Ableton Forum

I wrote Novation some months ago, enquiring about the possibility of increasing contrast between the various pad/clip states on the Session page, and got a mail from them just now.

Unfortunately, such a tweak would require a firmware update, which is not possible on the LP, according to support. Bummer. Big bummer for the colour blind among us.

So if a new firmaware is installed in the current models we can't get benefit because on 'older' hardware? Shame.

That's really bad...also the dicer will have this problem.
Just curious: What combination of colours would be best for you if you could design your own LP?

#1thelark wrote:That's really bad...also the dicer will have this problem.
Just curious: What combination of colours would be best for you if you could design your own LP?

All colors shouldn't be washed out:

RED = REC
GREEN = RUN
YELLOW = Filled slot (I do not like amber or orange)

And you?

- Best
- Pasha

^^ Yup; totally agree. The contrast is so much greater on the mixer page. On the Session page, those are the three states
you need, so why they didn't go for three really distinct colours/hues is beyond me. Fair enough, all the Novation developers
have perfect colour vision, but they could at least have squinted a little before deciding on the colours. It's simply odd
to me that the thought that colour "impaired" users might have a problem.

Also, as for your question, Pasha: the way I understood the reply I got, the Launchpad's firmware simply cannot be updated.
I very specifically wrote that if they had simply stuck with the "base" or "pure" colours on the unit (red, yellow and green),
I, and many others (but obviously not those who are red/green colour blind), would be able to work with the Session page.

Could you or someone else find a solution to the problem?

Launchpads were being sold cheap here in the UK recently, due to a minor LED colour problem.
maybe yours has the same defect?

http://tinyurl.com/5u3gqwg

If the contrast of the Mixer page does the job, then this doesn't require a firmware upgrade.
It requires a custom python script. The contrast is set with MIDI Velocity messages.
The Launchpad script could be adapted to suit colorblind people, but probably requires some help from Ableton as it would be helpful to have the scripts before they're compiled. From there its finding and replacing the values currently used.

MFL won't help here unless you want to completely redesign how your launchpad works.
A MIDI Translator would make the solution too complex.

hoffman2k wrote:If the contrast of the Mixer page does the job, then this doesn't require a firmware upgrade.
It requires a custom python script. The contrast is set with MIDI Velocity messages.
The Launchpad script could be adapted to suit colorblind people, but probably requires some help from Ableton as it would be helpful to have the scripts before they're compiled. From there its finding and replacing the values currently used.

MFL won't help here unless you want to completely redesign how your launchpad works.
A MIDI Translator would make the solution too complex.

theese amber/red/green leds are in general not made for colour blind people.. as a computer mouse and keyboard is not made for people without arms. ..however..the lunchpad is..
you can perfectly operate it with your feet.. so it took care of handycaped people..just not about the colour blind...

this should, touchwood, be a really simple fix in the remote script. i'll try and look into this when i have a chance. what colours are better for you guys?

see this thread for an update:
http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... 9#p1244859