Allen and Heath Xone DX Video

by ghostdad on September 2, 2010

Our video for the Allen and Heath Xone DX is now live on the nets care of Winksound. Overall I had a lot of fun with the Xone DX. I was able to get mixing on four decks quickly and easily in ITCH, perhaps because I was already familiar with Serato Scratch. …

Electric Zoo vs. Hurricane Early

by ghostdad on September 2, 2010

Electric Zoo is set to turn Randalls Island into New York’s best defense against the doom and gloom Hurricane Earl might bring. The Chemical Brothers headline Saturday with Armin Van Buuren doing closing duties Sunday. I’m looking forward to the Red Bull Music Academy stage to catch acts like Erol Alkan, Flying Lotus, XXXChange…

Arpshift Creator Talks Monome

by ghostdad on September 2, 2010

ArpShift 2 from Edward Loveall on Vimeo.
To follow up our last grid controller post on Monomes, Launchpads, and the programable music interface community around them I talked to another Monome developer and community insider Edward Loveall.  Edward is a composer and sound designer who’s chord based sequencer application is popular among Monome users.  Here’s his…

Audio Reference Books

by ghostdad on September 1, 2010

Production and live sound is becoming an increasing mish mash of software and hardware techniques.  Regardless of how in or outside the computer you like to work many concepts remain the same when processing audio.  Reading a studio reference book can be a good way to wrap your head around a studio technique when your…

Hifana Hardware Up Close

by ghostdad on August 31, 2010

Japanese turntablist duo Hifana have some pretty good finger drumming chops of their own as they show in their live sets made up of MPC’s, turntables, and CDJ’s.  They keep Korg Kaoss Pads around for effects and even some live drums and drum pads to splash organic sounds into the mix.  The only MIDI specific…

Two of the Best Finger Drummers on the Planet

by ghostdad on August 27, 2010

Are the days of the drum kit numbered? Probably not. But samplers and drum machines have become instruments all their own and some musicians have gotten pretty craft at playing them live without sequencing. Here are two guys that are amazing at working within the limit of 16 buttons:

Justin Aswell from the…

Birdy Nam Nam Making Turntablism Listenable and Cool Again?

by ghostdad on August 26, 2010

The DMC team competition produces some of the most musically rich material with up to four DJ’s creating multilayered battle routines in the tradition of The X-ecutioners and Invisibl Skratch Piklz. But DMC has become a fairly insular community where only other DJ’s and breakbeat/scratch fans follow the contest and seek out the cream…

What’s Up with Virtual DJ?

by ghostdad on August 26, 2010

In their final DJ Expo update ScratchWorx revealed big changes to the upcoming version of Virtual DJ that will let it mix on “up to 99 decks.” This is meant to come in handy for controller users who want to mix on four decks (the American Audio for instance or some Denon controllers ship…

Taking It Back Back: Galang vs Galang

by Wayan on August 25, 2010

The 2009 Village Voice Pazz and Jop poll ranked Vijay Iyer’s Historicity as the finest jazz album of the year.  I’m sure you’re all aware of the media attention that MIA has similarly received over the years.  Both artists have performed a song entitled Galang, composed by MIA.  DJ Wayne and Wax decided to see…

DJ AM Lives Benefit at Santos Party House

by ghostdad on August 22, 2010

There’s a benefit for the DJ AM Memorial Fund this week at Santos Party House with some of New York’s heaviest hitters. DJ AM changed the game by pushing the limits of Serato Scratch Live and DJing as we know it. Go this Thursday to honor one of the great DJ’s of…

Flying Lotus Controller Rig

by ghostdad on August 20, 2010

While checking out the line up for this year’s Decibel Festival I found this cool picture of Flying Lotus in what looks like his home studio.  I remember seeing a photo on his myspace with some synths and other noisemakers as well, but when working with his software of choice Ableton Live it looks like…

Going to the gig with Chris Devlin

by ghostdad on August 19, 2010

Caught up with my Jamaica Plain cohort Chris Devlin in my travels this week. He wasn’t on the way to any gigs but I got a quick glimpse at what he usually throws in the bag over his home setup. Here’s what he carries:

Macbook laptop
Serato SL1 box
4 Shure m44-7 needles
Line 6 Echo Park…