Novation Launchpad Pro

3owners with an opinion

67%of verdicts positive

0/0positive/negative since 2024

0happy after 3+ years

Praised for ease of use.

What people wrote

Likes it

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

Doesn’t like it

There is no straight up MIDI keyboard available with poly aftertouch. There are weird non-keyboards, such as the Seaboard and the Linnstrument. The Launchpad Pro is also not a keyboard, and frankly its poly aftertouch implementation is so sensitive, it's almost impossible to use, regardless of what sensitivity level you set. I know, because I have one, and I've tried.

Likes it

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.