Novation’s latest addition to the Launch range soups up the Launch Control to allow Ableton users to focus more on their performance and less on their laptops.
The Launchpad-sized Launch Control XL has 24 knobs laid out in three rows of eight, mirroring Ableton’s mixer interface. These knobs each have a tri-colour indicator so you can keep track of their function without referring back to the screen. These are then paired with 16 multicoloured buttons and eight faders, which integrate automatically with Ableton’s mixer, to offer all the controls required to operate Live straight out of the box. If you want to customise controls, though, any knob, fader or button can be freely assigned to any parameter you desire.
Although you don’t need to use it with a Launchpad S, the two look like a good match, and between them offer control over everything in Ableton Live: session view, mixer, effects and instruments.
Like other members of the Launch range, the Launch Control XL comes with Ableton Live Lite and a 1GB of Loopmasters sample content.
While it’s optimised for Live, the Launch Control XL isn’t just for Ableton’s DAW. It can also be used as a MIDI controller on Mac , PC and iOS, providing you have Apple’s Camera Connection Kit.
Novations new controller will be available in August and will retail for £159.99.
