Idea's for S4 & SL 25 MKII Mappings?

[RobotNinja]

I just recently purchased a Novation SL Mk-II 25 Midi keyboard. I have Jack OSX running to sync the audio from my Kontrol S4 Traktor 2 Deck's A, B, C and D into Ableton live 8 each in their respective channels, then have the master in Ableton routed back into Traktor or my S4 controller and out the mains in the back. There's a detailed explaination of how to set this up yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xzldehIsCE
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShO7FbOuSrQ

It's working great so far and I'm loving the midi-sync from Traktor to Ableton so the keyboard's arpegiators are in beat with my S4 decks.

Now faced with a world of new options, my question is I'm fairly new to Ableton and midi-keyboards, so what are some cool VSTi's to use, or how would you integrate the two? I was thinking of using the keyboard for little loops of simple melodies during particular songs, or using it as a crazy effects processor for each of the decks A-D (However I'm unfamiliar with good effect vsti's on ableton). I could also set it up as a sampler, applying different samples to each of the keys. I would like to keep the keyboard for control of ableton since the S4 does a perfect job of controlling Traktor completly.

I'm a bit over whelmed, but that's a good thing If anyone has experience with Traktor-Ableton and/or midi keyboards, toss me some of your ideas or templates.

[LeeZer]

I'd keep it as simple as possible. maybe the first octave for effects the second for samples. saying that you may want to mix them up and just use markers (stickers) allowing effects and samples to be played within a shorter footprint. But the most important thing i believe is to chill and find your own style. All the kit and to many idea's, never seem to work well if you know what i mean.

[RobotNinja]

Couldn't agree more, I could honestly get by with the S4 alone but the midi keyboard is just too much fun in Ableton. Still working on my mappings since I can't pick a layout and stick with it.

The novation SL MK2 has a x/y touch pad, I was wondering if there is any way to map my laptops cursor/mouse to this pad? This would be amazing since I would never have to touch my computer.

I plan to use the two in tandem for production purposes doing remixes/mashups. But as for live Djing I think I may stick with just the S4, and possibly a MidiFighter Pro beat masher. I don't think I'll have room to place both the S4 and the SL MK2 in a dj booth should I land some future gigs.

The world of midi controllers is a bit overwhelming, so much kit, just gotta find what goes with my work-flow.