World famous House DJ Erick Morillo was arrested at Glasgow Airport on Saturday night for alleged drug possession. The 37-year-old DJ star pleaded not guilty to the charge of cocaine possession.
You would think he could have one of his groupies carry that shit around for him. You just weren’t thinking were you Erick? Oh yeah, cuz you were high. Tsk tsk!
Some more photos after the jump just cuz…
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I just stumbled across this new remix of the worn-out classic “Shiny Disco Balls” by Bad Boy DJs. Keep it fresh with a new mix.
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MP3: Zshare
While software like Serato is very stripped down, it allows a DJ to quickly and easily perform his/her primary task - beatmatching and mixing music. The first time ever using Serato I quickly figured out how to use it with no instructions. The first time I looked at the user interface for Torq it made me want to cry. This interface is easily the most hideous looking thing I have seen in DJ Software market hands down! Even if M-Audio sent me a free copy I wouldn’t install this on my computer. I’m only reporting this new version of the software for those of you that do use it. I would love to hear some first hand comments about how great this software is so I can learn not to judge the software by the GUI, but I doubt I will hear any. Please let us know if you use this.
The Otus from Eks is another new DJ Controller to enter the game, but this one definitely has some features I’d like to try out in person if we can get a test unit in here. A few features that really stand out to me are the ability to control 2 decks with just the one controller and the touch sensitive pitch ribbon. This sleek new DJ controller can be had for 649.00 € via the Eks Website.
South Central have released this amazing reworking of Josh Wink’s classic “Higher State of Consciousness” for free to promote their upcoming full length album and remix releases.
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I’m not sure how well this instrument would work with a DJ or Live set, but it would be interesting to see someone do it!
The iPhone Ocarina from Smule is the first instrumental application that turns the iPhone into a unique musical instrument. The traditional ocarina is a member of a very old family of musical instruments, dating back at least 12,000 years, in China and Mesoamerica. The Smule iPhone Ocarina brings this millenia-old musical tradition into the 21st century.
Here’s how it works. Once you’ve installed the application, hold the iPhone in such a way that you can conveniently press the four buttons while blowing into the microphone. That’s right; it’s a wind instrument.
So Antares just released Auto-Tune EFX which allows anyone to very easily achieve the Daft Punk - Cher vocal effect that has become quite commonplace lately.
From the Antares Website:
The quickest, easiest, most affordable tool for real-time pitch correction and creating the Auto-Tune Vocal Effect (the T-Pain/Cher-style effect).
Powered by the same ground-breaking Evo™ Voice Processing Technology as Antares’ Auto-Tune Evo, the latest generation of the worldwide standard in professional pitch correction, Auto-Tune EFX makes Antares-quality pitch processing accessible to anyone engaged in computer-based audio recording.
Another cool instructable for turning an old hard drive into a rotary controller that can then be mapped to MIDI to contol some DJ software or some other bit of virtual gear. If anyone technically gifted enough to build one of these does so please post some photos and let us know how it works out.
Full instructions here.
Here’s a nice bit of kit to take along with you on your next flight when you’ve just got to finish that next remix on the go. 
Snip snip…
Now that the laptop has become the new desktop it’s tempting to do everything on the go. But try composing or editing music while enjoying a latte at Starbucks and you’ll find yourself seriously lacking in the tactile input department. There’s a reason why musicians generally need racks of equipment at their disposal… you just cant play music so well with a keyboard and mouse. The new Korg Nano Digital Music Controllers aim to remedy this musical dilemma by providing three different portable USB versions of common musical input devices that fit perfectly with your laptop. The nanoKEY gives you a mini velocity sensitive keyboard. The nanoPAD provides you with velocity sensitive drum-pads and a Kaossilator style x-y control pad while the nanoKONTROL gives you nine faders, nine knobs and eighteen switches for your mixing pleasure.
Jochem Paap aka Speedy J has been making news with the announcement of his forthcoming album which will be a collaborative process with anyone who wishes to contribute some loops. He is doing it all from the Soundcloud website. Checking the SoundCloud site I just noticed they have unreleased tracks from MC Hammer’s new album (hmmmm). The site also acts as a way for sending audio files to fellow collaborators.
Here is the info from Speedy J’s Collab page…
What is Open Collabs?
Building on the concept of his past Collabs Projects, Jochem Paap aka Speedy J invites producers worldwide to submit parts for an album collaboration of epic proportions. In times where the vast majority is reluctant to embrace the changes that digital technology brings, he’s reaching out to prove the value of creative synergy new tools and formats have to offer. The project will be a manifest of these values, re-injecting progress into electronic music. The resulting album will be released on his label Electric Deluxe, profits will be shared with all artists appearing on it 50/50.
