Novation Launchpad Mini [MK3] — Portable MIDI 64-Pad, USB Grid Controller for Ableton Live and Logic Pro Performances

This is a great tool for music and I would recommend it to anyone who produces music. It has great value, can be customized greatly, and integrates directly into Ableton Live. Five stars!

Great quality for the price! I purchased this controller in Sept. of 2025 and it's been a game changer for me. This sampler allows for seamless use in Ableton and Virtual DJ. I have used it in live gigs and now I've started producing my own loops and samples for future sets. Highly recommended for both DJ's and producers. Zero MIDI mapping headaches and the sound quality is excellent. Lightweight too, so I can easily travel with this on gigs.

I love this controller. Most people are buying this to use in Ableton, but if you're using MPC 2.x as your DAW and want to access more than one pad bank at a time with physical pads, you know there are exceedingly few options out there. This gets the job done almost perfectly (I'll explain the "almost" below). Before that though, to review the controller more generally, outside of APC, I can say that while other people in the reviews seem to have complaints about the velocity pads, I've found them to be fantastic. To be clear, I'm not using the velocity function - I have it set to activate at full level with the lowest trigger threshold (in the controller's velocity settings), and adjust the velocity as necessary in MPC. Compared to the other controllers I own (The Mpk Mini Mk2 and the MPC Touch) though, these are by far the best in terms of fewest double-hits and in terms of missed-hits/consistent response. I can actually get decent finger drumming going on this, whereas with those other controllers, I could only do so for a very loose approximation of what I want to record, and have to adjust the grid after the fact. While there are features designed to work with Ableton exclusively, many of the best features on the LPX are baked into the device itself. First of those is the Scale Mode, a sub-setting in Note Mode, pictured above (Image 1) beside my MPC Touch. You can choose from 1 of 20 scales to enable at a time, decide which key the scale will play in, which key the scale plays in, and whether non-scale notes appear on the pad or not. Purple pads are the root notes, blue are the non-root scale notes, and unlit pads are non-scale notes. In the image above, the Scale Mode is set to display only scale notes, and is in 3-finger Overlap. The Overlap (5) settings decide at which point a given note repeats in the row(s) above it. Simply put, the first setting, Sequential, puts octaves on either side of a row with the scale notes in-between, giving you access to 8 octaves at once. The next 4 modes are a range of 2-Finger to 5-Finger, allowing you to play the scales ascending with 2 to 5 fingers, and allowing access to a range of 2 to 5 octaves at a time. It's not the easiest thing to describe but it's quite intuitive once you get hands-on. Additionally, the first of the factory-installed custom modes (that can be removed/replaced or moved to a different Custom Mode slot) offers a keyboard layout with four octaves at once, pictured above (Image 2). The purple pads are set to C by default, and the L/R Transpose buttons will shift that by a half step at a time. A-G are in-between those in each octave, and the sharps/flats are appropriately placed above those. The Up/Down Octave buttons can be used to shift the octave range displayed. The most important Custom Mode setting for me is the Drum Pad template. You can configure and apply these to correspond to whichever inputs are appropriate in the DAW you're using, and you can use two custom settings so that it essentially works as the controller's Drum Mode designed for Ableton, only on non-Ableton DAWs. Pictured above (Images 3-4) are my two Custom Mode profiles designed to activate pad banks A-D and E-H, respectively. The two groups of 64 pads can be switched between as easily as pressing the corresponding program key on the right side of the controller. At this point, I should mention that if you thought the APC Mini might have some way of working in MPC as a drum pad, I've got bad news for you. It just won't work for four pad banks at a time. It's possible that Akai might update MPC's MIDI Learn function at some point in the future to allow for those mappings, but currently, you can only program the APC Mini (and any other MIDI controller) to access 16 pads (one pad bank) at a time. The Launchkey takes it all out of the DAW's hands with the custom programs, and allows you to bypass all of that noise. You may notice older reviews that mention that there are only 4 custom programs available, but the firmware has been updates since then, and the LPX now allows for 8 custom modes that can be switched between on the fly, regardless of connection. I used one of those modes to map some basic MPC hotkeys, so that I can zoom the grid in and out vertically or horizontally, pan the grid vertically or horizontally, tap tempo, undo/redo, play/playstart, record, over dub, switch tracks forward/back, switch sequences forward/back and switch view modes. It helps a lot to be able to access a lot of those functions without moving over to my computer keyboard or my other controller while recording using the LPX. While I haven't tried it out, you can also apply customer sliders to the pads, and the pads can be set to be sensitive enough that you can run your finger along a row or column like piano keys and activate them all neatly, so I expect they'd actually make for decent slider controls. There are only a couple of minor downsides I can name. For one, it would be nice if it received feedback from non-Ableton DAWs so that corresponding lights on the controller activate when those inputs are being played back in the DAW. If you're particularly interested in Scale Mode, while I love it on the LPX, I noticed the APC Mini had a couple of advantages in that regard, as well as a debatable one. The debatable one is that the scale modes are different between the two devices. It's subjective, and a matter of which scales people find more important to have accessible. If you want the Flamenco Scale, for example, you're out of luck on the LPX. Both devices contain 20 scales though. Where the LPX missed out on an opportunity that the APC Mini takes is that the APC Mini, in the chord settings, allows you to hold down a setting button, activating a marquee across the pads that spell out the function of the setting button being held. With 20 available scales, it's a really huge help to be able to have the labels for all of them within reach. Not just for the Scale Mode, but for any number of the numerous settings on these devices that aren't always easy to recall without a map. The LPX is certainly capable of displaying text. Pictured above (Image 5), you can see that the settings menus use the LEDs to display the name of the menu, and certain settings/mode switches activate marquee-style text. It just can't be used to identify setting buttons though, which means you need to have the manual handy if you want to know what all 20 scales are. It would be nice to be able to alter the colors that display in Note Mode, outside of Custom Mode(s). I'd like to establish a color scheme on it identical to MPC 2/x and my MPC Touch, but that's very minor. It's possible that it can be done in the LPX's Program Mode, but it's a pretty involved process that I don't entirely understand yet, and that doesn't seem to be for the faint of heart. As the name suggests, there is something resembling programming required to use that mode, and most people will find it easier to use the Novation software to customize the LPX for most purposes. A chord mode would be nice as well, seeing as how much of that heavy lifting was already done when the Scale Mode was designed. I can access some chords in MPC, but they won't activate if I play the corresponding notes on the LPX. It's good in its own way, as it allows me to have two modes for two devices - I can play chords with one hand on the Touch and notes with the other in the LPX. Still though, it would nice to be able to use those interchangeably. None of those are enough to knock a star off of my review though. This is a fantastic device, and works better in Akai's software than Akai's own comparable offering, which is frankly beyond me. Even aside from being virtually the only game in town in terms of accessing 4 pad banks at a time in MPC, the LPX is a great little controller for the price., and has greatly enhanced my workflow and general fun in MPC 2.x.

I’ll say to start .....in the past! I bought an Mk2 mini and returned it immediately after I bought it for a mk2 launchpad X because it just didn’t give me what I wanted from a launchpad....but this version is the BEST Mini yet! They finally brought the Launchpad mini into the same realm as it’s bigger siblings. It’s just as powerful and capable as the other with just a few less features but it does all the customization and finger drumming things that the X and Pro are capable of. The pads feel amazing! The have a slight “click” to the pressure which makes them feel more precise and solid. The colors of the pads are bright and rich! It plug n plays into any device! I use mine with my iPad Pro! Super portable...solid and secure build....super slim!! You’re gonna enjoy using it whenever where ever and however you like. With the novation components website you can make this into any tips of controller you like. Or 3 different types of controllers. The possibilities are practically endless!

Overview - DAW Controller vs Instrument For me, the Launchpad X really shines as DAW controller. In particular for simplifying my recording workflow. For the most part, I live in Mixer Mode/Note Mode/Drum Mode. While is it useful as an instrument to play, where it truly shines is for controlling Ableton. My primary instrument is the guitar, so I love that I can control so many features with a single hand; I don’t have to put my pick down. By comparison with the Launchkey, you often have to use two hands to switch functions. For example, hold the shift button with one hand, and then press a secondary control with the other. That being said the Launchkey is a different animal and has tons of features that the Launchpad does not. Additionally, if you already have a 'regular' keyboard adding this into the mix gives it a whole new life by adding MIDI controller capabilities to the mix. There are couple of big limitations with Scale Mode and Drum Mode which I will detail below. Mixer Mode I do have a full size keyboard with a USB midi connection. Combining that with the Launchpad and my Guitar/Interface allows me to switch instruments and voices with ease. All with a single hand. Mixer mode is what allows me to do that. You can enable recording on tracks, pan, control sends, everything! Capture MIDI Capture MIDI works amazingly well. It seems to have a fairly large buffer, so you can play for many, many measures and still capture everything. In fact, I now favor using Capture MIDI versus explicitly picking record first. Somehow you are more relaxed and can just keep playing until you get the part right. Then, press Capture MIDI and make a few edits and you’re golden. Love it! Scale Mode Very cool, the pads light up in a pattern to show you the scale you have chosen. Limitation - only has certain scales, and omits some key scales, for example pentatonic major is missing but it has quite a few esoteric scales included. It’s like the designer wanted to show off how cool and quirky they are without covering the basics first. This is the biggest shortcoming of the Launchpad X. There ought to be a way to customize which scales are configured via online components on the Novation website. I don’t mean by wasting a custom mode slot, I mean directly on Note mode we ought to be able to configure it. Drum Mode Works fantastic, the pad sensitivity is awesome. Unfortunately, it only works with Ableton’s built-in drum rack. If you are using a 3rd party drum plug-in Drum Mode does not recognize it. For example, ROLI Drums, Spitfire Audio’s Drum, MT Power Drum… none of them are recognized as drums. So what you will get is Note Mode with drum sounds. What happens is you will play the notes in Scale Mode that correspond to which keyboard notes map to a drum sound. For example C will be your bass drum most likely, etc. Instead, you will want to switch to Custom Mode and then select the second one which has a drum pad setup configured. Once you’ve done that, you’re good to go. However, even then there is a problem. Normally in Drum Mode only the filled slots of the drum rack light up. In the Custom Mode drum pad, all the pads are lit up. So you will have to explore to see which pads a mapped to a sound. To be fair, this may be a limitation with Ableton itself. As the piano roll does not show the drum sound names when you use a 3rd-party plugin either. Note Mode Works very well for certain instrument types/parts. For example, I love this thing with Spitfire Audio’s Expressive Strings. Also does well with DSK’s Saxophone. Basically, it is very easy and intuitive to use the pads to play melody lines for those types of instrument. You can navigate four octaves with one hand and very little movement. Combine this with scale mode and it is super easy to hop around using intervals, etc. You can even play chords, or harmonies rather, very easily. This also works very well for Expressive Strings. Piano Not So Much What this doesn’t work well for is playing piano. Even using the custom mode that ‘looks like’ a piano keyboard. It’s a gimmick, just forget about it. Custom Mode You can create a wide range of custom configurations here. One thing I have experimented with and failed is to setup something similar to Device Mode from the Launchkey. For reference, that is where the Launchkey will map the eight dials to the setting on whatever current device or effect you have selected in Ableton. What I did was create a custom setup with 8 faders and tried mapping them to the controls in an effect. That part works. But when you move your focus to a different effect, the controls remain mapped to the original effect. I have yet to find a way to make the mapping dynamic to the currently selected effect similar to how the Launchkey Device Mode works. If you know how to do this, please leave a comment, that would give the Launchpad even more awesome power.

I got this thinking I was just going to use it to help tap out drums for recording music. While it helps do that very well, and works with Superior Drummer 2, I found that I have a lot more use for it than I thought I would. If you are getting it for drums, I would highly suggested connecting it to your computer and going to the Components site. This allows you to program which notes (and colors) appear for each pad. This is very helpful when setting up drums. Now for what I found most interesting and complete unexpected. This has something called Note mode. By default it has a chromatic scale (every note, laid out like a piano would), however, you can change it so it only has the notes of the scale you are using available , i.e. "Scale Mode". This means that you cannot hit a wrong note, every pad is assigned with notes from the scale you have chosen. There are 16 different scales to choose from, and you can also choose the key of the scale. Interestingly, you can choose an offset too, which determines how many notes the next row should be offset by. All of this comes together in an experience I never anticipated having. As a guitarist for 20+ years, I am pretty capable of playing something if I want to, comfortable with scales, etc. But with that, I get stuck in a rut of playing a certain way, or having familiar phrasing, note choice, etc. Furthermore, I'm "terrible" at song writing, I'm decent at doing covers. It's not that what I write is completely awful, it is just that what I write is obvious for lack of better words. When I listen to the bands I like, what impresses me the most is when there was a surprise to the music and it worked well into the song. My song writing is typically not that at all. With this scale mode and not being able to hit a wrong note, I can just tap random patterns out and have come up with concepts that I would have never written by myself prior to this. What makes it better, is that I don't have any concept of what the notes are going to sound like yet before I hit them, I haven't memorized where each note is located like a piano or a guitar, so it is forcing me to tap randomly. And from that, I am hearing note choices I would not have attempted before. The process is so fascinating, because it is like taking all the extra baggage that goes into song writing (i.e. knowing music theory, knowing the notes on a guitar and scales, being able to play the guitar, trying to translate an idea into a reality, not hitting wrong notes, trying to figure out the harmony) and divorcing it from just thinking about what you want to accomplish. If I want a higher note, I just move up, if I want a lower note, I just move down. In a way, it is like distilling the song writing process into just thinking and not having to work so hard at the doing aspect. It is so hard to describe the feeling, but I haven't felt that close the song writing process in maybe... forever? The process of making harmonies for lead parts on guitar isn't rocket science, but sometimes it can take a little work to figure it out. This makes playing a harmony much easier. If I am trying for thirds, I just play the same pattern two pads over, done. This has been another way to breed creativity. I have tried different notes together and it has lead to better harmonies. When I finally get the music midi recorded from the launchpad, I then learn the parts on guitar. This can be challenging, which is part of the "beauty" of doing music this way. I would have never played guitar this way, nor made these note choices for myself on the guitar. Just a note on this compared to the Launchpad X. Shipping was originally delayed to the point where I wasn't sure I was going to get this, so I ended up getting the Launchpad X and then this finally arrived. This gave me the opportunity to test out the pad sensitivity between the do. For whatever reason, I felt like the launchpad X had decent pad sensitivity, but the pro mk3 just had slightly better sensitivity. I am not sure it would have been worth the extra money to spring for the pro mk3 just for this factor alone, both are good products, but the pro mk3 does seem to have slightly better pad sensitivity. I ended up returning the X and keeping this pro mk3. This also has a sequencer and some other additional functionality too that the X doesn't have, including a row of buttons on the left and two rows of buttons on the bottom.

I'm using the Launchpad Pro mk3 to play a hardware synth, no computer, no Ableton integration, and I love it. Here are my notes: Playability and accessibility If you have physical issues and need to play in different positions for comfort, there are some nice features here: -I like that there are several grid keyboard layouts to choose from; they don't list them as right/left handed, but they do work out that way. -When it's in one of the hands-on-playing modes, all of the other menu selection buttons around the bottom and side shut off so that you don't accidently change screens with an errant tap. -Besides the nice color contrasts, there are a few small nubs on the diagonal grid buttons that can help you find and keep your location while playing. -The buttons have very little travel and are soft to the touch; they aren't mushy or clacky and you don't have to thump them to register something. Very responsive. Comfortable to play on for several hours. You can lightly rest your hands on the buttons without triggering them. -Menus/settings are quick to queue up on the fly and I think the color patterning is a real bonus; you can see things at a glance much faster than if you had to scroll a tiny alpha-numeric screen. tldr: I like that it works well for low light, there's high contrast, and I don't have to squint at a screen. It's easy on my hands and can be customized for R/L/both; locking menus behind a "shift + button" for access means I can rest my hands on the edge without selecting things by mistake. _______________ Other notes: -UPDATE: Ah! For MIDI over USB, I just needed a cheapo USB hub to connect to my synth and the Launchpad. I dug something out of my junk drawer; it's probably 15 years old, no separate power, just a dongle with 3 usb ins and 1 usb out. -The sequencer is very quick/straight-forward to use. It helped to watch a tutorial, but I don't feel like I have to reference the manual each time or keep post-it notes with reminders of button combinations nearby. None of that. -Decent build quality and it's lightweight. I really like that the rubberized bottom isn't just a few nubs on the corners, but it outlines the perimeter of the box and gives a more stable base that won't slide around or become lopsided. _____________________ Summary I bought this thinking I would try out the Akai too and maybe a Linnstrument if everything was too DAW focused (I just want a grid controller for external synths), but I'm just going to stick with Novation on this. They've managed to tap into my lack of patience for learning menus and setups and created a really functional controller.

Although I am very new to Ableton Live I wanted to get a few controllers to help me learn the program on my MacBook Pro. This LaunchPad X is a great start. I am finding it fairly intuitive but as with any new technology ( and this is certainly new for me) there is a bit of a learning curve but during the process it’s also fun. The quality is very good, the pads have a great solid feel. Setting up with my MacBook Pro and Ableton Live was fast. It comes bundled with the Lite Version of Ableton which is a great starting point but I already had upgraded to the Full Version Of Ableton Live 11 Studio so I am really able to get a lot out of this Controller. The quality and features for the price can not be beat. I’ve attached a silly little quick video of a track I put together in about 30 seconds just to show how easy it is to use.