Tag: mix

Hacking the Pacemaker (progress)

Pacemaker Manager

At last a break through, someone (musicinstinct2) has cracked the way the pacemaker adds and removes music to the SQLlite database.

My initial experiments involved using the sqlite database browser to open up music.db and enter track information. Then manually copy the tracks over to the device, making up random hash values (as I couldn’t work out how Tonium were creating these hashes). It works! The device doesn’t rely on any particular naming convention, whatever is in the filename field in the database (music.db) is used by the device to load the track.

Fantastic…! Now this is cracked and Musicinstinct2 is working on a open source client to manage tracks. The next stage is to crack and understand the XML file which is attached to every single track uploaded on the device. The bulk of the data in stuck in a XML element called realBeatLocations.

I expect it won’t take long before we have the whole thing pretty much cracked. What would make things move along quicker is if Tonium would publish the source as it was created under the GPL.

The Geometry Set

The Geometry Set by cubicgarden

This is my latest mix on my pacemaker. Lots of new tunes and some classics returns.

Its known as just the geometry set, but why? Well most of the mix has something to do with geometry in some way. If you think you can work out the link in each tune, feel free to comment below.

You may have noticed this is also a much shorter mix that I usually do but it didn’t feel the need to be long and drawn out.

Ladies and Gentleman, I present The Geometry Set…

The Geometry Set by cubicgarden

  1. Endless Wave (albion remix) – Kamaya Painters
  2. Heal – Electrique Boutique
  3. Arctic Globe – DJ Governor Presents Orjan
  4. Strange Bends (Kyau Vs Albert) – Sebastian Sand
  5. Shadow World – Thomas Bronzwaer
  6. Call The Galaxy Taxi (Martin Roth Nu Style Remix) – Plastic Angel
  7. The Spring – Ernesto and Alex Fisher
  8. Ultra Curve – Cosmic Gate
  9. Exposure – Gareth Emery
  10. Perfect Wave – peter martin pres anthanasia
  11. The string that binds us (8 wonders remix) – Arnej
  12. Intution – Marninx Pres Ecco

The wrong end of irlam walkabout mix

The wrong end of irlam walkabout mix by cubicgarden

Another mix by myself (Dj Cubicgarden). This time its the wrong end of irlam walkabout mix. As you can imagine I did this while walking around Irlam (yes its a real place, near Manchester) and I kind of got a little lost. It was certainly the wrong end of Irlam, as the kiddies started gathering wondering why I was there, and what this weird thing I was clutching was (the pacemaker). Anyway, I made it out of irlam safely but unfortunately without my scooter, which also now needs a new battery.

The mix is far from perfect but its an enjoyable mix of trance. There’s a lot of new stuff mixed in with some old favorites. The problem with walking around doing a mix is you can’t see the screen very well when selecting tunes and things like buying a ticket or showing the inspector your ticket can really put you off the pace of a mix.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy it, here’s the playlist…

  1. Collider – Thomas Bronzwaer
  2. Man on the Run – Dash Berlin with Cerf, Mitlska
  3. Perfect Wave – Peter Martin pres Anthanasia
  4. Ninety – Sander van Doorn
  5. Jelly Tracks (rippin & drippin mix) – Oliver Klein
  6. Roundabout – Sam Sharp
  7. Breathing (push vocal mix) – Rank 1
  8. Off the world (large remix) – Martin Roth and Alex Bartlett
  9. Passionate (fire & ice remix) – Leon
  10. Intution (martin roth remix) – Marninx pres ecco
  11. Into the danger (M.I.K.E remix) – M.I.K.E vs Andrew Bennett
  12. Listening – Aly & Fila feat Josie
  13. Severn Cities (V-One Living Cities remix) – Solar Stone
  14. RAMsterdam (jornvan deynhoven remix) – RAM

The secret garden sunshine mix

The secret garden sunshine mix by cubicgarden

So my latest mix is online, I’m sorry to say I uploaded while at TedXSheffield (it was break time and the wifi was pretty fast). I got to take the wifi as it comes because it looks like I won’t get connectivity till the end of the month now.

As always the mix can be downloaded from soundcloud if the flash player doesn’t take your fancy or you want to listen to it on the go. I would upload a OGG version (the pacemaker defaults to ogg actually, so creating a mp3 version requires extra time and effort) but soundcloud don’t really support versions of the same stuff, I’m considering going back to blip.tv for media uploading. The playlist is below, Yes I really like Thomas Bronzwaer, he’s got a style of trance which really plays to my ear, this is also the reason for Collider twice.

This mix was recorded on my pacemaker while sitting outside in the sunshine of my new shared garden at Islington Wharf. Not my best mixing but entaining and well worth a listen. Thanks to Simon Lumb (@dirtysi) for the new Gouryella remix. I love Gouryella and this remix is pretty true to the original in lot of aspects. Enjoy…

  1. Man on the run – dash berlin with cerf
  2. Perfect Wave – peter martin pres anthanasia
  3. The strings that bind us – Arnej
  4. Be with me – Coast 2 coast feat Amanda Jami
  5. Collider – Thomas Bronzwaer
  6. denva – Ronski Speed
  7. Massive Motion – M.I.K.E
  8. Rainmaker – des mcmahon
  9. North Pole – Nitrous Oxide
  10. Sincere (pulsar remix) – Firewall
  11. The pride in your eyes (martin roth mix) – Tillmann Uhrmacher
  12. Collider – Thomas Bronzwear
  13. Resound – Thomas Bronzwear
  14. Constellation – Thomas Bronzwear
  15. Gouryella (gigolo remix) – Gouryella

Crowd sourced a mix

Its started when dirtySi said about getting some new trance and I was already buying some from audiojelly. Anyway he thought about doing a crowd sourced mix by opening it up to people online to set the playlist. I later thought it would be good if we use the same playlist to do similar mixes.

Yep, crowd source a set list, hours mix, around 10-15 songs – but we get to swap in a favorite and decide the order.

So it started… dj cubicgarden and dirtysi are now taking requests. Try and make it trance rather that generic house or some other genre. Actually it might be worth me or si post our tracks. If someone can suggest somewhere that would be great.

The pulse of a nation mix – Hospital mix

The pulse of a nation mix by cubicgarden

I had a listen to all of my mixes I recorded while in Hospital, and this is certainly the best mix of them all.

This one is certainly the best sounding of the bunch which includes the the amazing recover mix, the outta of hope mix and of course the pulse of a nation mix. Its a good length too at almost a hour long. The mixing isn’t perfect but its good enough for a listen. The choice of tunes is also good, a nice upbeat selection, I must have had a good day the day I recorded this mix. As always enjoy it… oh an you can directly download this mix using this link.

  1. By your side (martin roth remix) – the thrillseekers feat gina do
  2. Strange bends (kyau vs albert) – Sebastian Sand
  3. Grooveline (matt darey) – Blockster
  4. dark side of the moon (marc van linden remix) – Ernesto vs Bastian
  5. Intution (martin roth remix) – Marninx pres ecco
  6. the truth (david west remix) – Headstrong feat Tiff Lacey
  7. Circa Forever (R.E.mix) – Rapid eye
  8. The wave (svenson & gielen remix) – cosmic gate
  9. a new dawn (virtual vault remix) – steve forte rio
  10. So much – Vince Nysse
  11. Ultracurve – cosmic gate

One of the mixes while I was in Hospital – outta of hope mix

The outta of hope mix by cubicgarden

I had a listen to most of my mixes I recorded while in Hospital, and there some good stuff there. Its going to take a while to recover and make them decent for sharing because sometimes I had the cross fader in the wrong position which is a shame or forgot to do something equally silly. Anyway here’s a nice short one to kick us off. As always enjoy…

  1. Above the sky – Airwave
  2. Cafe del Mar (Marco V remix) – Energy 52
  3. Are you fine – Kyan vs Albert
  4. Sincere (pulser remix) – Firewall
  5. Language (santiago nino dub tech mix) – Hammer and Bennett
  6. Shadow World – Thomas Brozwaer
  7. Lately (Riley & durrant mix) – Airbiscuit
  8. She wants him – Moussa Clarke & Terrafunka
  9. Into Something – Richard durand
  10. The Blizzard (Monogato’s Filth Remix) – Kalopsia
  11. Gamesmaster (matt darey 1999 remix) – Lost Tribe

iPad Dj Application?

Been thinking 2 ipads to mix music with could be interesting. However where would you store all those tunes? Would you put the mixer on a third device or even a iphone/ipod touch? Could you run the whole thing on one ipad?

There are a few stories exploring the idea. But generally most of the problems related to the ipad are also related to the iphone too. Things one audio output, no ability to add an external usb soundcard, locked up music subsystem, etc, etc. I did however see that the ipad has already been hacked or jailbroken, so who knows what might change for a serious dj setup.

The one step beyond entropy mix

The one step beyond entropy mix by cubicgarden

The mix isn’t perfect, I almost dedcied not to release it and maybe even do it again, but I changed my mind as theres a lot of new tunes in this mix. Of course there’s classic ones too. Recorded in Bristol while waiting to go out one night, I’m sure yuo will enjoy it.

Its been a while since I’ve uploaded a new mix mainly because I’ve had some trouble getting the Pacemaker editor software working in Ubuntu. I tried to get it working using Wine but it just would not work. So I had to go back to using Sun’s VirtualBox which thankfully does work.

Here’s the playlist for the mix…

  1. Salvation (Album Re-Vised Mix) – M.I.K.E
  2. Second Slience (Michael Jast edit) – Signum vs Delerium
  3. Intution (Martin Roth Remix) – Marninx pres Ecco
  4. Watch out (Extended Remix) – Ferry Corsten
  5. Junk (Body Snatchers Vocal mix) – Ferry Corsten Feat Guru
  6. Strange Bends (Kyau Vs Albert) – Sebastian Sand
  7. A New dawn (Virtual Vault Remix) – Steve Forte Rio
  8. Smack – Simon Patterson
  9. Invisible Touch (Ferry Corsten’s Touch) – Bobina
  10. Sinister (Original Mix) – Airbase
  11. Language (Santiago Nino Dub Tech Mix) – Hammer and Bennett
  12. Shivers (Alex M.O.R.P.H Remix) – Armin Van Buuren
  13. RAMsteram (Jornvan Deynhoven Remix) – RAM

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 Essential Mixes

Armin Van Buuren djing

Essentialmixes.net is a website where you can stream, download, view tracklists and rate every Radio 1 essential mix since it began in 1993. Wow, but its not flawless.

There are so many amazing mixes on the site… One which takes me right back is Force & Styles mix from 1997. Just check out the playlist from this sweet mix. The only tune missing is the Eyeopener by Dj Brisk.

  1. Force & Styles – “Paradise & Dreams” (Diverse)
  2. Force & Styles – “Apollo 13 Pt II” (UK Dance)
  3. Bang The Future – “Body Slam” (GBT)
  4. Force & Styles – “Cuttin’ Deep” (Diverse Recordings)
  5. DJ Quatro – “Musical Mayhem” (HecTec)
  6. Sy & Bunter – “Connect Your Step” (GBT)
  7. Sy & Demo – “Love & Devotion” (Quosh)
  8. DJ Stompy – “Body Rock” (Hectic)
  9. JDS – “Higher Love” (Stompin’ Choonz)
  10. DJ Eruption – “Don’t You Want Me” (United Dance)
  11. Demo
  12. Ham & Time – “Here I Am” (Jal Premium)
  13. Ramos & Supreme – “Gotta Believe” (Hectic Rewinds)
  14. Hixxy & Bananaman – “Together Forever” (Essential Platinum)
  15. DJ Eruption – “Let The Music” (United Dance)
  16. Force & Styles – “Pretty Green Eyes” (UK Dance)
  17. Force & Styles – “Your Love” (Happy Trax)
  18. Bang – “Cloudy Daze” (Next Generation)
  19. Force & Styles – “Shining Down” (UK Dance)
  20. DJ Demo – “Your Mine” (Universal)
  21. Slipmatt & Eruption – “Sunshine” (First Recordings)
  22. Billy Bunter – “Untitled” (GBT)
  23. DJ Eruption – “Reach Out” (United Dance)
  24. DJ Vinyl Groover – “It Doesn’t Have To Be” (Hectic Rewinds)
  25. DJ Vinyl Groover – “Time After Time” (Obsession)

The site its self is pretty impressive, it really celebrates the dj and the amazing mixes which is good thing. So I went to register and found out, registration actually costs money up front which is a bit cheeky, yes its only 2 pounds 50 but there should be a option to sign up without paying. Then if you want to download, you have to pay. There’s also no clear indication what kind of downloads will be available. I can’t actually tell if the downloads are mp3’s, ogg vorbis or something drm’ed like AAC/WMA?

Reading people tweets, there seems to be a lot of problems downloading mixes, so maybe they should adopt some kind of P2P system like bit torrent to ease the bandwidth problems there having. Something like P2Pnext would be perfect for this setup. Finally, it would be great to have a API or at least RSS feeds.

I’m sure someone is already writing a script/app for this site to go into XBMC/Boxee/other devices, if there not – I might just do it myself.

System F remix competition

To be fair the last thing I really want to do is enter another competition after the sheer Mess O’Potamia of the Lets Mix Next Generation DJ contest, I’m not so sure I really want to enter another, but remixing a range of System F/Ferry Corsten’s tunes is too tempting.

Back in 1999, System F’s ‘Out Of The Blue’ redefined trance music for a new generation. Ferry Corsten’s synth-laden classic destroyed dancefloors across the planet and became a worldwide chart hit, beginning one of the most successful careers in dance music for the Dutch maestro. 11 years on, the track is being re-released with a host of new mixes from Tiësto, Hi_Tack, Laidback Luke, Rafaël Frost, Giuseppe Ottaviani, Koen Groeneveld, Showtek and others!

To celebrate, Ferry Corsten in association with Trackitdown.net and Copa Football, has launched FC System F – the chance to become part of the greatest team in trance history! By entering the competition, users are able to remix highlights from the System F back catalogue. To kick things off, Tiësto, Laidback Luke and the above have already remixed ‘Out Of The Blue’, but there are 10 further original tracks presented in the line-up, all waiting for the remix treatment from a new star player.

Starting weekly from February 2nd, Ferry will post the original parts of a System F track on the website. After agreeing to the Terms & Conditions and registering, fans will be able to download the parts for free, and have 3 weeks to send in their remix via a download link to team@fcsystem.com

Wonder if I can use LMMS for remixing these tracks once their available?

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

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?