Jikkenteki

Dynaudio BM5A's here.

My girlfriend is hands down the best partner I've ever had, but she knows nothing about trance, much less Simon Posford. Does this mean if I introduce her to S.P.'s work and she doesn't instantly fall in love with it I have to dump her?

6-D Soundz' parties are generally around 300 to 500 people these days from what I hear. I played at a couple of their smaller parties back in 2005. Sharaku is a very cool guy, but be warned that the over all sound is very "Finland" centered, as some people don't really like that sound. The majority of their parties are centered around the Mt. Fuji area, but they have a few in different locations on occassion. Definately good vibes though.

I was talking to Nemo actually. The fees he is discussing are usually what are taken for copyright royalties, which are handled by different groups, such as ASCAP. RIAA is a group by for for the big five labels. I wouldn't be surprised if they are working with the copyroght royalty collecting agencies, but they are technically a different thing. I can't load that link you posted for some reasons, but artists have no real reason to "join" RIAA per se, although I'm sure many "support" it.

Small point, but I think you are confusing RIAA with royalty collection groups like ASCAP and such in the US. RIAA is an organization only for companies and it is impossible for artists to join RIAA.

Nothing to do with Fruity, but all my Live 5 projects open in Live 6 with no problem what so ever....

Well seeing as this is a highly selective contest with big prizes I'm afraid you all will have to be banned for life. Just kidding. ideally the stuff listed above should be all but since the tracks are done its not the end of the world. Since this is mainly just a "for research and education" purposes type of thing, giving a clear description of the illegal effect used and the time of its appearance might be nice for reference. Now if I could only get back to my track. I got it half finished, but then had to move and then do some remixes...

Funny, most people I talk to recommend the opposite. The bang risk is just as serious as a any other type of extrenal soundcard for a laptop, but PCMCIA cards are generally more stable as far as the hardware connection to your computer goes. I've personally had USB audio cards crap out on me, not to mention usb connections to my midi controllers crap out on me during live sets, but I've NEVER had any such connection issues since I've gone to PCMCIA. Granted technology has improved and all, but I still have a hard time trusting USB and Firefire (note that RME, Echo, etc's "laptop" cards have generally always been PCMCIA as well, with firewire only just recently becoming more common with the upper end companies). Of course all this can vary with your computer and how you use it, so use what works for you and get the best card you can afford.

The lyrics from a David Gilmour song come to mind... "either you are wrong, or I am right" I'm curious to see the official results here to see just how "bad" people's tastes are.

A couple months ago I sold my 1402-VLZ Pro. Granted I still have an SR24･4-VLZ Pro a my main mixer, and I wasn't using the 1402, but still I kind of wanted to keep it around as an emergency live mixer. Alas, space and financial reality won the day. One nice thing about Mackies though is that they have a fairly strong resale value. I completely lucked out with my SR24-4 because I bought it used and one of the sliders was loose (still works though) so I got it in an auction for only $500, elsewise I could have NEVER afforded it. However I am noticing something here. Recently you got a Mac, now a Mackie.... I seem to recall you having an M-Audio soundcard... Tell me my friend, do you have some sort of "M" fetish manifesting itself through your musical gear?

He asked about soundcards, not laptops. To date I have used both an Echo Indigo and an Emu 1616 (both PCMCIA card) sound cards with both of my laptops and I've had no issues with them. I've never used them, but I have personally seen three different artists using M-Audio firewire cards live and have them freak out on them during their livesets so my personal impression has alway been to avoid them, although others seem to have had no problem with them. On the Mac side of things I have a couple artist friends who use Motu firewire cards with their Macs live and have had no problems with them, including one case where the artist was pounding on the table his computer was on so hard that it collapsed, but the audio never skipped a beat.

First thing that I notice when going from the intro bits is that the deep bassy swelling pad type sound goes away and nothing replaces it's space sonically sothat when then melody part comes in it feels a bit lonely to my ears. Try adding something else under the melody to give the ears some choices. Could be another pad, could be some sort of supporting line, whatever works.

I definately am into this album. Its been a good friend on the trains to and from work for the last two weeks since I bought it. The first Prometheus album took me awhile to get into, but this one sturck me as something special from the first listen.

I think this topic is a bit difficult to discuss because its damn near impossible to hear how "good" the mastering is without hearing the original unmastered tracks first. Most of the clear sound and such comes from good mixing, mastering can't clear up a bad mix, period.

As I always say, when in doubt, blame Nemo.

Actually Ubar Tmar makes his living making music for commercials and TV shows in Japan.....

I just bought it at Tower Records in Japan yesterday. Good album.

Battery or RMIV are probably the easiest/best options if you are going to buy one. For freeware, my hands down favorite sampler is DiscoDSP's Highlife, which you can get here. http://www.discodsp.com/highlife/

Here's a quick run through of the DVDs I have to date. Son Kite - Live In Tokyo http://www.discogs.com/release/351528 My benchmark for psy-related DVDs. I prefer live recordings over studio overdubbed soundtracks and this is all about that. Also has a mess of interview and documentary type stuff too. Yummy. Juno Reactor - Live In Tokyo http://www.discogs.com/release/481244 The other benchmark for live psy-DVDs. I was at two of the Japan shows for the tour this DVD captures and it's quite true to the original show. Great stuff. Solstice Music Global Trance Festival 2000-2002 http://www.discogs.com/release/208619 Hands down the best of the "festival documentary" DVDs. The live acts are actually shown with the proper live recordings to go with them. Has some short but good interviews as well. Countdown 2004 - New Maps Of Hyperspace http://www.discogs.com/release/452703 My favorite of the "pure live show" style DVDs. Its a bit too short for my tastes, but everything there is quality. Good audio quality, good picture quality, if only it were twice as long. Skazi - Hit & Run World Tour Part 1 http://www.discogs.com/release/741040 Yes I bought this. Ignoring the music and such for a moment, this is actually a quality DVD. I would have prefered a bit more "live" recordings, but the documentary stuff is fun to watch and all and all it is put together very well. If it were by an artist I was more interested in, it might be my favorite, but alas... Super Vision (1) http://www.discogs.com/release/744643 This is a "music video" style DVD and in that regard its pretty good. As I said before, if I'm going to watch psy-trance, I prefer to watch live sets, but for those looking into the visual side of things, this might do the trick. The Gathering 2002 http://www.discogs.com/release/235700 To be blunt, crap. This has none of the things I am interested in when watching a psy-dvd. Its just a bunch of live video footage with a completely unrelated studio soundtrack on top. Some people might like this I guess but for me, live video should go with live sound and studio footage should be mixed with studio visuals. That said, the included CD isn't too bad The Gathering 2003 http://www.discogs.com/release/429843 This DVD is much better. A decent mix of documentary style goofing around, some studio soundtrack action and a decent helping of live sound action as well. By far Vision Quest's best DVD. My only gripe with it is the "Tania Miller" interview section. To be honest I'm still not 100% sure who she is or why I should care what she has to say. I'm assuming she is one of the organizers, but her endless talking comes across as self-important babble and really breaks the mode of the DVD for me. The Gathering 2004 http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=4747 After coming up with a winner for 2003, VQ goes back to the formula for 2002 and presents us another loser. I seem recall the original advertising for this saying it included live coverage of the festival and all (although this was later changed), but the end product has probably less than 10 minutes of live footage total and at home video camera sound quality to boot. I remember feeling horridly cheated when I bought this. By far my least favorite of the psy-DVDs to date. I haven't seen the most recent Gathering DVD, but I definately won't be buying it without watching someone else's copy first.

I've watched a few of them and occasionally re-watch them. They usually are so much about how to make music and to use the million different functions hidden or in plain sight in Cubase. I recommend watching them as you learn how to use the program much more effectively, which makes making any kind of music much easier.

Probably as close as we'll ever get.... straight from the source at least. http://app.artists-first.net/Chi/shop.action?item=10409

Just bought Chi-A.D. - Earth Crossing as legitimate downloads from www.chi-ad.com. If I recall correctly I believe this version he is selling on his site has been remastered as well.

Well if you want software, probably my vote would go to Reaktor for being potentially the closest to limitless. Of course its a monster to learn how to use deeply, but the thing has some much potential and even just shared resources available for registered users is probably far more than most artists would ever use or need.

I always do my mixes somewhat like a movie. That is to say they should be fast parts, slow parts, intense parts, relaxed parts, some surprising changes of direction, some expected stuff, some surprising stuff....etc. While I like action movies, I wouldn't want to watch a 90 minute non-stop fight scene that goes from beginning to end, which is basically what I think a lot of DJ's tend to do with their DJ sets. I think a good set should have some ebb and flow to it, jump throw a few different styles, switch up bpms, etc. I'm big into the idea of "journeys" and just about everything I do in music from making tracks to doing DJ sets to choosing tracks and track order for a compilation revolves around trying to make some sort of journey.

I have it. I haven't written any reviews in awhile, but this is decent. I'm sure the full on-ness and the vocal stuff will turn a lot of people off, but I've found myself searching it out to put in the playlist a few times.