We take a look at the latest entry level DJ Controllers on the market to try and help make sense of the myriad of choice. Pro and Cons discussed for each one to try and help you with your decision if you are thinking about purchasing your first controller.
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PART 1
Looking at the Big Picture
Part 1 of DJ Set Programming - Looking at the big picture - a few vital questions to ask before you begin preparing for your gig.
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In this series we take a look at computer game soundtracks from the past that influenced a generation of people to become fans of electronic and underground music. It is no secret that for the youth of the 80s and 90s, computer games played an integral roll in influencing and forming musical tastes. From techno to hip-hop, video games exposed the youth to music that was outside of commercial radio at the time, and long before the internet. Join us on our journey in rediscovering the best of the bunch.
LONG, long before it was abbreviated to just 'GTA', the first release in the franchise was graphically a far-cry away from where it is now. The now infamous Rockstar Games were a practically unknown games developer before they smashed into people lives with this epic title. Sure, they were still called DMA, based in Dundee, when 'Grand Theft Auto' was released, but they became Rockstar. Not only was the game perfect for any teen of the 90's being rebellious in nature and rife in its reference to drugs, guns and gangs, the developers reputation was cemented as bad boys of the gaming world when they were faced with lawsuit, after lawsuit after lawsuit from all areas of the concerned mainstream world, from parents to priests. These mostly failed, but was a PR gold mine for Rockstar.
Even to this day and throughout the series, there are similarities that remain from the genesis of the most successful gaming series in history. The gameplay, the violence, the sheer enjoyment are all aspects that have kept each title as spectacular as the ones that came before it. But it's the music that has always remained top notch and instrumental in adding to the ambience of each time and city you find yourself in. Young adults across the world will credit GTA and the series as introducing them to classic tracks from years gone by, and we will look at these in detail in future posts on the topic.
'Grand Theft Auto', however, wasn't embellished with the huge artist roster we are familiar with in the versions later than PS1. The soundtrack was written primarily by a relatively unknown composer and producer named Craig Connor, who is credited with the entire playlist.
For only 60 minutes of radio play this was by far the most advanced and captivating reality based soundtrack of any game that came before it. It was actual radio, that switched on when you got in the car! And was a different station in different cars! WTF! Very exciting stuff as a 10 year old playing a game rated as an 18.
Hip-hop, trance, acid, break beat and techno are all evident, along with a quirky country number that was always playing in the pick-up trucks.
Reminisce, people...
In this series we take a look at computer game soundtracks from the past that influenced a generation of people to become fans of electronic and underground music. It is no secret that for the youth of the 80s and 90s, computer games played an integral roll in influencing and forming musical tastes. From techno to hip-hop, video games exposed the youth to music that was outside of commercial radio at the time, and long before the internet. Join us on our journey in rediscovering the best of the bunch.
Stepping outside of the standard agenda of this series, today we take a peek at an absolute revolution in the use of home gaming consoles and electronic music.
If you think Ableton looks confusing, the below image shows the equivalent back in the early 1990s.
OctaMED was a music production suite designed for the Commodore Amiga console.
The distinguishing feature of MED and OctaMED in comparison to other music trackers on the Amiga was that MED and OctaMED were chiefly used by musicians to create stand-alone works, rather than by game or demo musicians to make tunes that play in the context of a computer game or demo.
In others words, the entire bedroom producer culture was born out of this software and its limited, yet brilliantly used capabilities.
It only had 4 Channels to work with, and graphically there was a rather daunting interface, making Ableton today seem like a dream.
Here is a video showing a track produced on the software playing by heavyweight Jungle/DnB legend Aphrodite.
DJ Aphrodite who was also part of Urban Shakedown, used two Amiga 1200's running OctaMED to create a range of his early hits such as "Dub Moods", "Summer Breeze", "King Of The Beats", joint productions with Micky Finn such as "Bad Ass" and the remix of 'The Jungle Brothers'-"True Blue" and also including his first album, Aphrodite.
NOTE- The stereo field is pretty messed up. (For reasons we won't bore you with here)
In this series we take a look at computer game soundtracks from the past that influenced a generation of people to become fans of electronic and underground music. It is no secret that for the youth of the 80s and 90s, computer games played an integral roll in influencing and forming musical tastes. From techno to hip-hop, video games exposed the youth to music that was outside of commercial radio at the time, and long before the internet. Join us on our journey in rediscovering the best of the bunch.
Last time we posted about the 'G-Police’ soundtrack from the Sony Playstation 1, but this week we feel we have to talk about the game series with the most pounding of soundtracks of all time which gave it classic status as the series that embraced the harder forms of electronic music, Wipeout.
The description for the title reads "Ballistic Antigravity Racing", and the soundtrack couldn't any more perfect. Fast, acidy, pounding, rolling, racing ballistic AF techno... it melted my tiny mind then and it does so even more now.
If you grew up as a kid in the 90s and now listen to techno, there is a good chance this is the reason why... with tracks by The Chemical Brothers, Leftfield and Orbital it is absolutely no surprise. If you have never heard of WipeOut then I suggest you play it. But for now, enjoy the noises...
TRACKLIST:
00:00 Intro
01:16 Cairodrome
08:44 Cardinal Dancer
16:01 Cold Comfort
24:10 Doh T
32:27 Messij
40:16 Operatique
48:57 Tentative
57:06 Transvaal
