words: MICK WILSON TECH News TECHNEWS A MONSTA
MASH-UP Dubsteppers Monsta check out Pioneer’s flagship mixer, the DJM2000nexus. p. 87
PUSH IT REAL GOOD
Ableton Live receives a big push with its all-new dedicated controller. p. 90
BLAST OFF…
Will Novation’s new LaunchPad S boldly go where no one has gone before?
W
A BRIGHT SPARK
Arturia release a compact take on the Spark drum machine. p.91
TECH
PRODUCER Assorted tips and tricks to help
your productions on their way. p.92
hen Novation released the original Launchpad it found favour with many Ableton users, both in the studio and out in the wild during live performances.
Many can still be seen doing their thing many years on. By combining great functions, portability and value for money, the Launchpad stole a lot of the thunder from Akai’s APC controllers and won many fans in the process. Will the new Launchpad S continue the tradition, or has its time passed?
This new model looks a lot like the original Launchpad, with the silkscreen artwork on the control surface and buttons being the only difference between the two versions that is immediately noticeable. There is a lot to be said for the “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” approach that Novation have taken, as they got the layout of the Launchpad right first time round. The buttons are the right size and the controls are well-spaced, so any fiddling here would likely have done more harm than good. The improvements that have been made on the Launchpad S are a little more subtle and refined than one might have expected, but are nonetheless welcome improvements, and combine to bring the Launchpad S right up-to-date, in-keeping with today’s market and customer expectations.
The first and most obvious upgrade the Launchpad 2 has to offer comes in the form of new high-power LEDs which backlight every button on the control surface. There doesn’t seem to be much difference in the brightness levels when compared to the original Launchpad, but once the new high-power mode is activated, the buttons become much brighter and can be clearly seen in daylight conditions, making this controller perfect for daytime duties at festivals and outdoor gigs. The low-power LED mode is useful when connecting the Launchpad to laptops running on batteries or devices without a high- powered USB port, such as an iOS device.
Another feature of the original Launchpad that has remained despite the addition of the new high-powered LEDs is the fact that the Launchpad S is bus-powered and does not need an external power supply to be attached, even when connected to an iPad. The Launchpad S can be connected to an iPad by using the Apple Camera connection kit, and can be used in conjunction with Novation’s new Launchpad app to create a self-contained grid-based music writing and performance platform. In addition to being able to trigger loops from the internal sample library of the Launchpad app, there are also a range of effects, such as filters, stutters and drum roll sounds that can be triggered using the buttons on the Launchpad S. This combination of hardware and software is fantastic, just as useful for writing music on the road as it is for performing.
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www.djmag.ca
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