Supported Launchpads

Lunchpad drives every Launchpad model listed below, and the Launchkey Mini keyboards. It finds and remembers the right device no matter what the operating system calls its ports.

Model	Layout in Lunchpad	Colours	Velocity	Status
Launchpad MK2	8 × 8 grid, top row, right column	RGB	No	Tested on hardware
Launchpad X	8 × 8 grid, top row, right column	RGB	Yes, plus pressure	Tested on hardware
Launchpad Mini MK3	8 × 8 grid, top row, right column	RGB	No	Not yet tested
Launchpad Pro MK2	8 × 8 grid with buttons on all four sides	RGB	Yes, plus pressure	Tested on hardware
Launchpad Pro MK3	8 × 8 grid, buttons on all sides, two bottom rows	RGB	Yes, plus pressure	Tested on hardware
Launchpad S, Launchpad Mini (MK1 and MK2)	8 × 8 grid, top row, right column	Red and green	No	Tested on hardware
Launchpad (original, first generation)	8 × 8 grid, top row, right column	Red and green	No	Not yet tested

“Not yet tested” means the model is built from Novation’s programmer manual but nobody has confirmed it on a real device yet. If you own one, a report on Discord or GitHub helps a lot.

The Launchpad Pro MK3 is confirmed on real hardware (firmware 4.8.3): pads, LEDs and the buttons around the grid. It no longer matters what mode a DAW left the device in — Lunchpad takes it out of that mode first, so a Pro MK3 that used to need switching by hand just connects.

The buttons around the grid work like any other pad: you can put buttons and faders on them. They are drawn the way the hardware looks — a black button whose printed symbol lights up, rather than the whole button — and the corner where the Launchpad has no button (or its logo LED) holds the settings gear in the window.

Telling the third generation apart

Novation’s manuals print the same identification reply for the Launchpad X, Mini MK3 and Pro MK3, but the devices answer with a family of their own. Lunchpad reads the model out of that reply, so a Mini MK3 or Pro MK3 on a port with an unhelpful name is recognised as itself instead of as a Launchpad X. Between those three, a port name that clearly names one of them wins over the reply.

Launchkey keyboards

Model	Layout in Lunchpad	Colours	Velocity	Status
Launchkey Mini MK3	16 pads, 2 scene buttons, ▶ and ●, Shift, 8 knobs, 2 touch strips, 25 keys	RGB pads, white ▶ and ●	Yes	Tested on hardware
Launchkey Mini MK4	16 pads, Track ∧ and ∨, ▶ and ●, Arp, Scale, Shift, mode arrows, 8 encoders, 2 touch strips, 25 keys, screen	RGB pads, white ▶ and ●	Yes, plus pressure	Tested on hardware

A Launchkey is a keyboard, so it works a little differently: the knobs and touch strips carry faders instead of buttons, and the keys can run macros. See Launchkey keyboards.

Both keyboards are confirmed on real hardware (the MK4 with firmware 1.1.9.92): pads, buttons, knobs, touch strips, keys and LEDs.

When a device is not found

Lunchpad asks every MIDI device to identify itself, and falls back to the name of the port. A device that answers neither — an unusual clone, a port renamed by a driver, a device behind a MIDI interface — can still be driven: pick the model and the two MIDI ports yourself under Not listed? Connect by hand. in the device list. See Connect by hand.

Velocity and pressure

On velocity-sensitive models, Lunchpad knows how hard you hit a pad. Actions can use it: a sound can play quieter on a soft press (Volume follows velocity), and every action can read the velocity placeholder. Models without velocity report every press as full force (127). See Variables and placeholders.

The same models send pressure (aftertouch) while you hold a pad, available as the pressure placeholder.

Very soft touches on a velocity-sensitive pad are ignored, so a pad does not fire when you brush it. The default threshold is 25 (out of 127). You can change it in Settings → Launchpad → Custom press threshold.

Launchpad Pro: velocity comes from the Pro itself

On a Launchpad Pro, the press force comes from the pad’s own set-up screen. Hold Setup on the device and pick the velocity option (Low, Med, High or Off) in the third grid row from the top. With Off, every press counts as full force.

Red and green Launchpads

The Launchpad S, the Launchpad Mini MK1 and MK2 and the original Launchpad have red and green LEDs only. On these, Lunchpad:

• offers the 16 colours the device can show instead of the full palette,
• draws the pads on screen the way the LEDs will look (a pure blue pad stays dark),
• shows Flashing normally, but shows Pulsing as a steady colour, because the hardware cannot pulse.

Using pages on another model

Pages are not tied to one model. Buttons keep their position when you connect a different Launchpad.

If a page has buttons where the connected Launchpad has no pad (for example the side buttons of a Pro on a Launchpad X), those buttons are kept but not shown. Lunchpad tells you with a notice, and Settings → Pages & backup lists how many buttons each page has outside the grid. They come back when you connect a Launchpad with a bigger grid.

You do not have to switch devices to reach them: Show them on the notice, or Buttons out of sight… in the right-click menu of any pad, opens a list you can drag them from onto free pads. See the main window.

Note

The Launchpad Pro MK2 numbers its pads from the edge of its outer ring of buttons. A page built on an 8 × 8 model therefore lands one pad up and to the right on a Pro MK2.