If you’re navigating through a set using a Launchpad or an APC-40, the obvious way to do it is using the buttons on the controller to move the colored rectangle up or down to the new location in the set.
On the Launchpad, you hold down the Session button, while using the up/down buttons to move the rectangle a page at a time (that’s 8 scenes on the Launchpad, 5 if you’re using an APC). You can also move one scene at a time, and there’s another technique for jumping down by multiple pages.
For me, all of these methods are too slow and clunky if I want to rapidly scroll through my set and search for the material I want to jump to. That’s why I also map the scene navigator:
The scene navigation controls are located in the Master track, and only appear when the MIDI Map or Key Map are showing. The up/down arrows can be used to move up or down one scene at a time, while the number box can be mapped to an encoder so you can navigate scenes by cranking a knob.
For me, the knob based navigation is an essential tool, allowing me to zip up and down through the set to find the new area I want to work in. Then, I get a clip launched in this new area and take my time moving the colored rectangle into the new area of my set.
There’s a little more to know about the scene navigators, and a few things you can do to make navigating big sets a little easier. More on this shortly…
