Sure, EKS’ MIDI driven DJ-controllers the XP5 and XP10 have been around for a while, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting them. I’ve been wanting a few of them ever since their release years ago, and recently I was able to buy them for a very nice price! (Thanks, internet.) Last month was Native Instruments’ “kickstart your summer”, which meant I could upgrade my Traktor DJ Studio 3 to Pro for next to nothing. 50% off for LE users, 65% for users of (the full) DJ Studio 1, 2 or 3.

I use my EKS XP5 controllers in two configurations, internal mixing using Traktor Pro and my M-audio X-Session-Pro for mixing and effects, and external mixing using Traktor Pro and a DJ mixer like one of the Pioneer DJM series and a KORG Nanokontrol for effects. Though, I prefer the second set-up; mixing externally, for it’s sound quality (endless debate about this subject, here), the feel of real hardware and the use of the mixer’s own built-in sound-effects. The effects supplied by the mixer itself also make up great for the lack of master effects in Traktor DJ Studio & Traktor Pro. EKS and Traktor Pro supply their one midi-configurations for the EKS XP5 (and XP10) for single or multiple XP controllers, but I prefer using yet another set-up by a Native Instruments forum user called lourma. I then edited the button-layout to match my demands and make it work like it did when I was using it to control Traktor DJ Studio 3.

The wheel to nudge and scratch the track works brilliantly in combination with Traktor’s midi capabilities. Allowing for all kinds of functions to be assigned to it using midi-pages like, effects, setting a high or low sensitivity for slight nudges or a hard backspin, and of course choosing the tracks from your library of music. I set loops using the controller and jump around the tracks using nothing but the XP5’s. Change the pitch, apply effects, it’s all possible combing Traktor Pro and the EKS XP5’s. However, the device does have it’s drawbacks. The buttons are a bit hard. But they don’t take much effort to be pressed, which makes up it. The controller is pretty lightweight, making it a no-go for a DJ who likes to play his or her tunes vigorously. All round it’s a bit on the small and light side of things, making it look less impressive than it really is. And last of all, the supplied USB cables are not the best around, one of them breaking after only a few months of use and only a few gigs where I used them. Not the biggest of issues, but having the cable break in the middle of my performance was very frustrating. (Which taught me the following, A-L-W-A-Y-S bring a spare pair of USB cables type A – B, male – male.)

The last months I’ve been using the XP5 controllers and Traktor many times for practice and gigs and they will be my main weapons of choice the following months during my performances in Japan. For now I can say that the combination of these machines and Traktor DJ Studio (3) or Traktor Pro produces a mixing powerhouse. Traktor has grew a lot in the transition from DJ Studio 3 to Traktor Pro in departments like effects and looks. The layout feels more intuitive and looks more tidy. Though I’d wish for the controllers to be a little bit more big and heavier. Not that I use them heavy-handedly, but because they look so fragile because of it. I’m guessing the Otus made up for this, but I’m not using the Otus, I’m using the way cheaper white XP5, two of em in fact. Which brings me to my final-final thought: Modding it, or building a heavy flight case to make up for the lack of weight. Browsing the web I found out that modding the device isn’t easy, which leaves me with finding or building flight cases for the devices. Anyone know any good ones?

Starting with TonesynthDS, a work in progress showing a lot of potential. Using basic waveforms, volume and modulation options like AM and ring modulation it does create some very warm sounds very usable in everyday productions. Load these samples in Ableton’s sampler or just chop them up using the arrangement view and you’ll have some original sounds not found in today’s sample packs. The only downside is the lack of an option to save your work. But, that will be fixed in an upcoming update as it still a work in progress. (Looking forward to that update!!)

Get your copy and the latest updates on the development at: TonesynthDS

Seno DS aims to be a whole DAW in itself, offering the option to create riffs, mix the volume and change parameters like ADSR and monophony, polyphony and trigger settings, LFO and the ability to transpose sounds. It’s looks aren’t as slick as, for instance, Nitrotracker, but it gets the job done and feels very reminiscent to the Playstation classics, “Music” and “Music 2000″.

To be able to use my Nitrotracker sample-kits in Seno DS, they have to be converted to mono first… So, I decided to save you all the hassle. Check out my downloads for more information. (How to load them up in Seno DS will also be explained there.)

Get it at: Seno DS

Roland TR-606

Roland MC-303

Both are such cool machines to work with and both hold some surprises when playing around with them. The TR-606 is fully analog and the MC-303 is a rompler, meaning the TR-606 uses oscillators and modulation to create it’s sounds and the MC-303 gets it’s sounds from a memory bank. A lot of great vintage sounds can be found inside.

This version promised a few improvements over the original when played on the normal Nintendo DS, but the main core of the application is in the DSi version. The same game-card can be used for both systems and the DSi version is fully backward-compatible, meaning that when linking up the systems for multi-play, both “games” will sync-up it’s tempo and thus you can still use your old version to create tracks on multiple DS’s. For more on it’s features, I’m gonna let Denji Sano do the talking in his Keynote: Take it away Denji!

Allowing up to four DS to be synced. When used wisely, like say, via à 4 channel mixer, one could create a very interesting song created on four separate KORG DS-10’s, all running in sync. The DSi version features the same stuff you already knew from the original DS version, but, everything in dubbles. Twelve instead of six channels, four instead of two synths, eight instead of four drum-tracks and so on. When used with the new DSi “Dual-mode” this would mean, technically, you could have 8 KORG’s all synthesizing in tune and in time with each other. That’s some bang for your buck! Unfortunately, I don’t have a DSi yet, so I could not test the DSi features myself.

I ordered KORG DS-10 Plus on Amazon, costing me only ¥3150. But expect retailers (if sold in a store at all… Remember how many shops sold DS-10?) to squeeze about €45,- out of your wallet, or I guess, about $50,-. So I recommend ordering the application via the good ol’ internet. Remember that this is a Japanese release, and so the manual will be in Japanese. If you want an English manual, you’ll have to wait for Q1 2010 for an American and European release. But if you already used the original version and read the original manual, you won’t find any surprises in this installment.

Yesterday’s
guest, Jan Dijkstra, was one of the most fun colleges i have followed
yet. (Don’t worry Fer Abrahams and Buutvrij, i didn’t forget you guys.)

Jan Dijkstra is a teacher by day, but a genius circuit-bender in
his spare time. His favorite machiner-bending involves toys. Like the
V-Tech ‘Start Smart’, a small computer to help kids learn about
language and simple math. Furbys And music-instument like toys. Use
your imagination, as there are many of these.

To help further explain Circuit Bending (in case you dont know), I’ve embedded this short clip from Youtube.
“What is Circuit-Bending?”

More about Jan Dijkstra:
Leeuwarder Courant (Dutch)

Other pioneers in circuit bending:
Reed Ghazala (Dubbed the ‘father of Cicuit-Bending’, though, the roots of circuit-bending go even further back.)
Peter Blasser (Interview about the ‘Shinth’)

Other useful links:
GetLoFi
Wikipedia

My setup for DJ’ing consists of:
- iBook G4 1333mhz 1.5 GB RAM
- Traktor DJ Studio 3.4
- M-Audio X-session Pro for controlling Traktor DJ
- Korg Kaoss Pad 2 (Who’s BPM is synced to Traktor using a Phonic midi-hub.)

In the past, one of the first things i noticed is that using only a mouse and keyboard to control a DJ application sucked big time. So ones i got a X-session pro i created a layout for controlling the software which suites my taste. But ones i had that covered i didn’t have enough free knobs to control the effects! Well, i already own a Kaoss Pad. So using effects in the mix is sorted as well.

Later this week i will write a few useful hints for syncing Traktor DJ to external gear like a kaoss pad, or Ableton Live. For now, please listen to ‘Jean Parlette‘. A band from the Netherlands with a nice style of their own.

Today I have finished the synth patches for part 2 of this much downloaded sample kit. A minor but much needed update to the allready available Sample-Kit 1. The pack will contain some more snares, kicks and hats to play with, and features two synths to play around with. Naturally, these synths are not real synths inside Nitrotracker, but combined with the envelope generator and loop function, you should be able to yield some nice results. The release of these samples will not take long. Can’t say exactly when, but friday somehow feels right..

Oh, please notice the Donate button in the download section. These samples come completely free, but cost me some time to create. So please feel free to “show you affection” towards me and my samples! *Wink*Wink*
And who knows, i might one day start selling my sample-packs. And i always remember who helped me along the way.. Catch my drift?

First on my list was another tracker program for an older Gameboy model; Little Sound DJ. Using a Gameboy emulator for Nintendo DS, Lameboy,i was quickly able to try out this legendary piece of homebrew softwareso perfect for chiptuning. Following the tutorial, i quickly got thegrips with the layout of the buttons and the usage of the differentscreens. It reminded me of years long ago when i used to check out afriend of mine creating the most amazing pieces of music of his Amiga.It’s a real shame he’s not into music-production anymore..
Thisfirst impression of this application was very positive. Though i needto go a lot more in-depth, since it offers loads more then ilearned/discovered so far.

Secondly: Applied-acoustics Tassman. After getting a great offer from Ableton to get it with a huge discount, I read up on it and liked what i read.Not only is it a modular synth/effect builder, it includes sound designon a bigger scale: physical modeling. Meaning you get to pick partsfrom existing instruments and build real-sounding instruments like aguitar, drum-kit, violin and loads more, including, off-course, theusage of your imagination to build real-sounding but non-existentinstruments.
My impression that Tassman was kinda like Reason,but with a different approach quickly faded and i’ve had loads andloads of fun last weekend following the tutorials and trying out thedifferent parts of the modular environment. I can recommend thisapplication to anyone looking for a modular environment, and a greatsound engine. My woofers were blastin’ louder then ever before, theseoscillators mean business.

It has been out now for a couple of days, and i’m telling ya,..

It rocks! The new envelope editor and loop function really make the homebrew DS application shine. Making music on the go has evolved fromheavy laptop wielding to lightweight DS juggling. Nitrotracker has really grown from a great idea to well, a VERY great idea. Hats off to you, Tobias Weyand.

Itwas one of the most wished for features on the users wishlist,looping. The loops act like you would expect from a tracker application. The only nag i could find was; looped sounds won’t reactto the note-off trigger. My experience with trackers has been limitedup untill now, so that could be the reason. (Edit: Just a one time bug, Note-off works fine) I fixed this by using the other new feature:

The Volume envelope editor. ADSR was one of my personal wishes for the nextupdate of Nitrotracker. It’s now included as of 0.4. And, you can also draw the envelope using the stylus.

Now i hope drawing samples will be included in 0.5. And maybe, just maybe, A Modulation source/envelope. Maybe i’m asking for to much.. :)

To celebrate the 0.4 release of this cool application, i made a sample-pack as an addition to the packs already available on http://nitrotracker.tobw.net/.

- A noise (drum) kit

- A synth Drum kit

- and a Saw-tooth. (C0 to C5)

Get it HERE. Enjoy!!

EDIT : Tobias Weyand just replied to my email. The sample pack is now also available through the official Nitrotracker website! :)

What gives me an excuse to buy a console nowadays?

Music! I got myself a Nintendo DS back in December, and started searching around for good homebrew applications. There’s allready tons of sites informing about the latest homebrew in all sorts, shapes and sizes. So i’m sticking to the musical side of things. Being an avid Ableton and Reason user, what kind of programs would satisfy my producing needs?

- Nitrotracker http://nitrotracker.tobw.net/

A tracker for the DS, a good start to the list, and definitly the first download you should get if you want to produce music on your DS. The program loads samples straight of your SD-card and those samples can then be programmed like any other tracker would allow you to. It also supports DSMIDIWIFI (next on the list) which makes it the worlds smallest sequencer. The only downside i can think of is the lack of effects (the ones usually found in fasttracker clones). My guess is the DS is just to slow a computer to handle effects.

- DS Midi WiFi http://dsmidiwifi.tobw.net/

Pretty much does what it says on the tin. You can use you Nintendo DS as a midi-player over your wireless connection. The site provides some more additional applications to toy around with as well.

- Protein DScratch http://gorgull.googlepages.com/protein

Touch-screen scratching, very cool. I personally use it to slow down samples, because it does that perfectly! Sounds real good.

- Glitch http://www.glitchds.com/

Using samples, the touchpad control and the other controls on your DS to manipulate the sound in some very weird ways. Ideal for IDM, BreakCore and Techno. Glitchds.com also provides RepeaterDS, a sampler using the touch-screen to play the sample from different staring points.

- KORG DS-10 http://www.aqi.co.jp/product/ds10/en/index.html

It’s not out yet, and it’s not a homebrew app. This is what i’ve been waiting for! A simple synth with all kinds of parameters to tweak and an arpreggio and a step sequencer. Should come out next month, i can’t wait!