ONE-SHOTS
Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By Dave Hill Jr.
SONOPHILE DEKSTASY 1.2
DJ SOFTWARE
If you are looking to DJ with your Apple PowerBook, say hello to DeKstasy, a new freeware digital DJ application for OS X found at www.sonophile.com. Now, before you start thinking, “You get what you pay for,” let me describe what happened when I took the app for a spin. DeKstasy provides five self-explanatory work areas: Songs, Decks, Mixer, BPM and Import. Like Apple's iTunes, DeKstasy can play any WAV, AIFF or MP3 file dragged onto its Import tab. Songs can then be organized into virtual Crates. Technically, you can also play songs directly from your CD drive, but I found DeKstasy to run much smoother when using its default folder on the hard drive. You can also use this folder to record vinyl or other audio recordings straight into DeKstasy. Once a song has been successfully imported, simply send it to one of DeKstasy's four Decks, press Play, and you're off and running. DeKstasy's Mixer is a solid 2-channel DJ mixer complete with crossfader, EQ and frequency kills. Like with most digital DJ apps, beat matching in DeKstasy requires you to preconfigure each of your track's tempo settings. To do that, DeKstasy provides a Correct BPM window where you tap your computer's Return key to get in the ballpark and then fine-tune the track's tempo by creating a small two-beat loop — a fairly easy process. For tracks with tempo changes or inconsistencies, DeKstasy's bpm maps effectively create subtracks within tracks for seamless playback. Now, if only I could get DeKstasy to organize my vinyl.
Product Summary
SONOPHILE
DEKSTASY 1.2 > FREE DOWNLOAD
At a glance: Digital DJ application for Mac OS X
Contact: e-mail info@sonophile.com; Web www.sonophile.com
PRIMESOUNDS FLUM
SAMPLE CD
During the past few months, PrimeSounds has released a number of high-quality, if oddly named, sample CDs: Metriam; Distoteque; and the subject of this review, Flum; Trips and Tranceformations. Within each of those titles, PrimeSounds blurs the borders between the standard dance and electronic-music genres by creating experimental rhythms and textures for diverse music production. Each PrimeSounds double-CD set ships with one audio CD and one WAV/REX-data CD packaged in a handsome DVD-style case. Sonically speaking, Flum consists of simple synthesizer patterns and drum sequences that have been heavily modulated with freakish filter settings and cross-wired LFOs. The results could lend percolating background figures to about any modern genre of music or serve as primary elements in an electronica or dance track. If you are looking for rhythmic foundation, Flum also provides more than 100 techno- and trance-style drumbeats with some unusual interplay and swing feels. Typically, these grooves imply, and most often deliver, a four-on-the-floor motif. I enjoyed Flum producer Magnus Lindberg's darker-side-of-electronica tact and unusual pulsing synth play. Although PrimeSounds markets Flum as “post-progressive loops and swoops,” I would suggest that these samples are simply a lot of flum.
Product Summary
PRIMESOUNDS (DIST. BY BIG FISH AUDIO)
FLUM > $99
At a glance: Electronica sample CD with WAV, ReCycle and audio formats
Contact: tel. (800) 717-3474; e-mail info@bigfishaudio.com; Web www.bigfishaudio.com
POWERFX THE SAMPLIST GUIDE TO JAZZ DRUMS
ENHANCED SAMPLE CD
If you are drowning in the latest currents of jazz and blues remixes, the production crew at PowerFX has just thrown you a lifesaver. The Samplist Guide to Jazz Drums is not only a sample CD but also a video guide to the history of traditional jazz drumming. In addition to the disc's 450 MB of drum loops and one-shots performed by modern-jazz master Ralph Peterson, you will find a collection of short MPEG video clips featuring Peterson's narrative examples of arguably the most important beats of the 20th century. In each video, Peterson briefly cites the style that he will play and then emulates “signature” beats such as Gene Krupa's “Sing, Sing, Sing” beat, Steve Gadd's syncopated jazz-funk groove, Elvin Jones' sinister 3/4 swing and Tony Williams' furious Miles Davis-era bop phrasing. But Peterson doesn't stop there: Jazz Drums also includes several funky Afro-Cuban mambos, calypsos and sambas, as well as a host of swinging New Orleans second-line snare-drum grooves. Even bebop purists will be impressed with Peterson's precise replicas of Art Blakey, Jimmy Cobb, Philly Joe Jones and many other classic jazz artists. Lucky for you, PowerFX has captured a modern-jazz institution in Peterson. If you are an aspiring jazz remixer or a fan of jazz drumming or if you have ever had the good fortune to hear Peterson swing, this PowerFX Jazz Drums title is quite a ride.
Product Summary
POWERFX
THE SAMPLIST GUIDE TO JAZZ DRUMS > $49
At a glance: WAV sample CD with video clips explaining each subgenre
Contact: e-mail info@powerfx.com; Web www.powerfx.com
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