Novation Launchpad Pro User manual

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

13 The Setup Button

-Layout Select

-The Live Layout

-Note, Drum, Fader and Programmer
Layouts

-Setup Page Options
Velocity

Aftertouch

Aftertouch Threshold

Pad Lighting

MIDI Out

MIDI Channel

16 Using the Launchpad Pro, Ableton Live

and Hardware

-Using the Launchpad Pro’s MIDI Ports

-Using Your Audio Interface’s MIDI In/Out

17 Using Standalone Layouts With

-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 Instruments

-Drum Racks

10 Device Mode

-The 8 ‘Faders’

Hardware

17 Using Other Software

18 Troubleshooting

-How to Create Macros

-Automation

-General Notes on Device Mode

12 User Mode

-Creating LED Light Shows

1

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.

Along the back of the Launchpad Pro are a number of other
important places for connecting power, USB and MIDI
cables.

USB Port

MIDI out port

While the Launchpad Pro can be used with a variety of
software and hardware (outlined in the fi nal 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. Ultimately,
however, there is no one way to use this creative piece of
kit—how you use the Launchpad Pro is up to you!

Please see our ‘Getting Started Guide’ if you have issues
setting up the Launchpad Pro, or properly confi guring
Ableton Live.

The Launchpad Pro at a Glance

The following diagram shows the top of the Launchpad Pro,
which has seven main areas:

Setup button

Navigation arrows

Mode select buttons

POWER

Power supply

Power on/off switch

MIDI OUT MIDI IN

MIDI in port

Troubleshooting: If your Launchpad Pro is not working
properly, it could be an issue with your USB Hub,
computer’s USB port, or even the USB cable you are
using. Please use the USB cable included in the box. If this
still does not fi x your issue, connect the included 12V DC
power supply.

With an understanding of where things lie on the Launchpad
Pro, it’s time to learn how to use it.

Setup in Ableton Live

When you load up Ableton Live with the Launchpad
Pro connected to your computer, Launchpad Pro will
automatically spring into life and connect to Ableton.
However it is useful to understand the other options
available in the MIDI sync tab which effect how Ableton Live
and Launchpad Pro work together.

64 pad grid

Function buttons

Mixer

Scene launch buttons

The above areas work together for a fun and creative
musical experience, as explained throughout this guide.

In Ableton Live, go to Preferences. From the list of tabs
on the left, click the MIDI / Sync tab and you will see the
following:

Track On sets the Launchpad Pro as an Input device to play
MIDI tracks (instruments and drums) in Live, and as and
Output device to see played and recorded notes fed-back
to the pad LEDs.

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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.

Clip Triggering and Colours

When the Session button is pressed, the Launchpad
Pro’s 8x8 grid of RGB LED pads gives you intuitive
visual feedback on your clips as you launch, stop, edit or
record them. Conversely, you can see the area covered by
these 64 pads on your Live screen inside a coloured, 8x8
rectangular ‘ring’. The colour of this ring changes depending
on which Control Surface chooser you select in Live’s
Preferences (MIDI/Sync tab).

If you find that features described later in this user guide are
not working as expected, please re-check your MIDI port
settings

Latch vs Momentary

Two important behaviours to keep in mind as you learn
about the Launchpad Pro (the Mode Select and Mixer
buttons in particular) are what we’ll refer to as ‘latch’ and
‘momentary’. Understanding these two behaviours will help
you quickly move around the Launchpad Pro during live
performance. Fortunately, the difference between latch and
momentary is simple:

• Latch means that when a button (e.g., Session) is
pressed and quickly released, the functions are available
until the user navigates away (i.e., hits another button). Latch
is best used when spending an indefinite time with Mode or
Mixer parameters.

• Momentary describes the temporary access of Mode
or Mixer functions. Press and hold a button (e.g., Volume),
make adjustments with the RGB pads, then upon release of
the button you will jump back to what you were previously
viewing (e.g., Session). In other words, functionality is
available as long as you hold the button. Momentary
behaviour is great when performing and time is limited.

Session Mode

The first of the Mode Buttons (upper right-hand corner of
the Launchpad Pro) is Session Mode. This may be the most
important of the four mode buttons, since pressing it lets
you physically control Live’s Session View. If you’re new to
Ableton Live, the Session View is where you can launch,
record or edit audio or MIDI ‘clips’ without ever stopping
the music. In other words, this is where you can jam forever.

Pressing a pad on the Launchpad Pro triggers a clip if one
exists in the corresponding slot in Live. Hitting an empty clip
slot, however, on an unarmed track will stop clip playback
on that track. If the track is armed, pressing a pad begins
recording into an empty clip slot.

Clips that are playing (aka ‘launched’) on your Ableton
Live screen appear as slowly pulsing green pads on your
Launchpad Pro. The pad colours of non-playing clips,
however, match the clip colours on your Live screen (e.g.,
a purple clip makes a purple RGB pad). Clips that have
been triggered, but have not yet started to play, quickly flash
green until launched.

Empty clip slots in Live show up as unlit pads on the
Launchpad Pro. Hitting an unlit pad will either do nothing,
or it will stop playing clips on that track. On a record-armed
track, empty clips slots are lit dimly red, indicating that
they are ready to become new audio or MIDI clips. When
triggered, these pads will quickly flash red until they start
recording.

Recording clips slowly pulse red. To stop recording a clip,
press its pad again, or the Record Button (the bottom
Function Button). With recording complete, the pad will
pulse green.

QUICK TIP 1: It might be helpful to think of red pads
on armed tracks as ‘hot’, since pushing them starts the
recording of a new clip, and stops other clips on that track if
they are playing.

Holding Shift (the topmost Function Button) and touching
a pad selects the corresponding clip (or empty clip slot)
without starting, re-launching, or stopping it. This action
brings up the clip’s content in Live’s ‘Detail View’ (the
bottom portion of the screen) and is a handy way to see a
clip’s audio or MIDI before launching it. This is also a quick
way to move from clip to clip for editing.

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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. If you jump into an 8x8
area where no clips are playing, areas with playing clips will
be represented by solid green pads.

Mixer Buttons

Live’s ‘Quantization Menu’

Scene Launch

Pressing the Scene Launch buttons on the right side of
the Launchpad Pro will trigger horizontal rows of clips, aka
‘scenes’. These buttons allow you to launch, stop, and/
or record multiple clips with one button, and are fantastic
for performance. Just like the 8x8 grid of pads, the Scene
Launch buttons match the scene colours on your Live
screen.

If you have more than 8 tracks the Scene Launch buttons
will launch the whole scene, not just the eight clips you can
see on the pads.

Workfl ow Tip: While everyone uses Live differently, scenes
are often used to break up music into different sections. For
example, you could trigger the verse, chorus and bridge of
your song with just three Scene Launch buttons.

Session Navigation

The Mixer’s eight buttons lie along the very bottom of the
Launchpad Pro, providing quick access to many functions
of Ableton’s Mixer section. Starting on the left, let’s examine
each one.

Record Arm

Press and hold Record Arm to momentarily display the Arm
page, where you can arm or disarm a track by pressing its
bottommost pad (or press and hold up to eight bottommost
pads to arm multiple tracks). Upon release of Record Arm
you will return to the previous page or mode. In Record Arm,
all pads on the track(s) chosen for recording are dimly red.

The simplest way to navigate the Session View is with
the Navigation Arrows, located at the top-left of the
Launchpad Pro.

As one might expect, the Up and Down arrow buttons
move the Pro’s 8x8-pad coverage up or down the Session
View in 1-Scene increments. The Right and Left arrow
buttons move pad coverage left or right, one track at a time.
When you have gone as far as possible in a given direction
the corresponding button will turn off.

With live performance in mind, you may have wondered
how to quickly navigate hundreds, or even thousands of
clips. To move around your Session View in big chunks, fi rst
switch to Session Mode, then press and hold the Session

Press and release of Record Arm ‘latches’ the page.
Pressing Record Arm again brings you to Session Mode.

Reminder: Latching means that functions are available
after the press and release of a button until you navigate
away.

Note that on the Record Arm page the Session Mode is
available on the top seven rows of pads, allowing for further
clip launching/stopping/recording, and so on.

4

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.

Press and hold Track Select to momentarily make track
selections—upon release you will return to the previous page
or mode.

Press and release of the Track Select button latches the
page, letting you spend more time perusing your tracks. In
latch, pressing Track Select again brings you to Session Mode.

Note that on the Track Select page the Session Mode is
also available on the top seven rows of pads, allowing for
further clip launching/stopping/recording, and so on. Hitting
a Session Mode pad will also select the corresponding track.

Mute

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.
Press and hold Solo to momentarily display the Solo page—
upon release you will return to the previous page or mode.
Touching the bottommost pad on a track solos the track,
turning the pad bright blue (or press and hold up to eight
bottommost pads to solo multiple tracks). The bottommost
pads of un-soloed tracks are lit dimly blue.

Press and release of the Solo button latches the mode.
Pressing Solo again exits the mode, returning to Session.
While on the Solo page, the Session Mode is available
on the top seven rows of pads, allowing for further clip
launching/stopping/recording, and so on.

Volume

Mute allows you to quickly ‘kill’ all sound from one or
more tracks.

Press and hold the Mute button to momentarily display the
Mute page—upon release you will return to the previous
page or mode. Touching the bottommost pad on a track
toggles its ‘Track Activators’ on/off (effectively muting or un­muting it). The bottommost pad of muted tracks will show as
dim yellow.

Press and release of the Mute button latches the page.
Pressing Mute again brings you to Session Mode.

Note that on the Mute page the Session Mode is also
available on the top seven rows of pads, allowing for further
clip launching/stopping/recording, and so on.

The volume page turns each 8-pad column into a volume
‘fader’: volume levels for up to 8 tracks at a time are
represented as green pads. Simply hit an empty pad to
move Live’s Track Volume slider.

Press and hold the Volume button to momentarily display
the Volume page, where track volumes can be quickly
adjusted. Upon release you will return to the previous mode
or page.

Press and release of Volume latches the page. Pressing
Volume again brings you to Session Mode.

The Volume page takes advantage of the Pro’s velocity­sensitive pads: the softer you hit a pad the slower volume
will change. Conversely, the more force applied to a pad the
faster volume with increase or decrease.

Please note that Session Mode capabilities, such as scene
and clip launching, are not available on the Volume page.

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