Common Sense Media Review
By Christy Matte
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Great professional remix tool is cool, complex.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Novation Launchpad
Parent and Kid Reviews
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
NOVATION LAUNCHPAD is a professional tool for creating and remixing electronic music. Kids choose from a variety of beats, vocals, bass lines, melodies, and FX to create their own music. They tweak the tempo or adjust the key, and pick and choose elements from different musical styles. They can also record and share their music or pair it with other high-end music tools and software, such as Ableton. The layout is customizable, and kids can swap out different elements, save favorite elements, and create just the board they want for their new composition. If they want more features, they can buy additional content packs.
Is It Any Good?
While most kids won't access or understand the more professional features, any kid can enjoy mixing elements to create his or her own music. Creating amazing music with Novation Launchpad is as simple as tapping buttons to turn various elements on and off -- the app does the rest. Sure, there are a lot of buttons, but kids can freely explore to see what each option does and then just remember their favorites. In terms of overall friendliness, the only thing that stands out as a struggle is the record feature. It doesn't quite act like other record buttons, and it's not obvious where to find the recording when finished. Kids will eventually figure it out, but it could be clearer. If you've got kids who like music, give this freebie a chance. Just be prepared for the in-app purchase requests to start rolling in.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about music and creating with Novation Launchpad. What's a beat? A melody? A vocal? How do the different components come together to make music?
Discuss in-app purchases and how/if kids can request purchases from an adult. What are the family rules?
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad
- Subjects : Arts : improvising and music analysis , music , rhythm
- Skills : Creativity : producing new content
- Pricing structure : Free (in-app purchases $1.99-6.99 for more features)
- Release date : June 6, 2018
- Genre : Music
- Publisher : Novation
- Version : 7.6
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 10.0 or later
- Last updated : June 19, 2019
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate