From LA with Launchpad
01-02-2010
As soon as Thavius Beck saw the Launchpad, he knew he had to have one, and ever since getting his hands on the portable Ableton controller, it has done great things for him. The LA-based producer, electronic musician and MC professes: "the beauty of the Launchpad is that you don't have to plug it in, so it's very portable. It all fits in a backpack, so you can get on a train, roll to the gig, and get ready to play."
On his recent European tour, Thavius relied on the flexibility of Launchpad to give him total control over his Ableton rig. He uses rows of buttons to act as knobs, which provides greater control over crossfading and the parameters in his effects plug-ins. "I've assigned the crossfader in Ableton Live to a row of buttons on my Launchpad, so I can slide from one track to another. With my Autofilter, I can sweep through my filter using another row of buttons."
For Thavius, the versatility of the Launchpad and its portability make it the best controller for his workflow. "It doesn't have knobs, you don't need knobs, you can emulate the function of a knob by using a row of buttons, on top of being able to control your clips, on top of having a mixer mode, where you control the level of your tracks by sliding your finger up and down. So you have a ton of control." Check out Thavius' videos for a glimpse of him in action, and visit www.myspace.com/thavius for more information on the man himself!
