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Novation Launchpad with Torq and Pure Data

Introduction

The Launchpad is a midi controller by Novation, designed for use with Ableton Live. There are many reviews and videos showing the Launchpad and Live in action, but there isn’t a lot of information about using it with other software. I wanted to add more buttons and faders to my Bedroom DJ setup, which could be done with other devices, but all those blinking buttons and colourful LEDS were too much to resist.

The Problem

The Launchpad works well with Ableton Live, and Torq can be re-wired into Live. With this setup, Live controls the Session and Mixer pages, and you can map the buttons on the User1 and User2 pages to the controls in Torq – enable LaunchPad in Torq’s MIDI settings, then just right-click the Torq control, then press a button.

This works, but it’s rather disappointing and boring because the LEDs don’t turn on and off. You see, Live contains some built-in logic that receives incoming MIDI signals from the Launchpad, translates the signal into actions and events in Live, and outputs MIDI signals back to the Launchpad to control the LEDs.

Novation’s Automap program promises to map Launchpad buttons into any software, but from what I can tell it really only works with VST plug-ins and a few other software packages.

The Solution

Novation has produced the LaunchPad Programmer’s Reference Guide, which describes the MIDI notes and control signals used by the Launchpad. Armed with this information, the logic built-into Live can be re-written and customized using a Pure Data patch. With this setup:

A button press on the Launchpad sends a MIDI note
The MIDI note is mapped to a control in Torq (or any other MIDI-aware application) and triggers some action.
The MIDI note is also received by Pure Data, which processes the note and sends a MIDI note back to the launchpad. The velocity of this note determines the colour and brightness of the LED.

Progress So Far

To date I have created a simple patch that is working quite well and which I will upload here shortly along with usage instructions. Using it, I’ve created a customizable layout for Torq that maps Quick-Cues, Looping, Effects on/off, Master/Sync, Internal/External control and more.

To create a mapping, an object is created for each button and assigned a MIDI note, a button type (on/off and momentary), and a colour. Unmapped buttons are off, mapped buttons are dimly-lit when inactive and brightly lit when activated. Loading different Pure Data patches configured this way allows you to create an LED-scheme for multiple programs.

Still to Come

To fully reproduce all the features available with Live, I still need to implement:

The page, session, user1, user2, and mixer controls. Being able to switch pages turns the 64-button grid into an N-button grid. 64 buttons seems like a lot, but you’ll use them up fast!
Faders. This is a very cool feature of the Launchpad that lets buttons act as faders and knobs. To implement this, Pure Data needs to map a range of MIDI notes into a single MIDI note with a range of velocities. It will also change the routing of MIDI signals. With the basic buttons, LaunchPad <–> Pure Data and LaunchPad –> Torq. To implement a fader will require LaunchPad <–> Pure Data and Pure Data –> Torq.

I’m confident this can happen and it’s just a matter of finding time to build it.

Other Ideas

implement the LED logic in Max for Live to toggle LEDS for the User1 and User2 pages from within Ableton Live
implement the LED logic in a VST plug-in and launch it from within Torq (or any other app supporting VSTs)

Bedroom DJ

Conectiv

When I first became interested in digital audio workstations (DAW) and computer-based music, I wanted to mix and sample and loop and sequence and make drum patterns and effects and this and that and the other thing. I was all over the place and wasn’t accomplishing much of anything until I decided to focus and start with the basics: beat-matching and mixing with a turntable.

While a computer certainly isn’t required to achieve these simple goals, a computer-based setup makes getting started easy and more affordable. My technical expertise lies more in the digital domain than the analog one, so the ability to hack, re-program, and re-wire a digital system was also very appealing.

I did some research and decided to use Torq software as the basis for my bedroom DJ setup. It lets me beat-match on my turntable using time-coded vinyl through M-Audio’s Conectiv device (which also provides 2 audio input channels and 2 output channels) and mix using an X-Session Pro USB-MIDI control surface, which provides a tactile way to control Torq’s internal mixer and transport controls. The Conectiv package also includes a licensed copy of Torq 2.0, making for a nice little setup for very little investment. Finally, Torq will re-wire into Ableton Live if I want move beyond playing music and start to make my own.

X-Session Pro

This setup has worked well (mostly – still some bugs in the Torq software but no show-stoppers) as I “practice and n_joy” the many fine videos produced by the DJ Tutor. These videos are vastly superior to any other DJ How-To video I’ve ever seen. Most YouTube DJs are more interested in showing-off their egos than explaining what they are doing. Each DJ Tutor video uses a well-framed shot that highlights the controls and actions, and ellaskins uses humour and sound teaching techniques to produce videos that are informative, entertaining, and always end with the catchphrase, “Practice and N Joy”.

Good advice for anything, really.

Landscaping Timelapse

Here’s a timelapse video of the moving of 2 yards of compost enriched soil out of the driveway into our front garden. It’s fun to watch the pile shrink. We stop to talk to the neighbour (who is off-camera) around the 15 second mark and there’s 1 frame of Stephanie carrying Thomson (it’s just a flash). Unfortunately I didn’t capture the celebratory beer drinking at the end.

I’ve been playing with an old Canon Powershot A700 camera loaded with CHDK firmware and the Sunset 4 Timelapse script to make a series of timelapse videos. This is also the first video I’ve hosted on Amazon S3. Without such a service my old laptop/webserver would take about 3 days to stream this video to you. Isn’t cloud computing grand?

Corny!

Thanks Sue.Â Wonder what the original German text was…

Garden Update

We’ve had lots of inquiries about our garden, so here are some photos.

The back garden is well established and is home to several flower beds and the vegetable patch.Â The front garden is a work in progress.Â Over the year, we’ve been working to transform it from a hilly slope full of fire wood, weeds, garbage cans and Douglas firs to a raised, level garden complete with views of The Chief and a shady place to put a hammock.

We’ve got a bit of work to do before we can kick back in the hammock, but today, after moving 7 yards of sand and soil, things are starting to take shape in the form of a 12′ circular bed edged with granite cobblestones.Â Next up:Â the pergola.