produced the X-Station, intended to provide a complete music production environment with the addition of a computer/sequencer, microphone and monitoring. This was followed by MIDI controllers featuring no keyboard at all, but instead offering varying numbers of buttons, pads, control knobs and sliders, all sending MIDI messages. With the introduction of the SL range in 2005, this was complemented by Novation Automap, a software system that automatically detects and maps the controllable parameters of a plug-in or software application and configures the control surface to address them. Automap has continued to be developed to the present day and is available in a number of formats including an iOS app. In August 2004, Novation was acquired by Focusrite Ltd. and became a subsidiary named Novation Digital Music Systems Ltd. A keyboardless MIDI controller, the Novation Launchpad, was launched in 2009 with an 8x8 grid of large illuminated buttons that could be used to trigger sounds, loops, effects and other parameters, initially in conjunction with the Ableton Live music performance application. Launchpad was one of the first grid-based performance controllers and this area expanded over the subsequent period to become a significant aspect of the electronic music hardware market. There are currently 3 variations of the product, the Launchpad, Launchpad Pro, and Launchpad Mini. The Launchpad was out of the top two best Novation makings. The company expanded into DJ controllers initially with the Novation Dicer in 2010, which consisted of two sets of buttons designed to be attached to a turntable or laptop, and then a full-blown DJ controller in 2011 with Novation Twitch, which differed significantly from then available devices of the type in that it used twin touch-strip controllers instead of the more common turntable emulation, providing additional control capabilities. The product has been discontinued since. All these different areas of synthesis and control have increasingly combined in Novation products to create hybrid instruments and devices such as keyboard controllers with miniature grid launchers and on board synth and vocoder capability, for example the Ultranova (2011) and Mininova (2012). Novation synthesisers have been used by a range of electronic acts including drum and bass/Rock group Pendulum, French composer Jean Michel Jarre, Steve Hillier of Dubstar and British group Orbital. In the track "Triumph" by the rap group Wu-Tang Clan, Novation is referenced by Wu-Tang member RZA. Key products This section lists past and present key Novation products in chronological