variety of curated packs from Ampify Music and start performing immediately. Your Launchpad X will match the on-screen grid - press pads to launch loops and one-shots to build up your track. To get there, plug your Launchpad X into your computer and visit intro.novationmusic.com/. Your Launchpad X will be automatically detected and you’ll immediately be able to play beats using our curated packs.
Ableton Live Ableton Live (often referred to only as Live) is a unique and powerful piece of software for music creation. Ableton Live 10 Lite is provided with your Launchpad X, which gives you all the tools you’ll need to get started with making your own music. If you’ve never used Ableton Live before, we recommend visiting our Easy Start Tool (see Getting Up and Running). Here you’ll be guided through downloading and installing Ableton Live 10 Lite.
Hardware Overview 1 5 Navigational Buttons Record & Capture MIDI 2 Session Mode (+ Mixer Toggle) 6 7 8x8 Pad Grid USB-C Socket 8 4 Custom Mode 3 4 5 7 6 8 Note Mode Scene Launch & Mixer Buttons 2 1 3 9 Kensingston MiniSaverTM Socket 9 9
Launchpad X Interface Modes are the core of the Launchpad X interface. They allow you to switch between views, offering different functionality in each. There are three different modes available – Session, Note and Custom. Press a mode button (above) to enter the respective mode. The currently active mode will be lit pale green. Currently available modes will be lit dim white. When in Session Mode, press Session once again to toggle Mixer Mode.
Clips are typically loops that contain MIDI notes or audio. Tracks represent virtual instruments or audio tracks. MIDI clips placed on instrument tracks will play back on the instrument that is assigned to that track. Scenes are rows of clips. Launching a scene will launch all clips in that row. This means that you can arrange clips into horizontal groups (across tracks) to form a song structure, launching scene after scene to progress through a song.
The ▲▼◄ ► buttons let you navigate session view. The red outline in the Session View grid shows the area currently visible on Launchpad X. Note: This outline may appear in any colour - this won’t affect its function.
• Press a pad to play the corresponding clip in Ableton. The colour will match between the screen and pads. • When a pad is pressed it will flash green, indicating that the clip is queued and will soon begin to play. When a clip is playing, the pad will pulse green. • Only one clip may play at a time per track. Pressing an empty clip will stop the current one on that track. • A horizontal line of clips is called a Scene.
In Mixer mode, the Scene Launch buttons will become Mixer Functions corresponding to the text on each button. When a Mixer function is pressed, it will be lit brightly to indicate that it is selected. Pressing the same Mixer function once more will deselect it. Unselected mixer functions will be lit dim white. Volume: Control the volume levels of the tracks within the currently selected 8x8 area in Session view. Volume faders are vertical.
Faders also feature microvalues that may be accessed by tapping a single pad multiple times – each press will output a slightly higher value. This allows for more fine-tuned control with faders. There are four microvalues per pad. Once the highest microvalue for a pad is reached, a further press to the same pad will return to the lowest value for the pad.
In Mixer mode, the bottom row of pads can provide immediate control for four performance track controls: Stop (stop clip from playing on a specific track), Solo (solo a specific track), Mute (mute a specific track) or Record Arm (arm a specific track for recording). These functions are overlaid onto the bottom row of pads when their Mixer functions are pressed The pads for the currently Record Armed, Muted and Soloed tracks will be lit brightly, while the others will be dimly lit.
Views within Session Mode and Mixer Mode allow for momentary switching. For example, you may currently be viewing your track mutes, but want to quickly visit your volume faders to turn a track up. Press and hold Volume, edit a volume fader, and release Volume to return to Mute view. Note that Faders will not continue to move when not currently viewed. Note Mode Use Launchpad X’s Note Mode to play drums and melodic instruments expressively with the velocity and pressure sensitive 8x8 grid.
Chromatic Mode Chromatic Mode is the default layout of Note mode. Press pads in the 8x8 grid to trigger notes. While Chromatic Mode allows all notes to be played, a visual indication for which notes are in scale is provided. Blue pads represent notes in the currently selected scale (C Minor by default), purple pads represent the root of the scale, and blank pads represent notes outside of the scale.
Note Mode Settings Note Mode settings allow you to switch between Chromatic Mode and Scale Mode, change the currently selected scale and root note, alter Note Mode’s layout with overlap controls, and change Note Mode’s MIDI channel. Enter Note Mode settings by pressing and holding Note. Note will pulse green when in Note Mode settings. The Chromatic/Scale toggle will switch between Chromatic Mode (lit dim red) and Scale Mode (lit bright green) upon being pressed.
Overlap Overlap determines the relationship between notes on different rows. An overlap of 5 means that the leftmost pad on a row will play the same note as the sixth pad across on the row below. Each overlap level represents how many fingers are needed to play a scale. For example, with a 4 Finger overlap you are able to play a scale going vertically up the grid with only 4 fingers. This is great for playing with a single a hand. Sequential overlap behaves differently from 2, 3, 4 and 5 Finger overlaps.
Drum Mode If an Ableton Live Drum rack is loaded to the currently armed track, Note Mode will represent the current state of the drum rack, showing which slots are currently filled. In Ableton Live, load a drum kit into a MIDI track by selecting a Drum kit from the browser and double clicking it (or alternatively drag it to a track). If you cannot hear anything, ensure that the track is record armed and that monitoring is set to auto (Note Mode).
The visible area of the Drum rack may be scrolled through in sets of 16 slots using the ▲▼ buttons, or in sets of 4 slots using the ◄ ► buttons. The bottom left 4x4 area will always correspond with the currently visible slots in the Ableton Drum rack. If there is a sample loaded in the areas 2, 3 or 4 in the diagram above, it will be visible as a brightly lit yellow pad, exactly as seen in area 1. When a drum pad is pressed, the pad will turn blue to indicate that it is selected.
Default Custom Modes Four custom modes are available by default on the device. To access custom modes, press the Custom button. The top four Scene Launch buttons will be lit and can be pressed to switch between Custom modes 1, 2, 3 and 4. Custom 1 is a Drum layout, similar to the Note Custom 2 is a chromatic layout that is mode drum layout. What differs is that this representative of a traditional piano/keyboard.
Setting up a Custom Mode in Novation Components Custom Modes are created and edited on Novation Components. When Components is loaded on your computer, Launchpad X will connect automatically. If the product name next to the home icon (in the top right-hand corner) is not Launchpad X, press the home icon and select Launchpad X from the list of products. Within a Custom Mode, each pad within the 8x8 grid may act as a Note, a MIDI CC (control change), or a Program Change message.
Pads within a Custom Mode may be assigned an “On” and “Off” colour for when pads within the 8x8 grid are pressed/toggled. (e.g. when a note is being played or a temporary CC change is toggled). There may only be one “On” colour per Custom Mode, but each pad may have a unique “Off” colour. Custom Modes may have any combination of notes, CCs, program changes and faders – you can set up your own personalised control surface for your studio.
Settings Launchpad X’s settings menu allows you to set your preferences across many of its aspects. There are four pages available: LED, velocity, aftertouch, and fader. To enter the settings menu, press and hold Session briefly. The top 4 rows will display the characters LED, indicating the topic of the menu. Use the top four Scene Launch buttons to access different pages. LED Settings The first Scene Launch button accesses the LED settings for Launchpad X.
LED sleep may be pressed to turn off all LEDs on Launchpad X. Press any button or pad to wake up the device. This is useful for when you are not using Launchpad X but you do not want to unplug it. Velocity Settings The second Scene Launch button accesses the velocity (VEL) settings for Launchpad X. Here you can turn velocity sensitivity on or off, and choose between three velocity curves. Press the Enable/Disable Velocity toggle to enable or disable velocity globally on Launchpad X.
Aftertouch Settings The third Scene Launch button accesses the aftertouch (AFT) settings for Launchpad X. Here you can select between channel pressure, polyphonic aftertouch, or disabling aftertouch, with a choice of three thresholds for triggering aftertouch. Choose between Aftertouch disabled, Channel Pressure, and Polyphonic Aftertouch. The selected mode will be brightly lit, the others dimly lit. Three Aftertouch Thresholds may be selected between.
Fader Settings The fourth Scene Launch button accesses the fader (FAD) settings for Launchpad X. Here you may enable or disable velocity sensitivity for faders independently of global velocity sensitivity. Enable or Disable Velocity for Faders by pressing the pad. The pad will be lit bright green when fader velocity is enabled, and dim red when it is disabled.
Live and Programmer Mode Live Mode and Programmer Mode are the two states that Launchpad X can be used in. In Live mode, Launchpad X will function as normal & you may access Session Mode, Note Mode and Custom Mode. In Programmer mode Launchpad X loses access to Session Mode, Note Mode and Custom Modes, and the entire surface (pads and buttons) becomes unlit. Each pad and button will send out a specified MIDI message when pressed.
The LED brightness level slider has 8 levels, from minimum to maximum brightness. The brightly lit white pad indicates which level is currently selected. Bootloader Version will inform which version of the Bootloader is on Launchpad X. Application Version will inform which version of the Application is on Launchpad X. Pressing the Boot-up button will start Launchpad X normally, exiting the bootloader menu. MSD Mode toggles the mass storage device behaviour of Launchpad X on or off.
Default MIDI Mappings Custom 1: 8x8 grid, Momentary Note On Custom 2: 8x8 grid, Momentary Note On messages (note numbers below) messages (note numbers below) Custom 3: 8x8 grid, Momentary Note On Custom 4: 8x8 grid, Momentary Note On messages (note numbers below) messages (note numbers below) Programmer Mode: Includes buttons and pads (full 9x9 grid), logo LED may be addressed, Momentary Note On messages on 8x8 grid (note numbers below), CC messages sent from top row and right-hand column For more
