The Milkcrate

Hobnox Tools: Web-based Roland Emulation

Posted By: Shagz
Date:

Flash-based music making with a TR-909, a pair of TB-303s and an array of BOSS-look-a-like effects pedals. Amazing flash prog skills going on here, and lots of fun to play around with too.

But really...did the world really need another Roland emulator? :)

The host site, Hobnox.com, is kind of interesting too, a kind of multi-channel, multi-media entertainment hub with a bit of social networking thrown in. Perhaps a little too much of everything? I'm not sure yet just what it is: a web tv network? A social network for musicians and artists? Audio production tools? Or all of these?

It's in beta right now, but looks pretty slick. I wonder where the money's coming from...

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New DJ Mix: Dusting Off

Posted By: Shagz
Date:

Inspired by recent mixes from dj friends Shazbot (a tight drum 'n bass mix) and J Puddy (fresh trance/prog sounds), I thought I should get on the decks and throw down a little, as a warm up to a new mix I'm working on.

It's actually been a very, very long time since I got onto the decks just to mix for fun. I think the last time was a month before Christmas, when I did a tag team set with Chris Wright for a DJShagz.com broadcast. I've just either been too busy or just haven't had the motivation/inspiration.

Honestly, I've been like this for a little while, in a sort of funk about djing. It might have had to do with the long, protracted production of Source Material, or something to do with the new things I got involved with in the past couple of years taking some of my energy. It comes and goes...now it's just going, thanks to Pudd and Shazbot's inspirational mixes. :)

Anyways, here ya go, a trip through mostly older tech/nu skool breaks tunes, most of which I never got to actually play anywhere at a gig or commit to hard drive in a mix. Enjoy!

EDIT: Oops, forgot the tracklist...

Chris Carter - ESP - TCR
Nitro vs. Breakneck - This Way (Breakneck Remix) - London Breakz
White Label - White Label - Fused and Brused (maybe?)
Plan B - White Label - White Label
Elite Force - Peyote Road - King Size Records
Dreadzone - Once Upon a Time in Jamaica (King at the Controls Remix) - Functional Breaks
Krafty Kuts & Tim Deluxe - Bass Phenomen (Core Overload Remix) - Against the Grain
Merka - Hug a Speaker - Fat Records
DJ Mutiny - Soul Runner (Superstyle Deluxe Remix) - Botchit Breaks
Krafty Kuts - Basketball Jam - Against the Grain
Drumattic Twins - Hyperspeed - Finger Lickin' Records
Deibeat - Time to Rock - iBreaks
Splitloop - KFC - Supercharged
Hard Fi - Hard to Beat (Malpractice Bootleg Mix) - Malpractice
Stabilizer - Low Slung feat. Figure of Speech (Breaks Mix) - Plastic Raygun
Rogue Element - Backbreaker - Exceptional Records
? - On the Right Track (Wicked Lester Remix) - Hai Karate

And this was put together on my Rane TTM 57SSL using Serato Scratch and good ol' vinyl records. I also forgot to mention that I actually did some scratching on this mix. :) It's not that great, my home set up unfortunately is on a really wobbly table, and I haven't practiced in a while. At any rate, it's in there.

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Announcing the DJ Shagz Box Set

Posted By: Shagz
Date:

Yet another project I've been working on has finally come to fruition. I present to you, the DJ Shagz Box Set! (Click for pics)

The Box Set contains (almost) everything I've ever made as a DJ, including 10 mix tapes, 10 CDs and 3 CDRs of digital releases and broadcasts. That's over 45 hours of music. The box set contains pretty much the last copies of the mix tapes I've made, as well as some of the last copies of the CDs. The CDRs contain all the broadcasts and digital releases re-encoded to 192 kbps. (Previously, they were only available at 96 and 128 kbps; one mix is stuck at 96kbps, 'cuz I deleted the original wav by mistake) Only one box set exists in the world (naturally).

You may be wondering "How can I get my hands on all this music?" Well, you're going to have to win it! As part of the release of Source Material, I put together this massive collection to give away to one lucky person.

This person could be you! All you need to do is contact me before Wed, April 30th, 11:59pm and let me know what your favourite DJ Shagz mix is. Be sure to include your full contact details so I can get a hold of you. The winner will be selected at random from all contestants, as will the second and third place winners. Oh, I didn't mention those? :) Second place will get a mix of their choice plus a copy of Source Material and third will just get a copy of Source Material.

Good luck!

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The Beatitudes from JPuddy

Posted By: Shagz
Date:

My good dj friend JPuddy has recently dropped a couple of really good trance dj mixes over at his site. Really excellent stuff, great tune selection showcasing current sounds in the world of trance and progressive house.

Get The Beatitudes Vol 1 and The Beatitudes Vol 2 and his site.

I kind of got out of trance after things imploded in the last 90's, but Puddy's mixes have always made me feel like I should be paying more attention, more so this one than any others. There's some great new stuff out there from labels like Ajuna Beats and Baroque Records, and new artists like Above & Beyond and Steve Porter (and veterans like Max Graham) are bringing a new "housey" sound to their trance productions, more fun, more funk.

You'll hear some of that in both mixes, along with some more traditional "big melody" trance.

I better get off my butt and make a new mix. :)

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Digital DJing on the Cheap

Posted By: Shagz
Date:

The manufacturers don't want you to know this, but the truth is you don't have to plop down $1,500 for the latest Allen & Heath mixer or $3,000 on a JazzMutant Lemur to do creative things with MIDI and DJ software. Sure, having a brand new DJ controller with all kinds of bells and whistles will get you excited about trying new ideas, but you might get more mileage out of something at a fraction of those prices.

Great article on how to get into digital djing without having shell out tons of cash for a top of the line dj software controller. You'll still need to shell out for the software (Traktor 3, Torq, PCDJ Dex or any other midi-controllable DJ software), a laptop and a cheap mixer, but you won't have to drop a lot on fancy controller.

Also check out the author's dj blog at DJ Tech Tools.com. Not much there at the moment, but there's some neat stuff all the same.

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