Sunday, October 31, 2010

How Young are your EARS? (hearing test)



Ever wondered how good your hearing is?


Go to this link below:
http://journal.plasticmind.com/ears/mosquito-tone-or-how-to-tell-youre-a-youngun/


(or click HERE)


There's a square at the middle of the page that plays frequencies from 11 KHz to  18KHz....


Can YOU hear all of them?


to be perfectly honest i can only hear up to 16 KHz... (FAAAAAAARK!) 
So 17KHz is barely audible to me (i can hear it very very faint and i have to increase the volume a bit). 18KHz does nothing whatsoever to me (and i done this test using proper studio monitors!)


too much djing and loud music when i was younger has probably effected my hearing to some degree , im 26 years old so an 18 year old could probably hear all of them!


one thing to note as well, on the higher frequencies (17KHz and above) some pc speakers probably cant generate them, i actually use a studio monitor speakers to listen to them, so if you cant hear 17 on your laptop speakers, do not panic!!! its probably the speakers :D If you have a pair of good dj headphones, you can use them, just make sure to put the volume low as a safety precaution!!!


if you can hear 18KHz with no problem then your ears are FRESH! Please keep them that way by not over-exposing yourself to extreme loud noises :D


there are other sites where they go up to 21KHZ but im sure mr google can help you with that  :D

Saturday, October 30, 2010

How to move iTunes library from PC to MAC - including all ratings, playlists, tags etc!



Now that im officially a converted Apple Fanboy (i know!!! shame on me for investing in an iPhone4 and an iMac!) 

Most of us use iTunes as some sort of song organizing program, its good to keep our tunes neat, tidy and organized! Moving them around though, might look scary to some... The thought of losing all our neatly organized playlists, ratings, tags etc can be pretty scary!

But worry not! From personal experience, its actually VERY VERY EASY to do!

So if you are thinking of converting to apple as well and wonder - how do you move your ENTIRE library from PC to Mac  (and vice versa!), Here it is!

You will need: An external hard drive, formatted at FAT32 for maximum compatibility, how big would be dependent on how large your music library is.


Step 1: Download iTunes on your mac (doh!) Make sure its the latest version. Also make sure you update your pc's itunes to the latest version for maximum compatibility

Step 2: Make sure you tick "copy files when adding to iTunes" and then CONSOLIDATE your library so everything is in the iTunes folder!!! This is very important!!!

Step 3: Copy your whole "iTunes" folder (the folder which contains the folders "album artwork", "iTunes Music" , iTunes Music Library.xml etc 
on windows they are usually at:

WIN7: YOURNAME/My Music (locate the "iTunes" folder inside here)

VISTA (ugh!)  :  YOURNAME/Music/ (the "iTunes" folder will be inside)

WINXP: Documents and Settings/YOURNAME/My Documents/My Music/ (locate this folder and find "iTunes" inside)

copy the whole "iTunes" folder into your external hard drive (make sure its FAT32 so that your mac can read it!!!)


and then after it's done, eject the hard drive from your pc, plug the external hard drive into your mac and drag that very same iTunes folder...

into "users/YOURNAME/music" (on your MAC!) , make sure iTunes is not running while you are doing this! If it is running, quit first!


And that's it!

Now open iTunes and you will see all your PC library, complete with all your complicatedly sorted playlists that you spent hours and hours doing. 

That wasnt so hard wasnt it? :D



TIP: If you are a traktor/serato user, all your tags will be intact as well, so your beatgrids and hotcues will be right there where it was! 

Monday, October 25, 2010

Mixed In Key DJ Contest: Win Awesome Prizes!!

http://contest.mixedinkey.com/






Follow the above link for the Mixed In Key DJ Contest where you can win many awesome prizes such as the Rane Serato SL3 unit, Allen Heath XONE DX , Ableton Suite 8, and many more!


All you need to do is submit a mixtape of your fav genre - 10-15 minutes!




check the link for more details!!! The deadline is NOVEMBER 25 2010, take part so you can win awesome goodies!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

DJ Shiftee: The Golden Years Video

This is a really AWESOME and funny vid by Shiftee!!! Basically he re-creates DMC moments from 1988 up until now - EPIC and must watch!!!  - Especially if you follow DMC and have actually seen the original performers being parodied by Shiftee :D

Thursday, October 21, 2010

So i finally bought an iPhone 4 32GB...


I was one of those people who thought that "meh - i dont need an iphone"... The only experience i had with the iPhone was with the old iPhone 3G - the battery was pathetic and the camera was a shameful 2MP, plus i already have so many iPods so while other people went nuts over the 3GS - I skipped it altogether and bought a Nokia E72 instead. I liked the ironman battery of the e72, the physical qwerty keyboard, and the 5MP camera.

However, one day, i went to my local telco Singtel to check on something, and by accident....

Phone Company Staff: Sir, your phone contract is about to expire! Would you like the iPhone 4 32GB at a ridiculously low price of just SGD $300? *wink wink* If yes you can have it right Now... Now... Now... Now.. (echoes...)

Me: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............................  *Long Pause*
(watching the super long queue of people trying to get a hold of an iPhone 4 in the singtel shop)

Note: *in singapore iPhones are constantly sold out, even months after it was released, they still sell like hot cakes and gone within seconds!*

Me: (thought to self: Ah Fudge it!!!) YES PLEAAAAAAAAASE! *cheeky grin*

and so that's how i ended up with an iPhone 4....


So far my feedback:

-Battery is definitely awesome, on VERY HEAVY USAGE (constant youtube vids, facebook, very long browsing, wifi on, playing a lot of games) i still have about 30 percent battery by the end of the day so Yes if you are a heavy user you will at least get though your day with some battery left when you get home!

-Interface is super fast and zippy : I have yet to experience ANY kind of slowdown whatsoever! Opening apps, opening vids, opening whatever, they load up relatively INSTANT!

-The Screen is UBER-Awesome! Everything is displayed Razor-sharp!!

-5 MegaPixel Camera is really good! Takes good quality movies at 30FPS which is a sure win!

-Awesome APPS! many are free! Now i get why the apps are all the craze!

-FINGER PRINT MAGNET: Make sure to get a MATTE screen protector and a silicone case! The front and back is GLASS - finger magnets and also pretty FRAGILE! Make sure you dont sit on it, step on it, put it on your backpocket etc - they WILL break!

Bottom line: YES, THEY ARE GREAT!!! I have yet to experience the whole "signal drops when you hold the phone a certain way blah blah blah" - maybe the fixed it with the newer units? The phone in general is REALLY fast and does not lag at all, even when opening multiple pages at the same time... Im impressed!! I am now officially a converted iphone fanboy :D 

I also bought some cheap cases off ebay (epik cases) they are not too bad, but they dont fit THAT good, not happy with my el-cheapo case i decided to invest in a nice SPECK FITTED iphone 4 case - they are awesome! they fit really really well and have a nice matte rubbery texture on the sides and a classy fabric at the back - Nice! I really recommend the SPECK cases - they are really high quality!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

This video made me pre-order a Traktor Kontrol S4... :D




Ok so i put my pre-order for one of these bad boys... As soon as i receive them a review is in order!!!

Been thinking bout getting them for awhile, but that video above sort of made me pull the trigger - im extremely happy with the build quality of the NI Kontrol X1 (what a tank!), that also convinces me that Native Instruments stuff are bulletproof (except for that X1 tea-time glitch thingie, which was a software thing by the way) so - what the heck, pre-ordered!!!!

DJTECHTOOLS is selling the S4 at $899 with a free ean golden tutorial DVD , The NI Shop is selling them for $999, you can make your pre-orders if you want to , they will ship from early November i think...

Cant Wait!!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Native Instruments Kontrol X1 'Tea Time' FX knob bug!!



I just came across this weird glitch in the forums, i tried it and realised that my X1 also had the same thing, SHOCKING!!! Try doing it and see if you also have the same glitch:

Native Instruments refers to this glitch as the "tea time" glitch, as it happens when the knobs are at arounbd 5 o'clock position (hahaha get it? tea time!)

There are 8 fx knobs in the NI Kontrol X1 (4 for FX bank 1 and 4 for FX bank 2), fire up Traktor Pro, turn all 7 knobs (any 7 knobs will do) to MAXIMUM (5 O'clock position) and then watch the knobs indicator on the computer screen while you slowly increase the 8th knobs to maximum... if you have a "defective unit" then once the 8th knobs hit maximum, all 7 other knobs are gonna jump around frantically like you just pressed a non-existant "randomize" button!!!

If you can successfully turn the 8th knob to maximum (5 o clock position), back and forth without any glitches, then you got the "Good Batch" !!!

Do not worry, if you own one of these defective units, Native Instruments will gladly replace them for you - free of charge, they will give you a brand new unit, they'll even refund you the shipping fees! (you need to either send it back to them or bring it back to the retailer - i chose the latter). You will need a proof of purchase/receipt for this replacement, as Native Instruments would want to see your receipt before sending you a brand new unit, so if you bought an exported set from ebay, you MAY be stuck with a defective unit!!

I personally bought the unit from Valentine's Music Centre in singapore - great shop with excellent customer service , i went thru two other Kontrol X1's in the shop (both had the same problem) until i found the proper one - so im pretty sure there are A LOT of X1s out there that are affected by this same problem, i checked the other forums and seems like a lot of other people have the same issue. Native Instruments seemed to handle this professionally and quickly by replacing all units affected - so just make sure you check if your unit is one of the bad batch and get your replacement!

To be perfectly honest, if no one had pointed to me the "tea time glitch" i wont probably notice it at all, like who would turn on all effect knobs on maximum? Not many! You cant probably hear the song anymore with that many effects in one song! Im also thinking that many of the people with the "bad batch" of X1 probably dont even know that they have this problem, as they probably have never maxed up all the fx knobs at the same time - but its always good to know that you have a good batch rather than the bad ones :)

Links:
Weird K1 effect knobs problem

Saturday, October 2, 2010

AKAI MPK Mini - Very affordable AKAI Goodness in a small package!!

ZOMG! This looks really good! I own a pair of Akai LPD8's and for the price, they delivered a product that works very well and also very very well built - much better built than the KORG Nano series. This awesome looking new product seems to combine the goodness of both AKAI LPD8 and the AKAI LPK25 into one very small affordable thing - say hello to the The AKAI MPK Mini!

If you dont already have the Akai LPD8 or the MPK25, this will be on the Mega-Awesome-Value MUST BUY list whether you need a midi controller for your DVS, for your DAW, or a bit of both! The street price is said to be around USD$99 only! These babies will be out by Q4 2010 - this will be a solid purchase!

I can already imagine the possibilities of mapping this with Traktor Scratch Pro, so many buttons and knobs in one little device!

Link: Akai Website