The Midlife Synthesist Unleashes the Launch Control XL3: MIDI Mayhem on a Budget

Let’s talk about the headline feature: two fully-fledged 5-pin MIDI outs and a MIDI in. That means you can finally ditch the dongles and connect straight to your vintage boxes or modern synths without a hitch. The XL3 now acts as a proper bridge between your DAW and hardware, letting you sequence from Ableton and send clock or notes to something like an Octatrack—no adapters, no nonsense.

The update also brings MIDI filtering and custom channel routing, so you can tailor your setup per mode. The Midlife Synthesist highlights how this makes the XL3 a serious hub for both live and studio rigs. If you’re juggling multiple machines, this is the kind of upgrade that turns a controller from a toy into a street weapon.

Firmware 1.1 doesn’t just add ports—it brings a small but mighty screen to the party. Now you get instant feedback on parameter names and values, making live tweaks far less of a guessing game. Hold shift, and you can check what you’re about to change before you wreck your mix—a feature that’s long overdue on budget controllers.

You also get customisation options galore: encoder acceleration curves, pick-up mode to avoid nasty parameter jumps, and the ability to name controls that actually show up on the display. The Midlife Synthesist shows how fast you can flip between setups, making the XL3 feel more like a performance tool than a static controller. It’s not perfect—you still need Novation Components software for deep edits—but it’s a massive step up from the old days.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper review without a bit of a reality check. The Midlife Synthesist lays out a wishlist for future updates, and he’s not wrong. There’s no direct hardware MIDI Learn, so you’re stuck with the software for customisation. Bipolar encoder modes and better visual feedback for panning would make a world of difference, especially for those of us who live on the edge of the mix.

He also wants a quick way to snap encoders to centre or zero, plus a global reset for all parameters—features you’ll find on pricier gear but sorely missed here. The mysterious “innovation” button still does nothing, which is either a tease or a cruel joke. Still, for the price, the XL3 punches above its weight, even if it’s not quite the rave bunker dream machine yet.