Newton’s third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. And in a week where Novation supersized their Launchpad range, they also went in the complete opposite direction and shrunk down their Launchpad app for iPad into the pocket-sized iPhone. And it’s free.
More words from Novation’s clearly busy PR department:
Launchpad on Your iPhone
Novation update Launchpad App for use on iPhone
Launchpad App lets you easily make and remix beats and electronic music on your iPad, then record and share your performances online. Now, in the version 1.6 upgrade, you can do it all on your iPhone too.
Click here now to download it for free
Launch up to eight loops at a time using a special 8×6 version of the famous Launchpad grid, used by countless artists around the world. Experiment with ready-to-perform sessions from a variety of genres, download the hottest new Launchpacks to expand your collection, or make custom sessions with your own sounds on iPad.
Built-in time stretching and synchronisation keep your loops locked in time, whilst you use volume sliders and filters to control your mix on iPad, and dynamic filter, gater, stutter and delay FX on iPhone.
Making music has never been so much fun!
Click here to find out more or download the app
Launchpad App at a Glance
- Create and remix electronic music by combining loops and sounds from a huge catalogue of free, world-class Loopmasters content
- Perform a unique set with powerful, dynamic DJ effects
- Record and share your performances with your friends
- Download cutting-edge soundpacks to inspire new creations
- Create unique tracks by importing your own sounds (iPad only)
- Connect the app to your Novation Launchpad hardware for ultimate tactile control (iPad only)
THERE GOES THE DAY
As part of my ‘be better at stuff’ plan, I generally start the day with a to-do list of three items. Today however, the top item was ‘launchpad article’. The rest was completely out the window once I’d downloaded and fired up the app. I’m not going to spend a heap of time going over this because you can just download it and play for yourself. But be warned — your day will disappear into nowhere as you get hooked.
The basics are simple — Launchpad is made up of a bunch of pads, each with loops or one-shot samples loaded into them. These sounds are supplied in kits, of which there are eight supplied with the app, and more available via in-app purchase (£1.49 each). It’s as easy as loading in a set and start creating music by hitting loops and samples. The ever-so tiny text on the yellow buttons tells you what’s what. I needed my glasses to use it properly.
Everything is beat matched as well, so when you drop another loop in, it falls on the one, which for me makes this immediately accessible to everyone and not just those who understand music and have good timing. But that’s not all — once you’re hooked, you can apply delay, gates, loop rolls and filters via a very intuitive interface. And to top it off, you can record live mixes into the app to share with the world.
For the advanced users, Launchpad for iPhone also uses Audiobus technology to feed your Launchpad creations into other Audiobus enabled apps.
For me, Launchpad for iPhone is the ideal toe-dipper of an application for those who still find themselves a little lost in the wider world of production and performance. It suddenly makes sense of the basics of software like Ableton and how that works with hardware like Launchpad.
Hats off to Novation — Launchpad for iPhone is the most engaging fun I’ve had in a while. Ultimately, it’s a free, fun, and intuitive music maker for your iPhone. Grab it now and kiss goodbye to your to-do list for the rest of the day.
Ok I keep downloading all these pad apps and am disappointed. But yeah I’ll get this one too and check it out. I guess the main issue is beat making. It’s not that hard. I want easy chords and integration with builds, tension and quick vocal processing.
Too much to ask or are all these apps just too many apps. I know I don’t give much time or effort with them but then again, an app should just be easy. Right.
I tried this app but didn’t care too much for it. I want something that let’s me create my own sound, even if it’s in a basic/raw form, that I can later build upon using a full fledged DAW. The problem I had with Novation’s app was that it has everything already there already created for you and I felt it left little room for creativeness. You can’t create your own melodies or drum patterns. Similar to Reason’s Figure app, although at least there you can somewhat create your own rhythmic patterns. For me the winner still seems to be iMascine. It doesn’t do everything but it has a little of everything I need to get me started on a track, which in my opinion is what these apps are supposed to do.
What a whack promo video… as if some totally random people on the streets would easily grasp an audio production app. Worst: “Maybe a little bit of bass”
Have you tried it? Anyone can use it and get something out of it immediately, which is the point of the video. And for me, having used the app, the video gets that across perfectly.
Totally agree with Mark. I have no idea how to produce music but, within minutes I downloaded 2 more sound packs and spent the rest of the night discovering exactly what can be done with the app. It is so much fun and ‘free’ it is a no brainer.
Ok I tried it out and am very impressed. Even though it is not “my” samples.
I also grabbed up the Novation Launchkey application which syncs to the Launch pad.
For free these should have cost at least 10$USD each. Very cool very fun.