KVR Audio

user1 · Post by **user1** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 10:25 pm

Hi everyone, I got a few questions and I'm also looking for advice. I recently got into learning Ableton a few weeks back when my brother gave me his laptop that had it installed. He knew I listen to alot of electronic music and thought I could make use of it. So I started watching tons and tons of youtube videos and ended up buying a launchpad. I've had it for a few weeks now and love using it. I'm mainly a guitar player/drummer so this will just be another hobby for me. My main goal is to later on be able to just do mashups, and create my own bass wobbles and effects to add with the mashups.

I got home one day and my wife had me a Novation SL MKii 25 as a gift. This was about 3 weeks ago and I am just completely unhappy with it. I've had it out of the box twice. I would just rather hook up my launchpad and mess around with it. The couple of times I had the SL out, I was using ableton operator to try and create some bass wobbles. The keys on it seemed like the sensitivity setting (if there is one) was not staying constant. It's like I could tap a key 5 times in a row, with the same pressure and get a different result. Now if I opened up a drum rack or dropped in a piano somewhere, the keyboard sensitivity would stay the same. Something with the operator, so that was annoying and I put it back in the box.

It really made me start wondering if I should just send it back and get something else. For what I want to do, I am unsure if I even need a keyboard. I can't play piano, so I was thinking at the most maybe an akai lpk25? Or maybe send it back and get the MKii Zero with no keyboard? Is there a plus side to having a seperate keyboard? Or is all in one the way to go? I like the idea of having all the sliders, encoders and knobs, I just wasn't too thrilled with the built in keys.. seems as if the zero possibly has a better layout, but maybe I'm wrong.

The other night I found out about nativeKONTROL Lpc Live. I watched those videos and that makes me think with another launchpad I could probably do about anything with ableton I wanted, so that just adds to more confusion as to what to do. I've been reading alot on this forum, so I figured I would join up and ask for advice before I hit the cutoff time to return the Novation.

Do you all have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!!

martygras · Post by **martygras** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 4:42 pm

You have a really cool wife.

Mister Natural · Post by **Mister Natural** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 4:59 pm

^ agree with this

PM sent

rod_zero · Post by **rod_zero** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 5:03 pm

In your possition I would sell Launchpad and the Novation SL and get an Ableton Push.

or exchange the SL for another launchpad and get LPC ditto which emulates Push functionality.

Aubrey Lamont · Post by **Aubrey Lamont** » Sat Oct 12, 2013 7:22 pm

Maybe you got a defective keyboard? The SL MKii are supposed to be of good quality. I'd try getting it replaced.

martygras wrote:You have a really cool wife.

Also, this.

sebaden · Post by **sebaden** » Sat Oct 12, 2013 7:29 pm

i would say talk with your wife. i have the faint idea she can tell you what to do.

VariKusBrainZ · Post by **VariKusBrainZ** » Sat Oct 12, 2013 8:10 pm

Dude, Im totally loving my SL MKii.

Are you using it with a midi remote script?

try this one

https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php ... =+novation

for your launchpad try these

http://motscousus.com/stuff/2011-07_Nov ... e_Scripts/
http://www.midikatapult.com/Katapult/Home.html

There are also quite a few m4l devices for the launchpad, check out Isotonik.
Have a Google, theres just loads of stuff for the Launchpad and Live.

Velocity sensitivity etc, you can edit all this on the device itself.
I find the keyboard quality to be excellent, better than my NL3

user1 · Post by **user1** » Sat Oct 12, 2013 9:08 pm

Ive been using the SL a little bit since posting the original question and honestly I think the problems I am having are just combination of user error and a not so great PC. One thing someone else told me is the SL can make a software synth feel more like a hardware synth, and the launchpad cant really do that. I might just keep it for that reason alone. I do eventually want to start making my own bass lines, wobbles and such so Im sure it will come in handy later on once I learn ableton better. And maybe one day a second launchpad will serve me well.

I am going to try out those midi remote scripts and see how they work out too, so thanks for those links!

And yes I have a really cool wife. Thanks!

Beginner Midi Controller questions (Novation in particular)