Been a few days since my last post and there is a good reason.  I have been hard at work making beats and tracks using a very useful and portable tool from Korg.   My latest purchase was the Korg nanoPAD and it is well worth the 57 bux I paid for it on Amazon.  You never know when inspiration is going to punch you in the grill and this portable little pad allows me to make beats on my lunch break without having to carry a studio with me.

For  such a small device it packs a decent amount of features, including the X-Y pad which allows you to roll the drums or use the flam feature.  The pads themselves are really responsive and I have been able to make some decent beats using them.  I also like the fact that you can map the pads to different clips in Ableton, letting me control what plays when and turn on/off clips.  Sweet!

Additional to the nanoPAD, Korg offers a nanoKEY and nanoKONTROL device which I will be picking up in the very near future to complete my mobile studio. My lunches never sounded so good!

Until next time!

It’s called the Korg KAOSS Pad mini-KP . This device lets you apply dynamic effects to your MP3′s and it is really fun to use!

Basically you can hook up your MP3 player right to the mini-KP and you use the touch pad to slid and tap your way through 100 different effects.  To demo just a handful of the effect I  remixed a Santa Cruz by Fatboy Slim below.

Now that I am getting into the art of digital DJing, I am glad that this tool is now in my growing arsenal of controllers and effects processors.

All of these samples were created on my PC using Ableton Software, an MPK25, TriggerFinger Midi Controller, Samson U13 Microphone, Line6 Spider II Amp, a Fender Strat and a Ibanez Bass Guitar.

Within the last 8 weeks I have been studying MIDI and researching how to make mash-ups and my own beats and Ableton has been there for me like a true wing man.

A friend of mine mentioned Ableton over a beer at a local pub and it really peeked my interests, so naturally I downloaded the demo and put it through it’s paces. Within a day or two I was rocking out with my sock out, doing things I could never do before.

I have an affinity for driving techno music and I can now create pro sounding tracks with relative ease. My wife has not seen much of me since I re-discovered music thanks to Ableton. Sorry Shelly! I’ll write you another song

We had used a 8′ bedsheet as our projector screen.  Our projector was hooked up using XBOX’s VGA breakout cord and the XBOX audio was hooked into my OLD but still kick-ass, Sony receiver.  I set up 4 speakers and the sound was almost louder the the squadron of F-18 Blue Angels that kept flying over my house.

Once the sun started to set, we fired up the systems and before you knew it, 4 people were playing Rock Band and it sounded awesome!  I have a few pics I need to post up here to show you our set up and a few of our coolest friends playing Rock Band!

Just getting back in the spirit after a very fun trip to Frankfurt Germany. Yes, I was allowed out of the country, getting back in was another story! The purpose of my visit to Germany revolved around ecommerce. I presented at a very small conference and spoke about websites and technology plans for 2008. Great fun indeed!

Just because this was a business meeting and required thinking caps, it did not prevent us from getting our international beer hats on as well. I enjoyed some of the best beer I have ever had – by the Quart!

I thought I knew what a good beer tasted like until I went to Germany. I now frown at the though of getting a good Pils at the local pub. I basically drink Guinness and darker beers anyway but I will never have a Budweiser in my house ever again.

Another day, another port. Not in this case! I was lucky enough to visit the USS Abraham Lincoln stationed on Coronado Island, San Diego. Work has taken me to yet another fine American Naval City and I look forward to returning!

San Diego was unreal. I stayed right across the street from the famous Hotel Del Coronado and had a chance to explore the majority of Coronado Island. Point of interest was the Coronado Brew House, which had some very exotic brews. Tasty!

My reason for being in San Diego was business related and it was to install another kiosk system on this ship. The installation went really well and I was able to meet some very nice people working to support the US Navy.

I was able to bring my wife along and stayed a few extra days. At the time a show called “John From Cincinnati” debuted on HBO immediately after “The Sopranos” finale. The show was a quirky surf noir concept and my wife and I started to like it.

Funnily enough the show was based in San Diego and alot of the shooting took place in Imperial Beach.

Needless to say, we checked out Imperial beach. All of the shops that were filmed in the show were there and it was kinda sad because the show was cancelled.

Nothing can follow “The Sopranos” not even a show about a surfing Alien. At least HBO tried.