Novation 49SL MkIII 49-Key MIDI Controller Keyboard and Sequencer with DAW integration

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The primary row of eight encoders and buttons are accompanied by full‑colour displays. There’s a transport section, various mode and function buttons, and a bank of eight mixer‑style strips each with a slider and two buttons. The 16 pressure‑sensitive pads lie in two rows below the screens so they can be drafted in as Ableton launchers and sequence programmers. If you are not already, please try updating your firmware using the standalone version of Components. On this screen, you can edit the messages sent out by the 16 pads on your SL MkIII. This includes Pad hit and pressure assignments: We're going to show you how to set up your SL MkIII with Studio One 4. Please ensure that your SL MkIII is connected to your computer via USB and powered on.

Once this is complete, please go to Preferences > Control Surfaces > Add > Select 'Novation' as the manufacturer, and 'SL MkIII' as the model, then select the InControl option as the input and output port.This article will walk you through how to set up your SL MKIII with Ableton Live 10. Please ensure that your SL MKIII is connected to your computer and powered on.

The SL MkIII’s pads can now be used to make sequencer transposition a powerful performance tool. Pattern octave transpose Between the well-designed templates and easy-to-use Components app, Novation has done an excellent job in making setup as hassle free as possible, but given how adaptable the SL MkIII is, you’ll still need to spend some time configuring it to best adapt it to your own setup. It doesn’t quite match the plug-and-play immediacy of NIs’ Komplete Kontrol system, but offers much more flexibility for interfacing hardware and software.

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You can also set the MIDI channel for each rotary control. The 'Default Channel' is the channel that the template is set up on, you can as well set the parameter change on a separate midi channel.: If the firmware update for your Novation device via Components fails, there are a number of troubleshooting steps we recommend trying. The keyboard feels very nice and all other hardware too except for the sliders, they feel a bit cheap. The primary stand‑alone mode is Sequencer. This puts you in charge of eight Parts, which are displayed along the bottom of the screens and selected with the adjacent buttons. Each Part is a MIDI control template selected from the pool of templates currently stored in the unit. Templates recall MIDI assignments for the buttons and faders, pads, mod wheel and two banks of rotaries. The factory set on my unit contained a generic template plus templates for all Novation’s synths and a host of other, mostly contemporary, synths and drum machines. Beyond the sequencer, the SL MkIII also features an Arpeggiator, with adjustable rate, gate length and direction. With the Arpeggiator mode active, the arp pattern can be adjusted by using the 16-pad grid to add or remove steps. The arp can only be used on one Part at a time, but it is possible to change which part the arp is assigned to on the fly, using one of the central rotaries. The keyboard itself offers some handy features too.

The keyboard can also be divided into Zones, which can each be assigned to one of the eight Parts, so users can play multiple instruments at once - handy for use as a live performance hub. Up to eight Zones can be assigned, each with adjustable keyboard range, displayed via the LED light guide above the keyboard. While these multi-faceted sequencing tools are the core feature of the SL MkIII, it can still handle the DAW control duties you’d expect from a high-end MIDI controller. If you’re using a PC, go to Option > Preferences > Link MIDI. Then, select the SL MKIII as a control surface, and select the input and output to Novation SL MKIII (MIDI2), which is how the InControl mode is displayed on PC. The downside was it took work to set up, and relied on local settings files on your machine. With modern displays, and the move towards computer independence and integration with Components, I can understand why Novation would step away from Automap. It does leave something of a gap though that’s filled, or not, in different ways depending on your DAW.

We're going to show you how to set up your SL MkIII with Reason. Please ensure that your SL MkIII is connected to your computer via USB and powered on. Many DAWs have a ‘smart’ controller scheme that MIDI devices can hook into to achieve dynamic control assignments, without resorting to manual fixed mapping. These generally only extend to the built‑in devices and instruments found in your DAW. For control of third‑party VST/AU/AAX plug‑ins some brands have opted to develop their own plug‑in hosts. This gives them direct integration with their hardware, customisable mapping, patch browsing, multi‑plug‑in patches, etc. And of course they can build in their own sound content store... NI’s Komplete Kontrol and Akai/M‑Audio/Alesis’ VIP are the main examples, but Nektar have also just announced a host. Choose an arp type, set a sync rate, tweak the length, and then use the pads to design your rhythms in real time.

This is where the SL MKIII comes into its own. Work with all major music audio workstations using intuitive Novation InControl software. It even comes with a copy of Ableton Live Lite, 4 GB of Loopmasters sounds and sample, and XLN Audio Addictive Keys virtual instrumentsto get you started. Next, we'll enable the control of instruments so you can play them with the SL MkIII's keyboard. To do this,select Options > External Devices > Add> New Keyboard and select Novation SLMKIII SLMKIII MIDI in the Receive From and Send To drop-down menus. Please see the image below for reference: These will walk you through how to set up your SL MkIII with Cubase. Please ensure that your SL MkIII is connected to your computer and powered on. Pro Tools control worked with next‑to‑no setup. I got transport, basic mixer navigation and control, and a handful of core commands like Save and Undo, but no plug‑in control. Logic Pro had the added bonus of Smart Control mapping, allowing Logic to do much of the heavy lifting while the SL kept its encoders in the right place at the right time. In Context Easily integrate hardware with your DAW – get the best of both worlds, recording any electronic performance from one studio centrepieceThe probability of a programmed step can be altered, bringing creative irregularity and extending the musical palette of the SL MkIII. Sequencer transpose (with pads)