I shouldn't admit this, but whatever. I just spent $600+ on my latest purchase from Beatport.com. I basically bought a new "record box" of tunes in one go.
The flipside to this madness is that in the old vinyl world those 200+ tracks I bought would have cost me almost $2500!! So, in the end, I saved $1900! Right? LOL.
This site is a goldmine. Tons of mixtapes from back in the early nineties. I have a few of them, but someone took the time to convert and apparently "clean" them up, they sound great comparatively speaking. DJ Dan, Jeno, DRC, Garth... as someone remarked on another board where I found this link, it is a "west coast DJ tape collection come true". Lots of history here... and inspiration. Many of these tapes were hugely influential to me as well as a raver generation that has largely faded off into age, work and family responsibilities. But I bet if you put these tapes on around them you'd catch the huge grins and head nodding that you cannot just shake off if you were there at some of these parties.
And if you weren't not there, then download these and learn. Wicked (no pun intended). :)
The Spectralis is one monster of a machine.... that isn't finished yet. This live Synth/Groovemachine has digital oscillators, but real analog filters, a sampler, a true filterbank, etc. I'll be using it in lieu dragging all my other gear out to perform/DJ. I've been using an Electribe EMX-1, my Futureretro Revolution, and Elektron Machinedrum w/ a Pioneer DJM-800 (mixer/MIDI controller) and my laptop running Live. But having a real knobs, great sound, and a compacted set up is ideal, so this thing should be great.
5U rackmountable or tabletop groove box that combines 48-note DSP synthesis and sampling, monophonic analog-modeling synthesis, real analog filtering, 32-track polyphonic step sequencing, and matrix-style drum sequencing. The analog-modeling section has four digital oscillators with ring modulation, FM, and continuously variable waveshaping, as well as a 4-pole lowpass and a 2-pole multimode analog filter. A programmable analog fixed filter bank provides one lowpass, one highpass, and eight bandpass filters; 20 VCAs handle complex routing between the filters. The analog electronics can process external audio signals and use them as modulation sources.
The Spectralis can resample synthesizer voices and patterns, allowing you to play analog-modeled sounds polyphonically. In addition to sampling, the DSP section will accommodate new synthesis algorithms as they become available, according to the manufacturer. Drum and synth samples are stored in 32 MB of onboard ROM, and 128 MB of sample RAM comes standard. The Spectralis provides two Smart Media card slots, and a USB 2.0 port allows it to exchange data with a computer. Additional I/O includes two audio inputs, two analog-synth outputs, six DSP-synth outputs, and three MIDI ports.
But it needs to be finished. Version 0.97 is on its way - w/ eventually a 1.0 OS happening sometime in the next year (hopefully). Pretty excited about this. Check out some of the samples and specs here:
One year development time. Over 100 bright multicolor LEDs. 96 precission metal potentiometers. 96 heavy duty buttons. Four Kensington USB lamps. Customised software for controling Ableton Live 6 and Max/MSP/Jitter. Connectors for extension units, foot pedals, data I/O... Two microcontroler boards inside.
Monodeck II turns the computer into a mixer, a virtual synthesizer, an effects rack, eight sequenzer tracks, capable of playing MIDI or audio tracks and loops.
Peter Kirn has written up a pretty good summation of Live 6's new features w/ some decent screenshots. Aside from the Ableton Live forum, this is the best recap I've read. Can't wait for the beta to test it out.
Torq - M-Audio's New DJ Software. Looks quite good.
When I first saw this announcement from Summer NAMM, I rolled my eyes. Then I saw the screen shot and it only made me even more disdainful of it. Headed over to Sonic State to watch the video of the software made by M-Audio's new DJ division.
You know what? It's not half bad! The controller leaves a lot to be desired and I have no idea how it will add value compared to other hardware controllers, but the Torq software duplicates the functionality of Final Scratch and Serato and comes with time-coded vinyl. It also acts as a standalone application (like Traktor). That's cool. It looks like it has useful effects and integration into Apple's iTunes for cataloging your tracks. Smart.
But here is the kicker: You can Rewire the app into Ableton Live! Now that is something that Traktor, Final Scratch, or Serato cannot do!
Version 1.0? Hmmm. I think this thing has legs. Go watch the video.
Hey this is cool. Someone took some video of me playing at Spundae with DJ Icey. This was a great set actually. It had been awhile since I had been able to throw down a proper set, so I was really stoked over this night once it was over.
Good start conceptually. But we will have our work cut out for us. Sunday nights are always difficult to get the energy to go out again after the weekend. Thanks to those who came out last night to support (Andre, biscui...er, I mean Cashew, you know who you are). :)
Hooked up the DJM-800 to Mike/Maven's Xone:3D. I must say that I am impressed by the 3:D's sound. I can't put my finger on it yet, but we are going to A/B the sound quality between the two next month to finally figure out if there is a difference - or to determine if I am just biased towards A&H. The last few years I've only used A&H and only picked up the Pioneer out of desperation to get a DJ mixer with some MIDI control beyond what the Xone:92 offers. But, I'm starting to lean towards the Xone:3D again and since I have a Pioneer EFX-1000, I have external effects to make up for loosing the 800's excellent onboard effects should I ditch it in favor of the 3D...
I also ran my Electribe EMX-1, Future Retro Revolution, and Elektron MachineDrum. Everyting worked great depsite the MIDI cabling, rerouting, and set up. Solid all night long with clock coming from the Xone:3D and two copies of Live running in Sync (ha!) as well. Impressive.
I'll probably ditch the Revolution from the set up though - limited application in a set filled with mostly european minimal tech house (particularly because it outputs in mono/left channel only as well).
If the mix is good (we recorded it), I'll put in my DJ mix section.
I think this thing is pretty neat, if not a bit on the esoteric side. Since I tend to do a lot of "digital" dj stuff with other people at the same time, it seems pretty useful. Here are the parts I like about it:
This device allows slave sequencers to be stopped and started in sync while leaving the master clock source running to keep the beats flowing.
and
It connects in the midi stream between the output of the master clock source and the input of the slave. It also has a midi thru for any other gear running off the master clock source. Perfect in cases where the sequencer requires you stop it to load or change tracks or samples.
Designed purely with a live environment in mind Sync² allows software such as Reason/Logic/Cubase/Ableton Live to reach its full potential for live work. By slaving the software to an external sequencer or drum machine using Sync² you can keep the dancefloor pumping while you load up the next track, then drop it back in without loosing a beat.
