I get a lot of mail.
And sometimes, companies send me
some really cool stuff in the mail that I just don't have time to show on camera for whatever reason
or I don't have time to learn a particular thing.
So I thought I'd start a new series.
And I thought I'd call this series Mail Time with Mike
The idea is that I get to open stuff that I've received in the mail and play around with it
without dedicating an entire month to learning that particular skill.
So this would be like a super super condensed Learn Quick,
like one or two days messing around with whatever I get in the mail.
However, the first box today wasn't sent to me by any brand.
I just bought this myself.
These are ice skates.
One of my friends, who is also a youtuber, challenged me to learn and I thought I'd give it a go.
{MUSIC}
I have been waiting for this one for a while now.
Brand-new camera!
So a while ago, I actually made a video with Canon to promote this camera there: Canon LEGRIA GX10.
And after the video was done, I asked can I keep the camera that they were using and they said...
'NO!'
It was a pre-production model,
and I wasn't allowed to get my hands on it for good.
However, the camera is now in full production, and I was able to get my hands on this GX10.
So I have worked with Canon, so I'm probably biased when I talk about this camera.
But the pre-production model, the one I'm shooting on right now,
has been my daily driver for the last couple of weeks
and this will be my day-to-day camera going forward.
By the way, in case you're interested, this video and these videos were all shot on GX10.
Since this episode is basically a complete ripoff of Casey Neistat's mailtime,
I thought I'd pay tribute to the man himself and open this package in the style of Casey Neistat.
*aggressively rips apart box*
So this is
a Launchpad Pro made by Novation.
And basically it's like a performance instrument for electronic music.
Wow, it's so small.
Right, let's see what I can learn.
So, what is a Launchpad?
What does this even do?
In essence, the Launchpad is a very well built MIDI controller.
"What is MIDI?" do you ask? Well, basically, it's a way of sending signals to a computer
from hardware that controls software in some way.
So you can record music using MIDI signals, or you can perform live.
And this is designed to work with Ableton
which is like a music production software that's really good at live performance as well.
What's on my screen is mimicked with these LED lights on the Launchpad
Let me show you with a demonstration, right?
So I have opened Ableton and here
I've just dropped what's called a drum rack onto this track here,
and these lights on the launch pad have now lit up.
So, if I push these buttons...
*percussion sounds*
And within a couple of minutes, you know...
*percussion gets faster*
Very cool.
You can use it to control like an instrument.
So right now, I have a synthesizer on the go.
*synth*
You get the idea, right?
*piano*
So basically you can make this whatever you want.
What I've seen most people use this for is called a Launchpad Cover.
What they'll do is they'll take a track and they'll split up into tiny little parts,
and they'll map it to each of these sections here on Ableton which will appear here
and then they'll play the song in parts by pushing the buttons in the right order.
{MUSIC}
That's kind of what I want to learn to do on the Launchpad,
but I also want to use it as more of a performance instrument.
So I actually also want to play drums
and maybe some other instruments and create a live performance
Okay, I'm gonna start learning how to use this thing.
This is day one hour zero.
The song I want to play has a piano in it, so I need to figure out how to play piano on the Launchpad.
*learning piano*
I need to get my guitar to figure this out.
That's a 'C'.
That's it.
So I'm trying to just loop this...
...round and round.
*piano playing*
*music loops*
Alright!
Drums.
Kick.
Snare.
Hat.
*drums*
I pushed the wrong button.
There we go. Look, listen to that.
So basically the trick is to learn to loop...
*kick and snare*
...as well as... *hi-hats*
...and some... *piano*
...as well as a little bit of.. *higher piano*
Add one extra element to that, which is..
*guitar*
I've been playing with the Launchpad basically all day since 8:00 in the morning.
And I've set up my live set.
And, you know, I can navigate through the menus pretty good. I can arm things. I can go into note mode
I can go on to the piano,
and then I can quickly switch to drums.
I think we should just go ahead and try and record a performance.
{MUSIC}
Hehehe! Yes! I think that's a take.
*ding*
Hahahahahaha!