New Toy!

[wolf39us]

Just bought a launchpad over the weekend and have been having a lot of fun with it.  Here's a video I made today, it's not great by any means... but I'd say not bad for 3 days!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dADYZ1Ca3Gk


Here's someone who is actually good with them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SaB-05BpKw

[Johan]

Looks like a neat toy but... You knew there'd be a but from me. But explain it to an old man. I mean I'm assuming that most or all of the sample sets you were playing with were already in the box and pre-mapped for you. But I'm also assuming that most or all of the samples in the second video were custom built and custom mapped. That vocal thing in the second video? That seems like it would have to be custom mapped for that particular piece of music.

So I guess my question is, if you had the ability to source and map all those custom samples and loops, wouldn't it be just as quick or quicker to just map them to a keyboard? Or not map them at all and just drop them right into tracks on a DAW recorder? I can see a few places where having samples mapped to buttons would be an advantage, stutter effects and the like. But otherwise I'm not sure I see the advantage of going to all that work to source and map samples only to have to play them on matrix of buttons.

The other day I was looking at some videos for the linnstrument. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLh6G1aLuzo And I can see the advantage of learning to play it because of the expressiveness that it offers. But like everything Roger Linn ever made, brilliant though it is, its way too much money for way too little instrument IMO. At $250? I'm in, no question. At the $1500 he's asking? I'll take a pass and wait for someone to sell theirs on ebay for $250 after it collects dust in their closet for a couple years. Which is how most people I know ended up buying their first Linn Drum back in the day.

But that thing offers some expressiveness via XY response and glide/pitchbending. The launchpad type stuff is just a matrix of on/off switches which is exactly what a midi keyboard is. I get that the layout is different and more configurable. So is that the big advantage? Or is there something else that I'm missing? Genuinely curious here.

[wolf39us]

Looks like a neat toy but... You knew there'd be a but from me. But explain it to an old man. I mean I'm assuming that most or all of the sample sets you were playing with were already in the box and pre-mapped for you. But I'm also assuming that most or all of the samples in the second video were custom built and custom mapped. That vocal thing in the second video? That seems like it would have to be custom mapped for that particular piece of music.

So I guess my question is, if you had the ability to source and map all those custom samples and loops, wouldn't it be just as quick or quicker to just map them to a keyboard? Or not map them at all and just drop them right into tracks on a DAW recorder? I can see a few places where having samples mapped to buttons would be an advantage, stutter effects and the like. But otherwise I'm not sure I see the advantage of going to all that work to source and map samples only to have to play them on matrix of buttons.

The other day I was looking at some videos for the linnstrument. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLh6G1aLuzo And I can see the advantage of learning to play it because of the expressiveness that it offers. But like everything Roger Linn ever made, brilliant though it is, its way too much money for way too little instrument IMO. At $250? I'm in, no question. At the $1500 he's asking? I'll take a pass and wait for someone to sell theirs on ebay for $250 after it collects dust in their closet for a couple years. Which is how most people I know ended up buying their first Linn Drum back in the day.

But that thing offers some expressiveness via XY response and glide/pitchbending. The launchpad type stuff is just a matrix of on/off switches which is exactly what a midi keyboard is. I get that the layout is different and more configurable. So is that the big advantage? Or is there something else that I'm missing? Genuinely curious here.

It did not come premapped.  The launchpad is merely a pad of midi triggers.  I can assign any number of sounds and triggers to any of the buttons (within a 5x64 button limit of course).  I think playing on this is a lot more fun than just using a keyboard and probably easier in a sense.

It's just a fun thing to play with really and the lights are a nice touch.  It's actually pretty hard to get the timing right!

[wolf39us]

Oh I should note that I only paid $80 for this. 

[Johan]

$80 is a steal. For that price, its worth buying just to try it out. So do you load the samples into it or is it triggering samples remotely? If its remote, what software are you loading the samples into?

[wolf39us]

I'm using Ableton Live 9.

I have a friend that has a copy that I can get (legit) because this software is pretty expensive.
The pad is also compatible with Fruity Loops

[Hakurei Reimu]

...now I know where all that cheap-ass techno intro music to all the YouTubs of late come from.

[wolf39us]

...now I know where all that cheap-ass techno intro music to all the YouTubs of late come from.

lmao no no no.  The music itself is produced with usually very expensive Software such as Ableton or Fruity Loops (FL Studio).  The pad merely triggers bits of the song to playback!

[Solitary]

Not bad Wolf! If this gets more people interested in playing music I'm all for it. Music should be what people seek for religion because music sooths the savage breast.

[trdsf]

I can't even for a moment fathom how that thing's supposed to work... but awesome.  :D

[Johan]

I'm using Ableton Live 9.

I have a friend that has a copy that I can get (legit) because this software is pretty expensive.
The pad is also compatible with Fruity Loops

So where you gettin your samples? I still write more or less old school by today's standards. But I'm using more samples and loops now than I ever did. But as a person who does not at all have a finger on the pulse of what the kids are doing today, I have no idea where to find new and original sample material.

Every now and then I will scour youtube for video of old tv shows and educational videos and the like. 'Boys and Hormones; What Every Girl Should Know' and that sort of thing. Videos of black preachers doing their thing can also be a good source. And then I try to mine that video for useful sound bytes. But beyond that, I really have no idea where to look for new song fodder. 

Here's something I did with youtube preacher audio.
https://soundcloud.com/juliet-hotel/the-strongest/s-JpsSp

The audio for this clip was done using some audio I found somewhere of some 1960's drug educational video which featured people taking about what they felt while on LSD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr3I3H-sGn0

[wolf39us]

http://launchpad-pro.com/