Mixed In Key, makers of award-winning Harmonic Mixing software used by world-renowned DJs, has launched their second annual DJ contest. DJs around the world are invited to showcase their favorite music genre in a 10-15 minute mix that will be judged by some of the top talents in the industry. The winner and the runner-up will receive DJ packages worth more than $6,000 in combined retail value.
How ironic, … wasn’t past saturday the day the iPod celebrated its ninth birthday. The day after Sony had its last day of the Walkman‘s production. Yep, another icon is being terminated due to economic and technological advancement.
DJ Blakey was the UK DMC Champion in 2004. These days he is working closely on the upcoming video game DJ Hero 2. In the video below he is showing us the use of the Novation Dicers to ‘… whack out some choons‘!
The successful Digital Jockey series has grown by one new version: the Master Edition. All the critically acclaimed controller features, allowing the perfect control of Traktor, are still on board. A reasonable novelty is the symmetric output – this way nothing can prevent a club PA to be connected directly. And with the second booth output the DJ gets his own monitor.
Vinyl is dead! … Well, that would be bold statement. And no, … it isn’t. But it is safe to say DJ’s that are working with good ol’ vinyl records are getting scares. Earlier this month, Panasonic wrote a letter to retailers that production of all analogue turn-table products is being terminated at the end of this year. This public secret is floating on the internet since 2009, but now we can say it is really over for the magnificent SL-1200.
Activision’s DJ Hero computer game was a big hit when it was launched in 2009. It provided gamplay like that of Guitar Hero, but for the wannabe DJ as opposed to the brooding rockstar. This month sees the release of DJ Hero 2, which is packed with lots of exciting new features to keep players on their toes. One of the new features in the game is the inclusion of Novation’s Launchpad in the on-screen gameplay.
Well this afternoon mr. Steve Jobs will get the attention of the world when he will be hosting the ‘Back to the Mac‘ event. Most likely he will be introducing a new version of OS X? Tiny MacBook Airs? iPhone announcements? Who knows… Steve Jobs probably does! On the Apple forums there have been already set up discussion forums for the core components of the iLife suite, iMovie ’11, iPhoto ’11, and GarageBand ’11.
Sample Magic just announced the release of the DemoGod iPhone/iPad App, putting the world’s largest collection of dance music A&R contacts into a handy app. With DemoGod at your fingertips, it’s making life so much easier for aspiring artists to make demo submissions to labels a breeze.
The Denon DN-HC1000S is a dedicated Serato controller enabling DJ’s to navigate around tracks, trigger cue points-samples-loops and effects. Plus with 4 midi page banks it’s also simply to create your own custom templates directly in Serato.
Digital 1 DJ/ PCDJ announces the release of PCDJ DEX for the MAC computer platform. PCDJ, which stands for personal computer disc jockey – is synonymous with the MP3 DJ revolution. “Releasing a MAC version of our popular DEX DJ software is very exciting for us”, says Ryan Sherr, Digital 1 Audio’s G.M.
Following the successful launch of DJ MIX TOOLS just a few months ago, LOOPMASTERS are proud to announce the next series of mixtools packs to be released including TECH HOUSE, GROOVE TECH, TRANCE, DUBSTEP and BUILDS & BREAKDOWNS!
As part of their ongoing customer support, Korg has announced the microSAMPLER Bonus Sample Pack. This expansive collection of professionally sampled sounds is available as a free download to all microSAMPLER users.
Ok it’s already sunday but this just came in and I thought I am gonna share this with you: A video of the band Atomic Tom. This video was filmed unannounced on Friday October 8, 2010 aboard the New York City B Train, over the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn and edited from 3 iPhone cameras. All footage is performed 100% live and executed in one take. The band is playing this track on their iPhones with music instrument apps. I am not sure I am believing the story behind it. It seems the band had their real instruments stolen and did an ‘impulsive’ gig on the subway. Ah well, … in the end it doesn’t matter because the ‘fun’ factor of this video is high enough (for my standards). Enjoy!
Native Instruments has started to tour the new S4 KONTROL, Native’s own DJ controller for their Traktor DJ software. Yesterday the dutch importer Amptec gave an exhibition of this much anticipated controller at Bax-Shop in the Netherlands. Gearjunkies was invited to get a first ‘hands-on’ look at this new DJ controller from Native Instruments.
Ask someone to describe hip hop music and they might say “slow beats at 90BPM, gritty samples, and politically charged rhymes from the streets.” They might not know it but they’re describing hip hop as we know it thanks to Hank Shocklee. It’s no exaggeration to say that not since George Martin has a producer had as much influence in the direction and development of a cultural movement. Hank doesn’t stop to reflect on all his accomplishments, however. He just continues to do what he always has… make music. Since the early 2000s, Shocklee moved his elaborate hardware based production workflow out of the studio rack and into the Reason rack.
For this interview, there were too many great stories to fit into a single interview so be sure to check out Hank Shocklee’s deleted scenes. They follow after the artist interview!