Novation Launchpad for Live

yeah no shit, I saw a pootube vid of this and had to do a double take.

holy fuck, i've been waiting for something EXACTLY like this. i was going to buy a monome kit (they had some that were just made and released a few weeks ago) but they wanted over 500 dollars US PLUS i'd have to assemble it. and i would either burn myself or destroy the pieces building it and having to find a case for it so fuck that

i'm definitely buying the novation launchpad. pairing it together with the novation NIO is going to be killer for djing. argh it comes out nov 1st... only a few days after my next event oh well i'll just get it afterwards then

whoops meant to say novation noctourn instead of the novation nio, although the nio is good too.

i was just too excited from the news

early preview/review:

http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/10/01/novation-launchpad-ableton-live/#more-2521

more links:

http://rekkerd.org/ableton-and-novation-announce-launchpad/

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2009/10/01/first-hands-on-novations-new-199-launchpad-grid-controller-for-ableton-live/

monome doesn't need the royalties w/wat they charge

Apparently this also works with Max/Msp and Reaktor without Ableton Live, making it exactly like a Monome for a fraction of the cost. I think Monome had a good run. This was inevitable. Supply and demand.

This looks pretty amazing, but I don't know if I'd rather spend my money on this or the APC40. Also makes me wonder what other collaborations Ableton will be making in the future! Pretty exciting.

im not a big fan of the monome, anyone want to buy my 8x8 ?

I always thought the monome was missing knobs and faders, so no thanks, APC is good for me.

just picked this up. love it.

also have the APC40... which is also great... it's more like a command center... with all the knobs setup to interact with Live already... it's great for being the control of your setup... but for flexibility, and customizable potential, the launchpad wins. I think this will be a a powerful combo....

and with max for live just around the corner... it's going to be re-damn-diculous

yay buttons!

Yea gonna pick one of these up after man handling one the other day.

Honestly I feel no sympathy for Monome. They could have stepped up and taken a larger market share but stuck with the trendy, hard to get ahold of, business model. Kudos for sticking with that route I guess. Also, similar ideas to Monome have been around in the homebrew MIDI Box scene for a long time so I don't get why so many Monome die hards seem to think the big brands screwed them over so bad.

I'm not sure how much actual hate is coming from the monome community... because I'm not in it. But, you know... that's what happens when you try to keep something awesome niche and DIY... you miss out on an opportunity to bring a great idea to a larger audience. that's just kind of selfish isn't it?

hmm i don't know if having a total open source platform could fall under the definition of selfish. if they had hoarded the source code and kept it private while keeping the whole DIY vibe then you'd have a point

fair enough!

this is really ugly, looks so tacky and plastic. i'll get one of the DIY kits instead when i have the time and money for something like this. i don't think that's shallow.

the only downside of the DIY kits, is that it's not integrated with Live. (edit: with the launchpad) all the software integration and testing is done for you. I rather get on with the music making, than the troubleshooting and feature mapping... especially when I know there is something out there already taking care of it.

But whatevs

  On 11/18/2009 at 12:40 AM, Awepittance said:

hmm i don't know if having a total open source platform could fall under the definition of selfish. if they had hoarded the source code and kept it private while keeping the whole DIY vibe then you'd have a point

but actually... I still kind of stick by my original comment... cause if you make it so people have to build it themselves, and deal with esoteric code just to run the thing... then yes, you are keeping it in a very limited circle of people that know how to do these things. at the end of the day, it's a musical controller... let people make music with it. It's a very intuitive interface really... it's made to be performed... why keep it out of the hands of someone that could be an excellent performer/musician, but perhaps isn't super tech savy?

I know I just opened up a whole can of worms with that last bit...

  On 11/18/2009 at 3:00 AM, Kcinsu said:

the only downside of the DIY kits, is that it's not integrated with Live. (edit: with the launchpad) all the software integration and testing is done for you. I rather get on with the music making, than the troubleshooting and feature mapping... especially when I know there is something out there already taking care of it.

 

But whatevs

good point. maybe i could just re-paint or make a new housing. the thing is just too minging for comfort.

my mate is very good with monomes, has made some cool patches (speaking of which he's selling his old 8x8 if anyone's interested?). he's also done some nice stuff with the korg nanos. would be fun to try and learn some max off him through as currently i know zilch. plus pretty much all the patches that do stuff you'd want to do will be out there with the community. plus there max for live coming soon...

I dont think it's all that bad looking. that picture of it on their website is hideously shot... seriously... who got paid to do that?

  On 11/18/2009 at 3:29 AM, idrn said:

  On 11/18/2009 at 3:00 AM, Kcinsu said:

the only downside of the DIY kits, is that it's not integrated with Live. (edit: with the launchpad) all the software integration and testing is done for you. I rather get on with the music making, than the troubleshooting and feature mapping... especially when I know there is something out there already taking care of it.

 

But whatevs

 

good point. maybe i could just re-paint or make a new housing. the thing is just too minging for comfort.

 

my mate is very good with monomes, has made some cool patches (speaking of which he's selling his old 8x8 if anyone's interested?). he's also done some nice stuff with the korg nanos. would be fun to try and learn some max off him through as currently i know zilch. plus pretty much all the patches that do stuff you'd want to do will be out there with the community. plus there max for live coming soon...

I've been using this for a while now. pretty good... say thanks to your friend !!

... I will get the launchpad. it's just too affordable and the integration is there. the user modes. it's just there, for cheap. I cannot justify having something else... and I want one of those "matrix" controllers...