Tag: mixing

The past and the future of portable DJing in one shot

A Pacemaker device and the Drift Zero one sat next to each other on a table top. Both are turned on
The past and the future of portable DJing in one shot.

A post was recently share on the Drift DJ discord.
The pacemaker when djing went pocket sized and the world wasnt ready

Its a really good piece about the massive leap the Pacemaker device provided way back in 2008. In short the device was up against smartphones like the iphone. Smartphones turned everything down to software.

…the idea of carrying a dedicated device for DJing felt quaint when your phone could theoretically do the same thing via an app

Theres mentions of Tonium’s attempts with the Blackberry playbook, something I used and absolutely hated after my bad experience. Then the change to software, on the iOS platform with the first to have Spotify integration. But I do like the nod to the community and people like myself who modified their Pacemaker devices with a SSD, new battery and replacing the firmware with unofficial builds. I actually use one of the unofficial ones on one device and the last official one on another for live mixing and stability.

But best of all is the ambition of the Pacemaker device. Its what got me to buy my very first one back in 2007.

Looking back at the Pacemaker now, it feels like a glimpse of a future that never quite materialised. The device represented a genuine attempt to rethink DJing for a mobile-first world, to distil the essence of club culture into something genuinely portable without compromising on functionality. It had vision, ambition, and genuine innovation behind it. The execution was largely solid, the feature set comprehensive, and the user experience thoughtfully designed. In many ways, it was exactly what it promised to be: the world’s first truly portable professional DJ system.

For those who owned one, used one, or simply appreciated what it tried to do, the Pacemaker remains a fascinating piece of music technology history. It’s a reminder that sometimes the most interesting innovations aren’t the ones that achieve mainstream success but rather the ones that push boundaries, challenge assumptions, and show what’s possible when you’re willing to think differently about established conventions.

In the picture, I put the Pacemaker device next to the Drift DJ zero and suggest this could be everything the Pacemaker promised and very almost delivered on. Its clear portable DJ systems are incredible and provide all types of possibilities not realised. Maybe its time for a #DJhackday?

Drift Zero DJ, alpha testing

The Drift DJ Zero on top of a box with Ian written on it

I have been using the Pacemaker device for I believe 17 years now but I have been looking around for the next generation of DJ tools. It was Si who first sent me the Drift DJ zero and I was sold pretty much straight away.

Under a year later, I have have signed up as a alpha tester and today it came in the post from Chicago.

Its quite an incredible device, with the level of quality I expect will last even the most crazy DJ performances. Its small (its just a bit bigger a profile than my Pixel 9 pro, likely same size as the XL one) and its lighter than I expected, not pacemaker device light but easy to carry or host on a tray table on a train or plane. (Can’t wait to see the faces of KLM staff in the near future). All the buttons and nobs are solid and tactile in a way only another DJ would understand. The weighting and feedback is just right, while the screen is just delightful to see. Navigation is pretty intuitive as I haven’t looked at any documentation at all to date.

Drift DJ in the dark on a desk

As this is the alpha, its not got a lot of the features like DJing or library control but the testers have access to a git repo to upload updates via USB. Not played enough yet but I have been told I can SSH into the device for extreme levels of control. When the official build becomes available, I will also receive one for the testing my feedback; which I feel is a fantastic deal.

One thing is for clear, I really need to sort out my music library, because the Pacemaker editor was prehistoric and I never managed it.

Expect updates and who knows a mix or two in the near future…

Recursive rhythms: the bring back techno ciento climb mix

Close up photo of the Pacemaker DJ device while sitting on a flight
Pacemaking on British Airlines

Conference season is pretty much over and my last event was the excellent Mozilla Festival, this time in Barcelona. I took a KLM flight via Amsterdam on the way and created the base of a interesting mix. On the way back I flew via Heathrow on BA (a reminder how much I don’t like Heathrow, and use to fly from Gatwick when I could).

On my BA flight, I re-did the mix with a few tweaks and the resulting mix was created. Created using the very ageing Pacemaker device on KLM and remix/raised on BA? as such?

Its a strange one because there is a bit of reusing of the same tunes, which isn’t a thing you do when DJing, but it kind of worked. Also maybe the early mornings, 4 hours of sleep and climbing what felt like 100 steps to the festival, had gotten to me?

What ever it is, I have been enjoying this longer mix, as it includes new tunes, especially Bring back the techno which I also heard DJ B Jones playing on the Saturday night party.

Enough typing… You can listen to the mix in full quality on my mixgarden or at reasonable quality here too.

  1. 00:00:00 – Vibration (extended mix) – Redub
  2. 00:03:16 – Intruder – Armin vs M.I.K.E
  3. 00:06:31 – My beat (jan Driver mix) – Blaze
  4. 00:11:18 – Rerflection (extended mix)  – Ferry Corsten
  5. 00:14:46 – Emotions Of Colour (Extended Mix) – Cosmic Gate & Gid Sedgwick
  6. 00:19:48 – Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat Einat
  7. 00:24:12 – Bring back the techno (extended mix) – Orjan neilson, Mark sixma, nilsix
  8. 00:27:41 – Eclipse – Neo
  9. 00:31:15 – Inferno – Carl Cox
  10. 00:35:43 – Mass Noise 2015 – fred baker & Seb B
  11. 00:39:35 – Whites of her eyes – Simon Patterson
  12. 00:43:59 – You (extended mix) – Cosmic gate
  13. 00:46:48 – Emotions Of Colour (Extended Mix) – Cosmic Gate & Gid Sedgwick
  14. 00:52:13 – Silver bath (Adam El-Sayed 2015 rework – Plastic boy
  15. 00:56:48 – Outlaw (extended mix) – Fatum
  16. 01:00:57 – Bring back the techno ((Extended Mix) – Orjan Nilsen, Mark Sixma (Nilsix)
  17. 01:02:40 – Anasthasia (Extended Mix) – Mark Sixma vs T99

R&D advisory and labs winter party dance to this mix (2024 edition)

People party in a underground bar

I recorded this mix live on the Pacemaker device’s build in recorder/editor while mixing at our work end of year do. Its a little ropey in places but its all mixed live and with new tunes that I wouldn’t normally mix with. This is similar to the Amstels thriller chiller mix in some of the tunes.

As it goes out on Peertube, I need to mark it as explicit because it contains one swear word in the first tune – Animals (Christmas remix).

Some will enjoy this short mix, we only had 30 minutes to play and went over that even. But I certainly could redo it into something better, now I know the tunes more.

Listen on Peertube or my mixgarden

The Berlin donnerwetter mix

Google thunderstorm weather alert with map of Berlin and airport in background

Recently I took a last minute flight to Berlin for Republica 2024. Although I mainly escaped the thunderstorm by going via Copenhagen it was touch and go on the Copenhagen to Berlin leg of the journey.

Of course I had lots of time to record this mix on the pacemaker device, which attracted the eye and question of a fellow passenger who asked what it was and how it worked. Gladly explained, not sure if he took it all on board but good to have interesting in this very aged device.

This mix is recorded live and moves a long at 136ish BPM with some classic trance tunes. Turn this one up nice and loud! Hopefully in the sunshine not in the thunderstorm!

Enjoy here or on Peertube or in full quality on my mixgarden

The list of tunes used

  1. Long Way Home – Gareth Emery
  2. Aberration Of Light (Original Mix) – Michael Kaelios
  3. Energy Crash (Extended Mix) – Maarten de Jong
  4. Erase – Brooks Alexsander
  5. Verdi – Mauro Picotto
  6. Opium (Quivver Remix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  7. Beat (Da Boxx) – Laurent Garnier
  8. Soundbar (extended mix) – Giuseppe Ottaviani
  9. Running up the hill (jerome isma-ae bootleg) – Placebo
  10. Whites Of Her Eyes (Original Mix) – Simon Patterson
  11. Amino Acids (Original Mix) – Tau-Rine
  12. Brush Strokes (Original Mix) – Simon Patterson
  13. Certitude (original mix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  14. Floyd (extended mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  15. Adam K & Soha Mix – Kaskade
  16. Inception – Teminite

Oslo euphoric ascendancy mix

Oslo's fjord at sunset
Oslo’s fjord at sunset

After the more darker Torp-Ekspressens mysterium mix, I felt more chilled out from the Saunas and relaxing atmosphere of the Nordic sky. This mix on the way back on the plane needed to be more lighter and joyful.

The euphoric ascendancy, really stokes the fires and has more super high trance tunes than any other mix I have done? 2 hours of hands in the Nordic air watching the sun set over a beautiful country.

I love this mix and it was done all in one go with no retakes, just hit record and go.

Enjoy here or on Peertube or in full quality on my mixgarden

The list of tunes used

  1. As The Amazon Rush Comes (Armin van Buuren vs DJ Commisad Bootleg) – Motorcycle vs Midway
  2. Peace (Original Mix) – Yves Deruyter
  3. On Air (Tau-Rine Remix) – Jan Miller
  4. Constellation (John O’Callaghan mix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  5. Music Is More Than Mathematics (extended mix) – Protoculture
  6. Time (Sean Tyas Remix) – Paul Webster Feat Angelic Amanda
  7. Shapes – Maor Levi
  8. We Are One (Instrumental Mix) – Dave202
  9. Resound – Thomas Bronzwaer
  10. The Legacy – Push
  11. Tears (Protoculture Remix) – Dakota
  12. Arganda (Chris Schweizer rockin mix) – Heatbeat
  13. Gamemaster (Original Lost Tribe 1997 Remix) – Lost Tribe
  14. Big Sky (Agnelli & Nelson remix) – John O’Callaghan feat. Audrey Gallagher
  15. Shadow World – Thomas Bronzwaer
  16. Megalodon – Dash Berlin
  17. Anahera (extended mix) – Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella

Torp-Ekspressens mysterium mix

Lights trails along a darken road
Travelling along in the dark to Oslo

On a new visit to Oslo, I had the joy of a long tiring coach ride from Torp Sandefjord airport to actual Oslo. It was very late and although I did a mix on the plane with the pacemaker device, the long winding journey with a closed motorway was perfect timing to redo what I had done on the plane with little disruption.

Its a little bit of a dark mix but it certainly moves at the speed of 138bpm, not the speed of the coach but kept me very entertained at the back.

Enjoy here or on Peertube or in full quality on my mixgarden

The list of tunes used

  1. Gouryella (From the Heavens mix) – Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella
  2. Hole In The Sky (Arctic Moon Remix) – Tonny Nesse
  3. Stresstest (John Askew Remix) – John O’callaghan
  4. Killer Instinct (Original Mix) – Sneijder & Bryan Kearney
  5. Tears (Protoculture Remix) – Dakota
  6. Dolores – Indecent Noise
  7. Erase – Brooks Alexsander
  8. Fiction (Extended Mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  9. Seven Cities (V-One’s Living Cities remix) – Solar Stone
  10. Chinook – Markus Schulz Pres Dakota
  11. Inferno – Carl Cox
  12. Club Quake (Oliver Klein Hard remix) – 5 Below 0
  13. Arrival – ANU

Loop travel isn’t helpful to me, at all!

Settings on the pacemaker device menu

I am still loving my DJ pacemaker device but stuck on the last official firmware for my main device (I have quite a few of them just incase). I always found I couldn’t guarantee the accuracy of the looping feature if I recorded on device, so didn’t use it unless playing live. I did a blog about this a while back.

However yesterday I happened to be doing a mix and it crashed with a 201 error, loosing my currently recording mix. Very annoyed I decided to look at the lack of space left on the device (7gig left) as I don’t actually know how much working spare space it actually needs to run?

Then I started looking at the settings, I noticed loop travel which I always turned on for some reason thinking it was something good.

Deactivate/activate loop travel
This setting disallows/allows loop in-point to push end-point and vice versa.

  1. When in Mix mode, select Settings > Mix control > Loop travel >.
  2. Toggle between Off/On by swiping right

Now to be fair in the early versions of the Pacemaker firmware, the looping was hit and miss but in later versions its not needed for me.

So I turned it off did a test mix and what do you know it looped perfectly when listening back in the editor!

All this time, I avoided looping unless playing live because of this. You can imagine how happy I was going to sleep. It also means I can upgrade the firmware to the latest and get the added features.

Wait for the next lot of mixes!!!

Only the faithless can jazz (like Maxi Jazz) mix

Maxi Jazz picture

With the death of Maxi Jazz from the popular group Faithless, I had to do a mix in honour of his life & death. I mean what a voice and what incredible iconic songs. Who has not sung the lyrics of Insomnia at some point in the last 15 years? Its a song I have started with a few times and still find stunning when played nice and loud.

Although short and compact, I found the best 3 versions of Faithless songs in my collection and added tunes which fitted with the mode & tempo. Stress test made another show, as it is a tune!

You can listen to the whole mix here enjoy and here!

    1. Insomnia – Faithless
    2. Stresstest (John Askew Remix) – John O’Callaghan
    3. God Is a DJ (Astral Projection remix) – Faithless
    4. Seven Cities (V-One’s Living Cities remix) – Solar Stone
    5. Salva Mea 2.0 X Insomnia Kayba Edition (Above & Beyond Remix) – Faithless
    6. Shnorkel (Dousk gems remix) – Miki Litvak & Ido Ofir
    7. Dalmatia – Estiva
    8. Homeward – Ferry Corsten

The interdimensional transmission mix

Communicating with space from the See Monster

Following the previous Pacemaker mix, I decided during a very long train journey to get the pacemaker out for some more trance. Using parts of the last few mixes, I decided to give the new mix some new direction.

The mix shifts along at a nice 136 bpm, complete with hands in the air moments and who couldn’t enjoy some stress test (hidden gem).

Enjoy!

You will notice there is no Mixcloud upload for this mix. Mainly because of the decisions of Mixcloud and being at my limit for a free account. Which means going to my mixgarden for future mixes.

  1. Escape – Markus Schulz
  2. Catch (Martin Roth remix) – Blank & Jones
  3. Stresstest (John Askew remix) – John O’Callaghan
  4. Tears (Protoculture remix) – Dakota
  5. Arjan – Angelica S
  6. Follow me (Jerome Isma-Ae Extended remix) – Jam & Spoon
  7. Talk to me (Orjan Nilsen trance mix) – John O’Callaghan and Timmy & Tommy
  8. Higher state – Kevin Crowley
  9. Shnorkel (Thankyou city remix) – Ido Ophir & Miki Litvak
  10. Running up the hill (Jerome Isma-ae bootleg mix) – Placebo
  11. Eternal Horizon – Alex M.O.R.P.H
  12. The Descent – Protoculture
  13. Grotesque – RAM & Alex M.O.R.P.H