Music
Now you can make beats on McDonald's placemats
by Jeremy Mersereau
May 5, 2016
McTrax electronic placemats expand your musical and waistline horizons at the same time.
Musical inspiration can strike anywhere. Did you know most of the world’s iconic riffs, from “Smoke On The Water” to “Seven Nation Army”, were mentally composed during 2 a.m. burger binges? OK, that might be one of those things that just feels true and isn’t actually true, but drunken fast-food brainstorming sessions are an important part of the musician lifestyle, you gotta at least give me that.
World-class adipose purveyors McDonald’s obviously know this, which is why they’ve introduced placemats in their Netherlands locations that pull double duty as music production workstations as well as grease traps. Called the McTrax, the placemat is printed with conductive ink and contains 26 touchpoints, each linked to an effect, loop, or synth note. You can even record your own audio, provided you don’t mind an entire packed fast food restaurant hear you freestyle off the dome.
The McTrax needs a smartphone app to act as both speaker and control UI, of course. What, did you think this was some kind of magic placemat? Get a look at the McTrax mat in action below, complete with suitably cool-voiced ad copy and delighted Dutch people:
Even though the McTrax placemats are only available in the Netherlands at the moment, it’s a shrewd move by McDonald’s to make further inroads with serious music fans… especially since their PR department were working overtime to repair their relationship with that market just last year.
Keep an eye on those EULAs, though, because no one should put it past McDonald’s sneakily declaring ownership over every piece of McTrax-composed music. Don’t let Ronald use your uncredited work for the upcoming series of Hot Off The Fryer mixtapes or whatever.
[h/t Exclaim]
