[VDJ] Novation Launchpad mapper and mapping tool

[flangeordie]

My buddy and I have a Denon DN-MC6000 and a Novation Launchpad. Seeing the amazing potential of adding 80 buttons to our setup, each with variably coloured LEDS, I made a project out of building a mapper that would make use of the Launchpad as a supplement to the mixer. Since there was no way I was settling for anything less than fully working coloured LEDs, there was a lot of work ahead. Along the way I wrote a little program to help me (mapping got REALLY repetitive and tedious), and now that I'm "finished" I want to share. I understand the limited scope and use of this mapper and tool - it's tailored to my specific setup. So I'm just posting here because there may be another one of me out there looking for something like this.



The mapping is split into 3 "pages", designed for use beside our MC6000:



1. Samples, loops, key, etc: the main page used when mixing solo, functions are largely unique from the mixer

(The DN-MC6000/VirtualDJ combo by itself is really, really lacking/inconvenient in the area of samples! The top half of this page basically allows us to have a useable-on-the-fly sample deck, which otherwise we could not.)




2. Effects: main effects also located on our mixer, so designed around the idea of having a second person doing only effects




3. EQs, levels: really just a fun way to do it, not for anything serious (see pajamas )

Lights flash, change colour, or otherwise indicate whether their function is active, where necessary.

I tried to keep the number of lights used low, as the Launchpad has a crappy slow USB connection, and lots of updates sent to it in a short period of time will cause all of VDJ to hang temporarily. Which is bad. I believe this would be better if Novation had given the Launchpad its own power supply separate from its USB connection, but it is what it is, right?



Here's what the tool looks like:



Its entire purpose is to save you time digging through XML files (or dealing with XML at all, really) looking for LED colours that correspond to buttons. 80 buttons with 4 (in my case) LED colours for each means 400 entries = messy! Now they are all organized with their actions.

Adaptation (development) of this tool or something similar for other controllers is also definitely possible.



(EDIT: moved to attachment)


Finally here's a link to a zip file containing:

device definition file
mapper file
the above layout pictures
the mapper tool exe
a readme for all the above



Cheers

[flangeordie]

Wow, tough crowd

[wondermike112]

Awesome Job on the Launchpad mapping. It works great. Was wondering where I can go to learn how to customize this for my own uses. I don't perform with virtual dj. I mostly use it as a quick reference for mixes I build in ableton. Was looking for a way to condense your mapping into a page similar to your mode three but with a few more options and less room for the volume/eq sliders and maybe a row for a couple loops and a pitch bend feature. I dont use turntables at all but I'd like a way to use my launchpad as the sole controller and not have to fall back to keyboard shortcuts and a mouse for beatmatching. I should probably include that at this point the vdj script is a foreign language to me so you are dealing with a total novice in this aspect but any direction you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for your work with this mapping. Because of your free download I now have one more way to enjoy the launchpad!

[flangeordie]

Something like this?



Loops, loop out, and play blink when active

The pitch bend is set to 2% every half second, you can change that


Novation Launchpad mapping.xml

If the filename has underscores, replace them with spaces

[zestoi]

Wow, tough crowd

indeed they are

what you've done/created looks very cool. lack of more feedback on this thread is more down to the lack of love for vdj on this forum really...

i really wish traktor had a mapping system more like (that i've seen) of vdj's. seems u can do a lot more just with the builtin mappings in vdj than u can via the control manager (which sucks ofc) in traktor.

i'd be interested to see what's in the next version of vdj after their merging with djdecks... could be very interesting. after investing in traktor tho not sure i'm willing to shell out for a diff app unless it's amazingly better. plus i love all the effects in traktor.

[wondermike112]

This is fantastic! I can't thank you enough! I've been looking for months for something like this. I'm gonna go give this a test run right now!

[wondermike112]

Update: This mapping is perfect for what I'm using the Launchpad for and everything works wonderfully! Thank you again for all your help! You are the best!

[dj ilay]

woooowww bro thank's really i've been searching for this like crazy, i have the mixtrack pro along side with the launchpad, soon i'll be buying the novation twitch. Again thank you greetings from Venezuela.

[DDR dj davide roma]

Great! Thanx a lot

[YurVanGor]

thanks much, can't wait to use it