The Launchkey can control a range of DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) using various Encoder and Pad modes.
You can use the Encoder modes on your Launchkey to control Plugins, your DAW's Mixer, Sends, and DAW Transport modes using the Encoders.
You can also use your Launchkey's pads in DAW and Pad modes.
Many of the DAW controls on your Launchkey are DAW specific, whereas others are shared features. We've split the DAW features into two sections:
-
Features common to all DAWs.
-
Features specific to certain DAWs.
Read through both the Common DAW Controls section and the section about your DAW to fully understand how you can integrate Launchkey in your workflow.
Common DAW control relates to your Launchkey's features that work in all supported DAWs.
Once you've read this section, you can read the section relating to your DAW.
When you first connect your Launchkey to a DAW, the sections of your Launchkey default to the following modes:
|
Control Area |
Default Mode |
|---|---|
|
Encoders |
Plugin |
|
Drum Pads |
DAW |
|
Faders |
Volume |
|
Fader Buttons |
Arm |
The track buttons do the same thing in all DAWs: Press Track > to move to the next track, and < Track to move to the previous track.
When you move tracks, your Launchkey 88 MK4 's screen temporarily shows the new track's name.
The Track buttons light to show you when you're able to move track. For example, if you're on Track 1, the < Track button wouldn't light as you can only move to the next track.
Track Banking allows you to move tracks in groups of eight. The bank of tracks you're on is also the set of eight tracks your Launchkey's mixer settings (e.g. encoders and faders) control.
To bank by eight tracks, hold Shift and press the < Track or Track > buttons to move to the previous or next bank.
When you move banks, your Launchkey's screen temporarily shows the new set of tracks, e.g. Mixer Tracks 9 - 16.
Encoder modes assign your Launchkey 88's encoders to different sets of controls.
To change Encoder mode, hold the Shift button and press one of the top row's pads.
The Encoder modes that relate to DAW control are:
-
Plugin - controls the currently focused plugin.
-
Mixer - controls Tracks' Level and Pan.
-
Sends - controls the DAW Mixers Send controls
-
Transport - controls elements of the DAW's transport beyond the Play/Pause/Loop/Stop buttons
For more information on each DAW Encoder mode, read the next few sections.
Plugin mode assigns your encoders to control the currently focused plugin in your DAW. You can control your DAW's stock plugin effects and instruments and third-party plugins.
Each DAW has its own way of assigning plugin controls to the encoders, so please see the section relating to your DAW.
Transport mode brings controls of your DAW's arrangement view onto your encoders, giving you hands-on control of your project's navigation.
The screen shows short names for the following controls, explained in the table below and following sections:
|
Encoder |
Function |
Short name |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Transport Position (Scrub) |
Scrb |
|
2 |
Zoom |
Zoom |
|
3 |
Loop Start point |
LPS |
|
4 |
Loop End point |
LPE |
|
5 |
Marker selection |
Mark |
|
6 |
N/A |
|
|
7 |
N/A |
|
|
8 |
Tempo (BPM) |
BPM |
Note
This mode is slightly different in Ableton Live. For more information, see Live's Transport Encoder Mode.
Encoder 1 controls Scrub, or Playback Position. The encoder moves the playhead left and right through your arrangement in beats.
The screen shows the current playhead position.
In Transport Encoder mode, Encoder 2 increases and decreases the Zoom level.
Moving the Zoom encoder clockwise Zooms in, anti-clockwise Zooms out.
The screen temporarily shows the last Zoom change:
|
|
|
Encoders 4 and 5 control the Loop Start and Loop End points in your DAW.
When you change the Loop points, the screen temporarily shows the Loop point you've changed, and its position in Bars and Beats.
The Marker select encoder moves your DAW's playhead between markers you've set up in your DAW.
Moving the encoder clockwise or anti-clockwise moves your playhead to the next or previous marker.
When you move markers, the screen temporarily shows the name of the marker you've moved to.
If you've not set up any markers in your project yet, the Marker Select encoder doesn't do anything and when you move it the screen shows 'No Markers':
The way you add markers varies by DAW. To find out how to add markers in your DAW, read the user guide for your specific DAW.
The faders only have one function, to control the volume level of the current track bank.
The first eight faders control your track bank, the ninth fader controls the main output level control in your DAW.
When you move a fader, the screen shows the track name and level in dB.
The fader buttons have two modes, Select mode and Arm Mode.
To change the fader button mode, press the ninth fader button.
When you change the fader button mode, the screen temporarily shows the mode you've selected.
|
|
|
Note
In Select Mode, the buttons light up as the tracks' colours.
In Arm mode, the buttons light red– dim red if the track isn't armed and bright red if the track is record armed.
In Select mode, press a fader button to select that track in your DAW. This allows you to play the track and/or have deeper control over the track's plugins in plugin encoder mode.
In Select Mode, the buttons light up as the tracks' colours.
When you select a track, the screen shows the track's name.
In terms of DAW control, the pads have two modes: DAW and Drum. You can change these using Shift + Drum pad mode buttons.
In DAW mode, the pads change function depending on the DAW you're using. Checkout the DAW specific sections of this user guide to find out more.
In Drum mode, the pads follow the same behaviour as the regular Drum Pad mode.
However, when you're using Drum mode in a DAW, the pads light in the colour of the currently selected track to clarify which track you're controlling.
When you select the Drum pad mode, the pads trigger MIDI notes. By default, the notes are arranged from C1 to D♯2 (bottom left to top right) and on MIDI channel 10.
In Drum mode, the pads light blue outside your DAW and the track colour in your DAW. The pads light when you play the pads.
The transport buttons match the transport functions of your DAW. However, you can use the Shift button to access extra functions.
|
Button |
Function |
Shift/Secondary Function |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Play |
Starts playback. |
Hold shift and press Play to pause/continue playback. |
|
|
Stop |
Stops playback. |
Press Stop for a second time to return the playhead to the start of your project. |
|
|
Record |
Toggles your DAW's main record function. |
||
|
Loop |
Toggles loop on/off. |
The workflow buttons of your Launchkey give you quick access to DAW features to speed up your workflow.
|
Button |
Function |
Shift Function |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Capture MIDI |
Triggers Capture MIDI (retrospective MIDI record if available in your DAW). |
||
|
Metronome |
Toggles the metronome on/off. |
||
|
Quantise |
Triggers your DAW's quantise function on the last recorded, or selected MIDI clip. |
||
|
Undo |
Triggers your DAW's undo function (like ctrl/command + Z) |
Triggers your DAW's redo function (like shift + ctrl/command + Z) |
In addition to the Launchkey's Common DAW Control, you have the following integration specifically designed for you to get the most out of Ableton Live.
When you connect your Launchkey and open Ableton Live, you'll see a 2×8 focus ring around the clips. This ring represents the two rows of eight pads on your Launchkey.
The highlighted track in Live is the currently selected track. Any Track related controls, e.g. your Launchkey's encoders, affect the selected track. To change the selected track, press one of the Track <> buttons. When you move track:
-
Your Launchkey's screen shows you the name of the newly selected track.
-
The track is 'soft-armed' so you can play it straight away.
-
Any Track related controls, e.g. your Launchkey's encoders, affect the newly selected track.
The focus ring only moves when you move the track past the eighth track in the current selection.
To bank in sets of eight tracks, hold Shift and press the Track <> buttons. The focus ring moves to include that track, either at the start or end of the focus area, depending on the direction you're banking.
For the most part, the Encoder modes on your Launchkey follow the common DAW Encoder modes. However, the plugin control gives you access to more of Ableton's Devices.
The Plugin encoder mode gives you control over eight parameters at a time in the currently selected device or instrument.
The encoders initially control the top eight parameters, but you can use the encoder bank buttons to access more pages of controls for each device. As you move through screen shows the device name and the title for the bank of controls.
Transport mode brings controls of your DAW's arrangement view onto your encoders, giving you hands-on control of your project's navigation.
The screen shows short names for the following controls, explained in the table below and following sections:
|
Encoder |
Function |
Screen name |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Arrangement view playback position |
Playback Position |
|
2 |
Zoom horizontal (to playback position) |
Zoom Horizontal |
|
3 |
Zoom vertical (Track Height) |
Zoom Vertical |
|
4 |
Loop Start point |
Loop Start |
|
5 |
Loop End Point |
Loop End |
|
6 |
Marker Selection |
Marker Select |
|
7 |
N/A |
|
|
8 |
Tempo (BPM) |
Tempo |
Encoder 1 controls Scrub, or Playback Position. The encoder moves the playhead left and right through your arrangement in beats.
The screen shows the current playhead position.
There are two encoders assigned to zoom in Live: Zoom Horizontal and Zoom Vertical.
In Arrangement view, Zoom Horizontal keeps the track heights the same but zooms in and out keeping the playback position central to the zoom.
In Session view, the Zoom Horizontal encoder moves between tracks.
Encoders 4 and 5 control the Loop Start and Loop End points in your DAW.
When you change the Loop points, the screen temporarily shows the Loop point you've changed, and its position in Bars and Beats.
The Marker select encoder moves your DAW's playhead between markers you've set up in your DAW.
Moving the encoder clockwise or anti-clockwise moves your playhead to the next or previous marker.
When you move markers, the screen temporarily shows the name of the marker you've moved to.
If you've not set up any markers in your project yet, the Marker Select encoder doesn't do anything and when you move it the screen shows 'No Markers':
The way you add markers varies by DAW. To find out how to add markers in your DAW, read the user guide for your specific DAW.
In Ableton Live, your Launchkey has three pad modes.
-
Clip - for clip launching.
-
Sequencer - for editing and sequencing MIDI clips from the Launchkey 's pads.
-
Drum - for controlling Ableton's Drum Rack device.
To access the Clip or Sequencer pad modes, hold Shift and press Pad 9 (DAW) once for Clip and twice for Sequencer. The screen shows you which Pad mode you're in when you press the DAW pad.
|
|
|
To access the Drum pad mode, hold Shift and press pad 10 (Drum).
In the Clip pad mode your Launchkey gives you controls for live performing your set, bringing Ableton's session mode to life. You have access to clip launching, stopping, and track Mutes and Solos.
In Clip launching mode, the pads represent the 2×8 focus ring in Live's Session view. Each pad controls a clip in Session view.
Pads light a few ways depending on their state:
-
Unlit pads show the clip slot is empty.
-
Available clips light the same colour as their clip in Live.
-
Pads flash green to show you've cued that clip, and pulse green when a clip is playing.
-
Pads flash red to show you've cued that clip for recording, and pulse red while you're recording.
To launch an entire Scene (a row of clips), press the Scene launch > button to the right of the top row. The Scene launch button lights the same colour as the scene in Live, if you have set up Scene colours.
You can change what the bottom row of pads controls using the function button. Each press of the function button cycles through the following controls:
-
Clip Launcher (the default mode as described above).
Stop mode changes the function of the bottom row, so pressing a pad stops the currently playing clip on that track.
In Stop mode, the pads light red; they light bright red when the track has a clip playing and dim red for tracks that don't have a playing clip. In Stop mode, the Function button lights red.
Mute mode changes the function of the bottom pad row so they show each track's Mute status. Press a pad to mutes, or unmute, a track.
In Mute mode, the pads light orange; they light dim orange when the track is active and bright orange for muted tracks. In Mute mode, the Function button lights orange.
Your Launchkey 88 gives you hardware control of Ableton Live's clip sequencers. You can create drum patterns and sequence notes inside clips using the Launchkey's pads and modify your sequences using the encoders.
To access the Sequencer mode, hold Shift and press drum pad 9, DAW, so the screen shows Pad Mode Sequencer 2/2.
When you enter Sequencer mode, what the pads show changes depending on what you have selected in Live:
|
You have a MIDI track selected but no clip selected. |
The pads don't show anything, when you add steps to the sequence Live creates a new clip in the selected clip slot for that MIDI track. |
|
You have a MIDI track selected and a clip selected. |
The currently selected MIDI Clip's sequence is shown on the pads, and you can edit the sequence (the pads could also be blank if there are no notes in the clip). |
|
You have an audio track selected. |
Nothing is shown on the pads, you can only create sequences using MIDI tracks. |
The Launchkey's 16 Pads each represent a 16th step sequencer, allowing you to see a bar of a clip at any point.
Steps with active notes light in the track colour for the clip. Empty steps remain unlit. When the clip is playing the play position is represented by a white pad.
You can create and edit more than a bar of a clip using the Down buttons to the left of the pads to create the extra steps. You can move between steps 1-16, 17-32, and more, using the Up and Down buttons.
You can also hold Function and press the Down button to duplicate the current clip and create a clip double the length with identical bars. After you've done this you can tweak each bar for variation.
The Launchkey has two styles of sequencer, melody, and drum, depending on the instrument assigned to the MIDI track selected. The instrument varies how you enter notes slightly.
If you select a MIDI track with a Drum Rack, you'll see the drum sequencer. The drum sequencer shows the note sequence for a single drum, the currently selected Drum Rack Pad, e.g. the snare drum. Changing the currently selected Drum Rack Pad changes what the pads show.
For all other tracks types, the pads use the melody sequencer. The melody sequencer shows you all steps that have notes and allows you to sequence polyphonic material.
As there are two different styles of sequencer, drum and melody, there are two methods of inputting notes.
Drum Sequencer
This method works when you have a MIDI track selected that's using Ableton's Drum Rack device.
-
Select a clip. If the clip is empty the pads are blank, if the clip has notes you'll see lit pads for each active step of the selected drum.
-
Select a drum rack pad, to do this, press a key on the keyboard that corresponds to the drum you want to use, e.g. D1 selects the Snare drum here.
Pressing the Launchkey's D1 key to select the Snare Drum track.
Ableton's Drum Rack with while selecting the Snare Drum track.
-
Press a pad for each step of the sequence you want to assign your selected drum to. In the example below we've added a snare to steps 5, 13, and 14.
The Launchkey's pads when the Snare drum is selected.
Ableton's MIDI Note Editor for the selected Clip, highlighting the Snare drum track.
To remove notes from the sequence, press a key to select the drum rack pad you'd like to remove and press the pads for the steps you'd like to remove.
Melody Sequencer
This method works for all instruments, except Drum Racks, on MIDI tracks.
-
Select a clip. If the clip is empty, the pads are blank. If the clip has notes, you'll see lit pads for each active step.
-
You can enter notes in two ways:
-
Press the note or chord you want to enter on the keys, then press a pad to add it to that step. You don't have to hold the keys, your Launchkey remembers the last key(s) you played and add these to a step when you press the corresponding pad.
-
Hold a pad and play the note(s) you want to enter on the keys.
The Launchkey's pads representing the notes in the sequencer.
Ableton's MIDI Note Editor for the selected Clip.
-
Tip
You can add notes and chords to multiple steps simultaneously by pressing multiple pads simultaneously.
You can use the Launchkey's sequencer to adjust each step's settings.
To do this, press and hold a note in the Sequence, the screen shows the Note Edit settings you can access from encoders 1-4.
|
Encoder |
Note Setting |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Velocity |
Changes the velocity of the note. You can hold multiple pads to adjust the velocity for multiple notes simultaneously. |
|
2 |
Length |
Changes the length of the note in steps up until the next instance of that note. |
|
3 |
Fine (Length) |
Changes the length of the note in tenths of a step (0.1 steps) up until the next instance of that note. |
|
4 |
Nudge |
Moves the note backward up to -20% or forward up to +70% (as long as the note is not at the start/end of the clip). |
Clicking any MIDI Clip in Ableton using your mouse selects that Clip and allows you to edit the sequence using your Launchkey's pads. However, you can also change the Clip from the Launchkey. To do this in Sequencer pad mode:
-
Press the Scene Launch button to the right of the top pad row. The screen shows Sequencer Select Clip.
The pads show the clips available in the current focus ring using the clip colour. Red clips show empty clip slots. You can use the ˄ up and ˅ down and Track <> buttons to move the focus ring.
The Launchkey's pads showing the clips you can select. Empty clip slots light red.
Ableton's Session view showing the focus ring for the current eight tracks.
-
Press a pad to enter that clip and start sequencing it. Depending on the clip you choose:
-
Pressing a MIDI clip takes you to step entry view to edit the sequence.
-
Pressing an empty MIDI clip creates a new sequence in the slot and takes to the step entry view to edit the sequence.
-
Pressing a clip on an audio track does nothing.
Pressing the scene launch button again takes you to the current sequence.
-
The Transport section of your Launchkey works according to the explanation in common DAW controls: Transport, except for the record button.
In addition to the Launchkey's Common DAW Control, you have the following integration specifically designed for you to get the most from Logic Pro.
In Plugin DAW mode, your Launchkey's encoders control Logic Pro's Smart controls for the currently selected plugin or instrument.
When you move an encoder, your screen shows you the name of the track, the parameter, and the value.
|
|
|
If the plugin/instrument has more Smart Controls, you can use the Page buttons to move pages.
Tip
You can access Logic Pro's Smart Controls in the top left corner of Logic or using the shortcut 'B' on your Mac's keyboard.
Logic Pro's Mixer encoder mode has three pages, the first two are the common DAW Mixer modes, Volume and Pan (see Mixer Encoder Mode). Logic has an extra page for Logic's EQ plugin.
To access the EQ mixer mode, use the encoder bank down button. If you don't have an EQ plugin on that track, moving to Mixer EQ mode adds one to the track you're on.
When you enter Mixer EQ mode the screen temporarily shows Mixer EQ, when you move the encoders in Mixer EQ mode, the screen shows the track name, EQ parameter and the value (either frequency in Hz or gain in dB).
|
Entering Logic's Mixer EQ encoder mode. |
Controlling the High Mid-EQ band's frequency with encoder 5. |
When you're in EQ Mixer mode, the encoders map to the following EQ controls:
|
Encoder |
Parameter |
Screen Name |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Band 2 Frequency |
Low Shelf |
|
2 |
Band 2 Gain |
Low Shelf |
|
3 |
Band 4 Frequency |
Low Mid |
|
4 |
Band 4 Gain |
Low Mid |
|
5 |
Band 6 Frequency |
High Mid |
|
6 |
Band 6 Gain |
High Mid |
|
7 |
Band 7 Frequency |
High Shelf |
|
8 |
Band 7 Gain |
High Shelf |
Tip
A tip to remember EQ mode is: the odd Encoders control the Bands' Frequency and the even encoders control the Bands' Gain.
In Logic Pro, DAW pad mode is split into two sub-modes:
-
Mixer (Select/Arm/Solo/Mute)
-
Live Loops
To change the sub-mode, press the function button.
When you change sub-mode, the screen temporarily shows the Pad Function:
|
|
|
Mixer Mode gives you control of Select, Record Arm, Solo, and Mute using the pads.
On page one the top pad row controls which track is selected and the pads light the track colour. The bottom row controls the record arm state, bright red shows the track is record armed, and dim red shows a track is not record armed.
On page two, the top pad row controls track Solos and the bottom pad row controls track Mutes.
To change between Select/Arm and Solo/Mute, press the Pad ˄ up and ˅ down Navigation buttons.
|
The Launchkey's pads in Logic's Select/Arm mode. |
The Launchkey's pads in Logic's Solo/Mute mode. |
Select/Arm is the default pad mode.
You can use < Track and Track > to move by a single track.
Note
Any Send or “Master” [sic] tracks also show up in Mixer mode. You can change the Mute/Solo states in the same way as other tracks.
Live Loops mode gives your Launchkey control over individual Loops and the scene buttons to trigger a column of loops.
The top row of pads controls your Loops.
The bottom row of pads controls the Scenes.
The top row of pads represent the Loops of the selected track. The colours on the pads match the Loop colours.
|
The Logic Live Loops session with Track 1 selected. |
The pads showing the Loop colours. |
Tip
To change colours in Logic Pro, go to View > Show Colors > Select a Loop > Click a colour to change the Loop colour.
To play a Loop, press a pad. While a loop is playing, the pad pulses green.
To stop a Loop, press the playing Loop's pad.
If you press another pad on the same row, this cues the next Loop. The next loop starts according to how you've set your “Quantize Start” option in the top right of the Live Loops window.
To record a Loop, press an empty Loop slot (a non-lit pad). While the Loop is recording, the pad flashes red, press it again to stop the Loop recording and start the Loop playing.
Pressing a bottom row Pad triggers a Scene. In Logic Pro Live Loops, a Scene is a column of Loops, i.e. a Loop from each track.
Logic Pro Live Loops Scene buttons at the bottom of the page. The orange bar shows which scenes correspond to the eight pads.
The Launchkey 88's bottom pad row trigger Logic Live Loops scenes.
Note
Triggering a Scene doesn't trigger recording in empty Loop slots.
Any playing Loop's pad pulses green to show it's active. As you navigate (see Navigating in Logic Pro Live Loops Mode) through tracks, you'll see which Loops are playing as part of the playing Scene.
In Live Loops mode, the ˄ Up and ˅ Down buttons to the left of the pads move between the tracks.
The Track <> buttons scroll left and right through your Loops/Scenes.
As you move around your Tracks and Scenes, the Pad colours update in real-time to match the Live Loops cells
In addition to the Launchkey's Common DAW Control, you have the following integration designed for you to get the most from Cubase.
The Launchkey defaults to the following modes:
-
Encoder Mode - Plugin
-
Pad mode - DAW
-
Fader mode - Volume
For information on what each control on your Launchkey is controlling, go to MIDI Remote at the bottom of your Cubase window, and you'll see the following:
Tip
It's also possible to control Nuendo, Steinberg's “advanced audio production” DAW. The control behaviour is the same as Cubase.
In Plugin mode, your Launchkey encoders map to Cubase's eight Quick Controls.
You can see the Quick Controls assignments in the MIDI Remote section of Cubase.
When you move an encoder, the screen shows the Quick Control's name and value.
Cubase's Mixer encoder mode has three pages, the first two are the common DAW Mixer modes, Volume and Pan. (see Mixer Encoder Mode). Cubase has an extra page for controlling the EQ section of Cubase's channel strip.
To control Cubase's EQ, use the encoder Bank buttons to go to the Mixer EQ page.
When your encoders are in Mixer EQ Mode, the encoders map to the following:
|
Encoder |
Parameter |
Screen Name |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Band 1 Frequency |
Lo Freq |
|
2 |
Band 1 Gain |
Lo Gain |
|
3 |
Band 2 Frequency |
LMF Freq |
|
4 |
Band 2 Gain |
LMF Gain |
|
5 |
Band 3 Frequency |
HMF Freq |
|
6 |
Band 3 Gain |
HMF Gain |
|
7 |
Band 4 Frequency |
Hi Freq |
|
8 |
Band 4 Gain |
Hi Gain |
Tip
To open the Cubase channel strip, go to the MixConsole and click the Edit Channel Settings button for the track you want to adjust.
In DAW pad mode, there are two pages of pads.
-
Page 1 - Controls Select and Arm
-
Page 2 - Controls Mute and Solo
To move between pages use the ˄ up and ˅ down buttons to the left of the pads.
When you change page, the screen temporarily shows you which settings the pads are controlling:
|
|
|
On the Select Arm page, the top row controls track select and the pads light in the track colours.
The bottom row controls the Recording Arm setting for the track. Pads light bright red to show a track is armed, and dim red to show it's unarmed.
|
Cubase with track 1 selected and the record arm states visible. |
The Launchkey 88 pads reflecting the track select and record arm states on the pads. |
On page 2 the top row controls Mixer Solo. The pads light bright pink to show a track is soloed and dim pink to show an un-soloed track.
The bottom pad row controls Mute. The pads light yellow, bright yellow to show muted tracks and dim yellow to show unmuted tracks.
|
Cubase with the Mixer Mute and Solo states visible at the top of the MixConsole tracks. |
The Launchkey 88 pads reflecting the mixer Mute and Solo states on the pads. |
In addition to the Launchkey's Common DAW Control, you have the following integration specifically designed for you to get the most out of FL Studio.
In Plugin Mode, you can use the Launchkey’s encoders to control eight parameters in the plugin you have in focus. Most native FL Studio plugins support Launchkey’s encoder mode.
Note
The parameters the Launchkey maps to in FL Studio’s plugins are fixed preset mappings. For third-party plugins, you can use the Custom encoder mode to create your own mappings.
In Mixer encoder mode, your Launchkey has the control over the FL Studio Channel Rack, Mixer, and EQ. There are five pages of control, you can use the encoder bank buttons to move between the controls:
|
Page |
Mixer Mode |
|---|---|
|
1 |
Channel Rack Volume |
|
2 |
Channel Rack Pan |
|
3 |
Mixer Volume |
|
4 |
Mixer Pan |
|
5 |
EQ |
When you're controlling FL Studio's EQ the encoders map to the following Equalizer controls:
|
Encoder |
Parameter |
Screen name |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Band 1 Frequency |
Low Shelf |
|
2 |
Band 1Level |
Low Shelf |
|
3 |
Band 2 Frequency |
Peaking |
|
4 |
Band 2 Level |
Peaking |
|
5 |
Band 3 Frequency |
High Shelf |
|
6 |
Band 3 Level |
High Shelf |
|
|
|
The DAW pad mode acts as a Channel Rack selector with up to 16 Channel Rack channels at once. Each pad represents a single channel you can trigger using a C5 note. The pads light the channel colour for the channel you assign the pad to.
When you press a pad, FL Studio selects the channel and triggers audio. The pad then lights white to show the selected channel. You can select one channel from the hardware at a time.
The pad layout is left to right, bottom to top, in two rows of eight. The channels in the lower row align with the Channel Rack Pan/Volume encoder layout.
In addition to the Launchkey's Common DAW Control, you have the following integration specifically designed for you to get the most out of Bitwig Studio.
Record either toggles Arranger recording on/off or Clip Launcher Overdub on/off.
You can change the Record Button assignment in the Controller Status Window.
When you're in Bitwig Studio's Launcher view, press the up or down buttons to the left of the pads to select the previous or next scene in the Launcher.
To select the previous or next track, press Track <>. To bank by eight tracks, hold Shift and Press Track <>.
For the most part, the encoder modes on your Launchkey follow the common DAW Encoder modes. In addition, the plugin controls can access Bitwig's Plugins/Devices, Track Remotes, or Project Remotes.
To change encoder mode, hold Shift and press on of the pads on the top row labelled Encoder Mode.
Hold Shift and press the Plugin pad to select Remote Controls Mode.
You can control three different types of remote controls in Bitwig Studio:
-
Plugins/Devices
-
Track Remotes
-
Project Remotes.
Holding Shift and pressing the Plugin pad cycles between them.
If there is more than one page, press the up or down buttons to the right of encoders to switch between pages.
Hold Shift and press the Mixer pad to select Mixer Mode.
The encoders control either Volume or Panning of the currently selected track bank.
Press the up or down buttons to the right of the encoders to switch between Volume and Panning. Alternatively, hold Shift and press the Mixer pad to toggle between the two options.
Hold Shift and press Sends to select Sends Mode.
The encoders control the effect sends of the currently selected bank of eight tracks.
If there is more than one page, press the up or down buttons to the right of encoders to switch between pages.
Hold Shift and press the Transport pad to select Transport Mode.
The encoders control various transport functions:
-
Move the playback marker.
-
Zoom in and out the timeline horizontally (Arranger) or Select the previous/next track (Clip Launcher).
-
Zoom the track height of the currently selected track (Arranger) or Select previous/next scene (Clip Launcher).
-
Move the loop start.
-
Adjust the loop length.
-
Select previous/next cue marker.
-
N/A.
-
Adjust the project tempo.
To change Pad mode, hold Shift and press one of the pads on the bottom row labelled Pad Mode.
The pad modes available are:
-
DAW pad - Clip Launcher/Sequencer mode
-
Drum pad - Drums mode
Hold Shift and press the DAW pad to select Clip Launcher Pad Mode - 1. The screen shows Pad Mode: Launcher 1/2.
Use the pads to trigger or record clips in the Launcher.
The pad colours correspond to the status of the clips:
-
Unlit - Empty slot
-
Clip colour - Clip not playing
-
Green (blinking) - Clip about to start playing
-
Green (pulsating) - Clip currently playing
-
Red - Clip slot is record ready
-
Red (blinking) - Clip about to start recording
-
Red - (pulsating) Clip, currently recording
Press the up or down buttons to the left of the pads to select the previous or next scene.
Press the arrow button to the right of the top pad row, >, to launch the currently selected scene.
Sequencer Mode lets you create and edit clips that live in the Clip Launcher of Bitwig Studio. We recommended you activate the option Select tracks when… Selecting clips in the Clip Launcher, in Dashboard > Settings > Behaviour.
Hold Shift and press the DAW pad to select Clip Launcher Pad Mode. The screen shows Pad Mode: Sequencer 2/2.
Use the pads to enter and edit notes for the currently selected clip.
On instrument tracks with a Drum Machine device, first select a drum note you want to edit on the keyboard, then press the pads to enter notes to the clip. Repeat that process for other drum instruments.
On all other instrument tracks, notes can be entered polyphonically. Hold a single note or a chord on the keyboard and press one or several pads to assign the notes to these steps. The last played note or chord is remembered, so you can enter notes by only pressing a pad after playing a note or chord. Alternatively, you can hold a pad first and then play notes on the keyboard, whilst still holding down the pad.
Press the up or down buttons to the left of the pads to navigate through clip pages if the currently selected clip contains more than 16 steps.
To extend the length of a clip, select a clip page you want to edit. When you start entering notes, the clip will be extended automatically.
In Clip Select Mode, press up or down buttons to the left of the pads to select the previous or next scene.
Press > to enter Clip Select Mode. The pads will show the clips present in the currently focussed area.
Press a pad to select a clip you want to edit. The clip will start automatically.
If there is no clip present, a new clip will be created.
Hold Function and press one or several pads to copy the notes. The screen shows 'Copied'. While still holding Function, press another pad to paste the notes. The screen shows 'Pasted'.
Hold Function and press the up button to double the clip's content.
Hold Function and press the down button to toggle through different grid resolutions of the clip.
Hold Shift and press the Drum pad to select Drum Pad Mode. The screen shows Pad Mode: Drum.
Press the pads to play notes on a Drum Machine device. The bottom left pad of the Launchkey corresponds to the bottom left drum cell of the Drum Machine. By default, the pad will send C1 on MIDI channel 10.
The pads will be dimly lit in the track colour (default) or the colour assigned to a drum cell. If a drum cell is empty, the pad will not be lit.
If a drum cell is triggered, the pad will light up in a brighter colour. A currently selected cell will light up in bright white.
You can use your Launchkey 88 MK4 in a range of other DAWs. The HUI integration allows you to use some main features of the Launchkey 88 MK4 without dedicated scripts.
Note
The features in HUI mode are different from the common DAW control section.
HUI (Human User Interface) is a MIDI protocol allowing MIDI controllers to communicate with DAWs without custom controller scripts. If there's no dedicated script, your DAW may support HUI.
This lets your controller handle basic functions like:
-
Mixer control (volume, pan, mute/solo)
-
Transport control (play, stop, record)
-
Track selection
You can use your Launchkey 88 MK4, via HUI, in many DAWs. We've outlined the setup in the following DAWs, but the steps are similar in most DAWs:
-
Reaper (partial HUI)
-
Fender Studio Pro
-
Pro Tools
HUI integration in most DAWs isn't automatic; you'll need to change some settings to get your Launchkey 88 MK4 to work.
-
Go to Pro Tools > Setup > Peripherals…
-
Click the 'MIDI Controllers' tab:
-
Under ‘Type’, select HUI:
-
Under 'Receive From', select:
-
Windows: Predefined > MIDIIN2(Launchkey 88 MK4 MIDI) [Emulated].
-
macOS: Predefined > Launchkey 88 MK4 DAW Out
-
-
Under 'Send To', select
-
Windows: Predefined > MIDIOUT2 (Launchkey 88 MK4 MIDI) [Emulated].
-
macOS: Predefined > Predefined > Launchkey 88 MK4 DAW In.
-
-
If set up correctly, the settings should match the following, with '# Ch's' set to 8:
-
Click 'OK'.
-
Go to Reaper > Settings… > Control/OSC/web
-
Click ‘Control/OSC/web’.
-
Click 'Add' and select HUI (partial).
-
Select Focusrite - Novation - Launchkey 88 MK4 - DAW Out under ‘MIDI input’:
-
Select Focusrite - Novation - Launchkey 88 MK4 - DAW In under ‘MIDI output’:
-
Click 'OK'.
-
Click 'OK' to close the window.
DAW Control
-
Click 'Studio One' at the top of the screen.
-
Click 'Options'.
-
Go to 'External Devices'.
-
Click 'Add'.
-
Select the 'Mackie > HUI' option on the left-hand side menu.
-
Set 'Receive From' and 'Send To' to the Launchkey 88 MK4's DAW ports (second entries):
-
MIDIIN2 and MIDIOUT2 on Windows.
-
DAW on Mac.
-
-
Click 'OK' at the bottom of the window.
You should now be able to control the mixer.
When HUI implementation varies by DAW, but generally you can control the following:
-
DAW Mode – the pads control Mute/Solo.
-
Mixer Mode – the encoders control Pan.
-
Sends Mode – the encoders control Sends A-E. The Encoder Bank buttons toggle between the different sends.
-
The transport controls map to the corresponding transport functions in your DAW.
-
Holding Shift and moving an encoder previews the encoder parameter on the screen, without affecting the value.