Friday, December 9, 2011

The Conclusion

Since one week I am back in Vienna. My mind and my body slowly getting used to the "new" environment, last weekend my nose was on a strike due to the very low humidity in comparison to the Netherlands.
I will not continue this Blog, but there is a big chance that I will launch a new one with focus on music production and DJ stuff. Stay tuned, the new Blog will be announced on the Phononoia homepage somewhere down the road.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Amsterdam

Everybody told us that using the P&R facilities in Amsterdam is the best thing you could do when on a day trip to the capital of the Netherlands. You can park your car in a secure area and additionally you get 2 free tickets for the public transportation system to get into the centre and back to your car for only 8€. Yesterday we put the system to a test. We arrived at the P&R at the World Fashion Center where a nice supervisor told us that the public transportation system is on a strike. Out of ten points this leads in the meantime to zero. Okidoki, back in the car, heading towards another P&R with a train connection to Amsterdam Central. And this time the systems scores a flat 10. We even got free train tickets which are normally not included as a compensation.










Saturday, November 19, 2011

Wavedrum Samples

Today I´ve finished the exciting sampling work of the Korg Wavedrum. 367 samples were processed in Audacity in 44.1/24 needing 127 MB of disc space. All of the 100 factory patches have now a new home in my samples folder. For catching the characteristic sound of each patch I used beside of a drumstick also fingers, the palm of my hand, muted hits and my ring (mostly for the rim sounds). Summing up it took me nearly three educating weeks to finish the job. The next step will be the development of an Ableton Live drumrack enabling to play all the sounds with additional tonal control and integrated Midi functionality. Perhaps I will upload the sample pack including the rack to make it available to whoever is interested when finalized.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Kinderdijk / Euromast

A gorgeous Saturday forced us out of our apartments and we headed towards Kinderdijk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinderdijk). After our arrival we also got involved in some dutch tradition: the arrival of Sinta Klaas (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas and http://www.sinterklaasintocht.info/kaart/kinderdijk.html). Later that day the Euromast (http://www.euromast.nl/en/) in Rotterdam delivered lovely views over the inner part of the harbour.



The windmills were used to drain the polders in former days

The only thing changed is the way the Archimedean Screw is powered




Friday, November 11, 2011

Traffic Jam Session

Yesterday I had an appointment at the Hemweg site (Site Link). Jumped into the car in the morning and   ----   as every f***** time when going direction north from Rotterdam got stuck in a traffic jam. Different to Austrians the Dutch love traffic jams. No angry word, no impatience and zipping works the way it should be (that is definitely a huge difference to Austria). Likewise I relaxed and took some nice pics out of Mr. Corsa. After a 2 3/4 hrs. ride I arrived in Amsterdam refreshed and unstressed (Distance Brielle - Hemweg site: 100km exclusively highway) and ready for the meeting (I had plenty of time for preparation).










Monday, November 7, 2011

Departure date fixated

I´m very sorry to tell you and it´s really hard for me, but my days in the Netherlands are counted. The 30th of November 2011 will be my last day on site. Arrival in Vienna is scheduled for the 2nd of December in case my good old friend Mr. Corsa does not fall apart in tiny little pieces.

To overcome my spare time I´ve started today with sampling my Korg wavedrum and editing the recorded (Zoom H2, 44.1kHz, 24 bit wav) samples with Audacity. Unfortunately this process takes far more time than I have expected. After fiddling around with the recording levels, transfer to notebook, cutting the wrong side of the samples, creating fades and normalizing, I saved the first snare sample a few minutes ago. I´m hoping I can improve my speed of work in the upcoming days. Deep bow for all the sample libraries manufacturer.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Edirol PCR300 Midi Mapping for Traktor Pro 2

Quite a while ago I promised to post and publish my Edirol PCR300 Midi Mapping for Native Instrument´s Traktor Pro 2. Here we go:

Settings to be made on the PCR300: nothing, you just use factory preset no#1 and press the dynamic link button on the left to enable the v buttons to send midi commands.
Settings to be made withing Traktor: Load the PCR300 mapping file.

Following picture gives an overview what´s going on:

When back in Vienna i will add support for Deck C and D configured as Sampledecks with the help of a Modifier 2 in toggle mode. Encoders 1 to 4 will then be the filter amount for the sample decks, buttons 5 to 12 will load / play the samples and faders 1 to 4 will control the level of each sample slot. If you are interessted in the config file, please leave a comment.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Happy Day

Last Friday, 21.10.2011, 7pm: The client signs PAC for both units!! Now, the two units are ready for commercial operation and handed over to the client. All erection and commissioning works are completed except a few outstanding points. The performance tests were passed with flying flags, giving an output of 870MW in total (for comparison: Coal fired plant: ~1.1GW, nuclear power station: ~1.4GW). The power plant will produce electricity for nearly 1.5 million average one-family-households. That´s what we were all working for the last three years!
Now the reliability run starts, the two units have to proof, that they are reliable, don´t trip and are easy to operate by the clients shift team. We will supervise them and are on call duty, but we are not allowed to touch anything. It will get an interesting time. Link to the client´s project homepage (not updated by time of writing): EnecoGen
What a great day!!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Donau Insel

Weather is surprisingly stable in the last days and the high pressure area in Europa saves a few sunny days before autumn gets its grips. The Donauinsel was our first choice like in the old days at university.



Hoffest Pics

Sorry for being a little late...

For the first time in our Hoffest history all of us were using a digital DJ system. The decks you see deliver the timecode signal for a DVS (Traktor Scratch).





Sunday, September 25, 2011

Hoffest

Every year sometime between end of September and beginning of October the awesome Hoffest opens its doors. This year´s party will commence on 30.09.2011 and the venue will be the old established Ottakringer Brauerei, with open doors at 8pm accompanied by 200 beers for free. As usual our soundsystem Phononoia will host the electronic floor (starting approx. 11pm).

On decks or alternatively on the midi controllers: Nietzsche, Soundraiser and Habakuk
Diascope and Bilderbuchi will take care about all kinds of moving and static visuals.

Small hint by the way: don´t be too late, the cue gets long around half past ten.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

NetTechno

There is a new Habakuk mix online at play.fm, mostly techno and all featured tracks were released under Creative Commons. You can also follow the link in the play.fm widget on the right.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Mr. R

Mr. R is staying for a short week in Den Haag, Holland to participate in a conference about super conductivity. For sure he gave me a call to visit me in Brielle. As you have perhaps noticed, there were no new posts on this blog in the last couple of weeks simply because of two reasons: First, the workload in the finalization phase of a power plant doesn´t allow you much free time and second: the weather conditions were not really changing in comparison to our super rainy summer, what is really a pain in the ass when you are addicted to outdoor activities. However, this Sunday I have off and the visit from Mr. R was perfectly scheduled and fortunately also the weather feels sympathy for us.





Thursday, August 25, 2011

Sunrise

Today i had to be early on site, so I rolled my body out of my warm bed at an unusual time and tried to get my brain working with the help of black coffee made after a receipt from a Romanian colleague (the spoon remains in the upright position even when you tilt the cup).



Sushi not go round

There are some ways for sushi restaurants to offer their food. You can eat a la carte, running sushi, buffet style and so on. In Delft I have discovered a new way: In rounds. Let me explain: In each round you are allowed to order up to five small things, e.g. one nigiri sushi, three maki rolls, two spring rolls, etc...You can repeat this process for two and a half hours. In case you are not able to finish the meals they are charged additional to the lump sum price you pay for this kind of "all you can eat". Here the link to Umai Sushi in Delft.



Friday, August 12, 2011

Brugge

Wednesday evening we arrived in Brugge. After check in we took a short walk around and hit on an open air stage, part of the Klinkers Festival, called Klinkende Kroegen, where they hired Sweet Coffee for a DJ set featuring a live Sax. The setup was very similar to the Phononoia gigs in cooperation with Mani Marillo at several Hoffests (upcoming event scheduled for 30.09.2011 at the Ottakringer Brauerei). This posts hints are our B&B in Brugge, the Abiente, located next to the Centre and the Chocolatier Dumon, one of the last small chocolate shops with in house production -> In both cases I only say highly recommendable.



 






You really want to see something? For sure you have to pay for it!!