Launchpad Pro thread!

Want to talk about music hardware or software that doesn't include Reason?
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Catblack
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23 Apr 2016

I've just got my hands on a Launchpad Pro. I'm going be working up a Remote Map for it, but I've been looking into how to extend it without that. I just got it, so I wanted to familiarize myself with it before I got too wrapped up in lua codecs. Screw using it with Ableton Live; Reason's my jam...

Here's a few things I've found that will work with Reason.

J74 ISO Controllers
http://fabriziopoce.com/isocontrollers.html
Needs Midi loopback, gives different scales and control layouts. Runs as a separate app. Can work with Reason, provided you assign the loopback port to it.

Stagecraft Launchcraft
http://www.stagecraftsoftware.com/products/launchcraft/
Seems to be a VSTi plugin? (I thought it was a standalone app, but there's no manual, and the trial download is a couple of dlls.)

Subsequencely
https://github.com/jrcurtis/subsequencely
This seems to be the only serious firmware project for the Launchpad Pro. It gives you a sequencer and has a lot of thought put into it. I'll be giving this a test soon.

That's what I've found so far. Anyone else have anything to share?
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

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Catblack
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15 May 2016

There's another firmware shown here. I haven't tested it out yet, but it's on my list. I am working on a Remote Codec for the Launchpad Pro, but it's going to be a while before it's done. The one thing I most want to change is the velocity feedback being based on the horrible color palette that is in the default firmware. (I may have to make my own firmware to correct this though.)






If you look at the user manual, you see the color palette looks horrible. Here's the sysex to send to display it and see that it looks much better.

Colour table 0-63

Code: Select all

    F0 00 20 29 02 10 0A 0B 38 0C 39 0D 3A 0E 3B 0F 3C 10 3D 11 3E 12 3F 15 30 16 31 17 32 18 33 19 34 1A 35 1B 36 1C 37 1F 28 20 29 21 2A 22 2B 23 2C 24 2D 25 2E 26 2F 29 20 2A 21 2B 22 2C 23 2D 24 2E 25 2F 26 30 27 33 18 34 19 35 1A 36 1B 37 1C 38 1D 39 1E 3A 1F 3D 10 3E 11 3F 12 40 13 41 14 42 15 43 16 44 17 47 08 48 09 49 0A 4A 0B 4B 0C 4C 0D 4D 0E 4E 0F 51 00 52 01 53 02 54 03 55 04 56 05 57 06 58 07 F7 

Colour table 64-127

Code: Select all

  F0 00 20 29 02 10 0A 0B 78 0C 79 0D 7A 0E 7B 0F 7C 10 7D 11 7E 12 7F 15 70 16 71 17 72 18 73 19 74 1A 75 1B 76 1C 77 1F 68 20 69 21 6A 22 6B 23 6C 24 6D 25 6E 26 6F 29 60 2A 61 2B 62 2C 63 2D 64 2E 65 2F 66 30 67 33 58 34 59 35 5A 36 5B 37 5C 38 5D 39 5E 3A 5F 3D 50 3E 51 3F 52 40 53 41 54 42 55 43 56 44 57 47 48 48 49 49 4A 4A 4B 4B 4C 4C 4D 4D 4E 4E 4F 51 40 52 41 53 42 54 43 55 44 56 45 57 46 58 47 F7 
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

Damn.

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marcuswitt
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19 May 2016

Hi Cat,

interesting thread and thanks for the additional you've provided. I find it interesting because I'm running the Launchpad Pro (LPP) with Reason, in my case via Automap 4.9.10b, though. Since you can program and save your own functional assignments within Automap, it's not too difficult to use the LPP for several different tasks and purposes in Reason. The only 'odd' thing is that it's pretty time consuming to 'build' and customize all these Maps in Novation's Automap. But the modifications you've mentioned seem to be more powerful and far more flexible than running LPP via Novation's own software bridge. I'd like to give that new firmware you've mentioned a try, but before I'd like to know if that new firmware will retain full compatibility with Automap. Any idea? Thanks and Cheers!

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Catblack
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19 May 2016

I was under the impression that Automap didn't work with the Launchpad Pro. I'll have to try it out.

I haven't tried the other firmwares, but you should be able to load the default firmware again.

My biggest peeve with it is that the velocity feedback cycles through the color palette, and doesn't give you accurate feedback as to how hard you've hit a pad. I'm going to look into making a firmware version -- close to the default -- that fixes this.

But I'm going to be working on a Remote codec for it that will give some functionality. (Scale modes, ReDrum sequencing...) I'll be getting into that in a couple of weeks. Might even see if there's anything in Launchpad95 I can use. (It's not that hard to port from python to lua.)
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

Damn.

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marcuswitt
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20 May 2016

Hi Cat,

yes, it's true that LPP is officially not supported by Automap. But in fact they are functioning together pretty well. The only thing that doesn't work well - or maybe I haven't figured it out yet - is changing the Pad's colors depending on the LPP's mode. Nevertheless, I'll be waiting for your Remote codec, if you're willing to share it because I'm curious what else LPP is capable of when you run it in conjunction with Reason.

electrofux
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20 May 2016

The subsequencely firmware looks good but i wonder, can you actually save your beats and setups on the machine?

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Catblack
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27 May 2016

electrofux wrote:The subsequencely firmware looks good but i wonder, can you actually save your beats and setups on the machine?
I think so. It's also the project to check out for any firmware hacking. (Check his wiki.) I really like how he's using binary numbers on some of his setup pages.

If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

Damn.

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gak
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27 May 2016

Can I make a suggestion?

When making a vid for something, less talk, more what it's doing with the software.

Tough to get bid on the feel. You are in the 95% range, but for someone like me that wants the "skinny" I just want to see how it works "with" whatever.

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Catblack
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28 May 2016

gak wrote:Can I make a suggestion?

When making a vid for something, less talk, more what it's doing with the software.

Tough to get bid on the feel. You are in the 95% range, but for someone like me that wants the "skinny" I just want to see how it works "with" whatever.
It's not my video. I'm just posting it here for reference. As far as I'm concerned it's the best firmware, but I haven't looked under the hood at the midi output. (Or run it!)

When I get my Remote codec going with it, I'll probably use the stock firmware, though I may make a firmware to adjust some of the basic functionality (the velocity colors) that I don't like.

Here's another interesting video...
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

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electrofux
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31 May 2016

The problem with Reason and external Sequencers is Midi Clock which you have to use to sync stuff. And also wou will have input latency which poses a problem if the external sequencers runs along an internal sequencer. And besides Reason has quite a few nifty Sequencers with a good Remote support on its own like Redrum, Thor, Euclid and Step Note Recorder. I am currently working on PSQ1684 which is crazy good though some remote items are not working but i am trying to make the dev look into it.

Only to build a "System" with direct access to different Sequencers which eg Subsequencely offers is a bit hard to achieve because in Reason, in order to remote control a device, you need to sit on a Sequencer track to establish a Remote connection. But there are ways.

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Catblack
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31 May 2016

I'm going to have to see what I can get away with.

My goal with my Launchpad Pro Remote Codec is to have something that can be ported over to other 8x8 grid controllers in the future. (Because I'm sure the LPP won't be the last this decade.) I'm planning on making a thread here with a Remote Codec starter file which includes some of the design patterns I've learned.

I think the Remote spec was written a while ago and processors can handle more now. There's less midi latency when dealing with the computers themselves than there was. At least that's my impression. So you can pack a bit more processing into a Remote codec than you could back in 2005.

But timing for something like the Subsequencely firmware might be needed. I wonder if I could detect midi clock messages in a Remote script? I'd be happy to get tempo... but I'm pretty sure I've seen some youtube videos where people have made sequencers for the Redrum, so setting the tempo and reading the clock are probably not strictly necessary, just getting the message from Remote to the midi controller and back.

I've got a lot to look into. But I'm pretty fluent in Remote Lua at this point. I'll run some experiments, put up some example vids soon.
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

Damn.

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Raveshaper
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31 May 2016

Subscribed and following. Finally made my way over here.
:reason: :ignition: :re: :refillpacker: Enhanced by DataBridge v5

electrofux
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01 Jun 2016

Catblack wrote:I'm going to have to see what I can get away with.

My goal with my Launchpad Pro Remote Codec is to have something that can be ported over to other 8x8 grid controllers in the future. (Because I'm sure the LPP won't be the last this decade.) I'm planning on making a thread here with a Remote Codec starter file which includes some of the design patterns I've learned.

I think the Remote spec was written a while ago and processors can handle more now. There's less midi latency when dealing with the computers themselves than there was. At least that's my impression. So you can pack a bit more processing into a Remote codec than you could back in 2005.

But timing for something like the Subsequencely firmware might be needed. I wonder if I could detect midi clock messages in a Remote script? I'd be happy to get tempo... but I'm pretty sure I've seen some youtube videos where people have made sequencers for the Redrum, so setting the tempo and reading the clock are probably not strictly necessary, just getting the message from Remote to the midi controller and back.

I've got a lot to look into. But I'm pretty fluent in Remote Lua at this point. I'll run some experiments, put up some example vids soon.
As far as i can tell, you can pack a ton of code into a codec. The Input side of codecs is super fast as notes and ccs have the highest priority. The output side (making the lights blink in time) can lag at times but this hasnt been an issue for me so far. And i have essentially 8 Launchpads running at the same time (I have duplicated my codec to have one Master Keyboard and 7 locked codecs with the same functionality switchable through the top 8 Buttons). I am still in the stage of testing out if this is feasable on heavy load. But so far no problem. And i don't have the perfectly optimized code, by far not (20k lines of Spaghetti code ;-)

The beauty of Remote is (compared to an external sequencer) you don't have to care about the timing. Your devices do their thing separated from remote. In the end you are just controlling Sequencer IN Reason.

Launchpad is great for Remote and in special sequencing apps. Thats why i am bugging all Re developers to add remote items for everything because on the Launchpad you can simply make use of everything. Currently trying to get Lectric Panda to perfect the remote implementation of PSQ1684 (it is already pretty good) which is the bomb as a sequencer. Sadly most developers don't really care about the remote side of things, most even think there is a limit of 128 items while there is no limit afaik. But they seem to think, what controller can make use of a 1000 items? The Launchpad can.

P.S.:Would have liked to see more remote items for the new Players too :-)

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Raveshaper
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01 Jun 2016

Only a matter of time until Kosh chimes in, then the gang will all be here.
I think I need to start a GitHub.
:reason: :ignition: :re: :refillpacker: Enhanced by DataBridge v5

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Catblack
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03 Jun 2016

Another Firmware I'd run across, again, untested. https://github.com/Uberroot/salsastep Also found this https://github.com/chrislo/loop-launchpad-pro which is a Launchpad Pro binding for Loop Drop. http://loopjs.com/ Which looks interesting. (Again, untested by me.) I haven't mentioned, but it's worth noting that Launchpad Pro95 exists. http://motscousus.com/stuff/2015-12_Nov ... e_Scripts/ It's a big ol python script for Ableton Live, and I think it might have some interesting note modes.

I have started my Remote Codec for the LPP. Just in initial testing phase right now. I've had some promising results. It's going to be a beast.

I did see in the LPP manual a paragraph on it receiving midi clock and basing some of the light pulse sysex messages on getting tempo from that. Which is stellar news for what I'm wanting to do.

I wrote a python test function that lets me open a midi loopback device and then it sits there and waits for any sysex message (that I create in the Remote codec) and spits out the ascii. This is a design pattern from the Livid Instruments codecs where they've got their sysex messages on a second port displaying in Max/msp. It's not as good for error handling like remote.trace from the SDK, but I've got it working and outputting to my python program in a command window. (I'll share this little program on the forums here eventually.) I'll probably use that to get the midi clock stuff working.

I've also just started using git for my code, what a pain in the ass. But as I expect 3000+ lines of code, it'll help, I think.

I'm really excited to experiment with layouts and lighting schemes!
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

Damn.

electrofux
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03 Jun 2016

Yeah it receives Midi Clock. But whenever i hear Midi Clock i shudder ;-)

I am also thinking about using it nevertheless because i love to have a Punch In/Out Record Function and a quantized "Jump to Left Loop Marker" in my Codec. I am currently using loop back in combination with a Combinator with a few Thors to achieve that but it is a complicated to setup and has to be adjusted for every Tempo seperately. Have to check if Song Position Pointer is also transmitted.

electrofux
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03 Jun 2016

Second though on the Midi Clock thing.

Catblack, were you able to receive the Clock Ticks in the Codec? Because i tried to send Matrix generated Notes as a sort of Clock Signal and they weren't registered as Midi Input, they just lit up some pads and werent accessable in the Codec.

If the Ticks are avaliable in the codec then this opens up quite a few options for quantizing actions.

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Catblack
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03 Jun 2016

I haven't been able to check in Remote (due to git deleting my remote maps folder!) but I did throw a midi time clock at my LP Pro in MidiOx, and wasn't able to affect the flashing or pulsing lights.

Not sure how to get midi clock into Remote, but I think getting tempo must be a matter of assigning an output to it in the remote map. I'll have to test this and see.
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

Damn.

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Catblack
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03 Jun 2016

I WAS able to get the lights flashing to the midi clock. I had to set the Clock output in prefs to the LP Pro's 2nd port, and then enable the clock in the options menu. Easy once I realized I hadn't enabled it!...

Edit: I also realized that the velocity feedback I'd been seeing and complaining about was probably some midi loopback from MidiOx. (I'm going to test out my codec with some velocity and aftertouch feedback as well.)
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

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Catblack
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20 Jun 2016

I've been poking around in the python code used for Ableton Live, and it looks like the 'Live' mode of this controller isn't really something special at the driver level. It's all using midi sysex, the same as in the programmer mode. I doubt I'm going to do a straight up conversion -- though python code is easy to port into lua -- but I was surprised to find this out and wanted to share. I'm still looking at 2000-3000 lines in the lua file at least, but it's on my workbench this week. (Along with 2 other Reason related projects.)
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

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Catblack
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29 Jul 2016

So I've been plugging away on this codec. I've got a quick late-night video to share, showing off the scales. I decided the other day to pick a color for each note, and then after a quick google I ran across a youtube video with a color wheel that integrated the circle of 5ths, (described here - http://www.virtuosoism.com/Color-Sound% ... nships.pdf ,) and decided to use that. Then after many hours of picking colors out of the launchpad's terrible palette, I mapped the scales to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9MUOdCt-ZE

I'll probably make the colors nicer using sysex in a later version. I'm adding bits onto this as I go. I've already made an elegant routine to map the pads (in ALL the modes) into a table so I can switch around. Now it's just a matter of plugging in features. Redrum integration is halfway there. I have some ideas about some other things I'm going to add. Anyhow, just wanted to share an update!
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

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Catblack
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03 Aug 2016

I now have two updates, with video, on my site: http://www.kittenvillage.com/ I'll be posting updates there. I just added in the ability to change color palettes for the musical scales. I'll be adding in differnt modes/layouts soon. I'll be making updates on my site.
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

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Catblack
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17 Sep 2016

Quick update. I haven't updated my website... been spending too much time working on this codec, and playing music with it. I also rewrote the backend so that it doesn't do (much) calculation when a pad is pressed, it keeps the midi output, RGB in grids which get updated when a new mode/scale/palette/transpose is selected. It's efficient and optimized. I even have the buttons working through a lookup table rather than if/then statements.

I've come a long way with lua since I started.

Tonight I got device state setting via track names in Reason. So I can find a mode/scale/palette/transpose I like in a track and save it. I can get scrolling text on the Launchpad Pro to tell me where I'm at. So I can play around with it and then recall what I liked later.

I've integrated J74's ISO controller's functionality, have more scales than the recent firmware upgrade. I've also come up with some new control layouts. And colors, I have a mind blowing array of colors, three centuries worth!
Image

I'm moving on to ReDrum and Kong integration soon. If you have a Launchpad Pro, shoot me a pm and I'll let you know when I have it ready for beta testing. (I don't toot my horn too often, but I've finally hit my milestone, but it's 4am here and want to share how wonderful this is!)
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

Damn.

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Catblack
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25 Sep 2016

And now I've achieved note playing feedback via a second input port. (Which maps to all of the scales and modes.) So I can play a piano keyboard and have midi in show me what note is mapped to the grid. Or I can record something and then copy the note data to the external midi instrument and set that to a loopback to show me what I've played.

I probably won't be updating this thread, but will start a new one soon in one of the other forums when I announce it. I'll be putting a longer, better video/post up at http://kittenvillage.com when I do.

If you are considering a grid controller, don't skimp, you'll want the velocity sensitivity that the LP Pro has.
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

Damn.

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Catblack
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11 Dec 2016

I made a quick demo video last night and I wanted to share. The final third shows off some of the various playing modes (layouts) I've coded in.



The Launchpad Pro is my regular playing surface these days, I just finally broke out an old midi keyboard for my baby to pound on.
If you ain't hip to the rare Housequake, shut up already.

Damn.

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