Whatever happened to Novation? Their last synth devices were 4 years I believe with the Circuits. Did something happen over the past few years over there that stopped the rollout of new gear?
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If they took the existing mk3 and added MPE I would be all over it.
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They’re prolly still pouring over Dave Smith’s IP and wondering what they have been doing wrong all these years…
They have a successful lineup of products that are still competitive in the current market?
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Agreed, it’s refreshing to see them stand on their existing products for this long. I’m fatigued by companies that constantly put out new products.
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I guess the company is called Novation, not Innovation.
[insert rimshot]
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be honest…you just want a medieval version of a circuit…
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Yep also agreed. Akai are still selling their midi keyboards from the early 2010s. I guess after a period of time it’s marginal gains. Would a mark 4 series really move the dial?
Notice that the brand new APC64 doesn’t really add a meaningful advantage over the Launchpad Pro, and that’s 4 years old.
With Ableton making push 2 for 8 years and committing funds for Push 3 to be as long if not longer it is probably time the 2-3 year cycle of upgrades stopped.
I have an Launchkey and Launchpad and they’re both great.
A Circuitus Numerus?
Yes please.
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I was talking synths not MIDI controllers. Seems like the brakes were put on in 2020. I guess their mama company bought Sequential the next year, so maybe that had something to do with it. I’ll email Novation support and ask them.
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So we shouldn’t expect any vation from them?
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I’ve been waiting for a Circuit Pro for years, but alas…
I also suggested a load of firmware update suggestions for the Circuit Track’s and Rhythm but I didn’t get any inclination from their replies that any firmware updates were planned for those…
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With the release of the Launchkey Mk4s ( thread ) it’s not unreasonable to think Novation may be working on Launchpad Mk4s as well.
The Mk3s have been good, but there are hardware improvements possible, beyond what a firmware upgrade could provide. There has been discussion already.
Any thoughts ?
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At a minimum, MPE. Personally would love to see some rotaries added in as well, but that would prob morph beyond the launchpad concept.
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Chris Huggett died, who was AFAIK their main synth designer. And then, after they acquired Sequential (well, they parent company Focusrite did, to be specific), Dave Smith died too…
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Wouldn’t that be a Push 3? 
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Chris Huggett was a really big loss. But did he have anything to do with the development of the Launchpads?
I don’t know, but it’s possible that they could also be indirectly impacted. Rearranging developers to other teams etc… I remember there was a large Summit update, which very likely took more people and time without Chris than it would if he was still around.
Here’s a post on Chris Huggett’s professional career.
From highly likely to you can only dream
- More sequencer tracks for the Pro
- MPE for the Pro
- Pro Max with 128 pads
- Flat encoders a-la OP-Z
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