By aspect — in detail
The action is not in dispute and never has been: 64 large RGB pads with velocity and pressure, a light and very sensitive response, three velocity curves and an adjustable trigger threshold. Reviewers rate them above the Akai MPC's and alongside Ableton Push's; owners coming from Maschine find them smaller but more sensitive and fully playable. The argument is about the polyphonic aftertouch printed on the box. Owners reported it misbehaving from launch — one Thomann reviewer called it a hardware fault in 2022 — and a Gearspace poster's support ticket from September 2021 was only answered in August 2023, when a firmware update finally let you set the trigger threshold. Even now, Novation's own guide says polyphonic aftertouch isn't supported in Ableton Live and channel pressure should be used instead, so the expressive headline works properly with hardware synths and other hosts, not in the DAW the Pro is built around. Buy it for the pads; treat poly AT as a bonus that depends entirely on what you're driving.
Measured
Novation specs 64 velocity-sensitive pads with polyphonic aftertouch, 42 backlit tactile-click buttons and 106 RGB LEDs. The Setup page exposes three velocity curves, a pad trigger threshold, a pressure mode (aftertouch off / polyphonic / channel pressure) and an aftertouch threshold of off, low or high. Novation's Launchpad Comparison places the Pro MK3 at the top of the range with "the most sensitive pads". Sound On Sound notes the pads were enlarged and the pitch between them reduced versus the previous generation.
⚠ vs. listeners — The spec and the launch reviews describe an expressive, fully featured pad grid; a long line of owners describe aftertouch that didn't behave. Both are accurate, because they're separated by firmware. The v1.2 update added a settable trigger threshold — Novation's own words: "Another new addition is the ability to set the threshold of the trigger pads, to find your perfect response, and tailor Launchpad Pro to your unique playing style" — and a later 1.2.x release addressed the aftertouch threshold specifically, roughly two years after the complaints started. The part firmware can't fix is the host: Novation documents that polyphonic aftertouch isn't supported in Ableton Live, so in Live you're using channel pressure whatever the pads can send. If poly AT is the reason you're buying, check your synth or DAW supports it first.
Where it splits
The best grid pads made — light, huge and genuinely playable65%
“They are simply the best grid controller pads I've ever used for playing instruments and synths.”
Sound On Sound
The aftertouch is the weak point — and it doesn't work as poly AT in Ableton Live35%
“Polyphonic Aftertouch is not currently supported in Ableton Live, and Channel Pressure should be used in this case.”
Novation User Guides
Controls
Moderate · 10 srcEverything happens on the grid and the ring of buttons around it, and there is a lot of it. The four-track sequencer is the standout and the reason the Pro exists: 32 steps, eight notes per step, per-step velocity, gate length, probability and mutation, micro steps for ratchets and strums, pattern chaining, 16 scenes, 64 project slots, its own clock and swing, and a Print to Clip button that drops the current pattern straight into Ableton. Chord mode and a Notes view that follows the armed track sit alongside it, and mixer and device parameters appear as virtual faders on the pads. Reviewers rate the sequencer among the best of its kind. The cost is agreed on just as widely: there is no screen, so functions live behind unlabelled pads and shift-holds, and most people keep the manual open for a while. Opinions differ only on how much that matters — one owner counts the missing display as a virtue. What's genuinely absent: no knobs or faders, and no MIDI CC sequencing.
“The Launchpad Pro might be the best pad sequencer we’ve seen yet.”
MusicRadar
“It’s not unworkable, but compared to, say, Push 2 or Maschine, you’ll be more likely to need a manual nearby.”
MusicRadar
“The sequencer is hypnotic and fun to use, and is comfortably the most significant addition to the Launchpad.”
MusicTech
“It has no screen which means you have to memorize quite a lot of functions!”
seiska · Thomann
Measured
Novation's user guide: 32 steps per pattern, up to 8 notes per step, 64 project slots, Drum/Scale/Chromatic track types, playback rate and direction, probability and mutation, micro steps, and Print to Clip transfer into Live. Sound On Sound's only Pro-specific con at launch — "Pro's stand-alone sequence recording is grid-bound" — has since been answered by firmware v1.2's Unquantised Recording, which "lets you record to micro steps in the sequencer"; drolez's 2023 comparison lists quantised and unquantised standalone recording as an LPP advantage over the Akai APC64. Note a stale figure in circulation: the launch review said 32 project slots, the current guide says 64.
Integration
Moderate · 8 srcThe deepest Ableton Live control Novation makes, and the practical reason most people buy it. Dedicated hardware buttons cover transport, record arm, mute, solo, Capture MIDI, quantise, duplicate, double and fixed length; track-select buttons under the grid move your MIDI input between tracks without giving up a row of clip pads or leaving Note mode. It auto-configured in Live without setup on the review unit, where the cheaper Launchpad X had to be selected manually. Logic Pro is officially supported for Live Loops, owners report Bitwig working well with scripts, and anything else runs through the eight Custom Modes built in Novation Components. The honest limit is that it's Ableton-shaped: outside Live and Logic you're building your own layouts, and at least one owner found the default controller mode unhelpful in Cubase and had to make a custom mode instead.
“the Pro still offers a considerably deeper level of Live control than some of its counterparts.”
MusicRadar
“The Mini and Pro auto-configured with no help from me, while the X required selecting in Live's settings.”
Sound On Sound
“Great implementation with Logic Pro and works well in BitWig Studio with associated scripts.”
kammo · Thomann
“As a launchpad pro mk3 user I can heartily recommend it, it pairs very well with Ableton.”
Zhorbe · Ableton Forum
Measured
Novation lists Ableton Live (10 or later) and Logic Pro as the integrated hosts, with Live Lite included; the Launchpad Comparison credits the Pro MK3 with "the most controls for Ableton Live" and track select buttons the X and Mini lack. It is class compliant, so it works as a plain MIDI controller on any modern Mac or PC; iOS needs a camera adapter with external power. Eight Custom Modes are stored on the device, versus four on the X and three on the Mini MK3.
Connectivity
Strong consensus · 6 srcThe clearest upgrade over every other Launchpad, and the one that makes the sequencer worth having. The Pro carries a TRS MIDI In and two TRS MIDI Outs, the second switchable to Thru, with three TRS-to-DIN adapters in the box — so it drives synths, drum machines and modular gear directly. Power is USB-C bus power from a laptop, or the supplied wall adapter when there's no computer in the rig at all. That's the whole point: the Launchpad X, at half the price, sends MIDI over USB and nothing else. The gaps worth knowing are narrow and specific: minijack rather than 5-pin DIN sockets, no CV or gate outputs (Akai's APC64 has eight, which is the main reason to pay more for it), no Bluetooth, and no sustain-pedal jack.
“If you want to send MIDI notes and control messages to synths or drum machines, or VJ software, and you like the idea of a feature-loaded step sequencer, this is ideal for you.”
MusicTech
“The second MIDI output can either mirror the first or act as a Thru.”
Sound On Sound
“It has a USB-C port, can be powered with a supplied USB wall power supply and has a Type A TRS MIDI In port and two Type-A TRS MIDI Outputs.”
Novation Support
Measured
Novation's spec sheet: MIDI In, Out 1 and Out 2/Thru on 3.5 mm TRS with three TRS-minijack-to-DIN adapters included, a USB-C socket and a Kensington MiniSaver slot; USB bus powered, with a USB power supply included for standalone operation. No CV/gate, no Bluetooth, no footswitch jack. drolez's head-to-head assigns eight CV/gate outputs to the Akai APC64 alone.
Portability
Moderate · 5 srcBig for a Launchpad, small for what it does. At 268 × 268 × 18 mm and roughly 1.2 kg it is noticeably larger than the Launchpad X and much larger than the Mini, but it is still a flat slab that goes in a bag with a laptop, and the MkIII redesign made the whole range slimmer than the models it replaced. It bus-powers over USB-C for studio use; you only need the wall adapter when you're running it standalone with no computer. The dissent is mild and worth hearing: one owner who rates the pads highly describes the plastic housing as feeling a bit fragile and says they'd be wary of travelling with it, so a case is a sensible purchase if it's going to gigs.
“The Pro MK3 may be big for a Launchpad product but it’s still totally portable, and should comfortably shrug off the thousands of taps and hits you’re likely to give it.”
MusicTech
“This is my favorite grid controller. It is durable, lightweight and has a lot of functions.”
Denis Kashcheev · Thomann
“I'd be wary of traveling with it though.”
The Caspian · Thomann
Measured
Novation specs 268 × 268 × 18 mm; Amazon's listing gives 2.7 lb (about 1.2 kg). USB bus powered over USB-C, with a wall supply included for standalone use. For scale, the Launchpad X is 241 × 241 × 17.5 mm and about 0.82 kg.
Well made by consensus, with a reliability tail worth knowing about. Reviewers liked the MkIII redesign — much slimmer than the outgoing models without feeling flimsy, with mode and function buttons that have real travel and a click — and most owners describe it as solid and durable across long ownership. But a visible minority of retail reviews report specific faults rather than vague grumbles: USB dropouts and repeated reconnection, pads self-triggering after a month, pad discoloration on a replacement unit, and awkward firmware updating. The averages stay high — 4.6/5 from 561 Amazon ratings, 4.7/5 from 80 at Thomann — so this reads as a unit-variation tail rather than a design fault, but it's a real enough pattern to be worth a check during the return window.
“The hardware design on these new Launches is lovely. They are way slimmer than the previous generation.”
Sound On Sound
“the actual pads and buttons are very responsive and feel *great* to the touch”
The Caspian · Thomann
“It's still a great and compact device, when it works.”
Shinyuu Wolfy · Thomann
“The devices drops out regularly when connected by USB to my Dell i7 desktop with 1 TB SDD and 32 GB RAM”
FC Music · Thomann
Measured
Owner aggregates: Amazon 4.6/5 across 561 ratings; Thomann 4.7/5 across 80. Novation's warranty is three years when bought direct. The chassis is plastic with a rubber foot strip; the Pro MK3 weighs about 1.2 kg.
A real bundle rather than a token one, and worth checking before you buy because it has changed materially over the Pro's long life. The constant is Ableton Live Lite, which matters if you don't already own a DAW. Around it Novation currently lists Cubase LE, three AAS synths, XLN Audio's Addictive Keys, two Klevgrand effects, and forty interactive finger-drumming lessons from Melodics that are aimed squarely at this grid. The 2020 reviews describe a different set — Splice credits and Sound Collective membership were part of the pitch then — so treat any bundle list older than a year or two as historical. Everything is download-and-register rather than in the box.
“Members of the Novation Sound Collective also qualify for a copy of Ableton Live 10 Lite, a two-months Splice Sounds subscription, and plug-ins from Klevgrand, XLN Audio, AAS and Softube.”
MusicTech
“Ableton Live Lite and Cubase LE enable you to capture your ideas, while Klevgrand provides two premium plugins for mixing and effects.”
Novation
Measured
Novation's current listing: Ableton Live Lite, Cubase LE, AAS instruments, XLN Audio Addictive Keys, Klevgrand R0Verb and DAW Cassette, and 40 free Melodics finger-drumming lessons. Novation's support article notes the Pro ships with the same software as the Launchpad X and Mini MK3. In the box itself: the unit, a USB-C to USB-A cable, a USB power supply and three TRS-to-DIN MIDI adapters.
Sources split on whether age counts against it. At roughly $350 street (against a $389.99 list, and about $259 in Europe) it sits well above the ~$200 Launchpad X and below both Ableton's Push and Akai's APC64 — and the case for it is that you're buying a capable hardware sequencer and a flagship Live controller in one box. One camp says nothing has displaced it: the APC64 arrived nearly four years later without meaningfully improving the specification, the Launchpad wins on projects, pattern chaining and custom modes, and it now undercuts its newer rival. The other camp calls it abandoned — no new features since the v1.2 firmware, no MPE, no MIDI CC sequencing, no answer to Push 3 — and points out that if you only work inside a DAW, the cheaper Launchpad X gives you the same pads. The split isn't really about the hardware; it's about whether you'll use the standalone half at all.
Measured
Novation's US price is $349.99 against a $389.99 MSRP, matched by zZounds; B&H lists the full $389.99 and Thomann sells it at $259. The UK launch price was £299–£300 (Sound On Sound, MusicTech). drolez's 2023 head-to-head put the APC64 $100–$150 above it and credited the Launchpad with 64 project slots to the Akai's 24, plus pattern chaining, unquantised recording and eight custom modes to the Akai's one — while giving the APC64 eight sequencer tracks to the Launchpad's four, and eight CV/gate outputs the Launchpad doesn't have.
Where it splits
Still the one to beat — nothing newer has improved on it, and it now costs less than its rivals71%
“Bridging the gap between hardware sequencer and DAW controller, this is one of the best pad devices on the market.”
MusicRadar
Ageing and effectively abandoned — no new features for years, and no MPE29%
“Yes, it’s something I want from the LPP Mk3 as well. I was hoping for an update, but nothing for years now.”
renderful · Elektronauts
