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

Follow me to the big trance sound of summer mix

Train tracks into the distance

During a recent holiday to Lisbon, I of course took my Pacemaker Device to create a brand new mix. This time, I went very trancey. Maybe it was the incredible sunshine, the fun of exploring Lisbon or just being in Europe again?

Whatever it was this mix is a much more pacey 135bpm and frankly kicks those tired legs with some force. I’d say this is a excellent mix and full of hands in the air moments. Its also full of new tracks alongside some old classics.

  1. Blood Angels (Chris Liebing mix) – John Starlight
  2. Catch (Martin Roth remix) – Blank & Jones
  3. Humming the lights – Armin Van Buuren & Gaia
  4. Venture (Nifra Extended remix) – Super8 & Tab
  5. Music is more than mathematics (Extended mix) – Protoculture
  6. Communication (Tomas Heredia remix) – Armin van Buuren
  7. Megalodon – MaRLo
  8. End transmission – ReDrive & Patrick Blanes
  9. Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat. Einat
  10. Wonder of Life (F&W remix) – Tukan
  11. Stresstest (John Askew remix) – John O’Callaghan
  12. Airtight (Extended mix) – Rafael Osmo
  13. We are one (Instrumental mix) – Dave202
  14. Arjan – Angelica S
  15. Valhalla (After future remix) – OneBeat
  16. Madagascar (Domi-Nation remix) – Art of Trance

Available in full on my webmix garden and mixcloud if you prefer…

WebMix: Webmonetization + Dj mixes for the next internet

Mark and Ian at Mozfest 2018

While recovering from Covid, I got a little time to finally sort out the WebMix idea which I also wrote up for Mozfest earlier in the year.

With the incredible and generous help of Mark Boas of Hyperaudio, I was able to use Hyperaudio lite to make clearly mark up a list of tunes in a DJ mix. Its what I’ve been looking to do for ages to move away from Mixcloud,

My finally setup was something I was playing with for ages but mainly via a self installed wordpress on my raspberrypi. I found problems when installing hyperaudio and in the end decided to go with a static website. I choose Publii as it had a linux client and I could just write the HTML easily (so many use markdown and other things, which would have made working with hyperaudio more difficult than it needs to be)

With the site creation out the way, I needed somewhere to host it.

Originally I was going to use Yunohost but I couldn’t find a simple webserver to just host the static files, instead I found a proxy server, which points at my NAS, which is running a very simple webserver. Of course the NAS has plenty of space, its also where the mixes sit, has a excellent redundancy and backup system.

The result of the experiment all sits here – https://cubicgarden.info/mixes

Digital Italics WebMix

The core part of WebMix (as I’m calling it) sits in hyperaudio’s transcript and webmontization support.

Hacking hyperaudio’s transcripts

Originally I always saw Hyperaudio for its ability to tie a knot between the written word and the audio (& video). It wasn’t till I saw a demo of the WebMon functionality is when I understood it could be the thing I need for DJ mixes.

With correctly written HTML, I can tell Hyperaudio what it should do, and with Mark’s help we had a prototype up and running.

Here is an example of the code from the quiver in the underground mix.

<li class="active" data-wm="$ilp.uphold.com/B69UrXkYeQPr">
<span data-m="0">Activator, I know you can (That kid chris mix) - Whatever girl</span></li>
<li data-wm="$ilp.uphold.com/3h66mKZLrgQZ"><span data-m="127000">Air traffic (Erik De Koning remix) - Three drives</span></li>
<li data-wm="$ilp.uphold.com/B69UrXkYeQPr"><span data-m="445000">Chinook - Markus Schulz pres. Dakota</span></li>
<li data-wm="$ilp.uphold.com/3h66mKZLrgQZ"><span data-m="632000">Opium (Quivver remix) - Jerome Isma-Ae &amp; Alastor</span></li>

Each tune has a time configured using the attribute data-m, this is  in milliseconds. As I have all the data in the old CUE files I created a long time ago. Mark helped me out with a nice script which saved me manually copying and pasting. (I also considered writing a XSLT to do the conversion). In between sleeping and relaxing with Covid, I got a number of mixes up, changed the theming and finally got to grips with the static file uploading process, and the results you can see on the site.

Current webmix site

Payment and royalties

You will also notice each tune/list item also has data=”wm” attribute with a $ilp (payment pointers). Currently they are pointing to myself and Mark Boas. Obviously I would change them to the payment pointers of the artists/producers/djs involved but I don’t know any which have them so far. Which leads nicely on to the next challenge for WebMix.

I did/do have a plan to do a mix with dance music from artists which have payment providers but that is still in the pipeline. Along side this, myself and Mark thought about some kind of database/airtable/spreadsheet/etc with payment pointers crossed linked to their discogs profile.

WebMix active on my site

Maybe this is something which could be done in the next grant for the web call for participation?

Back to the current experiment, here is Opium (Quivver Remix) – Jerome Isma-Ae Alastor. You could imagine one payment provider decided between all involved which could be used to pay for each time its played on the site. (I am very aware this is very simplex and the royalties of music is a total nightmare!) but the point of the payment pointer is to hide the complexity behind one simple payment pointer, how its divided afterwards is up to each of the parties involved. I’m imagining a management agent, organisation or even dare I say it DAO; responsible for the payment pointer. There’s already things like revshare, which means you can have multiple people/entities behind the payment pointer and theres interest in this space. Long tail economics certainly could benefit here.

Anyway its a long complex area which I’m best staying out of…?

The main point is its all working and expect more updates soon… I know Mark has other ideas, while I still need to get older mixes up. I also would like to tie the whole thing to something federated or at very least setup a activity-pub feed.

Maybe I should be more ill more often?

The incidental contact high mix

NHS Nurse with mask and halo
Found on a wall in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, modified by me

My first new mix for 2022 and it comes at a time as Covid19 variant Omnicron has come, peaked and is likely going to move us things from Pandemic to Endemic? Who knows…? Lets hope!

Regardless of this all, I was thinking about the incredible people who helped us all through the pandemic and kind of been forgotten, while also flicking through the new book dictionary of obscure sorrows. I came across the incidental contact high, which is described as “a innocuous touch by someone just doing their job, that you find more meaningful that you’d like to admit.”

Anyway, its really good mix with lots of new tunes, a bit of pace (134bpm-ish) and a good feeling throughout. I’m loving Protoculture’s Music is more than mathematics and the unique remix of Shnorkel.

Enjoy the mix on mixcloud or on my own mixing site.

Here is the full playlist.

  1. Love Technology – Protoculture
  2. Orenida (extended mix) – Gouryella/Ferry Corsten
  3. Collider (Jorn van Deynhoven remix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  4. Music is more than mathematics (extended mix) – Protoculture
  5. Feel it (extended mix) – Cosmic gate
  6. Shnorkel (Thank you city remix) – Ido Ophir and Miki Litvak
  7. Go (extended mix) – Protoculture
  8. Tiger (extended remix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  9. Tears (protoculture remix) – Dakota
  10. Alone (extended mix) – Maarten de jong
  11. Headliner – Jorn van Deynhoven

The ravers ravenous retro revenge mix

The ravers ravenous retro revenge mix

With my thumb getting better, I’m doing more mixes again on the good old pacemaker device. This one was part of a much longer mix but the start was a bit crappy so cut it off and included the last 80%.

The ravers ravenous retro revenge came about after watching the Matrix Resurrections. There was lots of parts (seen it a few times now and still score it 8/10) but I found this line fascinating.

Morpheus: Nothing comforts anxiety like little nostalgia.

I have a lot to say about nostalgia but I decided to do a mix where it feels like the mix is being taken over by the rave. Does it work? I’ll leave it for you to decide. Maybe I should have called it R4 instead?

Listen to the Ravers ravenous retro revenge mix, on mixcloud and my own cloud.

Enjoy!

  1. Electric Sunrise – Mental Overdrive
  2. Air conditionné – Julian Jeweil
  3. Silence (Jerome Isma-Ae Extended remix) – D-Nox, Baya, Lenn V
  4. I want you (Forever) (Full on mix) – Carl Cox
  5. Opium (Quivver remix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  6. Open up – Leftfield
  7. Sleeper in metropolis (Club mix) – Anne Clark
  8. Rewind (Makkas remix) – Emma Hewitt
  9. Charly (Alley cat mix) – The Prodigy
  10. Feel the beat (JS16 dark mix) – Darude
  11. The storm – Interitus Dei
  12. Back to earth (Rave mix) – Yves Deruyter
  13. Unchainied – Diego Morrill
  14. The sky – Summerland

The Secluded rave in my head mix

The Secluded rave in my head

My latest mix is a strange one. While sitting on my sofa trying to stay cool in front of multiple fans during some of the hottest days in Manchester. I busted out the pacemaker device and started to mix. I wasn’t really feeling very happy about the heat, hence this is quite a heavy mix which shifts, although only running at 130-ish bpm. I was thinking about redoing it with a different ending but maybe thats for another day.

The cover art is a combination of Artem Bryzgalov and Reynier Carl‘s work put together using my fav photo editing tool PhotoGIMP.

Enjoy the mix, which is another entry in the locked down, mixing out album of mixes.

  1. Anasthasia (Valentine boys rap mix) – T99
  2. Opium (Stan Kolev remix) – Jerome Isma Ae Alastor
  3. Orbion (Max Graham vs Protoculture remix) – Armin Van Buuren
  4. Freedom (Extended mix) – ARTY vs Muvy
  5. Grotesque – RAM & Alex M.O.R.P.H
  6. Floyd (Extended mix) – Jerome Isma Ae Alastor
  7. Reflection (Extended mix) – Ferry Corsten
  8. Metro (US mix) – Oliver Lieb
  9. Time to Burn (12 inch long version) – Storm
  10. The wave 2.0 (Extended mix) – Cosmic Gate
  11. Night in Motion – Cubic 22
  12. Opium – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor

 

The mayday lockdown night dance

Rave

Taking some hints from my previous live mix, I decided to make some changes and do another mix. This time not live, so its at the perfect volume now. Enjoy the mix which is up to 135bpm with lots of hands in the air trance for your listening pleasure… enjoy!

  1. Gouryella (From the heavens mix) – Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella
  2. Arise – Victor Ruiz & D Nox
  3. Follow me (Jerome Isma-Ae Extended remix) – Jam Spoon
  4. Call the galaxy taxi (Martin Roth Nu Style remix) – Plastic Angel
  5. Stellar – Driftwood
  6. Floyd (extended mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  7. Borealis – Dj Eco
  8. Breathe (Blake Jarrell remix) – Anna Nalick
  9. Freedom (extended mix) – ARTY vs Muvy
  10. Grotesque – RAM & Alex M.O.R.P.H
  11. Soundbar (extended mix) – Giuseppe Ottaviani
  12. Numb the pain – Will Atkinson
  13. Everythings been written – 8 Wonders
  14. Tears (protoculture remix) – Dakota
  15. Hello (Jerome Isma-Ae remix) – Above & Beyond
  16. The Legacy 2.0 (Alphazone remix) – Funabashi pres. Saltwater
  17. Valhalla (tonerush remix) – OneBeat

The Skopje Jetstream mix

Another strange mix of trance from across the spectrum of trance. Recorded from Skopje (SKP) to Berlin (SXF) recently, I tried to pick a few different tunes but also double down on the obvious as I do currently love that tune. Sound levels are not idea along with some of the mixes but a good mix generally.

I have another mix from Skopje to come but that might take some time to upload. Till then sitback, ensure your seat belts are fasten and enjoy the smooth Skopje jetstream.

  1. Love (Vocal mix) – DJ Eco Feat Lira Yin
  2. Solarcoaster (Protoculture remix) – Solarstone
  3. The Obvious – Muhamed Sherief & WAAJII
  4. The Situation (Liquid life remix) – A Situation
  5. Please save me (push remix) – Sunscream Vs Push
  6. Tears (Protoculture remix) – Markus Schulz presents Dakota
  7. Perpertual Motion – Protoculure
  8. Take me away in the night (purple haze remix) – 4 Strings
  9. Torrent – Dave 202
  10. Winter Falls – Calgar C
  11. Time of Our lives (Paul Van Dyk club mix) – Paul Van Dyk
  12. Underlying feeling (Adam K & Soha Club mix) – Sylvia Tosun
  13. The Obvious – Muhamed Sherief & WAAJII
  14. Barcelona (Gene Xander remix) – Addictive Glance
  15. In and Out of Love – Armin Van Buuren feat Sharon den Adel
  16. Humming the lights – Armin van Buuren presents Gaia

The way of the finnish mix

Another Pacemaker device mix from Finland, this time a lot longer and a lot less polished but its got a certain charm which I quite enjoy. Note the Helsinki scorching remixes, as it would be rude not to play it in Helsinki. Theres quite a few classics in this mix and they still sound good.

Enjoy!

  1. Love Stimulation (PvD love club mix) – Humate
  2. Intruder – Armin vs MIKE
  3. My Beat (Jan Driver mix) – Blaze
  4. Opium – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  5. Reflection (Extended mix) – Ferry Corsten
  6. Mass Noise 2015 – Fred Baker & Seb B
  7. Running up the hill (Jerome isma-ae bootleg) – Placebo
  8. Helsinki Scorching – Super8 vs Dj Tab
  9. Ligaya (Hiver & hammer remix) – Gouryella
  10. Circles – Robert Nickson
  11. Against the Flow (Astuni & Manuel Le Saux Extended relift) – Stine Grove
  12. Madagascar (Ferry Corsten mix) – Art of Trance
  13. Delores – Indecent noise
  14. Out of the Blue – System F
  15. Everythings been written – 8 Wonders
  16. Imagineer (Alex M.O.R.P.H remix) – Lange
  17. Gouryella (Extended mix) – Gouryella
  18. Without you (Dogzilla dub mix) – Dogzilla
  19. Helsinki Scorching (Alex Morph remix) – Super8 vs Dj Tab
  20. Who’s knocking (Ferry Corsten remix) – FB featuring Edun
  21. Higher state – Genix
  22. We are one (instrumental mix) – Dave 202

How to DJ with the Pacemaker device and a real mixer

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cubicgarden/36014782610/in/datetaken-public/

I love mixing with my Pacemaker but I have to admit there are some limitations like the crossfader and effects are a little tricky to do at the same time. So when I bought another pacemaker off ebay cheap and upgraded the battery and HDD to a SSD, I also upgraded that Pacemaker firmware, to include other features like beat-aware loops. That firmware can’t record mixes in the same way unfortunately.

So I’ve always thought maybe I could use the pacemaker with a mixer and record the mix over analogue means. Si gave me one of his old mixers a while ago, so for ages I thought about it but done little about it.

Till now!

Here’s the mix I messed with around earlier.

Ok its not great but I was tweaking the setup while I was recording.

Mixing with the pacemaker device

So how did I do it…

The pacemaker has two outputs, so I pushed deck A to the main output and deck B to the headphone output. This means the pacemaker crossfader can never be used or touched while mixing. You only use the deck selection to choose the track you want to adjust or play with.

Mixing with the pacemaker device

Deck A the main output is cabled to the Channel 1 on my mixer, while Deck B the headphone deck is output to Channel 3 on the mixer. (Channel 2 is mainly for the microphone and other things on the mixer)

Mixing with the pacemaker device

I had to adjust the volume and gain on each channel and the pacemaker its self but generally I got it right with some tweaking. I hooked up the output of the mixer to my amp and speakers, while the monitor went out to my laptop with a splitter as its a combined mic/headphone jack.

Mixing with the pacemaker device

I recorded everything with Audacity and checked the levels on the laptop.

The results are not bad… It does feel really weird to be using the Pacemaker device and not using the crossfader on the device. In actual fact I messed up a few times earlier on, by using the devices crossfader. I also decided I needed some kind of stand for the device and used a box to mount it half way through the test set.

It was odd but worked, more experimentation is needed…

Dark and disturbing on Berlin’s ring the mix

I made reference to a mix I did while in Berlin’s S-bahn ring line (like the old circle line in London). Its also quite a dark mix and you can get a sense of the tunes which made up the shorter mix.

Its a long mix and lasts about 96mins or through 37.5 kms. The mix is a little rough in parts due to shifting positions and moving for people to get on and off. I took the ring from Prenzlauer Allee clockwise (S41).

  1. Flash (timo maas remix) – Green Velvet
  2. Riff – Sander Van Doorn
  3. Energy Flash – Joey Beltram
  4. My Beat (Ambassador remix) – Blaze
  5. Intruder – Armin vs Mike
  6. One night in New York city (chris liebing mix) – The Horrorist
  7. One for you – Oliver klien
  8. Dj culture – Joey beltram
  9. Jelly Tracks (Rippin and Drippin) – Oliver Klein
  10. My Beat (Jan Driver mix) – Blaze
  11. Nasty (Electric mix) – Re Locate Vs Jonas Steur
  12. Grasshopper (raw version) – Sander Van Doorn
  13. Interstate Emperors – Jeffed
  14. The Redlight (album version) – Green Velvet
  15. Blood Angels (chris liebing mix) –  John Startlight
  16. Nackling (tomcraft mix) – Duse
  17. Paperjet – John Tejada
  18. Red Purple – Thomas Schumacher
  19. Ubik (the break) – Timo Maas
  20. Rage Chemistry (Cold Blank’s WMC 2013 Mashup) – Knife Party vs Svidden
  21. Switch (oliver klein & peter jürgens remix) – Beckers
  22. Watch Out (lee coombs back to the phuture remix) – Ferry Corsten

The alternative classic trance set

I mentioned in my trance set from July, that I had recorded two trance sets; and was deciding which one I preferred. The full’on classic trance set won out but I wanted to share the alternative one too. It pretty raw and short but I quite like it, especially since I love out of the blue by system F so much that it was played twice!

Enjoy and remember sharing is caring!

  1. Communication 2 (armin remix) – Armin Van Buuren
  2. Pearl River (vocal mix) – Johney Shaker
  3. Love Stimulation (Pvd Love Club mix) – Humate
  4. Please Save me (Push remix) – Sunscream vs Push
  5. Seven Cities (V-One’s Living Cities Remix) – Solarstone
  6. Out of the Blue – System F
  7. Avenue – Paul van dyk
  8. I can’t help myself – Lucid
  9. Sunrise (Here I am) (Ratty mix) – Tenshi
  10. Grooveline (Matt Darey) – Blockster
  11. Gamemaster (Matt Darey 1999 Remix) – Matt Darey Presents Lost Tribe
  12. 1999 (Gouryella mix) – Binary Finary
  13. I’m in Love – Star Party
  14. Out of the Blue – System F

Photo credit comes from lneprz.

The berlin airspace mix

berlin tv tower

Another mix, this time recorded mid-flight on the way back from Berlin yesterday. It actually lasts about the time of the whole flight. Its a mix of some tech-house with tech-trance. Straight out of the Pacemaker, not even normalised or anything. Its a odd bunch of tunes but mixed up and enjoyable to listen to.

  1. Afro-ride – Leftfield
  2. Flutes (Sasha remix) – Hot Chip
  3. Watch out (deep south remix) – Ferry Corsten
  4. Switch (Oliver Klein & Peter Jurgens remix) – Beckers
  5. Higher state of consciousness – Josh Wink
  6. Answering machine (album version) – Green Velvet
  7. Special K (timo maas mix) – Placebo
  8. Paper Jet – John Tajada
  9. Shoreside – Streetcleaner
  10. Jelly Tracks (Rippin & Drippin mix) – Oliver Klein
  11. Revolving Doors (club mix) – Ronski Speed
  12. Blood Angels (Chris Leibing mix) – John Starlight
  13. Rewind (Mikkas Remix) – Emma Hewitt
  14. Nine ways – JDS
  15. My Beat (Jan Driver mix) – Blaze
  16. Brush Strokes – Simon Patterson
  17. Whites of her eyes – Simon Patterson
  18. Out of the blue (progressive trance mix) – Future Breeze
  19. Suru (Marin Roth Electrance remix) – Super8 & Tab
  20. Moments – Dimension