Being a novice, this was a relatively inexpensive way to get into the game without blowing mad duckets on some wheels of steel and a mixer.  While this is not the best device in the world for scratching up your favorite songs, it can be done but I now see that eventually,  I will need something from Serato, with improved platters as opposed to the JOG wheels native to the OMNI to get the control I crave.

In the interim, this solution provides me with a sweet controller that can be used in concert with the included Traktor LE software to provide a very cool out of the box, DJ experience.

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!

Here is a great set of articles from IIS.net that covers IIS 7.0 new features in detail and offers an IIS 6.0 to IIS 7.0 Migration guide

The new installation was simple and offered the ability to load specific integration opportunities such as mail, photos etc…I loaded the mail and photo sharing tool to see how it holds up to other solutions from Google and Yahoo.  More to follow.

This elliptical has a bunch of Bells and Whistles including, the ability to play your Ipod through the built-in speaker, it has iFit technology which are little SD sticks that can help you with your workouts. Built in gaming with Tetris and Space Invaders, old school classics that you can play while losing weight.

I really do like the way this machine feels after two solid months of usage. The little mini-games help the time pass while I am struggling to burn off some calories. I have hooked up my stereo and I used my Slingbox to set up a laptop so I can watch TV and listen to the audio over the ellipticals speakers.

Not a bad way to shed some weight!