Recording - February 2014 - 46

B Y M I K E M E T L AY

Novation Launch Family
Hardware and software that makes computer-based song creation a breeze

Novation has a proud history of exceptional tools for the electronic musician and composer, from now-iconic analog-modeling hardware synths like the Bass Station and SuperNova to
powerful controllers like the ReMOTE SL Series. With the Launch
family of products, Novation has an ambitious goal: put the
right tools for working with modern music performance/composition DAWs in everyone's hands at an approachable price.
The Launch line consists of seven hardware and two software
products, aimed at users of interactive DAWs that allow users to
quickly build up ideas into frameworks for finished tracks on the
fly. In this review we'll look at five of them: the Launchpad Mini,
Launch Control, and Launchkey Mini hardware controllers, and
the Launchpad and Launchkey iOS apps.
The other products are the Launchpad S, a larger version of the
Launchpad Mini that's operationally identical to its smaller sibling,
and the three Launchkey controllers, full-sized 25/49/61-note keyboards that add control surface features like faders to the functions of
the other Launch units. When appropriate, I'll make references to those products' special features in this review.
Ready for Launch
So why "Launch"? The term comes from Ableton
Live, which pioneered the now-familiar method of creating song frameworks by playing back beat-matched
loops and samples-"launching clips", in Live terminology-in real time, trying out and discarding ideas
rapidly to build up a track. Ten years ago, the mainstream music composition world dismissed Live as
46

RECORDING February 2014

"cheating" or as "good for nothing but dance music", but nowadays millions of users have discovered how easy it is to quickly
capture ideas that then allow for fully-fleshed tracks to be built
atop them with recorded instruments and vocals.
Live is seeing use in every genre from indie rock and jazz to
country and Americana, and its basic system of clip launching
has been quietly adopted (and/or adapted) by many other
DAWs. Many users of mainstream DAWs like Pro Tools simply
keep a copy of Live running alongside, so quick composition
can be married to traditional DAW music production.
But as any user of these DAWs can tell you, this creative
process can be badly hindered if you don't have an easy and
inspiring way to launch and work with clips. Pressing keys on
your laptop or clicking with the mouse is a surefire way to kill
creativity! Ideally, you'd have a simple, small, portable, unobtrusive controller close at hand, that makes clip-based composition easy and intuitive without a lot of fuss. You could pick and
choose features as needed, say to tweak effects in real time
(since those tweaks are recorded by these DAWs and easy to
recall later if you like them) or to play a virtual instrument and
lay down melodic ideas or chords along with your clips.
The Launch products have been optimized from the ground up
to allow you to do just that. They're portable and play well
together within your DAW, so you can easily assemble your
dream composition system from affordable parts.
In common
These devices are all bus-powered from USB; they run happily on any Windows PC or Mac, and a single unit can be connected to an iOS device using Apple's Camera Connection Kit.
(To use multiple Launch System devices with an iPad, you'll have
to add a powered USB hub. My tests with a 7-port Belkin hub
were all flawless.) They're built on lightweight but reassuringly
solid plastic chassis for ease of transport, and they give the
impression of being built to withstand serious use, including getting tossed into a laptop bag and banged around in transit.
While controls and functions differ from unit to unit, the overall
process of installing and working with the Novation Launch hardware is comfortingly consistent as you add units to your rig, so you're
not really starting from scratch each time. Each Launch device comes
with a registration number that you enter online in a user account that



Recording - February 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - February 2014

Contents
Recording - February 2014 - Cover1
Recording - February 2014 - Cover2
Recording - February 2014 - 1
Recording - February 2014 - 2
Recording - February 2014 - 3
Recording - February 2014 - 4
Recording - February 2014 - 5
Recording - February 2014 - Contents
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Recording - February 2014 - Cover3
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