Next, we'll enable the control of instruments so you can play them with the SL MkIII's keyboard. To do this,select Options > External Devices > Add> New Keyboard and select Novation SLMKIII SLMKIII MIDI in the Receive From and Send To drop-down menus. Please see the image below for reference: Easily integrate hardware with your DAW – get the best of both worlds, recording any electronic performance from one studio centrepiece The first step is to disconnect your device and reconnect it to a different USB port as this can solve a number of problems. This article will walk you through how to set up your SL MKIII with Ableton Live 10. Please ensure that your SL MKIII is connected to your computer and powered on.

These will walk you through how to set up your SL MkIII with Cubase. Please ensure that your SL MkIII is connected to your computer and powered on. The pitch-bend wheel can now be mapped to the CV output, opening up more expression possibilities for modular synth users and other external hardware control applications. Specifications Use the sequencer to easily record notes as you play them, or input step-by-step. Play and edit your sequences directly from the keyboard. Record your movements as automation into the sequencer, bringing life to your production. On this screen, you can edit the messages being sent out by the 16 buttons on your SL MkIII and how the button behaves when you press it:The SL MkIII’s pads can now be used to make sequencer transposition a powerful performance tool. Pattern octave transpose Allows patterns to be transposed across the octave range, to find the perfect pitch and experiment with ideas. Toggle swing per-part Automap was/is Novation’s plug‑in control system that took a slightly different approach. Instead of running everything inside a special host, Automap was a relatively discreet service on your computer that communicated with special ‘wrapped’ versions of your plug‑ins. You could create your own maps and use them directly with your plug‑ins in any DAW. If you are not already, please try updating your firmware using the standalone version of Components.

Beyond the sequencer, the SL MkIII also features an Arpeggiator, with adjustable rate, gate length and direction. With the Arpeggiator mode active, the arp pattern can be adjusted by using the 16-pad grid to add or remove steps. The arp can only be used on one Part at a time, but it is possible to change which part the arp is assigned to on the fly, using one of the central rotaries. The keyboard itself offers some handy features too.The first is a Scale mode, which allows the keyboard to be assigned one of 15 scale types with adjustable root note. There’s a choice of three ways the keyboard can be set to respond to these scales: display, in which the keyboard’s light guide displays the appropriate notes, but all keyboard notes remain active; snap, where notes played outside the scale jump to the nearest note in the scale; and filter, where notes outside the selected scale are de-activated. In recent years most new Novation MIDI controllers have been small and square. The Launch and Circuit series are brilliantly innovative; by comparison the company’s more traditional keyboard ranges, Impulse and SL, have begun to look dated. Now Novation have taken the features and workflows they’ve developed for Circuit and Launch, and reimagined what a control keyboard could be. The result is a unique blend of MIDI master keyboard, DAW controller, and stand‑alone sequencer. Each of the eight parts now have individual, independent arpeggiators, for building complex polyrhythmic patterns. Arpeggiator probability On this screen, you can edit the messages sent out by the Sustain, Footswitch, and Expression Pedals on your device: The primary row of eight encoders and buttons are accompanied by full‑colour displays. There’s a transport section, various mode and function buttons, and a bank of eight mixer‑style strips each with a slider and two buttons. The 16 pressure‑sensitive pads lie in two rows below the screens so they can be drafted in as Ableton launchers and sequence programmers.

The new arpeggiator probability feature brings an element of randomness to each arpeggiator, turning SL MkIII into a generative and constantly evolving instrument. Step probabilityTo set the SL MKIII up with Ableton Live 11 please connect and power your SL MKIII and then open Ableton. The setup is the same as this article, with the inclusion of MPE for the pads to use Polyphonic Aftertouch.

Choose an arp type, set a sync rate, tweak the length, and then use the pads to design your rhythms in real time. Highly customisable mappings for hardware and software easily control everything. Or create your own templates in the software editor, and save them to the keyboard. With the introduction of SI MKIII v1.3, you'll be able to utilise unquantised recording. v1.2 introduced micro-step editing (letting you position notes off the grid). This resulted in minute timing variations. Now with unquantised recording, you can record directly into these microsteps. V1.4 Firmware UpdateThe probability of a programmed step can be altered, bringing creative irregularity and extending the musical palette of the SL MkIII. Sequencer transpose (with pads)