Novation Launchkey Mk4

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JAZMAN
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:42 am
Location: Adelaide Australia

Novation Launchkey Mk4

Post by JAZMAN » Mon Sep 23, 2024 12:17 pm

Returning to Live from the Dark side (MPC), though not giving up on stand alone. Bought a Launchkey 61 Mk4. Spent a while tossing up between that, Kontrol Mk3 and MPC Key61. Went with the Launchkey for the Ableton Integration but find I cannot get the knobs to work with anything but Ableton Instrument Rack Macros when it comes to 3rd party VSTs. I have managed to set up one VTS in a group with macros assigned and saved it. Question is am I missing something or is the only way they work. I mean even in VSTs that have macros, the macros do not connect to the knobs in the Launchkey. Is it necessary to contain all 3rd party VSTs in Instrument racks, assign Macro controls in the Ableton Racks and save, in order for the Launchkey to find them?
Cheers.

S4racen
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Re: Novation Launchkey Mk4

Post by S4racen » Mon Sep 23, 2024 12:20 pm

You have to configure the VST in the Live Device View first, this is not something that's done automatically.,

You can expose up to 128 of the VST's parameters in this way so you're not limited to the 16 macros that are available when placing in a rack.
Cheers
D

JAZMAN
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:42 am
Location: Adelaide Australia

Re: Novation Launchkey Mk4

Post by JAZMAN » Tue Sep 24, 2024 9:10 am

Thanks S4racen
That's pretty much what I figured. Does that mean an instrument rack? or is there a better alternative. Instrument rack is fine by me as I can keep everything together that was and also include midi devices and effects if I want.
Cheers Steve.

S4racen
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Re: Novation Launchkey Mk4

Post by S4racen » Tue Sep 24, 2024 1:36 pm

No, a rack is not required, just click on the spanner icon of the VST Device View and it'll let you configure which parameters are displayed as macros.

Cheers
D

JAZMAN
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:42 am
Location: Adelaide Australia

Re: Novation Launchkey Mk4

Post by JAZMAN » Fri Nov 08, 2024 11:28 pm

Back again with another question.
Main reason I ordered the 61 rather than the 49, which in a lot of ways I would have preferred for compact size when travelling as grey nomad in a caravan, is that I had a 61 key gig bag already. Thing is it looks like a tadpole in a bucket of water. I guess keyboards have gotten a lot more compact over the years. Seams that gig bags have not kept up though. Other than the fact that the Novation ones have been out of stock for ages with no sign of them ever coming back, it seems even they have not kept up with size changes in their own products. The annoying thing is the 61 is about 1cm too long to fit in a 49 bag.
Has anyone found anything that actually fits this keyboard or am I better to just keep it in the plastic bag it came in and wrap it in a blanket?
I really like the UDG cases I have for my Force and MPC. Something like that would be great and within budget. Not about to spend more than the price of the keyboard for a hard case to keep it in though and neither do I want one.
I absolutely LOVE this keyboard though and think it is a hell of a lot of keyboard for the money. I just don't want to see it damaged while rattling around in a caravan while travelling/

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