Novation Launchpad Mini [MK3] User manual

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Trade Marks
The Novation trade mark is owned by Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd. All other brand, product and
company names and any other registered names or trade marks mentioned in this manual belong to
their respective owners.
Disclaimer
Novation has taken all possible steps to ensure that the information given here is both correct and
complete. In no event can Novation accept any liability or responsibility for any loss or damage to the
owner of the equipment, any third party, or any equipment which may result from use of this manual
or the equipment which it describes. The information provided in this document may be modified
at any time without prior warning. Specifications and appearance may differ from those listed and
illustrated.
Copyright and Legal Notices
Novation is a registered trade mark of Focusrite Audio Engineering Limited. Launchkey Mini is a trade
mark of Focusrite Audio Engineering Plc.
2019 © Focusrite Audio Engineering Limited. All rights reserved.
Novation
A division of Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd.
Windsor House, Turnpike Road
Cressex Business Park , High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire , HP12 3FX
United Kingdom
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
e-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.novationmusic.com
Caution:
The normal operation of this product may be affected by a strong electrostatic discharge (ESD).
In the event of this happening, simply reset the unit by removing and then replugging the USB
cable. Normal operation should return.

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Contents
Introduction ..............................................................................................................................4
Key Features...................................................................................................................................4
What’s in the Box............................................................................................................................5
Getting Started with your Launchkey Mini [MK3]...........................................................................5
Getting Connected ........................................................................................................................7
Connecting to a Computer ............................................................................................................7
Connecting to Mobile Devices ......................................................................................................7
Using as a Standalone MIDI Controller .........................................................................................7
Hardware Overview........................................................................................................................8
Rear View .......................................................................................................................................9
Top Panel........................................................................................................................................9
Using the Launchkey Mini [MK3] ............................................................................................10
Working with Ableton Live 10................................................................................................10
Installation ....................................................................................................................................10
Setup............................................................................................................................................10
Session Mode...............................................................................................................................11
Launching Clips............................................................................................................................15
Launching Scenes.........................................................................................................................15
Stop, Solo, Mute ..........................................................................................................................16
Record / Capture MIDI .................................................................................................................17
Playing and Recording Drums......................................................................................................18
Using Ableton Live Devices..........................................................................................................19
Using Ableton Live’s Mixer...........................................................................................................20
Arp..........................................................................................................................................21
Arpeggiator Rotary Knobs ...........................................................................................................21
Arp Modes ...................................................................................................................................22
Arp Rates......................................................................................................................................23
Arp Octaves .................................................................................................................................23
Arp Rhythms.................................................................................................................................24
Latch ............................................................................................................................................24
Arp pads ......................................................................................................................................25
Fixed Chord ............................................................................................................................26
Custom Modes and Components............................................................................................27
Setting up Custom Modes ...........................................................................................................27
Working with Logic Pro X.......................................................................................................28
Working with Reason 10.........................................................................................................32
Working with HUI (Pro Tools, Cubase)....................................................................................34
Vegas Mode............................................................................................................................37

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Introduction
The Launchkey Mini [MK3] is Novation’s most portable MIDI keyboard controller. Though compact in
size, Launchkey Mini is packed with powerful features and a streamlined workflow that will
elevate your music production and performance.
Launchkey Mini integrates perfectly with Ableton Live (and other DAWs) for both production and
performance. You can navigate and control Live’s Session View, play and record clips, adjust effects
and much more without ever looking at your computer. Additionally, we provide you with a license for
Ableton Live Lite should you need one.
Launchkey Mini features a creative arpeggiator (‘Arp’), as well as ‘Fixed Chord’ mode – both of which
make finding new musical ideas easier. Launchkey Mini’s pads bring your Ableton Session to your
fingertips in full RGB colour, so you know exactly which clips you’re launching. Finally, you can make
Launchkey Mini the perfect controller for your studio or on the go with Custom modes, where you can
customise knobs and pads using Novation Components.
The Launchkey Mini also features a standard TRS MIDI Out 3.5mm jack* for connecting to your
hardware synths and drum machines. This means you can use many of the Launchkey Mini’s functions
without a computer!
If you need any support please contact us at support.novationmusic.com.
Key Features
• Ableton Live integration – Launch clips and
scenes, control Live’s mixer, play instruments
and Drum Racks, capture MIDI, and more.
• Integration with other DAWs (Apple Logic
Pro X, Propellerhead’s Reason, etc. and HUI)
• Connect to your hardware with a standard
TRS MIDI Out 3.5mm jack *
• 25 velocity-sensitive mini-keys
• 16 velocity-sensitive RGB pads
• 8 rotary knobs
• Powerful and creative Arpeggiator for
generating ideas quickly
• Fixed Chord mode
• Play and Record transport control
• Custom modes for user-defined mappings of
knobs and pads
* TRS MIDI Out 3.5mm to MIDI DIN converters are available for purchase at
novationmusic.com

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Mass Storage
Device icon
What’s in the Box
• Launchkey Mini
• USB Type-A to B cable (1.5 meters)
• Safety Instructions
Getting Sarted with your Launchkey Mini [MK3]
We’ve made getting up and running with Launchkey Mini as easy as possible, whether you’re a brand
new beatmaker or a seasoned producer. Our ‘Easy Start Tool’ provides a step-by-step guide on
getting set up that is tailored to your needs.
We’ll give you exactly what you need, whether you’ve never made music before, or if you just want to
download your included software.
When connecting Launchkey Mini to your computer, it will appear as a ‘Mass
Storage Device’, just like a USB drive. Open this up and click the link ‘Click Here to
Get Started.url’.
Easy Start Tool Welcome Page
This will open our online Easy Start Tool, which will get you up and running, or take
you straight to your included software – you choose!

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As part of this process, you may register your Launchkey Mini [MK3] to get access to your included
software. We give you everything you need to start making tracks.
Alternatively, you can also register your Launchkey Mini by going to
customer.novationmusic.com/register (pictured below). You’ll then need to make an account and
enter the serial of your Launchkey, which will give you access to the bundled software.
Launchkey Mini Registration Page

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Getting Connected
Connecting to a Computer
The Launchkey Mini is bus-powered, meaning it turns on as soon as you connect it to your
computer with a USB cable.
Using as a Standalone MIDI Controller
If you want to use the 3.5mm MIDI output on the Launchkey Mini without a computer, you can power
the unit with a standard USB power supply (5V DC, minimum 500mA).
Note that the Launchkey Mini is only compatible with Circuit using TRS MIDI Type A adapters. Many
other Novation products (such as Launchpad Pro) will also require a Type B adapter to properly
communicate with the Launchkey Mini via its Type A adapter.
Connecting to Mobile Devices
Android
To operate the Launchkey Mini with an Android
device we recommend a USB OTG
to USB adapter.
iOS
To operate the Launchkey Mini with an
iOS device, use Apple’s Lightning to USB
3 Camera Adapter with a separate 2.4A
Lightning charger.
iOS Android

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Hardware Overview
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Pitch and Modulation touch strips for bending pitch or adding
modulation.
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Press Shift and other buttons to
access secondary functions.
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Transpose lets you transpose your keyboard plus or minus 11
semitones. Press Shift and Transpose to select MIDI Channel output
for the keyboard.
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Octave + and - buttons move
the keyboard up or down across
7 octaves (C-1 to C5).
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Rotary knobs control hardware, software parameters, or settings on the Launchkey itself.
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Pads are great for triggering clips in Ableton Live’s Session View and playing drums. Holding Shift lights
up the top row of pads, with the current pad mode lit the brightest. You can then switch between the 3
pad modes:
• Session – For triggering clips and navigating Live’s Session View.
• Drum – For playing drums with the velocity-sensitive pads.
• Custom – For playing a custom selection of notes with personalised colours. Edit custom modes on
components.novationmusic.com/launchkey-mini-mk3
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Press the Arp button to enable
the Arpeggiator.
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This button controls your DAW’s playback.
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The Record button starts the recording process in
your DAW.
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While holding the Fixed Chord button, press and release the keys
that you wish to be part of the stored, ‘fixed’ chord.
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Rear View
Top Panel

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Using the Launchkey Mini [MK3]
The Launchkey Mini is designed to work seamlessly with Ableton Live, offering deep integration
through powerful production and performance controls. Launchkey Mini also boasts a powerful
arpeggiator (‘Arp’) and a ‘Fixed Chord’ mode – both of which can be used with Live, other DAWs, or
standalone with your outboard gear. In addition, you can modify the Launchkey Mini to suit your needs
with Custom Modes. Continue reading for explanations of all of Launchkey Mini’s functionality.
Working with Ableton Live 10
Installation
If you don’t yet own Ableton Live 10, register your Launchkey Mini at novationmusic.com/register to
download and install your included copy of Ableton Live 10 Lite. If you’ve never used Ableton Live
before, we recommend visiting our Easy Start Tool (see ‘Getting Started with your Launchkey Mini
[MK3]’). There you’ll find videos covering installation, the software’s basic features, and how to get
started making music with your Launchkey Mini.
Setup
With Ableton Live installed, get your Launchkey Mini up and running by plugging it into your Mac or
PC’s USB port. When you open Live your Launchkey Mini will be automatically detected and enter
Session mode.
If you press Shift on the Launchkey your pad lights should look like the image below. The first 3 pads
(orange) select pad behaviour, while the 5 pads to the right (green) select knob behaviour.
If your pads do not resemble the image above you’ll need to configure Live’s Control Surface
Preferences. To do this, find the ‘Link/MIDI’ Preferences menu in Ableton Live:
Windows: Options > Preferences > Link/MIDI
Mac: Live > Preferences > Link/MIDI

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In the Link/MIDI tab you’ll need to copy the settings shown above. First, select the Launchkey
Mini [MK3] from the Control Surface menu. Then, under Input and Output select Launchkey Mini
(Launchkey Mini InControl) or Launchkey Mini MIDI IN2 (Windows). Finally, match the Track, Sync and
Remote settings.
If you’re having trouble getting your Launchkey Mini working with Ableton Live, be sure to visit our
Easy Start Tool for video explanations.
Session Mode
To access Session mode on the Launchkey Mini hold Shift and press the Session pad
(the top left pad).

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Session mode is designed to control Ableton Live’s Session view, seen below. Session View is a grid
that consists of clips, tracks and scenes.
Launchkey Mini’s Session mode provides an 8x2 view of the clips in your Session View.
Example of Launchkey Mini’s pads in Session mode:
Clips are typically loops that contain MIDI notes or
audio.
Tracks represent virtual instruments or audio tracks.
MIDI clips placed on instrument tracks will play back
on the instrument that is assigned to that track.
Scene
Clip
Track
Ableton Live’s Session View

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Scenes are rows of clips. Launching a scene will launch all clips in that row. This means that you can
arrange clips into horizontal groups (across tracks) to form a song structure, launching scene after
scene to progress through a song.
Again, access Session mode on the Launchkey Mini by holding Shift and pressing the Session pad
(the top left pad).
In Session mode, the pads represent the grid of clips found inside the coloured rectangle in Ableton
Live’s Session View. The image below shows such a rectangle (yellow) extending from the left-most
track to the Master track:
Any changes you make to clip position or colour within Ableton Live will be represented in the
Session mode of Launchkey Mini. Unlit (dark) pads indicate empty clip slots.
You can navigate around Session View by holding Shift and pressing the 4 buttons with arrows as their
secondary functions: >, Stop Solo Mute, Arp, and Fixed Chord.

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More specifically, you can move the currently selected grid of clips (inside Ableton Live’s coloured
rectangle) up or down by holding Shift and pressing the following buttons:
Shift + Scene Launch (>) – This moves the grid of clips up one row.
Shift + Stop, Solo, Mute – This moves the grid of clips down one row.
Holding Shift and pressing Arp (left) or Fixed Chord (right) will select the adjacent left or right track.
This will automatically arm the track so it is ready to receive MIDI.

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Launching Clips
Pressing pads will launch clips in the corresponding location in your Session View. Pads will pulse
green to indicate that a clip is playing. Pressing the pad again will relaunch the clip, and pressing an
empty pad will stop playback on that track.
How fast clips stop or relaunch is set by Ableton Live’s Global Quantisation chooser, located at the
top of the Live screen. By default, this is set to 1 bar, but can go as fast as 1/32 notes, or as slow as 8
bars. It can also be set to ‘None’ so clips react immediately.
Launching Scenes
Pressing the Scene Launch button (>) launches scenes in Ableton Live. This means that all of the clips
in a row can either start, stop, record or relaunch together.
Live’s Global Quantization chooser

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Stop, Solo, Mute
While in Session mode, it is possible to switch the functionality of the bottom 8 pads so that they no
longer launch clips. This is done with the Stop, Solo, Mute button.
The Stop, Solo, Mute button toggles between four different states which affect tracks in the
following ways:
• Stop (Red) – In this state, pressing pads will stop any clip on the corresponding track.
• The red pads will dimly glow if tracks are not playing.
• Solo (Blue) - Pressing the pads will solo the corresponding tracks, meaning only tracks with Solo on
will be heard.
• The pads will dimly glow if tracks are not soloed (ie they are silent) and if soloed they will be a
steady bright blue.

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• Mute (Yellow) – Pressing pads will Mute the corresponding tracks.
• The pads will dimly glow for muted tracks, leaving pads for unmuted tracks at their original
brightness and colour.
• Clips (White) – the fourth press (after toggling through Stop, Solo and Mute) changes the function
of bottom pads back to the default Session mode, where the bottom row of pads will again
represent clips.
Record / Capture MIDI
Pressing this button triggers Session Record. This will allow you to record what you’re playing to new
clips as well as overdub existing ones.
Holding Shift and pressing Record triggers the Capture MIDI function. This allows you to
retrospectively capture any recently played MIDI notes in the record-armed track. This means that if
you are not recording, but you play something that sounds great, you can use Capture MIDI to send it
straight into a clip.

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Playing and Recording Drums
Drum mode transforms the Launchkey Mini’s pads into velocity-sensitive drum pads.
Hold Shift and press the Drum pad (2nd from the top left) to enter this mode.
If a Drum Rack (an Ableton MIDI instrument) is loaded onto the selected Live track, and the Launchkey
Mini is in Drum mode, the pads light up the colour of the track. These pads will play whatever Drum
Rack pads are visible on your computer screen, turning green when played, and red if the track is
recording.
Hold Shift and press either the > or Stop, Solo, Mute buttons to scroll up/down a Drum Rack’s bank of
128 pads.
When using Ableton’s Drum Racks, Drum mode will – apart from triggering sounds – select the
associated Drum Rack pad within a Drum Rack. This means that on release, the last played Drum Rack
pad becomes grey and Ableton Live shows the selected Drum Rack pad on the screen.

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Using Ableton Live Devices
Device mode allows you to control the selected ‘device’ (Ableton or 3rd-party Instruments and
Effects) on a Live track. Hold the Shift button and press the Device pad (4th from top left) to
use this mode.
In this mode, knobs control the first 8 parameters of the selected device. This is especially useful for
controlling Live’s 8 ‘macro’ knobs, available on Instrument and Effect Racks.
The above picture shows an Impulse preset called ‘Percussion 1’. Here, the Launchkey Mini’s knobs
control sample volumes, sample start and ‘stretch’, as well as delay and reverb amounts.
Macro controls for an Ableton device

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Using Ableton Live’s Mixer
The Launchkey Mini’s 8 knobs (in the red box above) give you hands-on control of Live’s mixer. Hold
Shift, then press either the Volume, Pan or Sends pads (in thee blue box above) to control those
respective parameters with the knobs.
• Volume - This mode allows for volume control over the 8 selected tracks currently inside
Live’s coloured rectangle. Holding the Shift button and pressing the Volume pad (the 4th
from the top right) selects this mode.
• Pan - This mode allows you to pan the 8 selected tracks currently inside Live’s coloured
rectangle. Holding the Shift button and pressing the Pan pad (the 3rd from the top right)
selects this mode.
• Sends - This mode allows you to control the send levels of tracks in Ableton Live. Hold Shift and
press the Sends pad (2nd from the top right) to enter this mode.
When in Sends mode two purple pads on the bottom row will switch between Send A or Send B. The
left purple pad chooses Send A, and the right purple pad selects Send B.
Sending audio to return tracks is a great way to use fewer audio effects. For example, instead of
putting the same reverb on many tracks, you can put one reverb on a return track and send
multiple tracks to it.