Novation Launchpad X User manual

1
Launchpad X User Guide

2
Table of Contents
Introduction
……………….……..…………….……………….…….………….………….3
Key Features……………………..………………….…………...3
In the Box…….…………………..………………….…………...4
Getting up and running……….…..……………..….………….4
Launchpad Intro……….……….…..……………..….………….6
Ableton Live…..……….……….…..……………..….………….7
Using with other software.…….…..……………..….………….7
Hardware Overview
…………………………………………………………………………8
Launchpad X Interface Overview
…..……….….……….…....…..………...……………11
Session mode
…………….………………………..……………………………………….10
Ableton Live’s Session View…………………..….………….10
Mixer Mode……….……………..…………………………….12
Note mode
…………..….……………….…………………..………………….………….16
Chromatic mode…….….……..………..…………………….17
Scale mode……….….…..………..………………….……….17
Note Mode Settings…………………………………………..18
Overlap settings…...…………………..……….…….……….20
Drum mode……….……...………..………………….……….22
Custom modes
…………….…………………..………………….……………….……….23
Setting up Custom Modes……….……………….………….24
Lighting Pads………………………………………..…………25
Settings
………..……………….…………….….……….………………………...……….26
Default MIDI mappings
……….…………….….………………………………...……….34

3
Introduction
Launchpad X is our essential grid controller Ableton Live. Launchpad X will
accelerate your music production and allow your live performances to become fast
and tactile experiences.
Launchpad X makes launching clips in Ableton Live easy by bringing your Session
View from the screen to your fingertips in full RGB colour. Take music making
further and build tracks with Launchpad X by using the powerful Note mode to lay
down expressive beats and melodies with the velocity and pressure sensitive pads.
This manual will help you to understand every feature of your new grid controller
and will teach you how to take your production and performance to the next level
with Launchpad X.
Launchpad X Key Features:
• An 8x8 grid of 64
RGB LED
backlit pads
•
Velocity and pressure sensitive
pads for expressive performance of your
instruments
• Perform with Ableton Live by launching clips and scenes
•
Capture MIDI
and
Record
your playing in Ableton Live
• Plug and Play - USB bus-powered
• Powerful and versatile modes
: Session, Note and Four Custom Modes
• Ableton Live Mixer – control
Volume
,
Pan
and
Sends
per track
• Direct access to performance controls with
Stop, Solo, Mute
and
Record
Arm
buttons
• Powerful music production software included - Ableton Live 10 Lite, as
well as a range of high-quality instruments & effects
• Endless possibilities for controlling your software with
Custom Modes

4
In the box:
• Launchpad X
• USB-C to USB-A cable
Getting Up and Running
We’ve made getting up and running with Launchpad X 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,
whether you’ve never made music before or you just want to download your
included software as fast as possible.
To access the Easy Start Tool,
first plug in your Launchpad X
.
If you’re on a Mac:
1. On your Desktop find and open the folder “LAUNCHPAD X”.
2. Inside the folder, click the link: “Click Here to Get Started.html”
3. You’ll be taken to the Easy Start Tool where we’ll get you set up.
Alternatively, if you have Google Chrome open upon plugging in Launchpad X, a
pop-up will appear that will take you straight to the easy start tool.

5
If you’re on Windows:
1. Press the Start button and type “This PC”, then press enter.
2. In This PC, find the drive: “Launchpad X”, and double click.
3. Inside the drive, click the link: “Click Here to Get Started.html”
4. You’ll be taken to the Easy Start Tool where we’ll get you set up.
Double click the “Launchpad X” drive
Double click the “Click Here To Get Started” link

6
Launchpad Intro
If you’re new to Launchpads,
Launchpad Intro
is a great place to start. Choose from
a variety of curated packs from Ampify Music and start performing immediately.
Your Launchpad X will match the on-screen grid - press pads to launch loops and
one-shots to build up your track.
To get there, plug your Launchpad X into your computer and visit
https://intro.novationmusic.com/. Your Launchpad X will be automatically detected
and you’ll immediately be able to play beats using our curated packs.
Warning: To access Launchpad Intro, you must use a WebMIDI enabled browser.
We recommend Google Chrome or Opera.

7
Ableton Live
Ableton Live
(often referred to only as Live) is a unique and powerful piece of
software for music creation. Ableton Live 10 Lite is provided with your Launchpad X,
which gives you all the tools you’ll need to get started with making your own music.
If you’ve never used Ableton Live before, we recommend visiting our Easy Start
Tool (see
Getting Up and Running
). Here you’ll be guided through downloading
and installing Ableton Live 10 Lite. You’ll also find videos covering the software’s
basic features so you can get started making music in Ableton Live with Launchpad
X.
With Ableton Live installed, get your Launchpad X up and running by plugging it
into your Mac or PC’s USB port. When you open Live your Launchpad X will be
automatically detected and it will enter Session Mode.
More resources on using Ableton Live’s many functions may be found on Ableton’s
site at: https://www.ableton.com/en/live/learn-live/.
You may register your Launchpad X and obtain your Ableton Live 10 Lite license at:
https://customer.novationmusic.com/register.
Using with other software
Launchpad X is made for Ableton Live, but it may also be used as a controller for
other software. If you’re using other music production software, visit
support.novationmusic.com for more information on how to set up your Launchpad
X.
Having trouble?
In case you’re having any trouble getting setup, don’t hesitate to contact our
support team! You can find more information and answers to FAQs in the Novation
Help Centre at support.novationmusic.com.

8
Hardware Overview
Front panel
Back panel
Navigational buttons
Session Mode
(+ Mixer Toggle)
Scene Launch &
Mixer Buttons
Note Mode
8x8 Pad Grid
Custom Mode
Record & Capture MIDI
USB-C Socket
Kensington MiniSaver™Socket

9
Launchpad X Interface
Modes are the core of the Launchpad X interface. They allow you to switch between
views, offering different functionality in each.
There are three different modes available –
Session, Note
and
Custom
.
Press a mode button (above) to enter the respective mode. The currently active
mode will be lit pale green. Currently available modes will be lit dim white.
When in Session Mode, press Session once again to toggle Mixer Mode. In Mixer
Mode the Scene Launch buttons will become Ableton Live mixer functions in line
with their sub text.
There are 4
Custom
modes available. When the Custom button is pressed you will
enter Custom Mode 1 by default. Access each of these by pressing the top 4 Scene
Launch buttons after the Custom button is pressed. The Custom Mode lit in pale
green is selected, while available ones will be lit dim white. Using Novation
Components, you are able to edit these four modes and customise them to your
needs (see
Custom Modes
).

10
Session Mode
Ableton Live’s Session View
Session mode is designed to control
Ableton Live’s Session View
, seen below.
If you’ve never used Ableton Live before, we recommend visiting our Easy Start
Tool (see
Getting Up and Running
). Here you’ll find your included Ableton Live 10
Lite download code (if you choose to register your Launchpad X), alongside videos
covering installing, the software’s basic features, and how to get started making
music with your Launchpad X in Ableton Live.
Session View is a grid that consists of
clips
,
tracks
(columns) and
scenes
(rows).
Session mode provides an 8x8 view of your clips in Session view on Launchpad X.
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.
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.
A row represents a
scene, highlighted is
scene “9”.
The yellow column
shows a track,
titled “1 Rhodes”.
Clips

11
The ▲▼◄ ►buttons let you navigate session view. The red outline in the Session
View grid shows the area currently visible on Launchpad X.
Note: This outline may appear in any colour - this won’t affect its function.
• Press a pad to play the corresponding clip in Ableton. The colour will match
between the screen and pads.
• When a pad is pressed it will flash green, indicating that the clip is queued
and will soon begin to play. When a clip is playing, the pad will pulse green.
• Only one clip may play at a time per track. Pressing an empty clip will stop
the current one on that track.
• A horizontal line of clips is called a
Scene
. Scenes can be triggered using the
>
(scene launch) buttons on the right-hand side of Launchpad X.
When a track is record armed (see
Mixer Mode
), you may use the [O] button
(Session Record) to enable overdub recording of the currently playing clip.
Pressing and hold Capture MIDI to capture any recent playing and place it into a
MIDI track. If no clip was playing on the armed track, Ableton Live will place the
MIDI notes into a new clip. If a clip was playing, the MIDI notes will be overdubbed
onto that clip.

12
Mixer Mode
Mixer Mode
is a sub-mode of Session mode that allows you to control various track
parameters in
Ableton Live 10
. Mixer Mode can be toggled on and off by pressing
the Session button when in Session Mode. When in Mixer Mode, Session will be lit
orange, as opposed to pale green when in Session Mode.
In Mixer mode, the Scene Launch buttons will become Mixer
Functions corresponding to the text on each button.
When a Mixer function is pressed, it will be lit brightly to indicate that
it is selected. Pressing the same Mixer function once more will
deselect it. Unselected mixer functions will be lit dim white.
Volume:
Control the volume levels of the tracks within the currently
selected 8x8 area in Session view. Volume faders are vertical.
Pan:
Control the stereo panning of the tracks within the currently
selected 8x8 area in Session view.
Pans will show horizontally
- the top
pan represents the leftmost track, and the bottom represents the
rightmost.
Send A:
Control the send level of the tracks within the currently
selected 8x8 area in Session view to Send A. Send faders are vertical.
Send B:
Control the send level of the tracks within the currently
selected 8x8 area in Session view to send B. Send faders are vertical.
Stop Clip:
Overlay the bottom row of pads with Stop Clip triggers.
When pressed, the clip in the corresponding track will stop playing at
the end of the phrase.
Mute:
Overlay the bottom row of pads with Mute track toggles. When
pressed, the clip in the corresponding track will stop playing.

13
Solo:
Overlay the bottom row of pads with Solo track toggles. When pressed, the
clip in the corresponding track will stop playing.
Record Arm:
Overlay the bottom row of pads with Record Arm track toggles. When
pressed, the clip in the corresponding track will stop playing.
Volume
,
Pan, Send A
and
Send B
are each sets of 8 faders. The faders are vertical
for Volume, Send A and Send B, whereas they are horizontal for Pan (see below).
Press a pad to move the fader position up and down (or left to right).
Faders
are velocity sensitive. Hitting a pad on a fader hard will cause the value to
move quickly, while pressing a pad softly will result in a more gradual change of the
value.
Faders also feature
microvalues
that may be accessed by tapping a single pad
multiple times – each press will output a slightly higher value. This allows for more
fine-tuned control with faders. There are four microvalues per pad. Once the
highest microvalue for a pad is reached, a further press to the same pad will return
to the lowest value for the pad. Fader microvalues are indicated by the brightness
of the highest value pad of a fader, with dim being the lowest microvalue, and full
brightness being the highest.

14
The numbers in each fader above shows which track the fader is related to with
regards to Session View’s red outline. The left-most track becomes the top track for
pans.

15
In Mixer mode, the bottom row of pads can provide immediate control for four
performance
track
controls:
Stop
(stop clip from playing on a specific track),
Solo
(solo a specific track),
Mute
(mute a specific track) or
Record Arm
(arm a specific
track for recording).These functions are overlaid onto the bottom row of pads when
their Mixer functions are pressed.
The pads for the currently Record Armed, Muted and Soloed tracks will be lit
brightly, while the others will be dimly lit.
When a track is record armed, all empty clips in a column will be dimly lit red. When
a clip is pressed it will flash red to show that it is queued to record (the record
button will also flash in unison). The pad will pulse red once recording begins, with

16
the record button lit bright red. If the record button is then pressed, the clip will
flash red to indicate that it will soon stop recording. If the track is un-armed during
recording, the clip will immediately stop recording.
Views within Session Mode and Mixer Mode allow for momentary switching.
For example, you may currently be viewing your track mutes, but want to quickly
visit your volume faders to turn a track up. Press and hold Volume, edit a volume
fader, and release Volume to return to Mute view.
Note that Faders will not continue to move when not currently viewed.
Note mode
Use Launchpad X’s Note Mode to play drums and melodic instruments expressively
with the velocity and pressure sensitive 8x8 grid.
The layout of Note mode is variable, with the option to have a chromatic, scale, or
drum layout. You are able to customise Launchpad X’s playing surface to suit you.
When in any layout, use ▲▼ to increase or decrease the octave, and use ◄► to
transpose the grid by a semitone up or down.
Note Mode will react dynamically to the currently armed instrument in Ableton Live.
When a track with a Drum Rack is armed in Live, Note Mode will automatically
switch to a Drum layout, and vice versa for any other instrument.
In Ableton Live, load an instrument into a MIDI track by selecting an instrument
from the browser and double clicking it (or alternatively drag it to a track). If you
cannot hear anything, ensure that the track is record armed and that monitoring is
set to auto.
Monitor is set to Auto.
Red arm button indicates
that track is record armed.

17
Chromatic Mode
Chromatic Mode is the default layout of Note mode. Press pads in the 8x8 grid to
trigger notes. While Chromatic Mode allows all notes to be played, a visual
indication for which notes are in scale is provided.
Blue pads represent notes in the currently selected scale (C Minor by default),
purple pads represent the root of the scale, and blank pads represent notes outside
of the scale.
The default chromatic layout seen here is similar to that of a guitar, with an octave
being two pads up and two pads across. This allows for guitar chord shapes to be
used. Additionally, the sixth column of pads will play the same notes as the first
column on the row above, further mimicking a guitar layout.
The layout of chromatic mode can be altered in Note Mode settings, accessed by
holding Note. See
Note Mode Settings
for details.
Scale Mode
In Scale Mode, Launchpad X will only display notes in the current scale. This allows
you to play freely without ever going out of key.
As with Chromatic Mode, Blue pads represent notes in the currently selected scale,
while purple pads represent the root of the scale. Here, blank pads show that no

18
note exists at their location as pads are outside of playable range. This out of range
behaviour also applies to Chromatic Mode.
The layout of chromatic mode can be altered in Note Mode settings, accessed by
holding Note. See
Note Mode Settings
for details.
Note Mode Settings
Note Mode settings allow you to switch between Chromatic Mode and Scale Mode,
change the currently selected scale and root note, alter Note Mode’s layout with
overlap controls, and change Note Mode’s MIDI channel.
Enter Note Mode settings by pressing and holding
Note
. Note will pulse green
when in Note Mode settings.
The
Chromatic/Scale toggle
will switch between Chromatic Mode (lit dim red) and
Scale Mode (lit bright green) upon being pressed.
Overlap
allows you to alter the layout of both Chromatic Mode and Scale Mode.
See the following section for a detailed explanation.
The Scale Viewer
shows which notes are in the currently selected scale on a piano
layout keyboard. Blue pads show notes in the scale, the purple pad shows the root,

19
and the dimly lit white pads show notes outside of the scale. Press a pad in the
Scale Viewer to change the root note of the scale.
Scale Select
lets you choose from 16 different scales. Press a pad to select a scale.
The selected scale will be lit bright white, while unselected scales will be lit dim
blue.
The MIDI channel
that Note Mode transmits on may be selected between 1 and 16.
This is useful when you want to send notes to a specific track when you have
multiple tracks record armed.

20
Overlap
Overlap determines the relationship between notes on different rows. An overlap of
5 means that the leftmost pad on a row will play the same note as the sixth pad
across on the row below.
Each overlap level represents how many fingers are needed to play a scale. For
example, with a 4 Finger overlap you are able to play a scale going vertically up the
grid with only 4 fingers. This is great for playing with a single a hand.
Sequential overlap behaves differently from 2, 3, 4 and 5 Finger overlaps. In
Chromatic Mode, notes will be laid out linearly and are unique to each pad. In Scale
Mode, only octaves of the root will be overlapped. Sequential layout in Scale Mode
provides a great way to play scales over a range of octaves easily.