RETURN TO VICE CITY
May 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Kylee Swenson and Markkus Rovito
Even rain could not get in the way of the Remix Hotel Miami 2007 event from being the best one ever. No way. A sudden pour, and people just got wet and kept dancing. But there was plenty of refuge from the rain. In the Apple room, Felix da Housecat, BT, Josh Gabriel, Dubfire (of Deep Dish), Paul van Dyk, Junkie XL, King Britt and more discussed 8,749 different tips and tricks for using Apple Logic. And in the Microsoft cabana, a supersweaty Lil Jon made a beat in under 10 minutes and proclaimed, “That's $100,000 right there!” The noncrunk royalty in the room both cheered and sighed with a jealous twitch. In other cabana spaces, sponsors ranging from Akai, Mackie, Numark, Pioneer and Universal Audio to Moog, Roland, Sony, Cakewalk, Open Labs and more demonstrated new gear.
Meanwhile, at the pool, Remix Hotel sponsor Beatport put on a constant din of partying each day. Kaskade, Todd Terry, Tiefschwarz, Magda, Tommie Sunshine and DJ Rap were just a handful of the DJs who spun in the National Hotel patio area. Highlights included a surprise guest appearance from Grandmaster Flash, who joined Richie Hawtin onstage during his set, and an impromptu breakdance breakdown from attendees. Also on Saturday, Stanton sponsored Roc Raida's second annual Gong Battle, and no feelings were spared in the battle for turntablist supremacy, which was claimed by DJ Etronik from L.A.
Although the funky music from both Beatport and Mackie's hotel-bar stage (which included DJ Maseo of De La Soul) slammed nonstop, attendees could easily spend days learning and trying out sponsors' technology for themselves. Like virtual instruments? You could have tweaked off a hangover playing with Cakewalk Rapture and Dimension Pro, IK Multimedia Philharmonik and SampleTank 2, U & I MetaSynth, Propellerhead Reason and the instruments inside Ableton Live 6 and Logic Pro 7.
On the hardware tip, Moog brought its killer Little Phatty analog synth and a full collection of Moogerfooger effects to play it through; Access had plenty of amazing-sounding Virus TI synths for people to get lost on, and Roland also brought a slew of synths, samplers and Edirol controllers. In fact, Cleveland recording/performing artist Hanna gave several inspiring performances that showed how to improvise live without a computer using a Roland MV-8800 sampler/sequencer, Fantom-X6 workstation keyboard and SP-606 sampling workstation. Euphonix even had its ultimate DAW controller there, the MC.
If DJing is your thing, Pioneer, Serato, Stanton, Numark and Native Instruments (NI) were all repping with their latest digital DJing systems, where the trend toward greater video options for DJs was rising. DJs Jazzy Jay and Spinna were even spotted in the NI room trying some new tricks on the Traktor Scratch hardware/software package.
For a full recap of all the action, go to remixhotel.com to read blogs, listen to podcasts, see photos and check out video.
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