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.

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

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.