Novation Launchpad Mini Unboxing, Review, and Comparison

**UPDATE** Please don't comment about the Mini/Micro USB connector. At the time of this video, they weren't easy to find in my town, and it really is a moot point in context to the rest of the video. It's been addressed many times in the comments, so please look through those before you start asking questions that may have already been answered. :-)

This is my quickly thrown together 15 minute unboxing and review of the Novation Launchpad Mini, plus comparison with the Launchpad S, some LED testing, and general plusses and minuses.

[VichoBandido]

Just a thought - don't wiggle that micro cable - its not the cable that will break, rather, its more likely that the little connector inside the machine will break. It has happen to me so many times on mobiles and tablets that I've taken to filling down the hooks on everyone's micro usb cables :-)
File enough to round the hooks and avoid the hooks locking into the connector. You still get a good solid connection but the cable won't lock, meaning that the pressure on your connector will be much less when inserting or removing the cable, ensuring you can enjoy your machine for a long time.
Cheers

[goldenfreddy]

I am happy cuz I am gonna buy a launchpad soon... Always wanted a launchpad

[AVincent]

Great Review! I'm really glad you addressed the double click feel that you get on the S. I find that not the best either so it is nice to know that the mini does not have that.

[astr_n]

I got one of those mini launchpad for Christmas today :3

[LAIDBACKMANNER]

Thanks a lot for this video man. I haven't done a lot of research yet on the Launchpad S Vs. mini, but you answered most of my questions. Jam on! 

[ChrisHahn]

I mentioned this to someone else, the only difference between the S and the mini is the size and the price, and the LEDs are a bit brighter on the S. If you're just getting started, I'd get the mini because it's cheaper.

[ChrisHahn]

I just built this in Ableton. I'm actually going to record a video this week explaining how to build something like this yourself. The cool thing is, that you can send light shows to your launchpad while using it to fire off clips or effects or whatever, so instead of just looking at a clip grid, you can fire off some really interesting light patterns. Great if you have something like Beat Repeat or Stutter Edit that you can map across a range of keys.

[GaloTechDog]

I'm glad i saw this vid, the launchpad mini comes by default on low power, now it's even brighter :P

[HarmonicaMustang]

Awesome review. I'm getting my Launchpad Mini next week, and I can't wait to get it going! Again, brilliant review. Thanks!

[brennchapman]

Thank you for this video! But which would you prefer getting - The launchpad mini or the other one? Me and my friend are going to start making music just for fun, so what would you recommend?

[Zacuri]

Hey Chris, just wanna know that which type of painting you've used to color your launchpad s ? I'm asking this because I wanna have a custom look on my launchpad s, but I've asked for some painters in Hong Kong and they said that if they used the spray paint (with a equipment like a gun), the orange paint on the original launchpad might be mixed with the spray (e.g if they spray white color on the whole pad, they were afraid that the orange part will vanished and mixed with the white color ). But I saw that the paint on yours didn't affect it, so I just wanna know how or which type of paint did u use .

[ChrisHahn]

yeah, you really need to check it out in person. Personally I like the smaller form factor, both for the button feel, and for the distance between buttons.

[onemoretouch]

I'm really confused about which one to get!
Help, this would be my first launchpad...

[jonahtaylor]

I got a new launchpad mini for the holidays and I've been trying it out. I love the build quality and ease of use with Ableton live lite, but the button response feels off to me. First of all, the keys are not velocity sensitive, but I can get over that. My main problem comes with the launchpad's idea of what counts as a 'button press' and what does not. Pressing on the corner or edge of the pad yields a quick response with little pressure, but pressing on the middle of the pad will either cause it to rock back and forth from corner to corner or not produce a sound at all. The strange thing is that pressing on the middle of the pad causes it to compress just like a regular button, but no input will be received. What usually ends up happening is that either no sound will come out or rapid taps will take place as the pad rocks from side to side. Pressing hard enough on the middle of the pad can get it to work, but I'm afraid that I'll damage the lanchpad with that much pressure all of the time. As a piano player, the idea of being forced to play on only the corners and sides of each pad just feels downright wrong. Is this something that I'll need to get used to, or is it a problem with my launchpad?

[Lupopunto]

A little complain on the review....the launchpad mini's cable is a Usb-MiniUsb and it is the same as most of the android phones on the market so you can easly find them in a phone store. Is not so rare as you said. By the way good review :)

[JerettFranklin]

I've been wanting to get more access to ableton live for a while both of these come bundled with a simple version of ableton. Do you know of any other controllers that come bundled with ableton Chris? 

[trabajosa]

Thanks! I will get one mini, but have you ever misstaped something by being too *mini*? Which one do you prefer S or mini?

[kunvichlun]

awesome video dude, very useful review on this. i jus had another question; can you load your own sounds on each seperate channel? i plan on making instrumental rap beats using it. how easy would that be?

[magdanoz]

Dear Chris!
Thanks for the tutorial! I'm wondering - the mini launchpad is quite cheap here in my country. Also there is a nice pack of Launchpad S + NOVATION Launch Control (+ nice leather cases for them). Can you make a tutorial on how to use them both? I'm thinking about buying the pack... But I'm beginner and I think it will be better to go for a mini, just to understand how those devices work. :) Any advice?
Thank you!

[Jandalf]

Cool Review. I bought a Novation Launchkey 25 yesterday and was surprised about the perfect buttons on it. On my old Launchpad you have to HIT the Pads a little bit hard and one the Launchkey you can push them really soft like on a Laptopkeyboard. Did they change that too on the new S or mini? You noticed that in the Video but its hard too get that feeling in a video :)
I would love to have the same pads on the mini