« I LOVE THIS THING!!!!!!! » «  I LOVE THIS THING!!! »

The Novation Launchpad is a controller built especially for Ableton Live, meant to improve workflow and turn Live into a performance tool. It does exactly that. And it's AWESOME. It is pretty easy to set up, you plug it in and it automaps to Live. The device consists of an 8x8 grid of 64 "clip launch buttons" and 8 dedicated "scene launch buttons". It takes its power from the computer, eliminating the need for an external source which ROCKS! The launchpad features four modes: Session Mode, which controls clips and scene launch and is awesome for workflow and live performances, User Mode 1, which is useful for controlling VST's and Drum Racks, User Mode 2, which you can assign to do all kinds of things and Mixer mode, which provides an overview and control of volume, pans, send effects and a few other things. It is kinda hard to do anything but drums, but it's certainly possible to play it like a keyboard. Also, you can set it up to do all kinds of dances and patterns and just cool little things, and is certainly very impressive in performance. This is such a cool piece of equipment, and works awesome with out faders and knobs. If you need something like this with Faders and Knobs, get the APC 40 or 20, but this can do everything they do, and then some, plus it has tons of pretty colors. I love the way that this brings the innovative workspace of Ableton Live, and makes it into a concrete, playable interface. While this isn't necessarily a new approach to controllerism, it's a more refined version of an old standby, and is incredibly effective . It has so much potential and you can even hook 6 of these up to Live at a time! This is worth very cent so pick one up.