#launchkey61

Today, I purchased a Novation Launchkey 61 from Guitar Center. When I opened it from the box, I eagerly wanted to get started using it. The keyboard comes with very simple instructions that direct the user to hop onto the www.novationmusic.com/register website. Following the given instructions will get you downloading the software you need for your computer, most notably, Ableton Live Lite 9. The keyboard comes with an Ableton Live Lite 9 registration key so that a separate software purchase is not necessary.

Protips: Are you going to Guitar Center to get a feel for the hardware in person? If you are deciding to make a purchase, be sure to do a price lookup on the Guitar Center official website first (http://www.guitarcenter.com/). Prices on the website are not always immediately reflected in-store. If there is a sale announced online, your local Guitar Center will likely honor that sale by doing a price match. I got lucky and purchased this keyboard for only $139.99 (original price $249.99).

Also, from one keyboard n00b to another, remember that you will need to also purchase a keyboard stand! Guitar Center has Proline Keyboard Stands immediately available, nothing too fancy is required here.

Troubles?

The Novation “Launch” products are pretty easy to setup. Once you have the software, it is basically plug-and-play. To setup, I watched the YouTube Novation Launchkey video that was suggested by the Novation website (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiRPuLlgIwc). However, I had some issues given my lack of experience using Ableton. When I matched my MIDI preferences, as demonstrated in the video, I was seeing lights but hearing no sound. I had confirmed my USB drivers were working, but to no avail. Even more confusing, when I looked closely at the MIDI Ports setup in the video, Track and Remote On/Off buttons were both set to “On” for both MIDI Port Inputs and no Outputs, as seen here:

It is possible that this is correct for some people and perhaps an older version of Ableton, but it did not work for me. Thus, I decided to share my own successful experience for anyone else looking for Launchkey setup guidance.

My specs:

Novation Launchkey 61 (but this could probably work with 49, 25)

Ableton Live 9

OS X Yosemite 10.10.3

Getting started.

1. Ensure that you have Ableton Live Lite 9 installed. Note: I will assume that this is completed. There are other software downloads suggested by Novation, but this is focused on setup for Ableton. 2. Open up Ableton Live Lite 9. 3. Configure Ableton Live Lite 9 by clicking on “Live” and then “Preferences.”

3a. Click on the MIDI / Sync tab on the left hand side.

3b. Under “Control Surface” select “Launchkey” from the dropdown. Note: This was confusing for me because there are references on the Novation website to the Launchkey 61 as “Launchkey MK2″ but that setting did not work for me.

3c. Under “Input” select “Launchkey 61 (Launchkey InControl).” Note: InControl refers to the series of buttons with less than and greater than symbols on the middle of your keyboard.

3d. Under “Output” select “Launchkey 61 (Launchkey InControl)” again.

3e. Configure the MIDI Ports, Track, and Remote to match “On” as follows:

4. Plug in the Novation Launchkey USB cable from the keyboard to your laptop. There should be lights that turn on, most notably the red “InControl” buttons. Note: If you have USB issues, search the Novation Answer Base (http://us.novationmusic.com/answerbase/search).

5. Watch this awesome video “Novation // How to produce and share a track in Ableton” and it will teach you all the basics you need to know to get started!

Completing that video is very rewarding, and I highly suggest watching the video a few times to ensure you comprehend the basic capabilities of your keyboard and Ableton.