Novation Launchkey Mini MK3 25-key Keyboard Controller Reviews

It does exactly what I need it to do. Good value

This keyboard works with easily with my DAW - not the recommended one - and does everything I need it to do in terms of arpeggiating and midi production. I'm working with pre-existing midi files and this makes additions and alterations quick and easy. It has lots of functions useable in music production that I expected to find on more robust controllers. Good choice.

This is my first midi controller/keyboard. I opted to go with the one that comes with two synthesizer programs. I'm sure glad I picked that bundle. It was a very affordable way to add more tonal options. Works with GarageBand with 0 problems. It's very fun to play! I love it!

This Novation keyboard controller was purchased as a Christmas gift for my son. Sweetwater was among retailers with low price, but their extended warranty differentiated themselves as being my retailer. Tyler Lamb did a great job calling and emailing us about our order. Should my son have technical questions/issues with the controller, he can follow up with Tyler.

This is my first MIDI keyboard and I have found it to be perfect for my needs

This controller packs a lot of features in a small amount of space.

I've been in search for that perfect midi controller, this one I can say after a few months, is it! Along with my iMac and Logic Pro this keyboard shines, it comes with Ableton, but everyone has a different mind map. For me it's just easier in my head, to run with Logic.
I also love Novation's dedication to their instruments and the workflow for beginners.
The new firmware includes a new way to strum ARPS using the MOD strip as well as a double tap to make it easier for you to select ARP and Chord commands. I'd love to see Novation allow for 8 additional knob settings (perhaps a double shift) so you can run through 16 nobs of settings, but the 8 and the LEARN feature on most DAWS is good enough and hey for $, this is a great deal.

I am blown away by this controller. It is plug and play for finale for sure, and I think Logic (there is a nice youtube tutorial to setup in Logic). Now anytime I compose a song in Finale, I just plug it in, hit record and go. So easy! Also, for Logic, after the unit is selected the nobs, like to pan, and other functions work.

I am very new to the music-making game, but you can get started very quickly with everything in the box. I was able to start creating within minutes of opening the package. There are probably a gazillion features I haven't even used on this keyboard yet, but the ability to start making music right out of the gate is awesome!

This is a fantastic little piece of kit. This is my first true midi controller, as so far I've just been setting my laptop on top of my piano. Not the best set up for being creative. So, between getting this and making the switch to Ableton from garage band, so many doors have opened up for getting the music in my head out there.

This thing is perfectly sized to fit on the desktop in several configurations. I've tried both in front of and behind the keyboard and both worked well. I've settled on having the keyboard (it's compact with only 87 keys) on the left and the launchkey on the right with the mouse in the center.

I'm very impressed, very nice

This station is a blast for creating electronic music. It's been hard to put down

Great MIDI controller for beginner and portable users Everything you need . Great software aswell. You won't find another MIDI controller at this pricing with amazing mapping in ableton and universal layout for other daw's. Also the arppegiator is superb along with the rubber velocity RBG pads also keys and knobs and touch strips feel good. Again you won't find all these perks together with anything else at this price point . Thanks again Sweetwater and novation very satisfied with my purchase. Will be doing a product review very soon . Perfect purchase

Works perfectly for a portable Ableton use-case. At first, I had issues with it crashing Ableton - ejecting the Launchkey from being a USB drive while leaving it connected did the trick! Buttons, pads, and knobs all feel great. Keys work pretty well for this size, and the integration with Ableton is as good as advertised.

I love this product I use it every day during my sessions, whether it's for slicing a sample, playing midi notes or synth sounds, it does it all in a efficient and effective way. The fact that it comes with about 9 plugins/add ons including Ableton Lite, Addictive Keys, and a 2 month free subscription to Splice to get you started in your own musical endeavors, is a bonus worth we'll beyond the "free" price tag that's on it. I would recommend this keyboard to anyone inquiring. I've had the Akai MPK 25 before and in comparison, there's more leeway on this keyboards keys pressure-wise. The pads on this (16 vs 8 For the Akai) is great in case you want to set up a bank (Up to 6-8 banks if I recall) with your favorite sounds. I would most definitely recommend this product to everybody I love. If you're passionate about music this is a must have. Even if it's more of a hobby, the easy to maneuver interface on screen with ableton as well as Logic Pro, and on the keyboard (you can control the session with your Novation). Give it a shot, you got nothing to lose, best purchase I've made in a year. Oh yeah, and shipping only took two days!!!

This thing is awesome. Packed with a ton of options and the perfect size. Well worth the money!

I have Push 2 and an 88 key. Thought I'd get this for the mobility. I can bang out an idea with Ableton simply and easily. Great drum pad. Takes a little adjusting if you're used to 16 square pads, but it is fine with a little work.

Absolutely love it! Worth every penny! No complaints and the customer service was incredible with Sweetwater. You can't go wrong with this product

I've been using Ableton for a long time with a lot of controllers - APC40, Push, iPad apps, Launchpad Pro, Launchkey 49 - and this little nugget is a joy to use. It's a perfect fit for the way I use Ableton: I do a lot of improvisation, live looping, and processing hardware synths, and I feel very comfortable navigating my sessions with looking at the computer very much. And when you want to go all tactile, MIDI it up to a modular and fire up the arpeggiator.

The integration with Ableton is excellent. Version 3 is more rugged and feels more solid. The key action has been improved.
Would recommend this to anyone looking for an Ableton Live controller, specially if portability is must!!

The external midi works great with my Korg Volcas and modular as well.

Overall a great controller with expanded functionality!

The only thing that killed it for me with this device is that going up and down between rows of clips is a two-handed operation with the shift button and the arrows. Other than that, it's brilliant. Superb build quality, rock solid midi out, lots of features. It's rendered my Korg Nanos obsolete.

Have had this for a few weeks now, and I like it quite a lot

I bought this because of it's size and reviews. I'm just getting into this type of music. After receiving it I was vert pleased with it's capabilities. I still haven't discover all of it's features. I'm very please with it's performance so far.

I've just upgraded from the mk2 version of this keyboard and the new features are outstanding! I especially love the arpeggiator, fixed chord mode, and the pitch and mod strips. The software it comes with is a huge bonus as well. The instruments sound beautiful. It has midi out for sending midi to external synths and it integrates seamlessly with Ableton Live 10.

My only gripes with the unit are that the lights are EXTREMELY bright on the touch pads and the knobs at the top of the unit are not the same quality as the mk2. In the end, there are so many features packed into the mk3 version that it is worth the upgrade.

Great sensitivity in the pads and keys considering the money. Far better than I expected, or would've accepted. A very pleasant surprise. Some of the Live functions are very handy, but the record button is married to clip record in Session mode and I use arrangement mode. Hopefully at some point that will be editable. The Components editor works well, but I can't connect to the unit with Live running so changing a custom template is a hassle at the moment. Windows 10.

Regardless, a great compact travel controller for a ridiculous price.

I got the cord from Apple that allows this to be powered over USB and lightning and it works with GarageBand and other music apps. I'm satisfied with that, but I'm lacking an audio connection to monitor other than the iPhone speakers. iPad works great as it still has 1/8" Jack.

The keyboard feels pretty good, it's fairly intuitive. I have not used with PC/Mac yet.

I was looking for a nice compact keyboard controller with more capabilites than the other two larger keyboard controllers I already own. The Novation Launchkey seemed to have just the right extra controls and features at an afforadable price.

Having eight knobs and sixteen pads that I can customize for the gear I have was a very important reason for buying another controller. Velocity sensitive pads & keybed also something I wanted and the MIDI out port allows me to use the Launckey standalone (using power bank) with my portable synths & groovebox.

The chord modes and arpeggiator features are quite impressive and help me a lot as a novice keyboard player. I also chose the Launckey specifically to improve my use of Ableton Live. The bundled software also a nice addition to explore the new capabilites the Launckey provides.

All in all, the Launchkey checked ALL the boxes on what I was looking for. Worked perfectly out of the box and I really like the physical size/layout and the feel of the knobs/pads/keyboard - all at a great pricepoint!

I received this as a gift, and I think it's pretty good quality and it interfaces with Ableton very well. I was disappointed, however, that the novation control software does not allow you to assign MIDI CC numbers to the launch buttons, ONLY note commands (you can do this with the Launchkey 25, just not the mini apparently which is annoying). Documentation from Novation confirms this. I was looking to use this to also control my Boss RC-5 which takes MIDI CC commands, and while it can be used to play drum kit notes on the RC-5, it can't be used to play/stop/dub etc.

It's easy to record keyboard or drum parts but to use it in the other many ways is complicated. I haven't found a tutorial that takes it slow enough to follow… I'll just have to play with it

I like this little keyboard because it's light weight and small, but the action on the keys and pads isn't that great. It seems like the velocity is either 100% or almost nothing. I mostly use it to test sounds and then edit the midi with my mouse, which kind of defeats the purpose of the controller.

Purchased for compatibility with iOS, thought I had the right cord. The launchkey requires more power and needs to be connect via the included usb cable into a lightning power + USB into the lighting into phone or iPad. Just a heads up for anyone looking for the same thing

this thing looked great in videos and reviews. i excitedly opened the box and was instantly disappointed that the keys are just as bad as every other mini keyboard.. oh well, at least they're not worse.. how are the pads? surprisingly good! but they're just too small in comparison the mpk mini or other pad devices . i can barely hit these with one finger so alternating fingers is impossible. pretend to do some drum fills on an m&m .. that's what these pads are like. no problem at least i can use the note repeat functi... oh wait there is none. sigh.. well how do the touch strips work? it's cool that i have a dedicated strip for pitch bend and mod instead of a multifunction joystick.. too bad the pitch bend range doesn't go down fully! up works just fine, but down only goes to -198 cents. tried different daws, binding it to different parameters.. never reaches the full value. seems like a manufacturing defect where the strip was installed off-center. returned it and sticking with the mpk mini2 until something can finally be better. i don't even love the mpk mini but its competition is always worse :( . why can't anyone make good affordable midi controllers ?