Novation Launchpad

I recently got myself a Novation Launchpad because I was tired of only ever using MIDI keyboards to make music and wanted to mix things up. Then I discovered that it has MIDI in... Needless to say, I haven't made any music with it yet, but I did make a program that makes the lights blink real nice. Even ended up creating a little pseudo scripting language to sequence the effects. It's browser based and you can play around with it without any hardware. (not intended for mobile use) https://gridlitx.onrender.com/

> I think it is a lot easier to do so with an expressive, physically embodied musical instrument. Completely agree. I currently run 5 MIDI controllers with Ableton: 3 Launchpads (one for launching clips, and the other two for controlling step sequencers), a Launch Control for knobs, and a basic 61-key MIDI keyboard. I used to do it all with a mouse, but when I added that first Launchpad for punching in sequences by hand, I felt so much more creative. Clearly, I still use the mouse for lots of things. And, doing everything by way of a controller (like the Push) is not really desirable to me. But creating patterns, playing chords/melodies on the keys, and tweaking synth params with hardware pots by hand just feels better. Like you, I don't have to think about what I'm doing. I just do it. Clicking in notes on piano roll really can't compete. imo.

A few months ago I was contemplating the same thing since I was out of town for a long stretch of time. It's unconventional and doesn't have quite all the features that most traditional keyboards have, but I ended up purchasing a Launchpad Pro [1]. While it does not offer a traditional keybed, it is surprisingly playable and feels very musical in its note mode. It also has a chord mode that makes building up chord progressions and riffing on them. It also has a reasonably featured 4 track midi sequencer built in. And of course it can be used as a drum pad and can launch clips in Ableton and Logic (and I believe there is a script for deep integration in bitwig studio as well?). [1] https://novationmusic.com/en/launch/launchpad-pro

You can buy a MIDI keyboard with poly aftertouch and just use that to control the synth. I use a Novation Launchpad Pro for this, which is a bit unconventional but I much prefer it to playing on actual keys. There's also the Roli Seaboard, among others. Pair that with Arturia's CS80 emulation and you would hardly know the difference if you closed your eyes.