I've got the six best budget Ableton controllers
right here and I've tested them all so which one is right for you?
Let's find out and watch till the end because if you've got
a little bit more money to spend i'll talk about a couple controllers you
should check out as well but for now let's stick to the budget
controllers. In this video I'll compare features,
quality, cost, intuitiveness of control, and more!
You'll notice I have both keyboard and pad controllers in this video. I will
comment on the pad and key feel so you get the full picture.
Each one offers unique benefits and drawbacks and I'll
address the most important in this vide. If
you're new around here I'm Sanjay C I have lots of videos of keyboards,
controllers, plugins, and studio gear on my channel. Consider
subscribing, I get straight to the point in my videos
and tutorials. Let's get started. If you need a controller with a very small
footprint and includes knobs and pads that feel
really good for finger drumming get the Presonus Atom. The Atom is just a little
bit bigger than the launch pad mini so it's super portable. When I first
tried this the feel of the pads was my focus.
They feel just right. I love finger drumming on them but
this is a comparison of Ableton Control features so I'll move on to that. The
Presonus Atom's pads also function as clip and scene launchers in Ableton
and the color of the pads correspond to what you see
in Ableton. The form factor makes everything easy and intuitive to control
you can launch clips by pressing them and then shift and pressing one of these
pads launches the scene.
You have fewer pads and other controllers in this roundup but the Atom
has navigation buttons to help that
still if your ableton sessions get really big you may miss the
extra pads the placement of the function buttons
is just right. Play, stop, record and click they're all in the perfect spot and
you've got knobs as well the knobs control the mixer volume
and you can change the function of the knobs using the setup button
and switching to pans or sends the buttons on the side allow
you to show or hide the devices and switch from session to arrangement
views. The select button on the right also
allows you to arm, solo, or mute tracks
I mean you've got so much control in such a small device.
So what are the downsides to the Atom well you don't get as many
clip launching pads as the launch pads and the Akai devices in this roundup and
it's on the higher end of the price range.
But this is an excellent choice for finger drumming. Let's look at
the other controller that's really good for finger drumming next.
The Novation Launchpad X is the same price
as the Presonus Atom, but wow it looks different and it really feels like a
more premium product. It's got some weight to it and the
materials feel excellent the Launchpads have the most intuitive
layout for Ableton clip launching in this roundup. This is
mainly due to the 64-pad layout and the eight scene
launchers. It makes sense right away you can launch
clips and scenes
and even navigate through your session view,
The pads also function as drum or note triggers and are velocity sensitive
on the Launchpad X.
So play drums and even play notes. If you've got a large drum kit, wow, you
can see it all right here
and the pads feel great.
The pads are smaller than the Presonus Atom. but still feature really good velocity
sensitivity. Now it looks like something's missing right?
Knobs . Well that's true but you can still control your mixer in a very
innovative way using the pads. Check it out I'm adjusting the volumes
and the same goes with the pans and the sends. You've also got
extra functions on the bottom row.You can choose to stop clips,
mute, solo, or record arm any of the tracks.
Novation has also included the capture MIDI
button .If you play something awesome and forget to hit record,
this will save you. The Launchpad X also features custom configurations which you
can set up using the novation components program.
The mini version of the Launchpad is a nice option if you need something
smaller and cheaper I'll show you that later in the video.
So lots of good things and it's well deserved but any drawbacks?
Well I wish it had a dedicated stop button the Presonus and Akai controllers
in this comparison have a dedicated "stop all" button. Which means pressing that
button no matter what you're doing will stop all the clips. Now you can
mimic this feature by leaving a row empty but sometimes I
just need to stop and not fiddle with settings to get to that stop all clips.
Also the Launchpad X doesn't have device control out of the box so you
can't just adjust parameters and Ableton instruments and effects.The Launch key
and Akai devices in this roundup can do that also if you want knobs or
faders you're not going to get them with the
Launchpads. But Novation does have some knobs on its Launch Key keyboard
and it has Ableton device control 2. Let's look at that next.
Before we do if you want full-size keys from Novation,
they just released their brand new Launch Key MKIII
it comes in 25, 37, 49 and 61 key versions. Watch my review
here. If you're a keyboardist and want the most Ableton features you can find
in a keyboard Get the Novation Launchkey Mini MK III.
The launch key series of keyboards are the best keyboard controllers for
Ableton out there right now and they're a great choice if you don't need all the
pads on the launch pads. You've still got clip
launching but you just have two visible rows
at one time. Of course you can navigate the rows by pressing
shift and up and down but it's certainly not as nice as having
many rows visible which is why I included the Akai APC
keyboard in this roundup as well. Now with the launch key if you think that
all you're getting extra are keys you'll be surprised.
Launch key has lots of other nice features it has
excellent device control for Ableton
devices.
And you can control volume pads and sends
with the knobs.
Also if you like messing with
arpeggiators it's got an extensive arpeggiator tool
built in and thank you Novation, a dedicated
play stop button. If you want to watch my full review of the Launchkey Mini MK III
watch my video here, I cover live looping, drum pads,
MIDI and more. The only issue I have with the Launch key Mini is
the key feel. The keys are a little loud if you bang on them
and they don't have the best quality in my opinion I actually prefer the Akai APC
in this area we'll look at that next. The
Akai APC Key 25 is showing it's age but it's still the
best option for traveling and performing with
large Ableton sessions if you're a keyboardist for two reasons.
First, you've got lots of clip launching pads 40
total and scene launching buttons as well you've got mixer controls
for volume pens and sends it's even got device control like the
Launch key. So you can control your Ableton instruments and effects
the keypad feels a little better than the Launch key but still with many keys
keep your expectations in check I love the dedicated stop
all clips button and the knobs feel pretty good too
but this keyboard has some drawbacks. While you've got lots of clip pads
they are not color matched to your Ableton session.
Instead they light up yellow if there's a clip there
or green if it's playing
and red if it's recording. And you can't use the pads
for finger drumming. That could be a deal breaker for you. You've got
scene launchers to the right side and those same scene launchers can be used to
stop clips, solo, record, arm, mute or even select
tracks. If you're looking to score a really good deal you'll probably find
lots of these on the used market since they've been out for a while. If you need
lots of clip launching pads this is a great keyboard for you. If
you're not a keyboardist and prefer faders you may want to check out
the next device. The Akai APC Mini is very focused on two
things. Mixing and launching clips in session
view. And for those two functions it does pretty well.
You can buy it for $99 but check the used market you can find decent deals on
these. You've got a lot of clips to launch, 64
in total. And you can launch scenes with the
buttons on the right side I really like the dedicated stop all
clips button just like the keyboard version and you
can also navigate your session view with the buttons at the bottom. As far as
mixer control you've got eight track faders and the ninth is for
a master fader and they feel pretty decent. You can change these from
controlling volume to also controlling pan, sends and
even controlling your devices. But it's much more fun
controlling volumes with these faders. They feel very natural you can use the
scene launching buttons to also control solo, record, arm, mute and track select so
you've got all the basics but that's it you can't play tunes or
drums on these pads it's really just a mixer and clip
launcher. The clip buttons also don't match the colors in Ableton it's kind of
like the keyboard version: they're yellow if there's a clip there
and they're green if they're playing.
Honestly for what you're paying for this device I'd go with the keyboard version
unless you really want the fader feel. Lastly the
APC Mini feels pretty cheap it's not up to the
standard of the Launchpad X or even the Launchpad Mini which we'll
take a look at next. All right last is the smallest device in
this comparison. It's the Launchpad Mini. Excellent for
portability the Launchpad Mini at first glance just looks like a
miniaturized version of the Launchpad X but there are more differences which
I'll cover. You've got the same 64 pads but smaller than the Launchpad X and the
pads feel different. They have more travel distance when you press them
and they're more squishy to the touch. The pads are matched to the colors of
the clips in Ableton which is nice and you've got scene launching
as well and scene navigation. If you're trying to use this to play
drums and instrument notes you're going to miss one big feature
velocity sensitivity.
So every time you press a pad the volume of the notes going to be the same.
You still have the bottom row of functions like on the X
you can choose to either stop, solo, or mute tracks. Now you don't have any
controls for your mixer so there's no volume pan or sends even
with the pads like how we saw on the Launchpad X. But it does have a user mode
feature which lets you create custom controls
using MIDI CC's you could even program the pads
to act as faders if you want but it requires some manual setup
and manual mapping in Ableton it's not as elegant as the Launchpad X
as a strict Ableton session controller the Launchpad Mini is great especially
because of its size but it really stops there even the Akai
APC Mini offers a bit more with its row of faders.
But you can't use the Akai to play drums and notes like you can
with the Launchpad Mini. So what if you've got some extra cash?
Well the king of Ableton controllers in my opinion is the Ableton Push 2.
It just takes Ableton control to a whole new level.
And if you're heavy into session view and performance
it doesn't get better than that. If you're a keyboardist I highly suggest
you look into the Novation Launchkey MK III keyboards
which are a little bit more expensive than the devices in this comparison
but they have larger keys. Finally the ultimate
keyboardist companion for Ableton Live is
the Novation SL MKIII. WOW! Check out my review of the SL MKIII here.
I hope you enjoyed this comparison of budget Ableton controllers.
If you have any questions leave them in the comments below.
Keep Making The Music You Love.
And hey check out one of these videos next.
(Sanjay C's awesome music playing)
:)