Have you tried emailing them directly?
I’ve always found their support to be pretty good.
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Yeah using the support ticket system can sometimes be a bit slow, I don’t think they have a lot of manpower dedicated to it but the help I’ve received in the past has always top notch, from free cable to brand new replacement of faulty items, also they’ve always been willing to help trouble shoot any tech problems I’ve run into…
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Mine arrived yesterday. Was looking forward to setting it up for my synths today but turns out encoder 2 is faulty, giving erratic values that acts like broken acceleration coding. The encoder itself feels slightly slacker than the others. Back to amazon for a replacement it goes…
Had a replacement today and encoder 11 on that is also erratic. Am I just unlucky here?
I tried LCXL MK3 in a shop yesterday. My main use is a live performances for intense music in a dark spaces and i’ve decided to stay with the old one or to look for an alternative.
My cons are: The encoders are quite stiff, not like the Elektron machines, the buttons are flat and not so tactile and the screen is kinda a joke. You can barely see what you are changing…
It might be good for a studio use or gentle ambient artists, but unfortunately not for me.
just my opinion 
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Yes, I will also keep my old LCXL because the new one does not make the old one worse. 
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Agree the encoders are stiff and the smooth rubber caps don’t help, might change them to 7 sided ones and hopefully they’ll loosen a bit over time.
Don’t mind the screen personally. The colour coding lights is very useful though.
Just wish we could custom map the play, record and arrow keys like you could on mk2
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the mk2 doesn’t do NRPNs - that was the big draw for me. Pity about the dodgy encoders on the 2 units I received.
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Ah, I get your point. I don’t use NRPNs, at least for now.
I just wish they’d enable relative mode for the encoders in custom mode on all the new devices, having only absolute cc is a pita…
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Even just an option to pickup rather than jump would be good.
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I really don’t get it as omissions go, the previous gens had it and the sl series has it too, only reason I can think of not to enable it is because it might interfere with messages when your using scripts inside of your daw… I’ve messaged them about it though requesting it…
Totally, really hope/expecting they’ll do some firmware updates
2.5w is less than an LED light bulb, it’s safe to assume it would have an almost negligible impact on battery life
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Pleased to tell you that money was able to fix my shortcomings with the LCXLmk3. I sold some pieces of gear and reflected on the fact that my setup needed a merger and a way to program multiple CC’s from one knobs, so I had a Blokas MidiHub ($200), the LCXL ($250) and I still could not:
- program the controller without a computer.
- read the screen, let alone read the encoder status from LED brightness intensity.
- do multiple CC and complex messaging over multiple pieces of gear without long trail and errors with the MidiHub.
- spend more time playing music and composing, than configuring midi controls.
- do proper midi feedback for value jumps.
So I sold the controller and another piece of gear to finance a Neuzeit Drop and I am loving it. All the above is a breeze to overcome, nothing is a workaround, to the point my Minihub is collecting dust.
If you can afford it, it’s an amazing upgrade on so many levels. If all you need is to control macros and don’t mind the above, the LCXL mk3 is a fine piece of gear
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but that’s in a world where typical iphones only have around 16Wh and ipads around 30Wh, and they have to power the screen and processor from that, not just 2.5W to the LCXL3. That’s not really negligible, but doable for shortish off-mains stints.
Going to try a third attempt at getting an LCXL3 where all the encoders work as they should. Wish me luck.
Any thoughts on this and the good old Akai APC40mk2 that is seemingly still going strong?
I was considering whether to run a fader controller alongside a Push/Launchpad, partly because jumping around things is way easier with the Novation style buttons. Then I wondered if the answer to this is to go for some old gold in the APC. The big upside of the Novation stuff is the ability to customise things (I like Components) and in theory it plays with both hard and software - though some of the comments here make me think it might not be that straightforward. Of course, the Akai is USB only, and no customisation, just good old fashioned knob per function. I see people still raving about that one though, so it’s on the table as an option.
Has anyone had experience of both perhaps, or have any thoughts post-launch of the LCXL3?
APC 40 MKII is the GOAT, but as you point out it’s a lot more ‘for purpose’, it does one job and it does it fantastically.
Launch control lends towards a function but is a lot more flexible.
Only used the MKii though so can’t comment on the latest hardware - what I will say is that not having notched encoders would be a big plus for me, it was the one thing I didn’t like about the last version. That said endless encoders I’m less sold on - pros and cons of course.
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Yeah that’s a good point, and it’s probably the main one to think about. The nice thing with Novation stuff is post mk3 Launchkeys have pushed a lot more to being general controllers that work with other DAWs and hardware. On the other hand if it’s not quite there then I could be tempted to go for what (as you say here) is often mentioned as one of the best controllers out there.
Yes definitely. Unsure about the Mk2 Launchcontrol here. But on the keyboards, the Mk3 pots were pretty much fine, but the Mk4 ones do feel slightly nicer for mixing duties. That might be a tad different for live use where sometimes the preference is for this slightly angled ones for easier/faster grip.