Caution: The normal operation of this product may be affected by a strong electrostatic discharge (ESD). In the event of this happening, simply reset the unit by removing and then replugging the USB cable. Normal operation should return. Trade Marks The Novation trade mark is owned by Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd. All other brand, product and company names and any other registered names or trade marks mentioned in this manual belong to their respective owners.
Contents Introduction...............................................................................................................................4 Key Features....................................................................................................................................4 What’s in the Box.............................................................................................................................5 Getting Started with your Launchkey Mini [MK3]..........................
Introduction The Launchkey Mini [MK3] is Novation’s most portable MIDI keyboard controller. Though compact in size, Launchkey Mini is packed with powerful features and a streamlined workflow that will elevate your music production and performance. Launchkey Mini integrates perfectly with Ableton Live (and other DAWs) for both production and performance. You can navigate and control Live’s Session View, play and record clips, adjust effects and much more without ever looking at your computer.
What’s in the Box • Launchkey Mini • USB Type-A to B cable (1.5 meters) • Safety Instructions Getting Sarted with your Launchkey Mini [MK3] We’ve made getting up and running with Launchkey Mini as easy as possible, whether you’re a brand new beatmaker or a seasoned producer. Our ‘Easy Start Tool’ provides a step-by-step guide on getting set up that is tailored to your needs. We’ll give you exactly what you need, whether you’ve never made music before, or if you just want to download your included software.
As part of this process, you may register your Launchkey Mini [MK3] to get access to your included software. We give you everything you need to start making tracks. Alternatively, you can also register your Launchkey Mini by going to customer.novationmusic.com/register (pictured below). You’ll then need to make an account and enter the serial of your Launchkey, which will give you access to the bundled software.
Getting Connected Connecting to a Computer The Launchkey Mini is bus-powered, meaning it turns on as soon as you connect it to your computer with a USB cable. Connecting to Mobile Devices Android iOS To operate the Launchkey Mini with an Android To operate the Launchkey Mini with an device we recommend a USB OTG iOS device, use Apple’s Lightning to USB to USB adapter. 3 Camera Adapter with a separate 2.4A Lightning charger.
Hardware Overview 1 Pitch and Modulation touch strips for bending pitch or adding 2 modulation. 3 5 access secondary functions. Transpose lets you transpose your keyboard plus or minus 11 4 Octave + and - buttons move semitones. Press Shift and Transpose to select MIDI Channel output the keyboard up or down across for the keyboard. 7 octaves (C-1 to C5). Rotary knobs control hardware, software parameters, or settings on the Launchkey itself.
Rear View Top Panel 9
Using the Launchkey Mini [MK3] The Launchkey Mini is designed to work seamlessly with Ableton Live, offering deep integration through powerful production and performance controls. Launchkey Mini also boasts a powerful arpeggiator (‘Arp’) and a ‘Fixed Chord’ mode – both of which can be used with Live, other DAWs, or standalone with your outboard gear. In addition, you can modify the Launchkey Mini to suit your needs with Custom Modes.
In the Link/MIDI tab you’ll need to copy the settings shown above. First, select the Launchkey Mini [MK3] from the Control Surface menu. Then, under Input and Output select Launchkey Mini (Launchkey Mini InControl) or Launchkey Mini MIDI IN2 (Windows). Finally, match the Track, Sync and Remote settings. If you’re having trouble getting your Launchkey Mini working with Ableton Live, be sure to visit our Easy Start Tool for video explanations.
Session mode is designed to control Ableton Live’s Session view, seen below. Session View is a grid that consists of clips, tracks and scenes. Track Scene Clip Ableton Live’s Session View Launchkey Mini’s Session mode provides an 8x2 view of the clips in your Session View. Example of Launchkey Mini’s pads in Session mode: Clips are typically loops that contain MIDI notes or Tracks represent virtual instruments or audio tracks. audio.
Scenes are rows of clips. Launching a scene will launch all clips in that row. This means that you can arrange clips into horizontal groups (across tracks) to form a song structure, launching scene after scene to progress through a song. Again, access Session mode on the Launchkey Mini by holding Shift and pressing the Session pad (the top left pad). In Session mode, the pads represent the grid of clips found inside the coloured rectangle in Ableton Live’s Session View.
More specifically, you can move the currently selected grid of clips (inside Ableton Live’s coloured rectangle) up or down by holding Shift and pressing the following buttons: Shift + Scene Launch (>) – This moves the grid of clips up one row. Shift + Stop, Solo, Mute – This moves the grid of clips down one row. Holding Shift and pressing Arp (left) or Fixed Chord (right) will select the adjacent left or right track. This will automatically arm the track so it is ready to receive MIDI.
Launching Clips Pressing pads will launch clips in the corresponding location in your Session View. Pads will pulse green to indicate that a clip is playing. Pressing the pad again will relaunch the clip, and pressing an empty pad will stop playback on that track. Live’s Global Quantization chooser How fast clips stop or relaunch is set by Ableton Live’s Global Quantisation chooser, located at the top of the Live screen.
Stop, Solo, Mute While in Session mode, it is possible to switch the functionality of the bottom 8 pads so that they no longer launch clips. This is done with the Stop, Solo, Mute button. The Stop, Solo, Mute button toggles between four different states which affect tracks in the following ways: • Stop (Red) – In this state, pressing pads will stop any clip on the corresponding track. • The red pads will dimly glow if tracks are not playing.
• Mute (Yellow) – Pressing pads will Mute the corresponding tracks. • The pads will dimly glow for muted tracks, leaving pads for unmuted tracks at their original brightness and colour. • Clips (White) – the fourth press (after toggling through Stop, Solo and Mute) changes the function of bottom pads back to the default Session mode, where the bottom row of pads will again represent clips. Record / Capture MIDI Pressing this button triggers Session Record.
Playing and Recording Drums Drum mode transforms the Launchkey Mini’s pads into velocity-sensitive drum pads. Hold Shift and press the Drum pad (2nd from the top left) to enter this mode. If a Drum Rack (an Ableton MIDI instrument) is loaded onto the selected Live track, and the Launchkey Mini is in Drum mode, the pads light up the colour of the track. These pads will play whatever Drum Rack pads are visible on your computer screen, turning green when played, and red if the track is recording.
Using Ableton Live Devices Device mode allows you to control the selected ‘device’ (Ableton or 3rd-party Instruments and Effects) on a Live track. Hold the Shift button and press the Device pad (4th from top left) to use this mode. In this mode, knobs control the first 8 parameters of the selected device. This is especially useful for controlling Live’s 8 ‘macro’ knobs, available on Instrument and Effect Racks.
Using Ableton Live’s Mixer The Launchkey Mini’s 8 knobs (in the red box above) give you hands-on control of Live’s mixer. Hold Shift, then press either the Volume, Pan or Sends pads (in thee blue box above) to control those respective parameters with the knobs. • Volume - This mode allows for volume control over the 8 selected tracks currently inside Live’s coloured rectangle. Holding the Shift button and pressing the Volume pad (the 4th from the top right) selects this mode.
Arp Pressing the Arp button on the right of Launchkey enables the Arpeggiator. After engaging Arp the Launchkey takes your chords and creates an arpeggio – ie it plays each note of the chord one after another. The Arpeggiator will run as long as keys are held, at the rhythmic value specified by the Arp Rate. Launchkey’s Arp is a great way to come up with interesting melodies and progressions with ease. Arpeggiator Rotary Knobs When you hold the Arp button the rotary knobs can transform your arpeggios.
Arp Modes After turning on Arp you’ll be in 1 of 7 Arpeggiator Modes, each resulting in arpeggios of different note orders. To change the Arp Mode, press and hold the Arp button, and then press the key corresponding to your desired mode. After pressing a key, you can see the pad above reflect your changes (as per the previous section). • Up – Here notes are played in ascending order (ie rising in pitch). If notes are added, the number of notes in the sequence will grow but remain in ascending order.
Arp Rates These options specify the speed of the arpeggiated notes. Since each note is played immediately after the end of the previous one, a shorter rate (eg 1/32) will play an arpeggio faster than longer one (eg 1/4). Rate options are common musical note values: quarter (¼), eighth (1/8), sixteenth (1/16) and thirty-second (1/32) notes. To change the Arp Rate, press and hold the Arp button, and then press the key below 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, or 1/32.
Arp Rhythms Arp Rhythms add musical rests (silent steps) to your arpeggio’s pattern, allowing for greater variations in your arpeggios. Hold Arp then press one of the following, which will turn the pads yellow. • Dots - These three options are rhythmic patterns. • O – The normal Arpeggiator setting, this places a note on every division of the selected Arp rate. • OXO (note - rest - note) – This rhythm adds a rest between every pair of notes.
Arp Pads The pads of the Launchkey Mini help to visually confirm the current Arp state. When the Arp button is held the pads will light up in different colours, indicating these Arp settings: purple (Arp Modes), red (Arp Rates), blue (Arp Octaves), yellow (Arp Rhythms), and red/light green (Latch). The top row of pads select the Arp groups: Arp Modes, Arp Rates, Arp Octaves, Arp Rhythms, and Latch (On/Off).
Fixed Chord Fixed Chord lets you play a chord shape and then transpose it by pressing other keys. To set a chord press and hold the Fixed Chord button. Then, while still holding the button, press and release the keys that you wish to be part of your chord. The chord is now stored. Keep in mind that the first note that you input into the chord is considered the ‘root note’ of the chord, even if you then add notes lower than the first one, like in the example below.
Custom Modes and Components Launchkey Mini can act as a general-purpose MIDI controller for a wide range of music production software and hardware. In addition to the Note On/Note Off messages sent from the 25 keys, each of the knobs and pads transmit a MIDI message that can be customised using Novation Components. This allows you to configure your device to use these messages as you wish.
Working with Logic Pro X The Launchkey Mini [MK3] can serve as a controller for many tasks in Apple’s Logic Pro X. Many aspects of Launchkey Mini function according to the Hardware Overview, seen earlier in this guide. Likewise, the behaviour described in the Arp and Fixed Chord sections remains the same in Logic Pro X. However, when acting as a control surface for the Logic Pro X, there are some intricacies that need describing.
Session Mode Press Shift followed by the Session pad to enter Session mode for Logic Pro X. Here, by default, the pads represent tracks 1 through 8. If a track does not contain audio or MIDI information, the corresponding pad will remain unlit. Track Track Track Track Track Track Track Track 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 By default, the top row of pads (red) toggle track arm, becoming brightly lit when armed.
Navigation Holding Shift and pressing Arp or Fixed Chord will select the track before or after the current track, respectively. Doing so will also automatically arm the newly-selected track. Drum Mode Hold Shift and press the Drum pad (2nd from top left) to enter Drum mode. This allows you to use the Launchkey Mini’s velocity-sensitive pads for Logic’s drum instruments. Using Logic’s Devices Device mode allows you to control the selected track’s ‘Smart Controls’ with Launchkey Mini’s knobs.
Using Logic Mixer Controls The Launchkey Mini’s 8 knobs (in red box above) let you control Logic Pro X’s mixer controls. Hold Shift, then press either the Volume, Pan or Sends pads (in blue box above) to control those respective parameters with the knobs. • Volume and Pan - These two modes allow for Volume and Pan control over the 8 selected tracks. Holding the Shift button and pressing the Volume or Pan pads (the 5th and 6th pads from the top left) changes between the two modes.
Working with Reason 10 Setup After opening Reason 10 and connecting your Launchkey Mini via USB find Reason’s Preferences here: Reason > Preferences Once in Reason’s Preferences click Control Surfaces and choose ‘Auto-detect Surfaces’. Reason should then find the Launchkey Mini [MK3]. Select it and make sure ‘Use with Reason’ is checked. Rotary Knobs With a Reason instrument selected the Launchkey Mini’s 8 knobs automatically control useful parameters.
Navigation Holding Shift and pressing Arp or Fixed Chord will select the track below or above the current track, respectively. Doing so will also automatically arm the newly-selected Reason track. Preset Browsing Press the > and Stop, Solo, Mute buttons to scroll through presets on Reason instruments. Shift and > moves to the next preset, while pressing Shift + Stop, Solo, Mute moves to the previous one.
Working with HUI (Pro Tools, Cubase) ‘HUI’ (Human User Interface Protocol) allows the Launchkey Mini to act like a Mackie HUI device and therefore work with DAWs that provide HUI support. DAWs that support HUI include Steinberg’s Cubase and Nuendo, Avid Pro Tools, and MOTU Digital Performer, among others. Most aspects of Launchkey Mini will work according to the Hardware Overview, seen earlier in this guide.
Using Pro Tools’ Mixer Hold Shift, then press either the Volume, Pan or Sends pads (in the blue box above) to control track volume, panning and sends A and B with the Launchkey Mini’s 8 knobs (in the red box). When in Sends mode two blue pads on the bottom row will switch between Send A and Send B. The left blue pad chooses Send A, while the right blue pad selects Send. Cubase Setup To set up the Launchkey Mini in Cubase, navigate to: Studio > Studio Setup. Next find the ‘MIDI port setup’ option.
Click the + in the upper-left corner, and choose ‘Mackie HUI’. Cubase Setup: Choose ‘Launchkey Mini MK3 DAW Port’ for MIDI Input and MIDI Output. Finally, hit ‘Apply’ to start using the controller with Cubase. Cubase Navigation While in Cubase’s Mixconsole, hold Shift and press Arp or Fixed Chord to select the track left or right of the current track, respectively. Doing so will also automatically arm the newly-selected track.
Using Cubase’s Mixer Hold Shift, then press either the Volume, Pan or Sends pads (in blue box above) to control track volume, panning and sends A and B with the Launchkey Mini’s 8 knobs (in red box). When in Sends mode two blue pads on the bottom row will switch between Send A and Send B. The left blue pad chooses Send A, while the right blue pad selects Send. Vegas Mode If the Launchkey Mini is idle for 5 minutes, it will enter Vegas mode.
