[VirtualDJ] Novation Launchpad mapper and mapping tool
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:
- 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.)
- Effects: main effects also located on our mixer, so designed around the idea of having a second person doing only effects
- 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
