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Modifier buttons

MSEQ uses 6 LaunchControl XL buttons as modifiers. These can be held alone or in pairs, and the combination decides what a pad press does in the current view.

Physical layout

The 6 are in two different places on the unit. Buttons 1–4 are the function column down the right-hand edge, labelled Device / Mute / Solo / Record Arm on the panel. Button 1 is called SHIFT throughout these pages, because that is what it does here. Buttons 5 and 6 are the two buttons in column 8 of the 2×8 button grid, one above the other: the column that would otherwise be sequencer 8’s mute and autodrop.

Diagram of the Launch Control XL button layout: a two-by-eight grid of buttons named 1A to 7A across the mutes row and 1B to 7B across the autodrop row, with column 8 outlined and named 8A and 8B as the two modifiers; beside it a four-button function column holding SHIFT (panel label Device), MUTE, SOLO and REC ARM; and beside that a photograph of that column on the rig, four square rubber buttons lit pink under stage lighting, labelled Device, Mute, Solo and Record Arm from top to bottom

The photograph on the right is that column as it is actually labelled. SHIFT is the button the panel calls Device: worth knowing before you go looking for a shift key that is not there. The Hold indicator beside it and the bracket down the side are Novation’s factory-mode markings and do nothing under the MSEQ templates.

The buttons only speak to MSEQ once a user template is loaded onto the unit: see LaunchControl knobs and faders for the templates and what each one addresses.

What each modifier does

Buttons can be held in pairs as well as alone. Not every pair does something different: an unlisted pair behaves as though only the first button were held. 8A and 8B pair only with each other.

Button held trig view behaviour
(none) Toggle step ON/OFF
SHIFT Toggle step to percentage chance
MUTE Toggle step to trig mute
SOLO Set sustain start/end points
REC ARM Mod-chance increment: OFF → MOD1 → MOD2 → MOD4 → MOD8 → MOD16 → OFF; an INVMOD step converts back to its matching MOD
8A Inverse mod chance, and INVMOD back to the matching MOD
8B Euclidean trig overlay: pressed step sets rotation
SHIFT + MUTE Reset row (clear trigs + Euclidean overlay)
SHIFT + SOLO Randomise row (random-density trig fill)
SHIFT + REC ARM (reserved)
MUTE + SOLO (reserved)
SOLO + REC ARM (reserved)
8A + 8B Full mod → inv-mod increment cycle (MOD1 … MOD16 → INVMOD4 … INVMOD16 → OFF)