Novation Launchpad and Live Intro 8.2

[smrybacki]

New to Ableton Live, some recording experience..

Is this combination possible?
Is it worth it for home singer/songwriter studio work (Not DJ-ing - yet)?

[Tone Deft]

yes they will work together.

is it worth it? maybe watch some youtubes to see how people are using it.

bear in mind that it's not velocity sensitive.

I really like mine, it's fun to play with. as a general studio controller for Live the APC is better. for playing around and mixing beats the LP is fun because I can hold it in my hand.

it's not great for setting accurate volume/send/pan etc levels because there isn't a fine amount of control, it's fairly coarse.


really like mine but you might want to start with an APC40 or APC20.

[antarktika]

Considering the Launchpad is a dedicated ableton controller, with ableton's logo printed alongside the novation one on the actual instrument itself, and all of their promotional material bills it as "The Ableton Live Controller" I would imagine that might be possible.
As to part two, that entirely depends on what you are trying to do musically.

[smrybacki]

yes they will work together.

is it worth it? maybe watch some youtubes to see how people are using it.

bear in mind that it's not velocity sensitive.

I really like mine, it's fun to play with. as a general studio controller for Live the APC is better. for playing around and mixing beats the LP is fun because I can hold it in my hand.

it's not great for setting accurate volume/send/pan etc levels because there isn't a fine amount of control, it's fairly coarse.


really like mine but you might want to start with an APC40 or APC20.

Thanks for the reply. I was looking at the APC20 as well so thanks for the tips.

[smrybacki]

Considering the Launchpad is a dedicated ableton controller, with ableton's logo printed alongside the novation one on the actual instrument itself, and all of their promotional material bills it as "The Ableton Live Controller" I would imagine that might be possible.
As to part two, that entirely depends on what you are trying to do musically.

Well, thanks for the reply. I'm trying to appreciate your response here, but seeing as I:

a) am new to Ableton Live and not a recording or DJ expert in general
b) have only the Live Intro version which is limited as compared to the full version of Live they are pimping it for
c) don't have a Launchpad yet (hence the question) and was trying to see if people are using it in the studio arena

...asking a question seemed, you know, appropriate in a user forum. It seems to me you took a lot of time and trouble (why did you bother anyway?) to give me crap about asking what you apparently deem a stupid question. Either that or it is a canned response, took you no time at all and you like to give people crap regularly.

Peace and Music

[Tone Deft]

It seems to me you took a lot of time and trouble (why did you bother anyway?) to give me crap about asking what you apparently deem a stupid question. Either that or it is a canned response, took you no time at all and you like to give people crap regularly.

you just gotta let it slide.

your inquiries are among hundreds that come through here, over time they get to be a bit redundant to read, not redundant to ask.

internet forums are perfectly awful forms of communication.

maybe you could find a store with a 30 day money back policy and just try one.

[ukslice]

Considering the Launchpad is a dedicated ableton controller, with ableton's logo printed alongside the novation one on the actual instrument itself, and all of their promotional material bills it as "The Ableton Live Controller" I would imagine that might be possible.
As to part two, that entirely depends on what you are trying to do musically.

I think you were a bit hard on antarktika. You didn't provide enough information for anyone to give a valid comment on.

For example "Is it worth it for home singer/songwriter studio work". Technically that could be no as you could record a guitar into MS Recorder for absolutely nothing. If you haven't looked at the masses of videos on 'you tube' to see what the launchpad is capable of then how can you know if it will suit you?

Personally I love it but I still have to go back to a midi keyboard for a lot of stuff. You can play chords and riffs on launchpad but not in a layout that will be intuative to an existing musician.

The best thing about Ableton is you can do almost anything wih the keys on your normal keyboard. Get the demo for free and try it before deciding on a controller that suits your needs.

I only lasted a week before splashing out on the full suite, as I loved it immediately, and found the limits of demo really stilting. Within a month I bought launchpad but I did already have two midi keyboards. I think, as a song writer, I would have bought a keyboard first and controller second.

[smrybacki]

I think you were a bit hard on antarktika. You didn't provide enough information for anyone to give a valid comment on.

Well then, I can accept that and so why don't we start over...

I am new to Ableton Live and I bought the Live Intro version after fiddling with the Live Lite that came with my hardware so I could do basic recording of (mostly) guitar based music. I do have an older M-Audio O2 25 key MIDI controller and I also have the M-Audion Fast Track Pro USB audio interface. I like what I have seen in the various videos about the Launchpad I've watched out at Ableton and on YouTube, but as I said elsewhere, I am no expert either. The Akai APC-20 also looks very good and for the extra $50, I'd get sliders which are a bit more intuitive for me anyway. Based on the insights of Tone Deft's experience that he (she?) hhared, I am leaning more toward the APC 20 instead as what I really want is a way to control the process outside the software.

Thanks to all, even antarktika for their help and advice and sorry for my part of the rough start at these forums.

[antarktika]

I think you were a bit hard on antarktika.

that's okay, I'm not one to become easily upset by relatively benign disagreement. I think mostly is was the sparse information on what you were hoping to achieve, coupled with "will this dedicated ableton controller that was designed to control ableton work with ableton" that set you up for a little light ribbing, I'm sorry if you took it personally, or otherwise felt it was unfounded. Certainly if you had been considering the purchase of a Lauchpad, you had seen one somewhere, with the "Ableton" insignia printed right on it, or some of the promotional material which touts it as a dedicated controller for Ableton. In general I would say that doing a bit of preliminary research, followed by a basic, but informative forum post, providing a description of your current setup and intended goals and sources of confusion, is the best way to gain insightful feedback. Getting upset about a "well, duh" moment, not so much, as it was intended mostly to press you to elaborate on what sort of information you were in search of! I certainly wasn't expecting you to interpret it as abusive, mostly just a light shaming to inspire you to engage the previous suggestions before posting.

now that all that is cleared up, if you are currently lacking a fader bank in your setup, it makes perfect sense to look into the APC 20. I probably would have gotten one, but I already had bought a launchpad and a korg nanokontrol, which used together is fairly similar in functionality to the APC20 (aside from that the faders on the nanokontrol don't line up precisely with the rows of buttons on the launchpad) like so: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyo5OMQjZOw