Novation Launch Control XL MK2 USB MIDI controller for Ableton Live with assignable controls.

Product Information

After configuration in Live's Preferences, the device had immediate control over Live, with three separate templates, covering more detailed mixer functions, sends, clip launching, and device control. It’s worth noting that all of the knobs do have a centredetent, which is useful for the pan control, but not so useful for sends A and B. In fact, if you're using the factory template, you'll probably never have to crack a manual to put the Launch Control XL to work for you, so you can spend less time reading and more time creating music. It helps you focus more on your music and less on your laptop, with 16 buttons, 24 knobs and eight faders, all seamlessly integrated Live to give you hands-on control. In the case of the EQ I forget what each bank does but there is a handy note that shows up at the bottom of the screen when you switch banks.

control Reason 10 and 11: MIDI mapping for customising control

faders are set up to control certain tracks and switching layout on session view tracks to fold tracks and have only certain tracks show at the moving of the fader. You can even control hardware directly, as Launch Control XL works standalone; all you need is a MIDI USB host, a little box that converts USB MIDI to plain, ordinary, house or garden MIDI (sold separately).

The Novation LaunchControl XXL Control Surface Script for Ableton Live adds Session Control, Mix Control and advanced 24 Parameter Device Control. For a small cash outlay, you can add physical controls in the form of a traditional mixer-style interface that certainly saves you from having to switch pages on your grid controller or using a mouse to tweak parameters like volume and pan.

VIDEO: Getting started with Launch Control XL on PC

There are no drivers to install, and there are starter templates for Live, FL Studio, and Reason to download. In the case of EQ Eight, for example, the first bank sees the knobs controlling each band's on/off state, the second band frequency, the third band Gain, and so on. Given that python programming is involved and Novation doesn't seem to be interested in adding a MIDI script anytime soon, I would avoid this product. To install this, all you need to do is download the appropriate installer for your operating system, connect your LaunchControl to your computer via USB, run the firmware updater and follow the on-screen instructions.Extended Parameter Device Control – User Six Mode 24 Pots control AutoMaps to the parameters of the currently in focus device, with the configuration of the Device_32 parameter you can extend this to include the 8 fades taking each bank to be 32 parameters.