Using the Novation Launchkey mk4
Novation Launchkey mk4 series was introduced in August 2024 and has been supported in Ardour since v8.7.
There are currently 6 devices in the series:
- Launchkey Mini 25 and 37 have 16 pads, 8 encoders, no faders, and only 2 transport controls.
- Launchkey 25 and 37 have 16 pads, 8 encoders, no faders, all transport controls.
- Launchkey 49 and 61 have 16 pads, 8 encoders, 9 faders, 9 track buttons, all transport controls.
This documentation covers the full set of features that is only available in Launchkey 49 and 61. It partially applies to junior models in the series. Please refer to the Launchkey user manual for specifics on operating your controller.
Configuration
All configuration of the devices is expected to be done in Novation Components. Thus in Ardour, you can only select ports for incoming and outgoing MIDI messages.
General behavior
Ardour ships with a number of hardcoded mappings between hardware controls and the DAW's features:
- Track selection: you can press left-pointing and right-pointing buttons to select the previous or the next track.
- Faders: 8 faders are mapped to the first 8 tracks, 1 fader (on the right) is mapped either to the monitor (if the monitor section exists) or to the master bus (if there is no monitor section).
- Basic transport controls: rolling, stopping, toggling rec-mode.
- Workflow buttons: Undo/Redo (Shift+Undo), Metronome toggle. Capture MIDI is not a function available in Ardour, thus there is no mapping for it.
Encoder modes
Launchkey mk4 controllers come with 4 predefined encoder modes and 4 custom modes. To switch to a particular mode, press and hold the Shift button and then press the corresponding pad.
| Plugin | Encoders control plugin parameters. |
|---|---|
| Mixer | Encoders can be used for pan, the first 2 sends, and additional gain controls; pads do solo & mute. |
| Sends | Encoders control 8 sends of the selected track. |
| Transport | Encoders control playhead, loop points, can be used to jump between markers, visual zoom. |
Pad modes
Launchkey mk4 controllers come with 4 predefined pad modes and 4 custom modes. To switch to a particular mode, press and hold the Shift button and then press the corresponding pad.
Ardour only requires predefined mappings for the DAW pad mode. In that case pads function to control 2 scenes/cues of 8 tracks. See the Cue support section below for more details.
Additional modes — Drum, User Chord, Arp Patterns — do not require DAW involvement. All MIDI processing happens inside the box, the keyboard only sends final MIDI events to the output.
Cue support
In the DAW mode, the 2 by 8 pads matrix represents 2 cues in 8 tracks. You can use arrow up/down buttons to scroll up and down the cues. Pressing pads will toggle playback of individual clips in trigger slots. The arrow-right button will trigger an entire cue.