Untitled

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .....................................4

What’s in the Box?....................................4

Registering your SL MkIII ..............................4

Key Features.........................................4

Power Requirements ..................................4

HARDWARE OVERVIEW ..............................5

FEATURES...........................................6

Sequencer view ......................................6

Steps view...........................................6

Options .............................................7

Patterns view .......................................10

Automation view .....................................11

Recording ..........................................11

Automation .........................................12

Mute/Solo Parts.....................................12

TEMPLATES ........................................13

Part Settings........................................13

ARPEGGIATOR (ARP)................................15

Turn Arp On/Off.....................................15

Arp Latch...........................................15

Arp Settings ........................................15

Arp Part............................................16

Arp Type ...........................................16

Arp Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Arp Sync Rate.......................................16

Arp Octaves ........................................16

Arp Velocity.........................................17

Arp Length .........................................17

Arp Pattern .........................................17

Additional Arp Notes .................................17

Arp Chance.........................................17

GLOBAL SETTINGS..................................18

Velocity Curve ......................................18

MIDI Clock Rx/Tx ...................................18

MIDI Out 2 .........................................19

Fader Pickup........................................19

Clock Out PPQN ....................................19

CV Mod 1 Range and CV Mod 2 Range .................19

CV Mod 1 CC and CV Mod 2 CC ......................19

Pitch Bend to CV ....................................19

CV Calibration ......................................20

Part LEDs ..........................................20

Key LEDs...........................................20

Arp LEDs...........................................20

Sequencer LEDs ....................................20

Ext. MIDI LEDs ......................................20

Firmware and Bootloader Version ......................21

Standby Animation...................................21

CV/GATE ...........................................21

Notes ..............................................21

Mod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

KEYBOARD SETTINGS...............................21

Octave.............................................21

Transpose ..........................................21

TEMPO/SWING VIEW ...............................21

Set Tempo..........................................21

Display Clock Source ................................21

Swing..............................................22

Swing Sync Rate ....................................22

Tap Tempo..........................................22

TRANSPORT ........................................22

Start/Stop/Continue .................................22

ZONES .............................................23

Enable/Disable Zones................................23

Select a Zone .......................................23

Activate/Deactivate a Zone............................23

Set Destination for a Zone ............................24

Set Keyboard Range for a Zone ........................24

Set Zone Octave/Transpose Settings ...................24

Enable/Disable Pedals for a Zone ......................24

Enable/Disable Wheels for a Zone .....................24

Enable/Disable Channel Pressure for a zone .............24

SESSION MANAGEMENT ............................25

Load a Session......................................25

Save a Session......................................25

Clear a Session .....................................25

Cued Session Switch ................................25

Session Load Using Program Change ..................25

Loading a Session Using Song Select ..................25

Save Lock ..........................................25

SCALES ............................................26

Enable/Disable Scales ...............................26

Scale Settings ......................................26

Scale Type .........................................26

MIDI PORTS/ROUTING ..............................28

Host Inputs .........................................28

Outputs ............................................28

WEIGHT & DIMENSIONS .............................28

COMPONENTS ......................................28

Template Editor......................................28

Librarian ...........................................28

Firmware Upgrade ...................................28

DAW Feature Support................................29

HUI................................................30

Ableton Live ........................................32

Logic Pro X .........................................35

Reason ............................................36

NOVATION

A division of Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd.

Windsor House,

Turnpike Road,

Cressex Business Park,

High Wycombe,

Bucks,

HP12 3FX.

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 1494 462246

Fax: +44 1494 459920

E-mail: sales@novationmusic.com

Web: novationmusic.com

Trademarks

The Novation trade mark is owned by Focusrite Audio

Engineering Ltd. All other brand, product and company

names and any other registered names or trade marks

mentioned in this manual belong to their respective owners.

Disclaimer

Novation has taken all possible steps to ensure that the

information given here is both correct and complete. In no

event can Novation accept any liability or responsibility for

any loss or damage to the owner of the equipment, any third

party, or any equipment which may result from use of this

manual or the equipment which it describes. The information

provided in this document may be modiﬁed at any time

without prior warning. Speciﬁcations and appearance may

differ from those listed and illustrated.

Novation and Circuit are trade marks of Focusrite Audio

Engineering Limited.

Circuit Mono Station is a trade mark of Focusrite Audio

Engineering Limited.

2021 © Focusrite Audio Engineering Limited. All rights

reserved.

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for purchasing the Novation SL MkIII, Novation’s

most advanced controller keyboard to date. Whether you

need software control, prefer a ‘DAW-less’ set up, or have a

hybrid studio– the SL MkIII will comfortably sit at the heart

of your studio.

This guide aims to give you the knowledge you need to get

the most out of the SL MkIII. Information throughout this

guide applies to both the 49- and 61-key versions of the SL

MkIII. This information includes detailed explanations of the

hardware, the device’s various ‘views’ and menus, and how

to use the SL MkIII with external hardware and/or software.

Additionally, we provide ‘tips and tricks’, as well as common

scenarios you might face as a producer or performer. We

hope you enjoy creating music with the SL MkIII for years

to come.

For more information, up to date support articles and a

form to contact our Technical Support Team please visit the

Novation Help Centre at:

support.novationmusic.com

What’s in the Box?

Please check the list below against the contents of the

packaging. If any items are missing or damaged, contact the

Novation dealer or distributor where you purchased the SL

MkIII.

• Novation SL MkIII 49 or 61

• USB Type A to Type B cable (1.5 m)

• Safety information sheet

• DC Power Supply Unit (PSU) 12 V DC; includes

interchangeable AC plugs

Registering your SL MkIII

You can register your SL MkIII online at:

novationmusic.com/register

Use the information provided in the Getting Started Guide

(Serial Number and Bundle Code). This will allow you to

download any additional software that comes with your SL

MkIII. You can ﬁnd this software in the software section in

your Novation account.

Key Features

• 49 or 61 note velocity sensitive, individually sprung,

synth style, semi-weighted keyboard

• 16 full-colour RGB backlit velocity sensitive pads

• 64 customisable templates

• Eight continuous rotary knobs

• Eight faders

• Six dedicated transport controls

• RGB backlit pitch bend and modulation wheels

• Five RGB TFT LCD screens

• 59 Backlit buttons with tact switches

• 49 or 61 keybed RGB LEDs

• USB B 2.0, MIDI IN, OUT, OUT2 / THRU

• Sustain and Expression pedal 1/4” TRS jack inputs

• Footswitch pedal 1/4” TS jack input

• CV, Gate, Modulation and Clock Out on 3.5mm jack

sockets

• Eight track 16 step sequencer Sequencer with 64

Sessions

• Real time record (notes, with velocity and automation)

• Auto-quantise notes to steps and automation to 6

events per step

• Full automation for all assignable controls (with eight

automation lanes)

• 16 Scale types and chromatic transposition

• Eight playable zones

• Conﬁgurable pattern chains

• Instant session switching and queued switch

• Velocity and gate per step

• Multiple gate lengths per step (via real time record)

• Automation edit per step

• Clear step, automation parameter per pattern

• Duplicate step, pattern.

Power Requirements

SL MkIII is shipped with an external 12 V DC, 1 A power

supply. This is a “universal” type and will operate on all mains

voltages between 100 V and 240 V.

The centre pin of the connector is the positive (+ve) side of

the supply. SL MkIII must be powered by the supplied AC-

to-DC mains adaptor.

Your SL MkIII will be supplied with the a version of the PSU

appropriate to your territory. In some countries the PSU

comes with detachable adaptors; in this case, use the one

that ﬁts your country’s AC outlets. When powering SL MkIII

with the mains PSU, please ensure your local AC supply is

within the range of voltages required by the adaptor – i.e.,

100 to 240 VAC - BEFORE you plug it into the mains.

We recommend you only use the supplied PSU. Power

supplies for your SL MkIII can be purchased from your music

dealer or directly from Novation if you have lost yours

HARDWARE OVERVIEW

The SL MkIII 49- and 61-note versions have the same front

panel controls and rear panel connections.

123456

2324

1. Power On/Off button

2. DC power jack: 12V DC, 1A,

power supply

3. USB Type B socket

4. Three DIN sockets (5-pin) for MIDI In | Out | Out2/Thru

5. Two 1/4” TS or TRS jacks with silver metal rings for

Pedal one(Sustain) and Pedal two (Expression), and

one 1/4” jack for Pedal three (Footswitch)

6. Seven 3.5mm TS jacks for Clock Out, CV1, Gate1,

Mod1, CV2, Gate2 & Mod2 outputs

7. Kensington Security Slot

8. Teal silicone strip: the ’feet’ of the SL MkIII

9. Shift button

10. Global Settings button

11. InControl, Zones, Sequencer, Scales, Arp, Tempo and

Latch buttons

12. Up/down buttons to change pages of Sessions 1-4

13. Grid button, eight soft buttons, and Options button

14. Up/down page buttons

15. 1x2 velocity-sensitive pads

16. Eight continuous rotary knobs

17. Five LCD screens, collectively known as ‘the screens’

18. Right arrow buttons

19. 8x2 soft button area

20. RGB LEDs

21. Rectangular Up/down arrow buttons

22. Eight faders

23. The Transport

24. Save, Duplicate, Clear, Sessions, Patterns, Steps, Track

Left, Track Right, Octave Up and Octave Down buttons

25. Pitch and Modulation Wheels with RGB LEDs

26. 49 or 61 RGB Key LEDs

27. Semi-weighted keyboard with aftertouch strip

FEATURES

Sequencer view

The SL MkIII has a 16-step sequencer per Part. The 16 ‘Steps’ of a Part have their own ‘view’ with settings that affect just

steps, and the 16-step sequence is referred to as a ‘Pattern’, again with its own ‘view‘ where you can adjust settings relating

to each 16-step pattern.

Press and hold the Shift button followed by the Sequencer button to turn On, or Off, the Sequencer. The Sequencer button

will turn white when activated, and orange when disabled. After switching on the Sequencer, the Transport buttons (far-right

of the controller) light up, showing they can control the Sequencer.

Press the Sequencer button to enter Sequencer view, which consists of two subviews: Steps view and Patterns view

(see following sections), accessed via the Steps and Patterns buttons, respectively. While in another view (Zones view,

for instance) pressing the Sequencer button will take you back to the last selected Sequencer subview. The Grid button

toggles the function of the 8x2 pads between the last Sequencer subview and Template (see “Templates” on page 13).

Note: when the Sequencer button is orange (off) pressing it accesses Sequencer view, where you can view and/or edit the

Sequence in the current Session. Transport buttons, however, will be unusable until the Sequencer is re-enabled.

Steps view

Steps view allows you to view and edit ‘Steps’ of a Pattern. The 16 (8x2) square pads beneath the screens represent the

16 available Pattern Steps.

Tempo INCONTROLGlobalShift

Zones

Sequencer

LatchArp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

With the Sequencer enabled, pressing play on the Transport will show the play head ‘stepping’ through the pads, turning

each pad (aka Step) white along the way. Steps with MIDI notes assigned will light brightly. As the play head reaches one

of these bright Steps, it will play any notes assigned to them.

To assign a note/s to a Step, select the Track using the buttons directly below the screens. Press and hold a pad, then press

the key/s you want that step to trigger. You can also do the reverse: ﬁrst press and hold the key/s and then press any pads

you wish to populate with notes or sounds. Finally, you can record notes, and automation data, ‘live’ by pressing the Record

button on the Transport (see “Live Record” on page 11).

To remove a note/s from a Step press and hold a pad. LEDs of corresponding keys will light up in red. If the Transport is

stopped, notes will play out to the corresponding Part (See “Part Settings” on page 13), and with the velocities assigned

to them. Remove the note/s by pressing the key/s.

With the Transport either running or stopped, hold the Clear button and press a Step (brieﬂy turning it red) to remove all

note and automation data from that Step. To copy a Step, hold the Duplicate button and press a pad, brieﬂy turning it green.

While continuing to hold Duplicate, press the pad/s where you wish to paste. Duplicating one pad to another will erase

whatever existed on the latter - not add to it.

You can also copy Steps between Tracks. Again, hold the Duplicate button and press a pad to copy a Step. With the

Duplicate button still held, change Tracks, then press pads to paste to them. However, the automation data will not copy

with these Steps.

Pattern Scrolling

In Steps mode, you can press the Up/Down buttons to the left of the pads to scroll through your patterns. Pressing the pads

takes you to the pattern before (up) or after (down). So you know which pattern you are on when you move through patterns

using the arrow up/down buttons, the 5th screen will show you which pattern is visible on the pads.

Note: Pattern scrolling will not change the active Pattern. To change patterns, you must press the Patterns button and press

the corresponding pad (1-8).

Pattern Transpose

In Steps view, you can transpose all the notes in the current pattern an octave up or down. Transpose will not work if it would

cause any notes to exceed the MIDI note range.

To do this, hold Shift and press the Up arrow next to the pads to transpose all notes in the current pattern an octave up. To

transpose an octave down, hold Shift and press the Down arrow.

Options

While in Steps view, press the Options button (right of the pads) to see the options for the current Pattern. Use the soft

buttons below ‘Velocity’, ‘Gate’ ‘Chance’ and ‘Pattern’ to call up these settings. Press the Options button again to return to

Steps view.

You can also adjust Velocity, Gate or Chance for all steps– While in the Velocity, Gate or Chance menu, hold Shift to set the

value for all steps in the current pattern with the ﬁrst encoder (This will not affect steps without notes assigned).

Velocity

In the Options menu, press the soft button below Velocity to edit each Step in the current Pattern. By default, you will see

Steps one to eight on the screens (2 per screen). Use the up/down arrow buttons to the left of the screens to access steps

nine to 16 (the bottom row of pads).

Tempo

INCONTROLGlobalShift

Zones

Sequencer

LatchArp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

To adjust MIDI note velocity, rotate the knob above the Step you want to adjust. You can set a Step’s velocity anywhere

between one and 127. This allows you to dial desired MIDI velocities with a ﬁne level of precision.

The screens show a single velocity for any Step of a Pattern containing one or more notes. This value is the highest velocity

of all the notes assigned to that Step, although multiple velocities might be present for that Step.

When dealing with multiple notes assigned to a Step, the SL MkIII will raise or lower the Step’s velocity to a new, uniform

value. When doing so, the SL MkIII favours higher values and snaps closest to them. To illustrate this process, imagine a

Step contains the velocity values 25 and 89: turning this Step’s knob to the right will snap those velocity values to 90 or

above (i.e., both 25 and 89 became 90 or above). Alternatively, if you had turned the knob to the left those same velocities

would have snapped to 88 or lower.

Note: after all the notes on a Step snap to the same velocity (as described above), all new notes on that Step will adopt

the ‘group’ velocity.

Gate

Select Gate to edit the length of MIDI notes assigned to each Step in the current pattern. Use the up/down arrow buttons

to the left of the screens to access steps nine to 16. The screen will show a single Gate value for each step of the pattern

containing one or more notes. The value shown is equal to the highest Gate of all the notes assigned to that Step.

Tempo

INCONTROLGlobalShift

Zones

Sequencer

LatchArp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

Gate can have a maximum length of 32 steps, to allow steps to be longer than a duration of a pattern.

The SL MkIII measures the Gate value in two parts: steps and fractions of a step. Each step is broken into six fractions.

Therefore, Gate value shows as a step number, followed by a fraction count (ﬁve white boxes below). The default value for

notes is ‘1 step’; use the knob above each step to lengthen or shorten the Gate for every assigned note.

Since the SL MkIII operates under the rules of MIDI, how the Gate parameter inﬂuences your resulting sound depends

on the sound being triggered, as well as the MIDI instrument holding that sound. For example, a Gate of 16 steps will not

‘stretch’ a short hi-hat sample. However, its MIDI note will become 16 steps long, regardless of the audible result.

Chance

You can set the Chance, or probability, of a note playing for each step in a pattern. For example, when a step has a chance

of 50% then there is an equal chance either all or none of the notes on that step will play.

Press the button below Chance and you can adjust the Chance of notes playing using the rotary controls above each step

(displayed on the screen).

When chance is set to 0%, the notes on that step will not play, the Chance value disables this step. You can use 0% chance

as a step mute function without having to remove any notes.

Pattern

The next item in the Options menu is ‘Pattern’, which itself contains four sub-options: ‘Start Position’, ‘End Position’,

‘Direction’ and ‘Sync Rate’. Editing these settings alters the playback of Patterns in interesting ways (we recommend playing

around here to achieve ‘happy accidents’). Pattern changes will take effect when playback reaches the end of the Pattern.

The adjustable settings are as follows:

Tempo INCONTROL

GlobalShift

Zones

Sequencer

LatchArp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

• Start Position - The rotary knob above ‘Start Position’ moves the start Step of the Pattern, changing Pattern length.

The pad for this Step will be lit yellow, to allow you to see where the start position is moving. If the Start Position

changes so Steps containing notes are no longer heard, these pads will light red.

• End Position - The knob above moves the end step of Pattern playback, changing the Pattern length. End Position

can come before the start position. If End Position changes so that Steps containing notes are no longer heard, these

pads will light red.

• Direction - This changes the course of Pattern playback. The following directions are available:

• Forward - As the default, ‘Forward’ shows a typical playback Pattern, which begins at the start Step (start

position) and moves to the end Step.

• Backwards - ‘Backwards’ means playback begins at the end position and step progresses to the start Step.

You could think of this as ‘reverse’.

• Ping-Pong - During the ﬁrst phase, playback begins at the start position and progresses to the end position.

During the second phase, playback starts at the end Step and proceeds back to the start position. End Steps

are repeated.

• Random - The most experimental Direction option, this playback option continually selects Steps between the

start and end position in a random order, resulting in repeated notes and general chaos.

• Sync Rate - This changes the rate at which steps occur relative to the BPM (either internal or external) Choose

among the following musical time values:1/32 Triplet, 1/32, 1/16. Triplet, 1/16 (default), 1/8 Triplet, 1/8, 1/4 Triplet,

1/4 note values.

• Pattern Shift - This simultaneously nudges the start and end points of your pattern. A value between 0 and 15

shows how many steps you have shifted the pattern since it was ﬁrst created.

Micro-steps

Each step of the sequencer features six smaller micro-steps for greater resolution of the sequencer. To access micro-steps,

in the steps view press the Options button. To add a note to a micro-step, choose a sequence step by pressing a pad. You

can then see the six micro-steps lit on the top row of buttons (above the faders) press and hold a micro-step button and play

keys to add these notes to that micro-step.

When you press a different step in the sequence the six micro-step buttons will change to show you which micro-steps have

a note assigned, brightly to show there’s a note, dimly to show that micro-step is empty.

Patterns view

Press the ‘Patterns’ button to open Patterns view. Here you can select MIDI patterns within the current Session. The eight

Patterns for each track are laid out horizontally in rows across the 8x2 pad area. The pads represent each Pattern, and each

row takes the colour of its Part. Use the up and down buttons (left of the 8x2 pad area) to scroll through the patterns for

each of the eight parts. The bottom of the ﬁfth screen shows the Parts each row of pads applies to.

Tempo INCONTROLGlobalShift

Zones

Sequencer

Latch

Arp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

Press a pad to select a new pattern. If the Transport is stopped, your newly selected Pattern will begin when the Transport

starts. When you select a new Pattern with the Transport running, the new Pattern will start when the current pattern ends.

To instantly switch to a new pattern, press and hold shift and select a new pattern (This is also a way of audibly ‘combining’

Patterns in interesting ways).

Pattern Chains

Pattern Chains allow you to combine multiple Patterns to form longer sequences. Press two or more Patterns together to

create a ‘Chain’ beginning and ending with the left- and right-most pressed Patterns. This doesn’t destructively ‘merge’

Patterns together but launches discreet Patterns consecutively to form longer musical ideas.

To see more Tracks at once, or only work with two-Pattern Chains, press Shift + Patterns to access the Expand view. This

arranges the Patterns for each Track vertically. Use the up and down buttons to access more Patterns. Press Patterns again

to return to the default (horizontal) layout of Patterns. Blocks on the far-right screen show the pattern chain and the current

pattern.

To reset the pattern to its default settings, hold Clear and press a Pattern (pad). This removes all note and automation data

from that Pattern.

To copy a Pattern, hold Duplicate and select the Pattern. Continue to hold Duplicate and press a new pad(s) to paste it. You

can paste multiple times while holding Duplicate. You can also copy Patterns between Tracks. As with Steps, automation

data for a Pattern does not copy across Tracks.

The Up/Down buttons to the left of the 8x2 grid allow you to scroll through patterns whilst in Step view. Pressing the Up

button will take you to the previous pattern and Down will take you to the next pattern. As you scroll through the patterns the

5th screen will show you which part is visible on each row of pads.

If you need inspiration or want to try something new, try copying Patterns between Tracks. For example, you could copy your

drum Pattern to your bass track, and vice-versa. You never know what ‘happy accidents’ might occur.

Pattern Shift

This allows you to nudge the start and end points of your pattern simultaneously. To use pattern shift, in Patterns view press

the Options button and change the Pattern Shift value on the 3rd screen to a value between 0 and 15. This value shows

how many steps the pattern has been shifted since it was ﬁrst created.

Automation view

In Patterns view, press the Options button to enter Automation view. In this view, each control type, as well as the name of

any controls with automation for the selected Track, are displayed on the screens as ‘lanes’. Use the soft buttons below the

screens to select a different Track to see its automation.

Tempo INCONTROL

GlobalShift

Zones

Sequencer

LatchArp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

To remove automation for a control, hold the Clear button and turn the rotary control above the lane you want to clear. For

example, ‘Transpose’, or ‘Ve Attack’. After clearing a lane, you can then use it for another control.

Recording

Live Record

The SL MkIII allows you to record a ‘live performance’ directly into the Sequencer. Press the Record button on the Transport

to enable live recording. You can also press Record while playing to ‘punch in’ ideas. If the Transport is currently stopped,

however, press the Record button, then the Play button to begin live recording. While recording, any notes played on the

keyboard or from MIDI (both USB and DIN) will record into the Sequence.

When recording from MIDI, Parts will record only the notes received on the selected MIDI channel for that Part. Notes are

also forwarded to the output of that Part, whether recording or not.

While live recording, ‘note on’ events are quantised to the sync rate of the playing pattern; ‘note off’ events are quantised

to the nearest 24 PPQN tick. The sequencer will loop through each pattern chain, which allows you to overdub new notes

as the sequence repeats. Set up your desired Pattern Settings (see “Sequencer view” on page 6/”Options” on page

7/”Patterns view” on page 10) and Pattern Chain length (see “Sequencer view” on page 6/”Patterns view” on

page 10) to accommodate your performance before you begin recording.

Momentary Record

You can use Momentary Record so the Sequencer only records notes whilst the Record button is held down. To enable

Momentary Record, press and hold the Record button while the Sequencer is playing, while Record is held, play the notes

you wish to add. You can then release the Record button to stop recording leave the Sequencer playing.

Record Quantise (Non-Quantised Record)

For a less rigid performance, you can record using Non-Quantised Record. If you disable record quantisation, any notes you

record live will record to the nearest Tick (1/6th) of a step. To enable/disable Non-Quantised Record Press Shift and the

Record button. The 5th screen will brieﬂy show the status of Record Quantise.

You can edit the position of the recorded notes between step using the Micro-steps view (see “Micro-steps” on page 9

for more details).

Automation

With the SL MkIII’s Sequencer recording, you can automate the movement of the following Template controls:

• Rotary Knobs

• Faders

• Soft Buttons

• Pads (press/release & pressure)

• Pitch & Modulation Wheels

• Pedals

Once a control moves its corresponding LED or screen will light red, and the control will begin overwriting any of its existing

automation data as the Transport advances. Movements are recorded and played back at a resolution of 24 PPQN regardless

of the current pattern sync rate (equivalent to six data points for each Step at the default 1/16 sync rate). Automation will

record or overwrite until recording or playback stops; we recommend you disable record as soon as possible to ensure you

do not overwrite automation when the Sequencer loops back around.

You can automate up to eight controls for each Track in a Session. The 5th screen will let you know when you have used

another automation lane or it will display, ‘Automation lanes full for part’ when there are no more available lanes for the

selected track.

You cannot record automation for rotaries and controls assigned to song position. Also, pads and buttons that output note

messages record into the note sequence rather than as automation.

Hold the Clear button to highlight all the controls with automation data in the current Pattern and hide those that do not. For

example, if you automate the Pitch Wheel its LED will illuminate as you hold Clear. While still holding Clear, move a control

to clear its automation in the current pattern.

You can also manually assign values to a Step, which is useful when more accuracy is needed. With the sequencer stopped,

press the Transport’s Record button (Transport). Select a Step (by pressing a pad) to enter Step Edit mode. This action will

audition the Step. Move a control to the desired value to assign this value to the Step and deactivate record. In the case of

the Pitch Wheel, move it to the desired position, then disable record before letting go of the wheel.

Only the most recent control value is assigned to a Step. This means while in Step Edit mode, pressing and releasing a

button or pad with a momentary function will only record the release message. To record the press message of a button or

pad, turn off record or select a new Step to record the release before releasing the pad.

Mute/Solo Parts

In Sequencer view, click the soft arrow on the far-right of the controller (left of where it says 49SL MkIII or 61SL MkIII) to

access Mute/Solo view. ‘Mute’ and ‘Solo’ will appear on the far-right screen.

Tempo INCONTROLGlobalShift

Zones

Sequencer

LatchArp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

Mute a Part by pressing a Mute button (top row of yellow soft buttons) corresponding to that Part. When muted the

Sequencer will not output MIDI for that Part, but you can still play keys or audition pads for that Part.

To Solo a Part, press the Solo button (bottom row of blue soft buttons) corresponding to that Part. When you Solo a Part,

any other Part that is not also soloed will be silent (if it was not already muted). The Mute button for a silenced Part/s will

pulse yellow to show it is silent.

TEMPLATES

Each Part works within a Template. In other words, each Part uses a Template to determine which MIDI messages should

send for each control and on which MIDI Channel and output it should send those messages. You can access and edit

Templates in Templates view. To access Templates view, press the Shift + Sessions buttons (Templates appears above the

Sessions button). A Template determines the type of MIDI message sent from each control. The Template contains mapping

data for:

• 16 Rotary Knobs (across two pages)

• 16 Pads (both hit and pressure)

• 8 Faders

• 16 Buttons

• The Modulation Wheel

• Footswitch, Expression and Sustain Pedals

You can manage and design custom Templates with Components; a standalone application available here:

components.novationmusic.com

With Components, you can conﬁgure each control to send one of many different MIDI messages with different ranges,

values and behaviours.

If a mapping is not enabled, the LED or screen associated with the control will be blank to show it is disabled

When a control with a mapping moves, a notiﬁcation will appear on the far-right screen showing the message type as well

as the associated value (e.g.,0-127).

Part Settings

The SL MkIII lets you customise the destination of your Parts. The SL MkIII has eight Parts each with its own sequencer,

template, destination and more as explained in this section. You can conﬁgure elaborate setups using up to 16 external

devices or software. You can set these conﬁgurations with ‘Templates’ through the following process.

Tempo

INCONTROLGlobalShift

Zones

Sequencer

Latch

Arp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

Select Template

To change the Template for a Part:

1. Press Shift and Sessions buttons to enter the

Templates view.

2. Select the Part you want to change using the soft

buttons below the screen. By default, these Parts

have the label ‘MIDI’.

3. Use the left-most rotary to select a Template. The

rectangle around the selected Template will turn

grey while the Template loads, and white when the

Template has fully loaded.

If the Template doesn’t yet have a name, it will appear

as ‘Template X’. To rename a Template you can use the

Components software (See “Components” on page 28).

Select Destination

Each Part can go to one or more destinations. These

destinations can be MIDI or analogue CV/Gate/Mod. To

change the destination for a Part:

1. Press Shift and Sessions buttons to enter the

Templates view.

2. Select a Part using a soft button below the screens.

3. Set the rotary knobs above USB, DIN 1, DIN 2, CV/

Gate one or CV/Gate two to change them (options

listed below).

• USB: Off/On

• DIN: Off, 1, 2 or Both

• CV/Gate: Off, 1, 2, or Both

The Session stores your destination preferences, so

changing Sessions will change these Destinations.

Channel (MIDI Channel)

The SL MkIII doesn’t have a global MIDI channel, each Part

has its own MIDI channel. The MIDI channel for a Part is set

using the Channel control on the third screen. Move rotary

knob six to change the MIDI channel from 1 to 16.

Note: Channel 16 is used as a global channel for certain

messages such as program change and song select. If you

set a Part to channel 16 and then change the Session on a

connected device, you might accidentally also change the

Session on SL MkIII and lose unsaved progress.

Input Monitoring

When Input Monitoring is on (it is off by default), MIDI

note messages received by each Part (on the correct

channel) will forward to the Part’s destinations. The internal

Sequencer will always record external MIDI note messages

regardless of this setting.

Edit Part Colour

To change the colour for a part, select a Part and press one

of the eight coloured pads.

ARPEGGIATOR (ARP)

The SL MkIII’s Arp (Arpeggiator) gives you the ability to program classic, ‘machine-like’ arpeggios, perfect for techno and

many other electronic genres.

Tempo INCONTROLGlobalShift

Zones

Sequencer

LatchArp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

Turn Arp On/Off

To turn the arpeggiator on or off hold Shift and press the Arp button. This Arp button will light white showing it is on.

With the arpeggiator on, held notes on the keyboard will arpeggiate.

The Sequencer also routes to the arpeggiator. When recording to the Sequencer, held keys record into the Patterns as long

notes. Assuming Arp is still on, these long notes will be route back into the Arp for playback.

Arp Latch

Using the Latch feature of the SL MkIII is a fun way of augmenting Arp’s functionality.

Pressing the ‘Latch’ button toggles Arp Latch on and off. When on, any notes you play hold, and their note-offs are delayed

until you release all the arpeggiated notes and play a new note/s.

Note: Latch will work whether Arp is on or off– Latch triggers a continuous MIDI note, regardless of Arp’s on/off state. Latch

is useful, for example, if sending MIDI to an external arpeggiator, or an external synth patch with lots of sustain.

Latch will apply to the selected Arp destination Part only.

Arp Settings

Pressing the Arp button (while not holding Shift) reveals the following settings on the screens.

• Part

• Type

• Gate

• Sync Rate

• Octaves

• Velocity

• Length

• Chance

Changing these settings will signiﬁcantly change the sound of your arpeggios. The following sections explain these settings

in depth.

Arp Part

Arp can only arpeggiate one Part at once, so by default, this

is set to ‘Selected Part’. However, using the soft buttons

below the screens, you can send the arpeggiated pattern

to parts one through eight instead. In other words, you can

send your arpeggiated patterns to different Parts to audition

them on various elements of your song.

Arp Type

You can set Arp to the following pattern ‘Types’:

• Up (default) - Notes held or latched (with the Latch

button) play in an upwards direction at the Arp Sync

Rate, one after another, then the pattern repeated.

• Down - Notes held or latched play in a downwards

direction at the Arp Sync Rate, one after another, then

the pattern repeated.

• Up/Down 1 - Notes held or latched play in an

upwards direction, then downwards direction with no

repeated notes, at the Arp Sync Rate, then the whole

pattern repeated.

• Up/Down 2 - Notes held or latched play in an

upwards direction, then downwards direction with

the highest and lowest notes repeated, at the Arp

Sync Rate, then the whole pattern repeated.

• Random - Notes held or latched play in a random

order at the Arp Sync Rate until keys are released.

• Played - Notes held or latched output in the order

they were played, at the Arp Sync Rate, then the

whole pattern repeated.

• Chord - Notes held or latched play as a chord on

each Arp step, at the Arp Sync Rate, until the notes

are released.

Arp Gate

The Arp’s Gate control shortens the length of arpeggiated

notes from the maximum length of one arpeggiated step

(100%) down to 1/100th of an arpeggiated step (1%). Gate

is set to 100% by default, with an adjustable range of one to

100%. Gate considers Arp Sync Rate and tempo; therefore,

as Sync Rate changes and tempo increases/decreases the

Arp gate length will remain a consistent percentage of the

Arp step length.

Arp Sync Rate

This changes the musical rate the Arp runs relative to the SL

MkIII’s clock. The Arp can be set to these sync rates:

• 1

• 1/2

• 1/2 Triplet

• 1/4

• 1/4 Triplet

• 1/8

• 1/8 Triplet

• 1/16 (Default)

• 1/16 Triplet

• 1/32

• 1/32 Triplet

Arp Octaves

This setting increases the output range of the Arp by octaves.

For example, if you set Octaves to two the sequence plays

and then Is immediately repeated one octave higher. Three

means the Sequence will repeat one octave higher, and then

an octave higher still. By default, Octaves is set to one but

can go as far as six.

If arpeggiated notes go out of range, the Arp will correct the

notes to within the top octave (G#6 to G7). There are no

duplicated notes when you change Arp Octaves.

Octaves interact with Types in different ways. These

scenarios are a reference when programming with octaves

in mind:

• When Type = Up/Down 1 or Up/Down 2 the Arp will

play up the full octave range before playing down.

• When Type = Played the notes play in the ﬁrst octave

before repeating in additional octaves.

• When Type = Random, the sequence of notes is

randomised across the whole octave range, and

every note is picked at random.

• When Type = Chord, additional octaves will cause the

held notes to repeat according to the octave setting

in an upwards direction. For example, if Octaves =

3, the held notes will be played as a chord at the

pitch, then +1 octave and then +2 octaves, before

the pattern repeats.

Arp Velocity

Arp note Velocity can be between 1 and 127 (standard for

MIDI velocities) or ‘Played’ (default).

When set to Played, the output notes from the arpeggiator

will inherit the velocities of the notes you physically played.

When set to a value of 1-127, the output notes from the

arpeggiator play at a ﬁxed velocity as speciﬁed by this

setting. For example, if set to ’65’, all notes heard will have a

velocity value of 65.

Arp Length

This sets the length of the Arp pattern, measured in steps.

By default, the Arp loops through 16 steps, but you can

make it shorter (from one to 15 steps). The ‘Arp Sync Rate’

determines the length of a step (1, 1/2, 1/2 Triplet etc.).

You will see your Pattern on the 8x2 pad area, where each

pad represents a single step in the Pattern.

Arp Pattern

Finally, the Arp Pattern feature lets you customise the rhythm

of your arpeggios. After pressing the Arp button, each pad

will represent a step in the arpeggio pattern. You can then

toggle a step on or off by pressing its corresponding pad,

thus altering your pattern’s rhythm. A pad will light brightly

when the step is set to play, and dimly when the pad will

not play. A white cursor moves across the pads as the

arpeggiator plays.

This resulting rhythm only affects the timing of the played

notes and does not change the order they play.

Additional Arp Notes

While using Up/Down 1 with an octave range greater than

one, when the arp moves down, reducing the octave range

to one will cause the Arp to continue falling through all the

octaves until it reaches one. At this point it will stay within the

1-octave range. If moving in the up direction, the arpeggiator

will reset to the ﬁrst octave after it has completed all the

notes in the sequence within the current octave it is playing

in.

When you use Up/Down 2, if the top/bottom note is

released after it has played once, Arp will immediately switch

direction and play the next highest/lowest note only once

and continue in that direction. This behaviour maintains

timing if you remove the top note replace it with another note.

When switching between directional arpeggiator types

during playback, Arp will not reset position but will continue

moving in the same direction (if supported by the new Type)

until it reaches a limit. For example, if switching from Down

type to Up/Down one Type, the arpeggiator will continue

moving down until it reaches the lowest note.

Arp Chance

You can set the probability of a step playing in an arp

sequence for any of the eight arpeggiators. To enable this,

go to the Arp Settings Menu and using the encoders you can

change the arp step to a chance between 0% and 100%.

0% giving that step no chance of triggering and when set to

100% that step will always play.

GLOBAL SETTINGS

Press the Global button to enter the Global Settings view.

Any settings changed in this view affect the whole device

and do not change with the Session. These settings save

when you turn off the SL MkIII via the power switch. If you

remove the power cable these settings will not save.

When you’re in the global menu, you can press Global again

to return to the last view you were in.

Press the Up/Down arrows next to the screen to navigate

through three pages of global settings and information.

Velocity Curve

You can change the responsiveness of your SL MkIII

keyboard via the ‘Velocity Curve’ setting:

1. Press the Global button to navigate to the Global

Settings menu.

2. The menu item labelled ‘Velocity Curve’ will show the

current velocity curve.

3. Next, choose from the following velocity options:

• Low

• Low+

• Normal

• Normal+

• High

• Fixed

‘Low’ skews MIDI toward lower values. In other words, it is

easy to render low velocity values but getting velocity values

of, say, 127 will require a lot of physical force. With ‘Low +’

it is slightly easier to get higher velocities; with ‘Normal’ and

‘Normal +’ achieving higher velocities gets even easier.

‘High’ means velocities skew toward high values. Even when

pressing keys lightly, it is difﬁcult to achieve low velocities.

This could be, for example, a helpful feature for a player with

a light touch who wants their velocities to lean toward higher

values.

If you select ‘Fixed’ the SL MkIII will output the same MIDI

velocity regardless of how hard or soft you press a key.

When you select Fixed, a menu item next to Velocity Curve

called ‘Fixed Velocity’ will appear; this is where you specify

the MIDI velocity for each key press.

MIDI Clock Rx/Tx

MIDI Clock Rx

The following steps enable or disable receiving of external

MIDI clock messages:

1. Press the Global button.

2. The menu item labelled ‘MIDI Clock Rx’ shows either

‘On’ or ‘Off”, showing whether the device can respond

to an external MIDI clock.

3. Turn the rotary knob above to the right to enable or

disable reception of MIDI clock.

Set to ‘On’, if the SL MkIII detects MIDI clock at either MIDI

input (USB or DIN) it will synchronise to the external clock.

Make sure you send MIDI to USB or DIN, and not both, as

this might cause a loss of synchronisation or erratic tempo.

To conﬁrm the SL MkIII is receiving external clock press the

Tempo button. Here the screen shows the synced-tempo

value, as well as the word ‘External’. Changes to the external

device’s or software’s tempo show here. If the SL MkIII loses

sync while the transport is playing, the message ‘Sync Lost’

will appear, and the device will not switch to its internal clock

until you stop the Transport.

MIDI Clock Tx

The SL MkIII can either send its internal MIDI clock or sync

to an external clock – convenient when using the SL MkIII

alongside other devices or software.

The following steps allow you to enable or disable

transmission of MIDI clock messages:

1. Press the Global button to reveal its menu.

2. The menu item labelled ‘MIDI Clock Tx’ shows clock

transmission as either ‘On’ or ‘Off’.

3. Turn the rotary knob above to the right to enable clock

transmission (‘On’), or to the left to disable clock

transmission (‘Off’).

When set to ’On’, the SL MkIII sends clock tempo. Devices

or software conﬁgured to receive the SL MkIII’s MIDI clock

will now operate in sync. MIDI clock messages send at 24

PPQN (pulses per quarter note) to the USB MIDI and both

MIDI DIN ports.

When using the SL MkIII’s analogue clock turn the rotary

knob above the menu item labelled ‘Clock Out PPQN’ to

choose between 1, 2, 4, eight or 24 PPQN.

To adjust the tempo of the SL MkIII’s internal clock press the

Tempo button. The ﬁrst screen then shows the tempo as a

BPM value, you can raise or lower the tempo with the above

rotary knob.

MIDI Out 2

When set to ‘Out’, the SL MkIII can use two MIDI DIN

outputs. This means the device can send MIDI clock to two

separate destinations via, for example, the ‘OUT’ and ‘OUT

2’ DIN sockets on the back of the SL MkIII.

It’s also possible, to change MIDI Out two from an output to

a ‘Thru’. When set to ‘Thru’, the second MIDI output copies

messages from the MIDI DIN input to the MIDI DIN output,

and the SL MkIII will not send any internally generated MIDI

to this output.

If Parts (see “Part Settings” on page 13) are being routed

to MIDI Out two when the setting changes to ‘Thru’, the

previously conﬁgured Part destination will not change, but

MIDI will no longer send from the device. MIDI from the Part

will no longer send from MIDI Out 2.

Fader Pickup

Fader Pickup changes the way the faders and Mod Wheel

behave for their current value. You will ﬁnd four options for

this behaviour:

• Off (Default): Pickup is off for faders and Mod Wheel.

• On: Pickup is on for both faders and Mod Wheel.

• Faders: Fader pickup is on, but pickup is off for the

Mod Wheel.

• Mod Wheel: Pickup is on for the Mod Wheel but off

for faders.

When fader pickup is on for faders/Mod Wheel, data will not

send from that control until the physical position of the control

matches (or passes) the previous value. This behaviour

prevents sudden jumps in the value after switching between

Parts, for example. The default value for these controls will

be at the lowest position (i.e., fader all the way down).

Please note the SL MkIII’s fader pickup behaviour does not

apply when using InControl. The controller will therefore

adopt the pickup behaviour of HUI or your DAW.

Press the down arrow to the left of the screens to show more

Global options. These further options are described in the

following sections.

Clock Out PPQN

When the Transport is running, the Clock Out sends ‘clock

pulses’ for each quarter note. This setting determines pulses

sent in PPQN (Pulses Per Quarter Note). PPQN can be set

to 1, 2 (default), 4, 8 or 24.

CV Mod 1 Range and CV Mod 2 Range

These two settings allow you to specify the output voltage

of each mod port. Available ranges are ‘-5 to 5V’ or ‘0 to 5V’.

Any CC messages directed to the mod port map to one of

these ranges.

CV Mod 1 CC and CV Mod 2 CC

You can give each Mod port a speciﬁc CC number, which

you can set individually for each port using the rotary knobs

above ‘Mod 1 CC’ and ‘Mod 2 CC’. When a message

sends with this CC number using the surface, Sequencer

automation, or from external MIDI to a part that routes to a

CV port, this will control the CV Mod output.

Pitch Bend to CV

Both CV outputs can react to the Pitch Wheel. You can

set the range of Pitch bend from +/-1 semitone to +/- 12

semitones (+/-1 Octave).

CV Calibration

You may need to calibrate the CV Pitch output ports to precisely represent the pitch range. Press the soft button under

‘Calibrate’ to enter calibration mode.

Tempo

INCONTROLGlobalShift

Zones

Sequencer

LatchArp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

To calibrate a CV Pitch port:

1. Press the soft buttons under ‘CV 1 Low’ or ‘CV two Low’. This sets the voltage of the port to approximately 220 Hz

(A2). You will need to connect the port to a sound source to either tune by ear or use a tuner. Otherwise, you can

connect the port directly to an oscilloscope or measuring device to verify the tuning

2. Use the Tune knob above to increase or decrease the voltage and ﬁne-tune the output until it matches 220 Hz exactly.

3. Press the soft buttons under the ‘CV 1 High’ or ‘CV two High’ and do the same for 880 Hz (A4).

4. Once you are happy with both tunings, press the orange soft button under ‘Apply’ to save these settings.

The full range of the CV Pitch port will now calibrate. Click the Reset soft button to remove your calibration and restore the

factory default settings. Press the Exit soft button to return to Global Settings.

Part LEDs

When ‘Part LEDs’ is set to ‘On’, and Zones are enabled (See “Zones” on page 23)the key LEDs (above each key) will

light up to represent the colour of the Part those keys are assigned to.

Key LEDs

When ‘Keys LEDs’ is set to ‘On’, the key LEDs (above each key) will light up white when you play notes on the keyboard.

Arp LEDs

When ‘Arp LEDs’ is on, the key LEDs will light up white according to which notes the arpeggiator triggers. Arp LEDs help

you conﬁrm what notes your arpeggiator is playing.

Sequencer LEDs

When ‘Sequencer LEDs’ is on, keyboard LEDs will light up white with notes (chords, melodies, etc.) playing from either the

Sequencer or external MIDI.

Ext. MIDI LEDs

When ‘Ext. MIDI LEDs’ is on, key LEDs will light up white according to external MIDI notes being received via the SL MkIII’s

MIDI ports.

Firmware and Bootloader Version

These show the ﬁrmware installed on your SL MkIII. Knowing

this information may be helpful in the case of troubleshooting.

To check for and install ﬁrmware updates, visit components.

novationmusic.com and follow the instructions for installation.

Standby Animation

When left unattended for ﬁve minutes, the SL MkIII enters

Standby Animation (referred to as ‘Vegas Mode’). This

animation stops when you interact with the SL MkIII, or if

MIDI data arrives at the device. The SL MkIII will not go into

Standby Animation while the Sequencer is playing.

Setting ‘Standby Animation’ to ‘Off’ will prevent the SL MkIII

from entering the standby animation regardless of how long

you leave it unattended.

CV/GATE

Notes

You can route Parts to either or both CV/Gate ports using the

Part Settings view (to enter this view press Shift+Sessions).

Routing Parts this way sends all note information to the

speciﬁed port(s). MIDI notes 24 to 108 will map into a CV

pitch voltage range of 0-7V. Notes outside of this range will

clamp to the maximum or minimum voltage.

CV/Gate is only capable of monophonic communication so

the polyphonic stream of notes from the sequencer, keys and

MIDI will convert to a mono stream using the most recently

played note. The Gate port will remain high (open) while a

note is active. When you release all notes, the gate signal

will fall back to low (closed).

Mod

When a part routes to a CV/Gate port, it will also be able

to control the respective Mod port. Each Mod port is set to

respond to a single CC number, as conﬁgured in the Global

Settings (see “Global Settings” on page 18/”CV Mod 1

CC and CV Mod 2 CC” on page 19).

When a part that routes to a CV/Gate port outputs this CC

number via the surface, the sequencer or MIDI, it will output

as a voltage in the range of 0 to +5V from the Mod port.

KEYBOARD SETTINGS

Octave

The octave up and down buttons (+ and - buttons) change

the octave offset of the keyboard. To reset the keyboard to

its default Octave (+/- 0) press both Octave up and down

buttons together.

Keyboard zones can have additional or independent octaves

applied. See “Zones” on page 23 for details.

Transpose

To transpose the keyboard MIDI notes in semitones, hold

Shift and press the Octave Up or Down buttons. Hold Shift

and press both the Octave Up and Down buttons to reset

the transpose.

Keyboard Zones can have independent transposition

applied. See “Zones” on page 23 for details.

TEMPO/SWING VIEW

Set Tempo

When the SL MkIII is controlling tempo (not following an

external device’s tempo) you can adjust the tempo by:

1. Press the Tempo button to enter Tempo/Swing view.

2. The display will change to show the internal

sequencer’s Tempo (BPM) and Swing values.

3. Turn the left-most rotary knob to change Tempo to

integer values of 40-240 beats-per-minute (BPM).

Display Clock Source

When the SL MkIII receives MIDI clock (and MIDI Clock Rx

setting is on), the tempo screen will show ‘External’.

The tempo value may ﬂuctuate at ﬁrst, but it will settle to a

received clock value. Since the keyboard is ‘following’ an

external clock, it is not possible to change the tempo using

the above rotary control.

If the SL MkIII’s loses clock or its clock signal stops then it

will revert to its internal tempo, and you can use the rotary

knob to adjust the tempo.

Clock source can only change while Transport is stopped.

If the Sequencer is running synced to an external clock, and

the signal stops or is lost, the display will show ‘Sync Lost’.

The Sequencer will remain in this state until the Transport

stops. After pushing Stop on the Transport, the Sequencer

will revert to external clock if the external signal is available.

Otherwise, it will use the internal clock.

Swing

The SL MkIII’s Swing function moves MIDI notes off their

mathematically precise positions to achieve a more natural

or human sound.

The result is more ‘swing’ or ‘feel’. In other words, if your

arpeggios or patterns feel rigid, try adding some swing to

them.

Swing works by pushing even-numbered beats of the swing

sync rate closer to the odd-numbered beats. For example,

with a common beat pattern of ‘1-2-3-4-1’ etc.:

• Positive swing pushes beats ‘2’ and ‘4’ later, towards

beats ‘3’ and ‘1’ (this ‘1’ is the start of the next

measure).

• Negative swing pushes beats ‘2’ and ‘4’ forward in

time towards beats ‘1’ and ‘3’ respectively.

You can adjust global swing from 20% to 80%. By default,

swing is 50%, which applies no swing (i.e., no change in the

rhythm). Greater than 50% adds positive swing, and less

than 50% results in negative swing.

Swing Per Track

Swing can be enabled or disabled per track. You can ﬁnd

this in the Tempo menu. When swing is set to ‘Off’, both the

sequencer and arpeggiator steps for that track will not follow

global swing (it will default to 50% swing). Tracks set to ‘On’

will follow the global Swing value.

Swing per track information is stored in the session when

you save that session.

Swing Sync Rate

Changing the Swing Sync Rate adjusts the length of the

swing period. The setting deﬁnes the tempo interval the

Swing parameter will shift alternate notes.

The default is set to 1/16, meaning the Sequencer and Arp

will swing in pairs of 1/16ths. Triplet sync rates are denoted

with a “T” after the sync rate.

Tap Tempo

To set a tempo press the Tap button at the intended tempo.

Before a SL MkIII calculates the tempo you must press the

Tap button at least three times. If the SL MkIII is synchronised

to an external clock, tap tempo will be unavailable.

TRANSPORT

Located at the far-right side of the SL MkIII is a row of buttons

known as the ‘Transport’.

Start/Stop/Continue

The following points explain how to start, stop or continue

the Sequencer in all modes (excluding InControl mode).

These messages will only send if MIDI Clock Tx is on:

• Press the Play button to start Sequencer playback

and send a MIDI Start message.

• Press the Stop button to stop Sequencer playback

and send a MIDI Stop message.

• Hold Shift + Play to start Sequencer playback from the

current position and send a MIDI Continue message.

• Press Play while the Sequencer is running to send

a MIDI Stop message followed by a MIDI Start

message. Pressing Play will restart the sequencer

from the beginning of the Session.

External Control

You can control The SL MkIII’s Transport externally. If the

SL MkIII receives any of the following external messages the

Sequencer will respond accordingly:

• A Start message: Sequencer playback starts.

• A Stop message: Sequencer playback stops.

• A Continue message: The Sequencer will continue

playback from the current position.

• A Start message during sequencer playback: the

message is ignored.

The above messages are known as system Real-time

messages and the SL MkIII receives them at the DIN MIDI In

or USB MIDI In ports.

Song Position

The SL MkIII’s internal song position can also move

according to an external source. Providing you have stopped

the Sequencer, if either the MIDI In or USB MIDI In ports

receive a Song Position Pointer (SPP) the internal song

position will update, and the message will retransmit.

If the sequencer is running, however, the SL MkIII ignores

song position messages.

ZONES

Zones is a powerful feature that divides the keyboard into areas, aka ‘Zones’. Zones can be one note or the whole keyboard.

Zones are customisable: you could, for example, set your drum sounds to play in one octave, bass in another, synth sounds

in another etc. This makes this feature ideal for live performance or a personalised production setup.

Tempo INCONTROLGlobalShift

Zones

Sequencer

LatchArp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

Enable/Disable Zones

To enable Zones, hold ‘Shift’ and press the ‘Zones’ button.

Key LEDs Represent Zones

A coloured LED above each key represents the Zone and destination Part assigned to it. These lights help understand

where your Zones lie along the keyboard. The different colours correlate to the destination Parts. The LEDs only light above

the active keys in the Zone range; when using Scale, for example, keys outside of the scale will not light up.

When Zones overlap, the zone with the lowest number takes priority. For example, Zone 1 takes priority over Zone 2, so

Zone 1’s range shows on the LEDs, overriding the LEDs of Zone two where there is an overlap.

Entering Zones view

In Zone’s view, you can customise your Zones according to your needs. To enter Zones view, press the ‘Zones’ button.

While in Zones view, only the LEDs for the selected Zone will light up.

Pressing the up/down arrows to the left of the screens will move between pages one and two of Zone Settings. Between

these two pages, there are fourteen adjustable parameters for each Zone.

Select a Zone

Enter Zones view (by pushing the Zones button), select a Zone by pressing the soft buttons under their names (‘Zone 1’,’

Zone 2’ etc.). The SL MkIII supports up to eight independent Zones.

Activate/Deactivate a Zone

After you select a Zone, you can activate it (‘On’) or make it inactive (‘Off’). To do this turn the left-most rotary knob directly

above the word ‘Active’.

Set to ‘Off’, all other Zone parameters (from ‘Dest. Part’ to ‘Channel Pressure’) will be greyed out. When moved to ‘On’,

however, these parameters will brighten.

Set Destination for a Zone

In Zones view, the second rotary knob from the left (above

‘Dest. Part’) selects the destination Part for a Zone. This

destination can be ‘Selected’ (default) or Parts 1 to 8. Upon

choosing a new Part, you will see LED colours change above

the keys.

Set Keyboard Range for a Zone

On the 49-key version of the SL MkIII, each Zone’s default

range is C1 to C5 (all 49 notes), on the 61-note version of

the device the default range is C1 to C6 (all 61 notes).

From a Menu

In Zones view the third and fourth knobs set the range of the

Zone from lowest to highest key. This range is inclusive of

the low key and high key.

Zones Mode supports overlapping zones. Overlapping is

useful if you want to blend sounds, such as a piano with a

synth, or an acoustic drum with a synthetic one. Of course,

how you layer your Parts is up to you.

From the Keyboard

You can also set the Zone range using keys. After selecting

Zones view, press a Zone button below the screen then

press it a second time. The key LEDs will pulse, and the SL

MkIII will prompt you to choose a low key on the keyboard

followed by a high key, thus setting the Zone range.

Set Zone Octave/Transpose Settings

In Zones view knobs ﬁve to eight select if the Zone will

adhere to the overall keyboard Octave and Transpose

settings. You can also apply an Offset to the selected Zone

with the Octave and Transpose parameters. By default, the

Offset values are ‘0’, and both Follow settings are ‘On’.

Turn the knobs above the ‘Follow’ settings to select between

‘On’ and ‘Off’. When ‘On’, the Octave and Transpose

buttons inﬂuence the Zone’s behaviour, when ‘Off’, Octave

and Transpose will not affect the Zone. Turn the knobs

above the Offset parameters to set a permanent Octave and

Transpose shift for the Zone.

Enable/Disable Pedals for a Zone

On page two of Zones view, the ﬁrst, second and third knobs

decide whether expression pedal (‘Expr. Pedal’), sustain

pedal or footswitch signals will work with the currently

selected Zone.

All three options are set to ‘On’ by default. Turn the knobs

above these settings to move between on and off states.

Enable/Disable Wheels for a Zone

On page two of Zones view, the fourth and ﬁfth knobs select

whether the ‘Pitch’ (pitch bend) and ‘Modulation’ wheels

affect the currently selected Zone.

By default, they are both ‘On’. Rotate the knob above the

respective settings for Pitch and Modulation to turn the

effect of these wheels on or off.

Enable/Disable Channel Pressure for

a zone

On page two of Zones view, the sixth knob selects whether

the keyboard channel aftertouch (pressure) affects the

currently selected Zone. Aftertouch is on by default. Turn

the knob above ‘Channel Pressure’ to choose between on

and off.

Aftertouch messages can also be customised using the

Novation Components software editor.

SESSION MANAGEMENT

A ‘Session’ on SL MkIII contains the eight Parts on the SL MkIII with each made up of eight patterns (containing 16-steps).

The Session also contains the Templates, Scales, Arp settings, and Zones. By sending a Session to SL MkIII, from

Components, you can restore all the steps, automation data and assignments. To enter Sessions view, press the ‘Sessions’

button. In Sessions view, the square 8x2 pads become locations for saving and loading your Sessions.

The arrows to the left of the 8x2 pad area are used to change pages of Sessions view. There are four available pages, each

containing 16 Sessions laid sequentially across the 16 pads. These four pages give you a total of 64 Sessions.

Tempo INCONTROLGlobal

Shift

Zones

Sequencer

LatchArp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

Sessions have names (re-nameable in Components), and

you can change their colour. To select a colour, press the

Save button once, then use the ﬁrst two soft buttons below

the screens to select a colour. Press Save again to conﬁrm.

Load a Session

To load a session, enter Sessions view and press a pad in

the 8x2 pad area.

Save a Session

You can save your current Session at any time. Press the

Save button once, and it will begin to ﬂash. Press Save

again to conﬁrm the Save.

Select Sessions view and you have the option to save

the Session to a new location or change the colour of the

Session. Press the Save button once so the Save button

is ﬂashing. You can now use the two left-most soft buttons

below the screen to scroll through session colours.

Once you have found your preferred colour, either press

the Save button again to save in place or select a different

session pad to save the Session to a new slot. This will

overwrite any data currently saved to that slot.

Clear a Session

To clear a session of all data and reset the Session’s

settings to default: select a Session, hold Clear and press

the current Session’s pad.

Cued Session Switch

While the Sequencer is playing, you can prepare a new

Session in Session view. When you press a pad, it will ﬂash;

this shows the Sequencer has ‘cued’ this Session to start at

the end of the currently playing pattern on track one (main

track). At this point, the Session pad will turn white to show

its selection.

Instant Session Switch

While the Sequencer is playing, it is possible to ‘instantly’

change to a new Session in the Session view. Hold Shift

and press a pad. The new Session will pick up from the

corresponding position in the currently playing pattern.

Session Load Using Program Change

You can load a Session by sending a ‘program change’

message to the device on channel 16. By default, the shown

Session will load instantly. If you add 64 to the program ID

the Sequencer will cue the Session load (see “” on page

25).

Loading a Session Using Song Select

It is possible to load a Session by sending a ‘song select’

message to the SL MkIII while the Sequencer is stopped.

The Song ID shows the session to load.

Save Lock

‘Save Lock’ allows you to stop the SL MkIII from saving

Sessions. To do this, hold Shift + Save and turn on the SL

MkIII. Turning the SL MkIII off with the power button will save

this setting. To show Sessions cannot save, the Save LED

will be off. To turn save lock off, repeat the same steps.

SCALES

Enable/Disable Scales

Scales view provides an excellent entry point for beginners to start learning the fundamentals of chords and scales. It also

serves as an excellent refresher for intermediate players whose knowledge of harmony has become rusty.

Tempo INCONTROLGlobalShift

Zones

Sequencer

LatchArp

Scales

Sessions

Patterns

Steps

Save

Duplicate

Clear

Grid

Options

Pitch Modulation

Octave

Transpose

Track

Templates

Expand

To enable/disable Scales view hold Shift then press the

Scale button.

When Scales view is active notes will adhere to the scale

you select, whether playing the keys or using the Sequencer.

These scales range from traditional scales of Western music

(C Major, E Dorian etc.) to non-Western ones like Marva.

You can switch between scales in the Scale Settings (see

“Scale Settings” on page 26).

When Scale is enabled the LEDs above the keys have the

following behaviour:

• Root notes light brightly.

• Notes in the scale light dimly.

• Notes outside of the scale are off (unlit).

With Scales view on, playing keys (either dimly or brightly lit)

guarantees you are playing notes within your chosen scale.

Scale Settings

Pressing the ‘Scale’ button brings the Scale Settings onto

the screens.

Root Note

The left-most option labelled ‘Root’; lets you change the root

note of the scale. Turn the rotary knob above to set the root

of the scale from the following chromatic notes: C, C#, D, E,

Eb, F, F#, G, Ab, A, Bb, and B.

Scale Type

Turn the rotary knob above ‘Type’ to choose one of the

following scales:

• Natural Minor

• Major, Dorian

• Phrygian

• Mixolydian

• Melodic Minor

• Harmonic Minor

• Bebop Dorian

• Blues

• Minor Pentatonic

• Hungarian Minor

• Ukrainian Minor

• Marva

• Todi

• Whole Tone

• Chromatic.

Sequence Transpose

Turning the knob above ‘Sequence Transpose’ applies

a transpose value to the played notes coming from the

Sequencer. In other words, it shifts sequenced parts by a

set amount (e.g., ﬁve semitones).

It also functions independently of Root and Type, which

apply a scale to Sequencer parts without transposing notes.

You can transpose your Sequence up or down by 11

semitones (half-steps).

Sequence Transpose with Pads

When you’re in the Scale Setting menu you can also control

the Sequence Transpose setting with the 8x2 grid of pads.

This method of transposition gives you a more performable

way of transposing the sequence.

By default, the pads display a chromatic keyboard, and you

can set the transposition to between 0-11 semitones. You

can use the Down arrow to the left of the pads to access

negative transpose values in the range of -11 to 0 semitones.

Scale Mode

The screen area labelled ‘Scale Mode’ changes the way

Scale view handles notes not in the selected scale. These

settings behave as follows:

• Snap - Notes outside the scale ‘snap’ up or down to

the nearest scale note.

• Filter - Notes not in the scale don’t play (i.e., not

snapped to a correct note).

• Display Only - Notes not in the scale pass

unmodiﬁed. This setting makes key LEDs a ‘guide’

for your playing, leaving you free to use non-diatonic

notes (notes not in the scale).

Turn Scale On/Off per Part

You can enable scales mode for each Part. To do this press

the soft buttons above the pads (below the screens). A Part

with a white background has Scales enabled, a part with a

black background will not have scales enabled.

This setting is useful for drums. Since a typical drum bank is

not arranged by pitch, playing it with a scale wouldn’t work.

You might want to turn Scale mode off while playing your

drum parts and keep it on for your synth, bass, strings etc.

MIDI PORTS/ROUTING

When you connect the SL MkIII via USB the following MIDI ports will be available in your software

Host Inputs

• MIDI - This input sends MIDI from Parts routed to USB.

• InControl - Your DAW uses this port for communication using the InControl or HUI protocols.

• From DIN 1 - This forwards MIDI received from physical MIDI DIN 1, to use SL MkIII as a MIDI Interface.

Outputs

• MIDI - This sends MIDI to Parts to record to the sequencer.

• InControl - Your DAW uses this port for communication using the InControl or HUI protocols.

• To DIN 1/DIN 2 - The SL MkIII forwards all MIDI sent to these two ports directly out of their respective MIDI DIN

ports, unchanged, and with no interference from the SL MkIII’s features.

• To CV/Gate - Note information sent to this port is sent directly out of the CV/Gate ports, unchanged and with no

interference from the SL MkIII’s features. MIDI channels one and two are used to send to CV/Gate ports one and two,

respectively. CC messages sent to this MIDI port with the CC number assigned to each mod output (see “Global

Settings” on page 18) will be output directly to that mod port.

WEIGHT & DIMENSIONS

49 SL MkIII 61 SL MkIII

Weight

Metric (Imperial) 5.56kg (12.26lbs) 6.54kg (14.42lbs)

Dimensions

Width 817mm ( 32.12” ) 981mm (38.62“)

Height 100mm (3.937“) 100mm (3.937“)

Depth 300mm (11.81”) 300mm (11.81”)

COMPONENTS

Novation Components is the librarian and editor software for the SL MkIII. Components is available as an online application

and standalone to your computer for use without an internet connection. You can access both versions of Components from

the following link:

components.novationmusic.com

Template Editor

You can edit Templates using Components, allowing you to customise the messages sent and behaviour of rotary knobs,

faders, buttons, pads wheels and pedals.

Librarian

With the SL MkIII’s Librarian you can transfer Sessions and Templates over SysEx. Components handles this transfer.

When content arrives at the SL MkIII, the device enters ‘Content Transfer Mode’. In this mode, it stops the transport and

disables UI controls. The screen will show the progress of the transfer. When the transfer is complete, the SL MkIII exits

Content Transfer Mode and returns to its previous view. If the transfer is incomplete or not successful, the device will enter

the content transfer screen after a short timeout (1 second).

Firmware Upgrade

If new ﬁrmware is available, you can update the SL MkIII using Components. Components will let you know if there is an

update available.

INCONTROL

Press the ‘InControl’ button to enter InControl mode. InControl integrates the SL MkIII with DAWs like Pro Tools, Cubase,

Reaper, Logic, Reason and Ableton Live. The chart below shows which DAW features InControl supports.

To exit InControl, you can either press any other view or press the InControl button again to take you back to the previously

selected view.

DAW Feature Support

Feature Pro Tools Cubase Reaper Logic Reason Ableton

Channel Controls

Control Volume

using Faders

Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A Yes

Control Pans using

Encoders

Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A Yes

Select Track Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A Yes

Mute Track Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A Yes

Solo Track Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A Yes

Arm Track Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A Yes

Transport Controls

Rewind Yes Yes No Yes Ye s Yes

Fast-Forward Yes Yes No Yes Ye s Yes

Stop Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Play Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Record(arm) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Loop Yes Yes NA Ye s Yes Yes

Track Navigation

Track left / right Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Track Name No No No Ye s No Yes

Other

Save Yes Yes N/A No N/A Yes

Undo Yes Yes N/A Yes N/A Yes

Pre-Roll Yes Yes N/A No N/A Yes

Post-Roll Yes Yes N/A No N/A Yes

Count-in No No No Ye s N/A No

Control Send

Groups A-E using

Encoders

Yes Yes N/A Yes N/A Yes

Metronome No No No Ye s Ye s Yes

Clip Control N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Yes

Device Control NA NA NA Yes Yes Yes

Smart Controls N/A N/A N/A Yes N/A N/A

HUI

The HUI protocol allows the SL MkIII to act like a Mackie HUI

device and interact with DAWs that provide HUI support (for

example, Steinberg, Cubase and Pro Tools).

HUI Heartbeat

After pressing InControl, the SL MkIII switches to HUI view

as soon as it detects a Heartbeat message (sent by a DAW).

If the SL MkIII does not receive a heartbeat message for over

three seconds, it switches back to InControl mode.

Channel Control

Volume

You can change channel Volume with the eight faders

toward the right side of the SL MkIII. The LED above each

fader shows its value. The fader after the last DAW track

fader controls the main output fader in your DAW session.

Pan

You can change a channel’s Pan position using the rotary

knobs. The screens below each knob display the current

Pan position.

Mute/Solo/Arm

The right soft buttons control Mute, Solo and Arm functions

on individual channels. By default, you will only see the Mute

and Solo buttons; use the page up button to access the Arm

buttons. Depending on the DAW you are using, button LEDs

may behave differently. For example, in Pro Tools the Arm

button will ﬂash when on.

Send Control

Press the Options button to access the encoder assignment

menu. You can set the encoders to control send levels. Use

the page up/down buttons next to the screens to access

send groups A through E.

Transport Control

The Transport buttons control the equivalent functions in

each DAW. The function of each button depends on the

DAW. The functionality is (from left to right) as follows:

Rewind, Fast-Forward, Stop, Play, Loop on/off, Arm/Record.

Track Left and Right

The Track Left/Right buttons move the bank (eight channels)

one channel to the left or right. If you have more than eight

channels in your session you can hold Shift and press Track

Left and Right to bank eight channels at a time.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Hold Shift to access several keyboard shortcuts on the left

soft buttons. Again, the way these button LEDs function

depends on the DAW.

• Press Button 01 (furthest left) to Undo. In Pro Tools

this button will ﬂash after undoing, showing the

possibility to Redo.

• Press Button 2/3 to toggle Pre-Roll and Post-Roll.

• Press Button eight (far-right) to save your DAW

session. In Pro Tools, for example, the Save button

will begin to ﬂash after clicking. This is Pro Tools’

way of asking for conﬁrmation. Press the button once

more to save.

DAW Setup

Pro Tools

To set up the SL MkIII in Pro Tools:

1. Go to: ‘Setup’, ‘Peripherals...’

2. Click on the ‘MIDI Controllers’ tab.

3. Set your ports the same as the screenshot below.

4. Set Type to ‘HUI’, Receive From and Send To to one of

the following (Operating System dependent):

• ‘Novation SL MkIII’

• ‘SL MkIII InControl’

• MIDIIN2/MIDIOUT2 (Novation SL MkIII)

Reaper

You will need Reaper version 5.941 or newer to work with

the SL MkIII.

To set up the SL MkIII as a HUI control surface in Reaper,

navigate to ‘Options’ > ‘Preferences…’ > ‘MIDI Devices’. Set

your ports as shown below, the ‘Focusrite A.E. – Novation

SL MkIII – SL MkIII InControl’ port MUST NOT say ‘!! N/A...’.

If this is the case, you might solve this by right-clicking the

device and choosing ‘Forget device’:

Navigate to the ‘Control/OSC/web’ tab in the ‘Reaper

Preferences’ window and click ‘Add’ to add a new control

surface.

Now, in the ‘Control Surface Settings’ window, set the

Control surface mode to HUI (partial) and set the input and

output port to ‘Focusrite A.E. – Novation SL MkIII – SL MkIII

InControl’ as shown below:

Cubase

To set the SL MkIII up as a HUI control surface in Cubase,

go to ‘Studio’ > ‘Studio Setup...’ > ‘MIDI Port Setup’.

1. Set your ports as shown below, the ‘Novation SL MkIII

SL MkIII InControl’ port (MIDIIN/OUT2 on Windows)

MUST NOT have “in ‘all MIDI ins’” enabled.

2. Click the ‘+’ or ‘Add Device’ icon in the Cubase

‘Studio Setup’ window and select ‘Mackie HUI’.

3. Go to the ‘Mackie HUI’ tab.

4. Set the input and output port to: ‘Novation SL MkIII

SL MkIII InControl’ (Mac) or ‘MIDIIN/OUT2 (Novation

SL MkIII)’ (Windows) as shown below.

5. Click OK to close the window.

Note: The ‘Novation SL MkIII InControl’ port may show as

‘MIDIIN(put)’/’MIDIOUT2’ or similar on Windows.

Ableton Live

Set-Up

The screenshot below shows you how to conﬁgure Ableton

Live to work with the SL MkIII on macOS and Windows.

Follow these steps to replicate the above set up:

1. Navigate to your Live Preferences by going to the

‘Live’ or ‘Options’ menu, ‘Preferences’.

2. Click the ‘Link Tempo MIDI’ tab.

3. Select ‘SL MkIII’ in the Control Surface menu.

4. Select ‘Novation SL MkIII InControl/Port 2’ in the

Input and Output drop-down menu options.

5. Finally, in the ‘MIDI Ports’ section set ‘Track’, ‘Sync’

and ‘Remote’ to ‘On’ for ‘Novation SL MkIII (SL

MkIII MIDI). Be sure to do this for both Input and

Output options. Additionally, switch Track to ‘On’

for both ‘SL_MkIII Input’ and ‘SLMkIII Output’.

Live Set Navigation

Selection Ring

In your Ableton Live Set, you will see a ‘selection ring’ (red

rectangle) in Session view. When you enable InControl,

the track names in this selection ring will display on the SL

MkIII’s screens. The SL MkIII can control these tracks in

various ways: Pads control the track clips in the selection

ring, faders control track volume, and rotary knobs alter Live

device parameters, to name a few of InControl’s features.

Track Selection

You can navigate tracks in Live using the Track Left and

Track Right buttons. Selecting a track does not arm it but

does allow you to view or change its devices.

The selection ring is a visual aid, you can move beyond its

scope by pressing the right/left Track buttons. The selection

ring moves to include the newly selected track. The selection

ring can only contain eight tracks at a time.

To move by eight tracks, hold ‘Shift’ and press the Track

Left/Track Right buttons. A selected track will stay in the

same relative position. For example, if you select the second

track and move the selection ring eight tracks to the right,

the selected track will become the second track inside the

new ring position, in other words, the tenth track.

When your selected track is the last in a direction, the

Track button for that direction will become dark to show you

cannot go further. For example, if Live’s track number one is

currently selected, the left Track button will not light green

since there are no tracks to the left.

Up and Down Buttons

Press the Up and Down arrow buttons to move vertically in

Live’s Session view. These buttons move the selection ring

up or down one scene and allow you to launch, record or

stop many more clips and scenes in your Live Set.

Soft Keys

To directly select a track/s within the selection ring use the

eight soft keys (beneath the screens and above the pads).

This is sometimes faster than using the Track Left and Track

Right buttons.

These soft keys correspond to the tracks in order (left to

right). For example, if tracks 1-8 are within the selection ring,

the left-most soft button selects track 1, the next from the left

selects track 2, and so on.

The Screen Label

The screen label provides an overview of which controls

currently display across the screens. When a Live device

changes or you bank through the parameters of a device,

this label will update to show what you can currently control.

Control Notiﬁcations

At the bottom of the notiﬁcation screen is an area that gives

you instant feedback on the changes you make to certain

parameters. This feedback is a ‘pop-up’ notiﬁcation. This

only appears when you make changes and disappears again

after a brief time. This notiﬁcation area also shows volume

changes when you move a fader.

Pads

Controlling Clips and Scenes

By default, the SL MkIII’s 8x2 pads represent clips in Live’s

Session view. More speciﬁcally, the pads show which clips -

or empty clip slots - are within the selection ring, and which

clips you can record, launch or stop.

When you arm a track, available clip slots turn pads red.

Press these red pads to begin recording. Press them again

to stop clip recording and start playback. A recorded clip

ready to launch or play will pulse green; a recorded clip that

is idle will take the colour of its track. In other words, press

any coloured pad (assuming it is not bright red) to launch

playback.

Press the play button (green right arrow button) to the right

of a pad row to launch a scene (i.e., all clips in the same

row). This play button, as well as available clips, will ﬂash

until the scene successfully launches. To stop a clip on an

unarmed track, press the dim (unlit) pad above or below on

the same track.

To stop a clip on an armed track, or to stop all clips, hold the

Shift button. This turns the lower row of pads and the lower

scene launch button red. Pressing a red pad will stop the

clip on that track and pressing the red play button will stop

all playing clips (equivalent to how the ‘stop all clips’ button

acts in Live).

8x2 Soft Buttons

The 8x2 soft buttons area (above the faders) allow you to

change the state of your tracks quickly. The button labels

show on the rightmost screen the current function of the

soft buttons.

Grid

Pressing Grid changes the pads to a ‘drum view’. The Grid

button will turn green. This view is ideal for playing Ableton

Live’s Drum Racks as it allows you to use pads to play drums

or samples, which some producers ﬁnd more ‘drummer-

friendly’ than using a chromatic keyboard.

The leftmost pad on the bottom row triggers C1. The pad

to its right triggers C#2, and so on until you reach the

top row’s rightmost pad, which triggers D#2. To access

different octaves, click the green up/down buttons left of

the pad area.

With a Drum Rack on a track, pads containing audio samples

will appear yellow. The last played pad will be blue. Muted

pads turn orange, while pads in solo mode take on a purple

colour. Finally, empty pads will be dark.

Press the Grid button again to return pads to their clip-

launch capabilities.

Mute and Solo

By default, the 8x2 soft buttons function according to bank

one where the top row (the yellow buttons) mutes and

unmutes tracks, and the lower row (the dark blue buttons)

toggles solo on and off. When muted, the yellow soft

buttons will become a dark yellow, when soloing a track, the

corresponding soft button will become bright blue.

Monitor and Record Arm

You can move to bank two by pressing the green down arrow

to the right of the 8x2 soft button area. Now, the rightmost

screen will show the top row of soft buttons (again in yellow)

cycles through MIDI/Audio Monitoring options. By default,

Ableton Live tracks are set to ‘Auto’, but pressing the top

row of buttons will allow you to change monitoring to ‘Off’

or ‘In’. The bottom row (dark red) controls the ‘record arm’

option. When you set a track to ‘Monitor In’ its soft button

turns ice blue, and when you record arm a track its soft

button becomes bright red.

Options

Within InControl mode, pressing the Options button opens

the Options view. Options view allows you to view and edit

track parameters, displays device chains and select from

the devices in the chain.

Displaying Device Chains and Device Selection

In Options view, the upper part of the screens show the device chain on the currently selected track. These devices may be

Ableton instruments, audio/MIDI effects, or third-party plug-ins.

• Click a pink pad to select the devices you wish to control. This turns the pad bright pink and selects the name of the

device on the screen above.

• Press the Options button again to return to the default InControl view (where pads control clips).

• Now, the ﬁrst eight parameters for the device you selected display on the screens and moving the rotary knobs above

will adjust those parameters.

This image shows an Ableton Live device chain. We have

selected the Limiter on the SL MkIII. This is conﬁrmed by the

‘blue hand’ symbol on the Limiter (far-right), and a bright pink

pad and highlighted device name on the SL MkIII’s screen.

If you want to select another device (coming from elsewhere

in Options, like Pan) the ﬁrst soft key under the screens

called ‘DevceSlct’ will get you back to the Device Chains

and Device Selection view.

Device Parameter Banking

The SL MkIII allows you to change device parameters

beyond the ﬁrst eight (most Live devices contain more than

eight parameters). With a device selected, pressing the up

or down arrow buttons (to the left of the screens) will switch

through the available ‘banks’ of parameters. As per usual,

the rotary knobs above will change these new parameters.

Displaying and Editing Pan and Send Controls

After pressing the Options button, select the yellow ‘Pan’

button to access the pan controls for the eight tracks within

the selection ring.

The green soft key selects the Sends view. The screens will

display a single send control for each track shown on the

screens. To bank through the available sends, click the up

and down arrows to the left of the screen. Raise or lower the

send amount with the corresponding knob (above the send

you wish to edit).

Faders

Faders control track volumes in your Ableton Live set.

These eight faders correspond to the eight tracks within the

selection ring.

LED Indicators

The LEDs above the faders give visual feedback of the

volume settings on the selected tracks. Since you can

use the faders on multiple tracks by moving the selection

ring (see “Live Set Navigation” on page 32), the actual

position of the physical faders may not match the faders

on-screen. The LEDs provide a solution by brightening and

dimming if the volume on an Ableton Live track is higher or

lower, respectively.

Undo, Redo, Metronome and Capture

While in InControl, holding Shift turns the ﬁrst three soft

buttons above the pad area into Undo, Redo and Click

controls. As expected, Undo and Redo perform those

functions on your Live Set’s most recent actions. Pressing

Click toggles Live’s metronome on or off.

Holding Shift will also display a Capture button if you recently

played - but did not record - MIDI notes. Press this last soft

button under the screens to grab the MIDI you just played

and place it in a clip, even though you were not recording in

the traditional sense.

Logic Pro X

Installation

To set the SL MkIII up with Logic Pro you can download the

installer from our Downloads page or follow the steps below:

novationmusic.com/downloads

Once downloaded the SL MKIII will be auto-detected in

Logic. If Logic does not detect your SL MkIII, please use the

following steps:

1. From the Logic Pro X menu choose ‘Control Surfaces’,

then ‘Setup’.

2. Choose ‘New’ followed by ‘Install’.

3. Choose Novation 49SL MkIII or Novation 61SL MkIII

and click ‘Add’.

4. Select the SL MkIII InControl port for both the output

and input port

5. Close the control surface window.

Track Select

To select a track, press the button under the track name. It

will highlight to show you have chosen it.

Pans

To control track pans, press the Options button and choose

‘Pans’. From this view, the eight knobs will control the pans

for eight tracks at a time.

Volume

To control track volumes, move the faders. The LED above

the fader shows the current track volume.

Sends

To control track sends, press the Options button followed by

‘Sends’. The eight knobs will then control Bus levels in Logic.

Press the up and down arrows to the left of the screens to

change the selected send. You can control up to four sends

with the SL.

Smart Controls

Logic uses smart controls to choose eight parameters for

the selected plug-in on a chosen track. To control these on

the SL MkIII, press Options followed by ‘Smart’. In this view,

the eight knobs will control the eight parameters assigned

by Logic to be smart controls for the selected plug-in.

Shortcuts

Press the Options button followed by ‘Shortcut’ to access

shortcuts. These include:

• Undo

• Redo

• Count In

• Toggle Logic’s count in on/off

• Metronome

• Toggle Logic’s metronome on/off

Mute/Solo

The soft buttons above the faders control mute and solo for

eight tracks. When you solo a track, the muted tracks will

ﬂash on and off.

Record Arm/Input Monitoring

Press the down button to the right of the soft buttons (above

the faders) to change the buttons from mute/solo to record

arm/input monitoring.

Transport

The SL MkIII’s Transport buttons control Logic’s transport.

These include:

• Rewind

• Fast-forward

• Stop

• Play

• Cycle on/off

• Record

Reason

Reason Setup

After starting Reason, you can set up the SL MkIII.

1. Connect the SL MkIII to your computer via USB.

2. Go to Preferences > Control Surfaces.

3. Click ‘the Auto-detect Surfaces’ button. A dialogue window with a progress bar will appear.

Enable ‘Use with Reason’, and ‘Novation SL MkIII SL MkIII From DIN 1’ and you can control Reason with the SL MkIII. You

can control all Instruments, Effects and Utilities in a Reason Rack (see picture below), as well as move between tracks.

Control Layout

With the SL MkIII’s InControl mode you can take advantage of the following features in Reason:

• Track Left and Track Right buttons - Use these buttons to move between tracks in Reason’s Sequencer.

• Rotary Knobs - These change various parameters for Instruments, Effects, Utilities and Players. Active knobs display

on the screens with their parameter name and value.

• Pads - These control parameters in Reason. When using the Kong Drum Designer Instrument, pads select Kong’s

drum sounds. The drum’s main parameters appear on the screens, and the rotary knobs can adjust those parameters.

Effects, Utilities and Instruments

Each time you load a new Instrument (and create a new MIDI track) Reason will assign the SL MkIII to that Instrument.

To control Effects and Utilities from the SL MkIII, you need to create an audio track. Find the device in the Rack section,

right-click on the device and select ‘Create Track for device name’. A new track will appear in the sequencer; select this new

track using the Track buttons on the SL MkIII.

When you select an Effect or Utility its controls appear on the SL MkIII’s screens, which you can then change with the above

knobs. The drum’s main parameters appear on the screens, and the rotary knobs can adjust those parameter values.

Soft Buttons 1-24

You can use these buttons to navigate inside Reason’s

devices. For example:

For Redrum, the eight soft buttons under the screens select

channels 1-8; after you choose a Redrum channel, you can

adjust its parameters (pitch, pan, sends etc) with the knobs

above the screens.

With Mixer 14:2, the soft buttons above the SL MkIII’s

faders select mixer channels, at which point you can turn

knobs above the screens to adjust parameters like volume,

bass, treble, and so on.

Faders

These control device parameters. When you use a fader to

change a parameter value, a notiﬁcation on the ﬁfth screen

(from the left) will display the parameter name and value.

For example, if you have selected the Europa Synthesizer

the ﬁrst fader (from the left) will raise and lower the volume

of Oscillator 1. ‘Osc1 Level’ will appear on the ﬁfth screen,

along with a decibel value.

Transport buttons

These buttons on the far-right of the SL MkIII control

Reason’s transport, including Rewind, Fast Forward, Stop,

Play and Record. You can also use the SL MkIII’s Loop

button to turn Reason’s Sequencer Loop On/Off.

Option button

This toggle’s Reason’s metronome On/Off. It will light white

when active, and orange when off.

Up/Down buttons

The up/down buttons left of the pads change presets when

you have an Instrument, Effect, or Utility selected.

Pitch Wheel

You can use the SL MkIII’s Pitch Wheel to change the pitch

of Reason’s Instruments.

Mod Wheel

You can use the Modulation Wheel to affect various

parameters of selected Reason devices. A common

destination for the Mod Wheel is a synths ﬁlter frequency.

Sustain Pedal

After plugging a sustain pedal into the SL MkIII’s ‘Sustain’

port you can use it to affect Reason parameters.

Keyboard

The SL MkIII’s keyboard allows you to play Reason’s various

Instruments.

License

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modiﬁcation, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other

materials provided with the distribution.

3. Neither the name of STMicroelectronics nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without speciﬁc

prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE

IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS

BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE

GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT

LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH

DAMAGE.

BY INSTALLING COPYING, DOWNLOADING, ACCESSING OR OTHERWISE USING THIS SOFTWARE OR ANY PART THEREOF (AND THE RELATED DOCUMENTATION) FROM

STMICROELECTRONICS INTERNATIONAL N.V, SWISS BRANCH AND/OR ITS AFFILIATED COMPANIES (STMICROELECTRONICS), THE RECIPIENT, ON BEHALF OF HIMSELF OR

HERSELF, OR ON BEHALF OF ANY ENTITY BY WHICH SUCH RECIPIENT IS EMPLOYED AND/OR ENGAGED AGREES TO BE BOUND BY THIS SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT.

Under STMicroelectronics’ intellectual property rights, the redistribution, reproduction and use in source and binary forms of the software or any part thereof, with or without modiﬁcation, are permitted

provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistribution of source code (modiﬁed or not) must retain any copyright notice, this list of conditions and the disclaimer set forth below as items ten and 11.

2. Redistributions in binary form, except as embedded into microcontroller or microprocessor device manufactured by or for STMicroelectronics or a software update

for such device, must reproduce any copyright notice provided with the binary code, this list of conditions, and the disclaimer set forth below as items ten and 11,

in documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

3. Neither the name of STMicroelectronics nor the names of other contributors to this software may be used to

endorse or promote products derived from this software or part thereof without speciﬁc written permission.

4. This software or any part thereof, including modiﬁcations and/or derivative works of this software, must be used and execute solely and exclusively on or in

combination with a microcontroller or microprocessor device manufactured by or for STMicroelectronics.

5. No use, reproduction or redistribution of this software partially or totally may be done in any manner that would subject this software to any Open Source Terms. “Open

Source Terms” shall mean any open source license which requires as part of distribution of software that the source code of such software is distributed therewith or

otherwise made available, or open source license that substantially complies with the Open Source deﬁnition speciﬁed at vopensource.org and any other comparable

open source license such as for example GNU General Public License (GPL), Eclipse Public License (EPL), Apache Software License, BSD license or MIT license.

6. STMicroelectronics has no obligation to provide any maintenance, support or updates for the software.

7. The software is and will remain the exclusive property of STMicroelectronics and its licensors. The recipient will not take any action that jeopardizes STMicroelectronics

and its licensors’ proprietary rights or acquire any rights in the software, except the limited rights speciﬁed hereunder.

8. The recipient shall comply with all applicable laws and regulations affecting the use of the software or any part thereof including any applicable export control law

or regulation.

9. Redistribution and use of this software or any part thereof other than as permitted under this license is void and will automatically terminate your rights under this

license.

10. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY STMICROELECTRONICS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY

WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND

NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, WHICH ARE DISCLAIMED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

IN NO EVENT SHALL STMICROELECTRONICS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR

CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA,

OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,

OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE

POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

11. EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PERMITTED HEREUNDER, NO LICENSE OR OTHER RIGHTS, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE GRANTED UNDER ANY

PATENT OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OF STMICROELECTRONICS OR ANY THIRD PARTY.