Novation Launchpad for iOS reaches V2
The Novation LaunchPad app for iOS is about as much fun as you can have with a bunch of audio loops. It is instant-performance-DJ-superstar-party heaven. Well, at the risk of overloading your fun gland they’ve just released version 2 and brought in some natty new features.
The first thing Novation are making a huge fuss about is the ability to change the tempo – in real-time. Gosh, I thought this was quite a fundamental part of any loop-based piece of software. Apparently, (according to Novation) it’s usually only available in really posh software. I didn’t realise it didn’t do this already so it’s cool that it now does!
Ableton Link
Perhaps of more significance is the Ableton Link feature which gives it the ability to sync up with other iPads and iPhones as well as integrate nicely with Ableton Live. A few months ago Novation introduced a MIDI Sync option to Launchpad which does a very similar thing (read our article about that here) but the Ableton Link is a bit more tempo savvy.
There are other general improvements particularly to the effects section and of course they all now respond to the tempo changes. It looks like Novation will slowly integrate Launchpad with their Blocs loop editing app as they are sharing more and more features. That would certainly be the day our DJ party gland explodes. It’s a free update to existing users from the Apple App store.
More information on the Novation Launchpad iOS webpage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfdQCe2-yFs
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