Category: italic+mixing

Pacemaker + Sonodrome devices better explained

how pacemaker and sonodrome device can work

I thought I was pretty straight forward with my thoughts about using sonodrome devices with the pacemaker but some people did ask for a clearer description, the picture above this should be all you need.

So instead of plugging the Pacemaker straight into a amp, you plug the line out into the input of a your Sonodrome box. The Sonodrome box can be anything you want to build, I really want to build a Flanger Effect box on my first go, something I love playing with when djing but is sadly lacking from the pacemaker right now. Once you attach the output of the Sonodrome box to the Amp your away pretty much. I know you can buy effect peddles which do the same thing but there usually so heavy, made for bands, use external power and look like crap. What I would build would be unfussy, simple and small enough to throw in the bag alongside the pacemaker for live events.

A couple words of warning however.

The Sonodrome box, needs to deliver totally clean sound when not in use, because un/plugging it mid set would be a nightmare. So no amplification at 0 I guess. The Box should aid that feeling of movement, so big fat buttons and the like. They also need to be pretty solid when mounted, as there expected to get quite a lot of abuse.

There’s also some advantages to this type of setup, like taking a 3.5inch stereo jack on the input but having a selectable 5.5inch jack or even a XLR on the output. The projects seem pretty straight easy to follow. The one idea which really interests me a lot is the wiimote one. With bluetooth and a few selectable effects it should be straight forward to farm all the changes to the accelerometers on a wiimote instead. Although I can kind of imagine how it would work, I have no idea how much work it would take, maybe I’d be better asking someone to build it for me and paying them instead. Any takers?

Here comes the sunshine mix

Here comes the sunshine mix by cubicgarden

Its been a long time since I’ve done a mix worthy of publishing, don’t get me wrong I’ve been playing with the pacemaker quite a bit but they have been quite short and of varity of quality. So this is the big one, almost 2 hours of pure trance, just in time for Spring and the sunshine. Playlist to follow….

  1. Lift – Sean Tyas
  2. Key of Life (Marlo remix) – Ohmna Featuring Nurlaila
  3. The Legacy (alphazone mix) – Saltwater
  4. Constellation (john o’callaghan remix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  5. The Labyrinth (part one) – Moogwai
  6. Maybe next time – Robert Nickson
  7. The Legacy (club mix) – Push
  8. Certitude – Thomas Bronzwaer
  9. Rewire – Robert Nickson & Daniel Kandi
  10. RAMsterdam (Jornvan Deynhoven Remix) – RAM
  11. Intuition (Martin Roth Remix) – Marninx Pres Ecco
  12. 1999 (Gouryella mix) – Binary Finary
  13. Off the World (Large Remix) – Martin Roth and Alex Bartlett
  14. What it feel like for a girl (Dj Duane Thamms extended dance video remix) – Madonna
  15. Invisible Touch (Ferry Corsten’s Touch) – Bobina
  16. Save Me – Airwave
  17. Beautiful Thing (Photon project remix) – Andain
  18. Shadow World – Thomas Bronzwaer
  19. Blinding Truth – Elevation
  20. Out of the Blue 2010 – System F
  21. Barber Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten mix) – William Orbit

The sound of snow falling in sunshine mix

The sound of snow falling in sunshine mix by cubicgarden

This is the mix I used for the Next Generation DJ contest. I lot of people asked if they could listen to it without Flash, and I had to said no simply because I had to get as many listeners and votes on the contest site as possible. Now Stage one is all but over, its very unlikely that my mix will make it to the second stage due to lack of votes (needed at least 200) I can open the mix up on Soundcloud for people to download and listen to away from the site.

Anyhow, I’ve already had my say on the contest rules and cheating which was going on. There’s also suggestions that music genres outside of House and Techno were/would have been voted down in the end because the contest involves djing live at a famous house arena….

But enough, check out the mix on Soundcloud and if you still feel like voting for it, its still available till 3rd Feb here.

The running order is the same as before of course

  1. Sinister – Airbase
  2. Constellation (john O callaghan remix – Thomas Bronzwaer
  3. Summer Melodies (Frequence remix) – Frequence
  4. Bulgarian (Signum Remix) – Travel
  5. Beauty hides in the deep (john O callaghan remix) – The Doppler effect
  6. Shadow World – Thomas Bronzwaer
  7. Serenity (alphazone remix) – saltwater
  8. Rewire – Robert Nickson & Daniel Kandi
  9. Key of life (Marlo remix) – Ohmna featuring Nurlaila
  10. Attention (steve birch remix) – John 00 Fleming vs Christopher Lawrence
  11. She wants him – Moussa Clarke & Terrafunka
  12. Into the danger (M.I.K.E remix) – M.I.K.E vs Andrew Bennett
  13. Certitude – Thomas Bronzwaer
  14. Ultra Curve – Cosmic gate
  15. It’s the beat – Simians mobile disco

Next Generation DJ contest qualifiers scrutinized

The sound of snow falling in sunshine mix from cubicgarden at Letsmix.com.

The whole thing is a joke I would say, I had pretty much given up to tell the truth. The NGDJ (next generation dj contest) has published a warning that all qualifiers to the contest will be scrutinized.

A quick note regarding the NGDJ Qualifiers: Leading up to the end of NGDJ Stage 1, we will be investigating all Qualifier mixes. Voting patterns related to accounts or mixes which are in breach of the NGDJ Terms and Conditions may lead to any of the following:

– Votes being retracted
– Mixes being denoted from Qualifier status
– The banning of Letsmix.com accounts

In addition to this we would like to inform you that this procedure might also affect mix rating averages and vote totals. All decisions and results following this investigation are final.

Voting issues, why? This is part of the problem,

For the stage 1

The NGDJ eligibility period will begin December 15th 2009 and will end on January 31st 2010, after which Stage 1 (“NGDJ Qualifiers Eligibility Period”) ends. To register and compete in NGDJ, visit http://www.letsmix.com and fully complete all required fields on the online registration form, and proceed to upload your DJ mix. Spread your NGDJ submission widely; you must gain a minimum of 200 ratings to be deemed a qualifier. The top one hundred qualifiers will then be determined by their average mix rating to remain in contest as Stage 2 commences.

Basically if you browse around the current qualifiers for the contest, you will find many examples of mixes which have something like 206 votes but only 60 actual listens. Go figure, obviously something is going on. What bugs me is that the legitimate mixes like mine (80 listens and 62 votes of a average of 4.8 out of 5) are going to lose out simply because I didn’t cheat like everyone else.

This comment sums up my thoughts too…

I don’t know why you didn’t make another voting procedure. My idea:
1. The vote button to be enabled only after the mix was listened at least 30 min
2. The rate of the mix to be shown only after the vote was placed.
3. The competitors shouldn’t be able to vote other mixes. The actual situation is not very good cause some of the “djs” here are not acquainted with the term FAIR PLAY and are not open minded.
4. The owner of the mix should be able to see a review of the votes he received on each day (how much stars has each vote).

So before the end of the month, if you’ve not voted for my mix, please do.

My Next Generation DJ competition mix: The sound of snow falling in sunshine mix

The sound of snow falling in sunshine mix from cubicgarden at Letsmix.com.

I decided to go with the straight forward trance mix after listening to both this one and the previously mentioned created one. I just found myself turning up the volume after almost every single track, so I rethought the whole idea of putting in something a little lesss trancy. It all went out the window once I heard it. I promise to upload the other one to soundcloud later.

Its 11am and the snow is falling on the cold streets of the inner city. Its too cold to go out and if you listen carefully there’s the sound of snow falling on the trendy rooftops of Manchester.Then for a moment a hint of sunlight from beyond the clouds. Before long, the sun is out but its still snowing.

Its warm enough on the balcony to do a pacemaker mix, this mix. Its a uplifting celebration of the last few years of Trance.

  1. Sinister – Airbase
  2. Constellation (john O callaghan remix – Thomas Bronzwaer
  3. Summer Melodies (Frequence remix) – Frequence
  4. Bulgarian (Signum Remix) – Travel
  5. Beauty hides in the deep (john O callaghan remix) – The Doppler effect
  6. Shadow World – Thomas Bronzwaer
  7. Serenity (alphazone remix) – saltwater
  8. Rewire – Robert Nickson & Daniel Kandi
  9. Key of life (Marlo remix) – Ohmna featuring Nurlaila
  10. Attention (steve birch remix) – John 00 Fleming vs Christopher Lawrence
  11. She wants him – Moussa Clarke & Terrafunka
  12. Into the danger (M.I.K.E remix) – M.I.K.E vs Andrew Bennett
  13. Certitude – Thomas Bronzwaer
  14. Ultra Curve – Cosmic gate
  15. It’s the beat – Simians mobile disco

Is this a competition winning mix?

I’ve been thinking about the mix for the mix competition and decided to do a more upbeat tech electro mix instead of trance. I’ll post it on soundcloud very soon, just need to edit it a little because the pacemaker didn’t record the first mix correctly (again!).

Break dance to this mix by cubicgarden

  1. Where’s your head at (Stanton Warriors Remix) – Basement Jaxx
  2. Hustler – Simians mobile disco
  3. Shifter – Timo Maas
  4. Wooden – Simians mobile disco
  5. Roundabout – Sam Sharp
  6. One for you (Oliver Klien)
  7. Shnorkel (original mix) – Miki Litvak and Ido Ophir
  8. Its the beat – Simians mobile disco
  9. Higher state of consciousness (dirty south version) – Josh wink
  10. Tits and Acid – Simians mobile disco
  11. Verdi (the others) – mauro picotto
  12. Grasshopper (raw version) – Sander Van Doorn
  13. Communication (more) – Mario Piu
  14. Friday (trentemoller remix) – Fred Everything and 20 for 7
  15. Rheninkraft (extended version) – Oliver Klein
  16. Prosac – Dj Tomcraft
  17. Sleep Deprivation – Simian mobile disco

What do you think? Shall I submit this one or stick to the trance?

Next Generation DJ Competition

Next Generation DJ is a competition bought to you by internationally renowned dance music brands Pioneer, Beatport, DJ Magazine and LetsMix.com. It is set to be the biggest and most wide reaching DJ contest of all time. And we don't use these words lightly…

We’re setting out to discover and launch the next superstar DJ, and it’s all taking place on the world’s fastest growing mix platform, letsmix.com.

So I'll be entering this one for sure. Once I sort out Virtualbox again with the pacemaker hardware, i'll start mixing up even more mixes that ever before. I got a massive back log of mixing to do. I had considered uploading one of my previous mixes. But the way the competition sounds, everyone will be doing plenty of post editing to increase the impact of the mixes.

Interestingly enough 8 of the top 10 djs of the world are trance djs.

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The Crispy Friday mix

Brand new mix, this time a little more deeper into the genre of tech trance or progressive trance if you prefer. Its certainly not one of my best mixes, I actually did it during lunch while I was waiting for something to be done. Its a mix which doesn't quite take off, instead keeps its self contained till close to the end when it does spread a wing or two. Enjoy!

  1. Crispy Bacon – Laurent Garnier
  2. Friday (trentemoller remix) – Fred Everything & 20 for 7
  3. Roundabout – Sam Sharp
  4. Us – Simon Patterson
  5. Panic Attack – Simon Patterson
  6. Dawn Raid (Sander van Doorm remix) – Jon Rundell
  7. Revolving Doors (club mix) – Ronski Speed
  8. Thump – Simon Patterson
  9. Certitude – Thomas Bronzwaer
  10. Exposure – Gareth Emery
  11. Strip Search – Simon Patterson
  12. Smack – Simon Patterson
  13. Joy Enerigizer – Joy Kitikonti
  14. Ultra Curve – Cosmic Gate

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The stoke of a fire mix

Been a while since I've published a mix on soundcloud. This is one I did while on holiday in of all place Stoke on Trent. The old style hotel had a fireplace and nice big chairs to get sucked into. So after most of the old people had retired to there rooms, I put down the ereader and slammed on the pacemaker. This mix is very warming and showcases some of the best trance over the last year. Enjoy!

  1. Flamboyant – Petshop Boys
  2. Invisible Touch (ferry Corsten touch) – Bobina
  3. Sinister – Airbase
  4. Shadow World – Thomas Bronzwaer
  5. Rewire – Robert Nickson & Daniel Kandi
  6. Key of life (Marlo remix) – Ohmna featuring Nurlaila
  7. Into something – richard durand
  8. Constellation (john O callaghan remix – Thomas Bronzwaer
  9. Summer Melodies (Frequence remix) – Frequence
  10. Embrace (ferry fix) – Embrace
  11. Surreal – John O Callaghan featuring Jaren
  12. Language (Santiago Nino Dub tech mix) – Hammer and Bennett
  13. Look ahead – Thomas Bronzwaer
  14. Radio Cursh (extended mix) – Ferry Corsten
  15. Certitude – Thomas Bronzwaer
  16. Ultra Curve – Cosmic gate
  17. Seven Cities (V-one's living city remix) – Solar Stone
  18. Flamboyant – Petshop Boys

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WTF? Wacom makes the nextbeat

I had forgotten to blog about this a while ago. Wacom have been working on a system called the Nextbeat, which is meant to be the instrument for creative djs.

Wacom known for their award-winning graphics tablets and interactive displays for designers and photographers, has announced the nextbeat system, which is aimed at DJ’s. Wacom’s nextbeat is a fully integrated professional DJ system, incorporating intuitive touch sensor controls and innovative live performance functions.

The nextbeat is a wireless portable control unit that enables performers to move free from the main device, resulting in more dynamic and energetic live performances inside booths promise Wacom.

The price? Well somewhere upwards up of 1500 pounds! And thats one of my problems with the whole thing. Its expensive and large. Also to be frank although it sounds like a good idea, I personally think its kind of daft. I mean the thing is shaped like a mini guitar and it just looks a little silly. Yes I think wireless is a good idea but not to prance around in front of the crowd. Plus there's already many solutions to do wireless audio already, so wheres the uniqueness? If they want to dance around in front of the crowd you need to be a wiij, as thats so much more impressive and expressive, plus it doesn't look like your playing rockband!

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