Ableton Forum

I'm thinking of buying a Launchpad and I was lucky enough for a friend to offer to lend me his for a bit.

I spent a bit of time with it lastnight and had fun firing off pre-made loops from some sample packs. This was great fun, I guess it was the first time I experienced the 'live' aspect of Live! I would imagine for people who use it for live performances it is brilliant.

But then I loaded up one of my own tracks and attempted to do an arrangement in the session view (I think thats what it's called, the vertical page!) using the Launchpad to fire off the different elements. This was where I came unstuck!

There were about 16 different tracks in the tune and some of those tracks contained 3 or 4 different clips.

I found it too much to deal with! I couldnt keep track of everything that was (or wasnt) going on and I had to keep stopping and looking up at the screen which is what I was trying to get away from- hence the idea about buying a Launchpad. Even when looking up at the screen it was confusing and difficult to keep track/ keep the momentum!

So I was just curious really as to how other people use Launchpad, are there any methods which could make things easier that I am missing? Is Launchpad suitable for doing Live arrangements without relying on looking at the screen when you have many elements to deal with? Am I just being a tool?!

Any input would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

K

i think yours difficulties come from going backward from arrangement to session.
if you create yours loops, phrases or riffs in the session view, it's simple to create an arrangement on the fly and great fun
furthermore your are less or more ready to go live
but going backward is time consuming
i just have mine since yesterday, i am just very exited to use more

There could well be truth in what you say! I do come from the old school of thought of using sequencers.

Its also the aspect of dealing with many clips, more than can be accessed on the launchpad without a lot of scrolling. Maybe I'll try and combine or group some elements together, this shouldnt be a problem with some of the drum sounds....hmmmmmm.......

you can probably lay out most of your clips in a somewhat linear way, and use the scene launches to handle the main transitions. Then any tracks you want to be able to remix, or switch up live can sit in the first 8 slots, while the more set parts can sit beyond those, and be triggered by the scene launches. But yes, grouping as much as possible should be considered to reduce the number of variables.

i use the LPC program from Native Kontrol.

launchpad is cool outta the box, but the added fuctionality of LPC takes it to the next level. I believe there are a few others out there too, like octopad and some others

+10 for LPC!
the possibilities with it are so endless, i never use the standard functions from the lp (for that i have my APC40)
+ you can use it together with "monomod" from aumm.ha
that`s the overkill

LPC user here too.

you could get another LPC

we just added one to our setup, with now the 2 launchpads in session view, for 16 full track launchpad and that's pretty cool

but we don't use the LPCs for composition duties for now, sometimes maybe


cheers

for composing/producing on the fly LPC from nativekontrol is hands down the best script.

If u want to get into the monome emulation trip 7up is pretty cool as well.

oktopad is more for djing.

I use launchpad with a nanokontrol to keep on top of channel levels etc..Hopefully launchpad can also control traktor.. its a pretty damn good controller for the price..

as a controller for numerology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fzkYa_G ... re=channel

ah, I suppose I forgot to mention, I'm also using the LPC script, quite amazing stuff!

I use it's flashing colors to self-hypnotize...
I'm now in a trance ..

Hey...if anyone wants an styleflip overlay for LPC like mine. I asked and they said you can order a blank skin and just reference my order number 3587 and get the same one. It's a little pricey at $20-30, but it makes LPC much easier to use.

^^^
that's amazing. Where did you order that, through NativeKontrol?

Edit: I see its from styleflip. Does it have the updated controls? (ie: scene launch)?

matthews wrote:^^^
that's amazing. Where did you order that, through NativeKontrol?

Edit: I see its from styleflip. Does it have the updated controls? (ie: scene launch)?

Nah...It was made just before the new version (1.0.9) came out. I didn't even notice that he added scene launch. I'm grabbing that right now!!!

BTW- My overlay doesn't cover every single LPC function...just the ones I use the most. For example, I rarely use the MONO SEQ, so most of the functions for that page aren't on there. Of course, I can easily post the original photoshop file template if anyone wants to tweak it to their liking.