Reply to LAUNCHPAD mapping 4 decks 4 traktor (w/ leds)

So, I bought a launchpad because i wanted all those buttons, for hot cues, and other such fun.... plus the fact that you could get LED feedback was auh sum!

but damn if that thing was difficult to figure out!!!

first, its meant to play with ableton. Anything else requires novation's automap which is a pain to use with traktor. I thought i was bound by this marriage believeing that the only way to get midi messages from launchpad to other softwware, mainly traktor, was while the automap server was running. Needless to say, that whole thing was terrible. But then i noticed something in traktor's midi controller setup......

if you select "general midi" and choose "launchpad" for in/out ports guess what? you can send midi messages directly from launchpad to traktor like any other controller. Then its all a matter of figuring out what you want to do.

I have searched the web and all my searches ended up with results = 0. I couldn't find a good explanation, nor a fully mapped out launchpad, specially nothing complete with responsive LEDs (but i knew it was possible cause i saw a youtube vid of some dude doing such stuff). So after many hours of reading, testing, configuring, etc... i got my launchpad to work. Not sure i'll keep this mapping entirely, but for now, its cool to see that what i put on paper actually works in practice.

So first off, here's my setup so if you have something similar, you can try it out and see if it works:
- MacBook 13" (os x 10.5)
- traktor pro
- novation launchpad

that's it as far as this particular experiment goes. I don't really have the resources nor time to try the different combinations of operating systems, drivers, and traktor versions, but if anyone wants to give this a go for other setups, please please do so and share your feedback. I'm sure i'm not the only one who would like to know more about this.

There are some gotcha's to all this:

1. you don't have to run automap (which is not really a gotcha but a note)
2. I'm not sure if launchpad is meant to run the way i've done it, but whatever, it works for me now and seems stable
3. i'm by no means a midi expert nor programmer and i'm still learning a lot
4. i don't guarantee this will work, but if it does and people like it, auh sum!

Here is a detailed view of the mapping:
MAPPING-VIEW (description in caption)

So here's what you have to do:

1. download the tsi files i have created (4 total, 1 for each deck. I don't like flipping through huge mapping files in the small traktor window, sorry)

A-Deck TSI [download]
B-Deck TSI [download]
C-Deck TSI [download]
D-Deck TSI [download]

2. open traktor first and import the files.
3. make sure that for each mapping file, launchpad is selected as in/out ports. (not sure if the mapping files do this automagically)
4. once imported, close traktor
5. connect your launchpad via usb (all LEDs will/should be off)
6. open traktor
7. once its ready to receive midi, click on all the buttons and it will light them up according to their current state. It should look like this photo:
INITIALIZATION PICTURE (description in caption)


Here are some other photos with explanations in the captions:
HOTCUE STATES PICTURE (description in caption)
FULLY LOADED PICTURE (description in caption)


I don't have a complete understanding still of some of the concepts and discovered some on a fluke. However, i will say this, what i'm really hoping for is that some of you see what i did (hopefully it works on your setup) and can play around with it more. Also, please leave any feedback as to what you believe or suggestions or anything. I'll try to help out as much as i can since i'm usually pretty busy (i'm surprised i even got this going). Anyhow, thanks again...

migz