Thoughts and ideas of a dyslexic designer/developer
Yes yesterday I was offered a great job at BBC World Service and of course I took it. So I will be leaving Ravensbourne College behind for now, but I will still be hopefully involved with the Interaction design course even if its just regular checkups on students. I was also offered another position today, but for BBCi's iCan which I had to turned down.
Just wanted to say thanks to all which made my 5 years in Ravensbourne College enjoyable, challenging and interesting.
If I hear one more person say, digital mixing is cheating, i'm going to scream.
Its all different, or at least it should be different. Why? surely its just mixing with another media nothing exactly special?
Wrong! The media is the message… Seriously digital mixing isnt ment to be about copying vinyl mixing. In this post – a way not to do digital mixing I start to lay into the hercules audio dj console. But start to lay off when I mention the fact you could use the midi and digital inputs and outputs, could easily be used for something different and richer than vinyl mixing.
And this is where I will start my voyage into the future world of digital mixing.
I use Atomixmp3 2.2 but it wasnt always the case. I use to use Virtual turntables and before that vinyl. Virtual turntables died a pretty nasty death when its author didnt keep up development. But even then there was debate about auto beatmatching and scratching, and to tell the truth I got involved and never really think about the wider issues at all. However I'm seeing more djs and groups using computers in there sets. Most tend to go with applications like Propellerhead's Reason, and I love reason alot. But have you tried using reason in real time over a 2hour set? Boy oh boy its hard work. So what am I suggesting, more on interfaces soon, till then check out my previous – disagreement [Digital mixing != Vinyl mixing].
But back to Reason. Propellerhead sell not only reason but also Rebirth which I love as much as my Moog appilcation. And Recycle which takes looping to another level, well same level as Acid really. But its interface isnt made for real time use. Just like reason really… But as said before more about this soon, read this beforehand.
The software professionals are using the full apps because they contain key features like midi, hi quality sound, unlimited levels of soundscaping, unlimited effects and instruments. Now why would you want these things? Well if you think like a normal vinyl dj then anything above the cuts is cheating or not worth bothering with? Saying that many djs have wanted to dj with 3 or more decks, well i think about mixing with 5 and more tracks now. But that aside, what would these features bring to digital mixing? Well let me tell you first up, these would make digital mixing something very different, but on with the show.
Networked music
The problem with mixing to more than one version of atomixmp3 is that it breaks the auto beatmatching feature in half. You can match the same bpm but not the beat easily. For that you need a external mixer with monitor to put the mix back in place. Sorry but I thought we'd pass that ages ago. In atomixmp3 you can see a visual waveform of the music playing, so there is no need for headphones, specially when you know the track inside out. So realisticly it is possible to do a whole set listening to the main club output, aka dancing along with the clubbers. If that doesnt put digital mixing far off from vinyl mixing, i will find you something else which will do, give me time… Back to midi, using midi it should be possible to perfectly sync one atomixmp3 with another one, even if there on different machines. Now this relys on Atomixmp3 giving off a sync beat like you hearing when messing with midi for the first time. The sync beat keeps everything in time, and will adjust for any changes, just what is needed for mixing, wouldnt you agree? Now to take advantage, why limit ourselves to a midi cable? If the broadcasts are in something simple like SIP, SOAP, XMPP or even XMLRPC. It would be possible to do live sync mixing over any ip network. Say a Local area network, wireless, usb, firewire or even bluetooth. And like the midi in, out and thru connection theres no reason why there cant be a whole range of device or computers picking up and adjusting the sync track. Obvioulsy the sync track is just that and wont broadcast actual music, just the beat, bpm, pitches, etc. Maybe it will be possible to broadcast lots more like the tracks queued up and playing?
At which point we got something totally different from most vinyl djs, yes the aspect of collabration and team play. Common in groups but not in djs. Could that be because most djs like designers are so ego driven? I play the music, people come to see me? Who knows, but with these technologies its possible to do a mix from anywhere, even the dance floor…
Freedom of movement
Forever djs have stood in front of the clubbers or there fans behind the decks. Why? is it really all about security or does some of it have something to do with the ego of djs? who knows, rare cases have I seen the dj on the floor level of clubbers and if so there still usually in front. However I spent a little time in berlin last year, and went to a club opposite the universal building just on the east side across the river. And in the club on the bottom floor along side the great view of the universal building the dj was on a 10cm tall stand and right in the middle of the dance floor. So clubbers were surrounding the dj. Its pretty awesome to see, but doesnt work well because of the old legacy vinyl problems. First one, vinyl jumps, when someone hits the decks or surface on which the decks sit. So many times a slightly off balance clubber would hit lowish wall and make the record skip. Then the dj needed monitors, so if you were close to the booth, you could hear the slight delay from the PA system. its a pain in the arse for sure. Now if it was digital mixing all those problems would be solved. On top of that, there would be little need for a booth at all. Basiclly the digital dj only needs a power cable and a audio cable. Digital output in optical or coxial makes the cable small and good quality enough.
But hey dont be silly, what about wireless? If you setup a audio server on the laptop or device its possible to stream the music from the laptop/dj server to the client which would be the PA system. Now I'm not suggesting using 802.11b as its doesnt hold enough bandwidth for a consistant large stream, but 802.11g would work and lets not wipe out custom frequences. Ultimatly I believe UWB would be better in such an environment as a noisy, sweaty club. But imagine the possiblies once the dj is cut from the cables, as there no reason to have a light laptop really, so a laptop with extra large batteries means nothing really. Nothing stopping you from having a laptop with extra long storage batteries which could last 5 or more hours. There would be no need to have the screen brightness high, and atomixmp3 doesnt use up as much processing power as you may imagine. The server shouldnt either really, done tests with shoutcast server and atomixmp3 over a 802.11b network using my tablet pc in tablet mode and using the pen. And it lasts around 2 hours without killing the battery dead. A decent Athlon XP or Pentium 4 machine should beable to handle multistate atomixmp3 on batteries, as mine doesnt.
Changing the Interface
A move away from standing behind some decks or messing with the trackpad is so needed. I've had enough of looking out on to a crowded dance floor and thinking I wish I was there and here. Surely there is a way of having a good old dance and mix the music? Well I swear we need to look towards the live performance of people like MICHEL WAISVISZ. I've already done a huge post about him.
I love what you can do with a couple of laptop screens but the actual controls on screen are far too small to do a live performance. One of the interfaces I actually like is the dance dance revolution one. Now I'm not suggesting dance dance revolution should be the interface for digital mixing, just that its kind of neat how you have the interface ontop of the quickly moving backdrop. All perfectly watchable from a far.
Very interesting post and links about how bit torrent, real simple syndication and streaming technologies can be combined to create a new delivery method. Not sure its the most effective but interesting anyway. BitTorrent + RSS = Broadcatching
Watching this well made and captivating documentary about Racism in the UK. Wish I'd made a copy of the programme now. Its truly haunting to see how the BNP have changed there image and used clever propaganda to gain support in critical areas where the local community are split.
Mon 15 Mar at 01:55 on BBC Three
Ten years ago, 21 year-old Matthew Collins fled the country, a wanted man. As a far right activist, he'd witnessed the formation of the terror group Combat 18, and been involved in some violent attacks on innocent people. But there was something about Matthew that his friends didn't know. He'd become an informer, working against them from the inside. Eventually his evidence led to convictions and he was forced to flee Britain for Australia at short notice.
But Matthew Collins isn't hiding any more. Now he's come back to face the demons he left behind and rebuild his life in Britain. Dead Man Walking charts Matthew's return journey as he tries to find out what's changed on the far right since he left a decade ago and prepares to face the race hate groups from the outside this time.
I'm going to sort out my Linux box with MythTV sometime this weekend. Spent too much time looking at other posts yesterday night. I looked at my blog where it all started yesterday which passed me on to PVRBlog. Where I see theres a Knoppix cd with MythTV. So i can test out my hardware and make sure it works with MythTV before messing with my debian setup. Other links useful for my experiment into mythTV, mysettop box, Install guides for Linux PVRs and PVR Hardware database. MythTV on the Xbox?
Ok been trying to install MythTV with the Knoppix CD for the last 4-5hours now. Already had my first Kernal Panic simular to Mac OSX. And I'm reinstalling once again for the 4th time. I think my Hard drives are screwed, but I dont fancy swapping hard drives at this time in the morning.
This ties directly into my digital mixing debate in some way, not worth getting into right now. Anyway, I didnt mention anything about the grey album. Shame on me, my mind was too focused on the EUCD I think. Anyway, if you havent heard about it check it out.
But it brings up the old issues of sampling and fair use but this time its war…
With Jay-Z Construction Set, I douht this will die down too soon. Really interesting post about the whole area and how the industry would benefit from the videogame content creation model. Cant help think this links to companys like SonyEricsson encoraging people to produce content while others prefer you only to recieve. Creative Commons also did a huge feature on it and there are still comments coming in on alternatives viewpoints.
My own view is shared with Yoz. I actually remember using the samples on my ST using the mono mastersound sampler. Not saying it was as impressive though.
UK band The Shamen also did this back in 1991 with their single “Progen 91 (Move Any Mountain)”, the CD of which contained most of the raw samples used in the track, calling it a do-it-yourself remix kit. It's more impressive when you bear in mind that they were a pretty popular band at the time and the song was a top ten hit.
Interesting enough Yoz talks about the remixable form of Cory Doctorow's Down and Out In The Magic Kingdom. Oh had fun reading about Dance dance revolution comps going on in London. Another viewpoint on my digital mixing point of view maybe? Need to write the damm post soon…
I love the BBC, I use to hate the idea we pay a TV licence fee. But we get so much good for such a nice price. Also dont get me started on Community vs… Anyway, I'm a little ignoyed that I missed the last AIGA meeting. But I've only just heard about the BBC iMP through these blogs. And I'm kind of shocked there using Microsoft Windows media with DRM! Oh my… This isnt what Greg dyke was talking about surely? By the way you get some odd results looking for posts in this area. However I do hope at the same time someone works on a 14day EPG for Freeview.
I was reading pvrblog.com, for the review of snapstream 3. As the review on slashdot wasnt all that I feel. Been thinking of turning my linux box into a dual boot with snapstream, then again I've been thinking of mythTV too but nothing about it yet. However I'm also interested in the new replayTV stream option which I spotted in Xbox media centre, by the way I got the March release which is even smoother. Anyway was reading about that too while looking for my old entry about live streaming to the xbox all that time ago.
When I spotted me hack, youhack we all hack. Which linked to mehack. I started scanning, and I thought to myself this guy knows what he's talking about, this blog is going on my feeds. I mean come on first post – xbox media center is the best there is, i'm already hearing that… then I see the second and third posts, overclocking megadrives and turning your archos into a rockbox, and I'm left thinking, there bring linux to the ipod? Anyhow I was well impressed and started thinking, I need to do more hardware hacking… Maybe follow the lead of some of my students who bought the Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks. I need to check out the ton of links which I have passed over to write this entry.
Oh man, forget the new media2go, gonna find a cheap Archos and load up this nice open firmware. Hello! what the heck – DVArchive, Virtual ReplayTV for your PC. I so need to get my hands on a cheap ReplayTV box if they work over here in the UK. Going to wait out on getting a Freeview PVR box now.
After pocketpcnow found the developer blogs for the PocketPC team. He's found out Microsoft are now hosting live chat sessions to talk about the PocketPC platform. Interesting Microsoft are using Ical for there events now. And looking at the information, its not only pocketpcs but smartphones too…
Dear friend of mine (SarahK), has been working on Lifeblog. Now theres little information on this service at the moment except a mention on the feature and a sneak preview on BBC. Maybe this Nokia turning on its heels about people generated content? Who knows, but I douht it unfortually. Will be interested to see it working though, wonder if Nokia are going to run somekind of service or will it link into another social network or blogging service? Still think SonyEricsson may have the upper hand with there camera come phones and the services which will come with it, look out Kodak, there after your digital market.
Talking of which techdirt has some great pieces regarding the above in different ways. First up SonyEricsson and my Kodak comment, the lines are blending. Kodak are sueing Sony? Enough said about this for now. The other one is good and bad news for sarahk, better interfaces needed for mobile phones. How on earth can they patent touchscreen mobiles? Hello you not seen the Ericsson T380? all of 4 years ago? And theres been plenty of others. I'm shaking my head just thinking of it.
Yeah its official were fcuked. Most of the power supply in England will come from northern europe or/and russia by 2010, says the BBC docu-drama. Been reading up about this anyway before the programme and I seriously thought we might be ok. However were not, wind power needs backup, which leads to gas. Coal burning is too much money because you need to put huge expensive filters on the pipes. To quote It would be like putting a level3 catylistic converter on a clapped out car.
. While Nuclear power stations are being shutdown more and more, and could take as long as 15 years to turn back on. More facts here. Once again, we need to do something about it now, but people are too focused on other issues, kind of reminds me of the lack of media coverage to the EUCD. Even though IF
was on BBC2, it was well advertised, on at primetime 9pm and had a good talk afterwards chaired by paxman. If only this was true of other issues…
EU backs tighter rules on piracy. Its all too late… Here are some more stories. Anti-piracy directive could expose consumers
Can you believe this all went through without much media coverage? All the web finds nothing. Yahoo news. Altavista news. Shame on you searchlores.
Thank god for slashdot. and ip justice.
I saw this while browsing – European Union Copyright Directive lecture. and this is great – Why America’s Mistake is Europe’s Future. Can you trust your computer? by Richard Stallman. Lawrence Lessig's comments. And finally spiked-online has a debate in the same area, while I was reading Lawrence again…
Some more fall out later after the date. EU Tightens Copyright Laws
Following on from my blog about taking advantage of digital for what it is not copying vinyl mixing. And more material for a nice long write about digital mixing.
Hercules Audio – DJ Console Portable DJ Mix Controller & Multi-Channel Audio. Cheap but still the same vinyl forumula. Except maybe the midi in and out could be used for something decent later on with good software. The pure digital opticial and coaxial SPDIF in and out also helps quite alot to keep it ahead of the standard dj mixers. However, if I ever see this piece of crap ever again it will be far too soon. Blame NTK for my rant today
Seems channels such as E4, UKTV and Discovery will be coming back to Freeview sooner than expected in the form of TopUpTV. I would say eight pounds a month isnt too bad for 10 extra channels. However I would prefer to pay something like one pound per channel. Basicly the channel line up is E4, UKTV Gold, Discovery, Cartoon network, Discover H&L, TCM, UKTV food, Bloomberg, Boomerang and UKTV style. So a real mix bag of channels. I'm only interested in E4 and the Discoverys. Anyway there doing a trial run soon, so I may consider it, would be better if I had the twinview PVR box really.
Kevins been chipping his xbox today, some guy at the local computer fair which is really nice to know as I now know where to send people. Costs 60 pounds chip and install, includes rom i believe but cant see why the guy would bother taking the risk. Anyway, kev dropped me a ftp site with the latest xbmc. And I started doing more research into xbmc.
There seems to be a new looking skin not based on windows media centre as its got copyright issues. However the alternative looks pretty good too, its based on the dell media centre.
The xbmc team have finally put a load of screenshots online too. Which brings up lots of questions for me. Where can I download that project mayhem skin? I didnt know xbmc can copy and manage files?
Good to see the imdb and it looks like cddb feature works well. Theres an on screen keyboard for the xbmc? Does a usb keyboard also work, as that would be really cool. Thank goodness shoutcast streaming is still supported, any chance of icecast streaming? Super large icons for all sections, very nice… Not sure what this is, too short for a movie and too long for trailers
. I'm wondering if xbmc allows for natrual categories like years, timing, etc? Could be right? There must be somekind of plugin arctecture, my weather? I'm hoping this will mean a return of xmltv listings and some new cutting edge features like streaming from xbox to xbox using xbconnect. Its also good to see new visual effects, as groom was kind of boring, plus theres a competition for more visualization. Screensavers? and this is stupid nuts.
On a whole its all too much to take in… I cant wait to see what happens next…
By the way theres a poll for what should be the default skin.
Ok I've installed xbmc and it does pretty much eveything seen in the preview and more…
First thing, the web front end is now working, its really shabby but it works. You can browse through the shares and click on the piece of media you want and the xbmc will play it a couple of seconds later. You can also pause and stop. I dont see anyway to setup a playlist but there is a skip forward and back button. Ideal skipping adverts while watching Hollyoaks from the sofa with my tabletpc on my lap.
So anyway that works well, even though I have yet to try it on my ipaq or smartphone. Imagine with port forwarding I could control xbmc from any where I can get the Internet. Home automation is almost there.
Screensaver works well, also has the option to auto shutdown after a set period. Visuals not too good, same as xbmp. Weather works but not too amazing, can wait to see what other webservice clients they build, or if its easy enough for me to build one. Can just imagine RSS readers, etc. Anyway the other thing which is also very interesting is the intergration of imdb, cddb, etc. You can look up films, tv shows, tunes and games. Then use them for thumbnails on folders as well as files. Theres also a auto scan option which will scan and create thumbnails and info for all folders and files under the current folder. Trust me it takes a while to do. The keyboard feature is also very cool, it allows you to rename files, search through files, etc. I tried out the usb keyboard and it didnt work, which was a shame.
The thing which i find really amazing is the natrual categories. Basicly when you add metadata to your files and folders via the scan option you can then look at all media through a selection of categories. Genres, Actors, Year, Title in the movie section and Albums, Artist, Genres, Top100, Songs in the Tune section. And flicking between the filesystems and categories is so easy, i cant help but do it. Makes me want to put all my movies on a couple of Huge RAID arrays rather than CD. With the right kind of money… Anyway that aside, I'm going to start using xbmc more now because its more stable than it use to be and the features are so rich and useful. Thumbs up from me…
