No, it’s not the machine that helps run your heart. This is actually a pocket-size DJ system developed by Tonium.
The device has a 120 Gb hard drive, multiple file format support (MP3, AAC, WMA, WMA Lossless, WAV, VBR and Ogg format), an SNR of 103, and many basic DJ audio tools. The DJ tools include a Line out Crossfader, a Headphones Crossfader, Bend, Pitch, DJ Pause, Cue, Loop, EQ, Filter, Sound FX, Headphone Jack, Line out jack and a USB 2.0 connector. Any mix that is created can be saved and legally shared with the rest of the world.
I’m not a DJ and I don’t have the mean to invest on a full deck set. If the functionalities are as feasible as featured in the tutorials on Pacemaker’s official website, this will be a great alternative for DJ-wannabe n00bs like me.
It’s important to note that the Pacemaker is not meant to replace the conventional bulkier vinyl/CD DJ equipments. It is designed to mimic the functionalities of the professional equipments in a miniature scale so you can test/trial your ideas on the go without being restrained on the location of your DJ equipments.
Just got this game! I was an addict of the classic 1995 WipeOut on PlayStation. Hooked myself onto my flatmate’s machine for weeks just for this game during college days. Now it’s back… new 2007 version… on my palm. Not only is there new race tracks and improved gameplay, it has great music as well… with tracks by Aphex Twins, Kraftwerk and Stanton Warriors.
Just before I get started with revamping this site, I’d like to show some pictorial upates on what’s up for the past 2 weeks.
News #1 Annie’s 16th Birthday
It was a last minute plan for a celebration, since I won’t be around in Singapore much. Dinner appointment time was set at 12noon. At 3pm, w decided to call it an early celebration for Annie’s birthday. Reservation placed at 4pm. Birthday cake bought at 4:30pm. Called Annie out to Far East and got her birthday present at 6pm. Got her a new pair of prescription glasses… let her choose the funkiest color she wanted. She got a pair of red plastic framed. Really cool shocking red :P… Dinner at 7pm.
Dinner @ Mezza9:
Desert @ Ben & Jerry’s – Demsey Road
That’s all for the sweet 16th birthday celebration of my baby sister… all grown up.
News #2 New Car
The second piece of news is that we finally got our new CRV. Love it!
iPod battery finally went dead after close to 3 year of intensive toil. Just about time. It was the 4th generation. What is it now? 5th? 6th? I’ve lost track.
Anyway, instead of burying it to R.I.P., I hunted for a replacement battery at SLS (Sim Lim Square, computer mart of Singapore) and found this dodgy looking M.I.C. lithium polymer battery, specially made for iPod 4G.
Being a stubborn D.I.Y. freak, I decided to forgo the sales rep offer to help me replace the battery. Furthermore, I’ve always wondered how SeraPod looks opened up so I wanted to see it for myself.
After 15 mins of careful attempts to pry open the iPod, I finally got it right. I carefully followed the instruction pamphlet and changed the battery.
And VOILA! It’s now good as new (I hope. Still charging it to max. Will find out tomorrow.)
Just bought myself a new laptop today at the PC Show @ Suntec City. I’ve been thinking of getting a replacement for the company ThinkPad I will soon be returning, so it’s just about time… why not?
... It’s fast (2.16GHz with 2GB RAM)
... It’s super light (only 1.7kg with carbon-fibre body)
Log on with biometrics.
(... and it has blinking lights too! Weee…)
[Added after 3 hours of use]
Gotta love this new Vaio. It follows me wherever I go around the house. So light I can juggle it in one hand and a glass of water and a ciggie in the other.
But the main thing it has done is reminded me of how much I have neglected my friends. (HUH?)
No, it’s not a typo. One of the things I started doing with this new laptop is to read through my friends’ blog sites and realized how much of their lives I’ve missed. Kinda feel sad.
I’ve been working on a PsychTrance/HardTrance mix over the weekends. 50 over minutes done. Another 50 over minutes to make it a mixed album. Not exactly the kind of mix traditionally done with turntables and mixer, but with my faithful Cubase SX. Now my question is… would this be considered DJ-ing too? I understand that DJ around the world work with either vinyls or now even with CDs, but are music mixing with MP3 files considered ‘disc-jocking’?
Many full-time DJs would criticize the use of MP3 as ‘poser-DJ’ as it is not authentic and the sound quality sux big-time. But hey think about this… how do you think tracks of many electronic music genre like trance, techno and what-nots are made? Mixing and remixing of electronically generated sounds! And how are these electronic sounds made? Through computers! So most would say the best sound format for the computer is *.wav, but HOW MANY PEOPLE in this world would be bothered to try to distinguish the difference between a wav file and a 196kb/s MP3 dance track during a party??? When you’re up-hyped with superb arrangement of beats/rhythm/tunes, would you think you can tell if that favorite track you’ve just heard was played from a vinyl or an MP3 file… or even bothered to find out? The key factor that make a good mix is the ‘perfect’ combination of beats and rhythm that hype you up, isn’t it?
Alright. I do understand some hardcore DJ-ing enthusiasts who insist that the sound quality do make a difference in the level of hype the track can bring, but is it really necessary? Who in the majority of clubbing population would be that particular? Only a small percentage… and that small percentage, in my opinion, are those who just want to show that they are the ONEs who lead a ‘super star’ lifestyle when they own professional DJ equipments and a huge collection of vinyls.
Face it… many of the professional DJs in the world are already incorporating the use of electronic mediums for their mixes.
It’s here. The killer-suits for my shuffle have finally arrived after SeraShuff has been running around naked for the past 2 weeks (yeah like a bare-bottom baby). Like I mentioned in my previous posts, my iPod fever was partially caused by the customizability with accessories for these brother gadgets. From cases to slings, and now with slick-free stickers that not only act as a protective layer, they also make them more pleasing to the eyes too.
c/o pop 2004 proved beyond a doubt that live VJ sets at art and music events would become an integral part of the festival in future years. And so the video jockey has been incorporated into the c/o pop experience, not merely as an attractive accessory to DJ or live band performances, but as an equal protagonist in a comprehensive overall concept.
In 2004, 24 events featuring more than 30 VJs showed how effective the interplay of the optical and the acoustic can be. That`s why the VJ festival, featuring the VJ pool, the VJ arena, the VJ symposium and the »Sehpark«, will form an essential part of c/o pop again this year. The art of the VJ is also at the forefront of the Deutschlandreise club night.
Far from just trying to repeat the winning format of 2004, c/o pop wants to build on last year`s success and go further. The project`s geographical catchment area has been widened, for instance, to draw on the happening Eastern European VJ scene for the first time. Exciting stuff!
Too bad I can’t be there in Cologne in time for the festival. Anyway back to the Shufflesome stickers. I have selected to dress SeraShuff with c/o VJ first. Once out of the wraper, I noticed that the surface of the stickers are glossy, not unlike most other stickers (like those I’d used on my skateboard when young, or those on my boombox) but of precise quality. These glossy vinyl layers are supposed to be teflon coated, meaning they are resistent to scratch.
Done. The stickers are on. Isn’t it obvious enough from these pics, that my favorite colors are black and white? It has always been my fantasy to be living in a b&w world. That’s why I’d loved those silent movies or those arty farty type of modern films shot in b&w. Especially for the theme of this VJ outfit, which shows a grafiti styled silhouette prints of audio jacks that resembles that from my Monster Cables. It bring out the primal form of art from familiar shapes and silhouettes. Very urban. The kind of art that triggers questions like “What’s this supposed to be?” and I can enjoy it before it’s been figured out. My kinda art.
My baby is dressed. With the coincidental choice of dressing for the day, my shirt happens to match the colors (or lack of it) with the background. It must be my subconscious telling me to dress both myself and SeraShuff up for some man-to-machine connection.
This is it! My 1st Anniversary gift from Sunsun. An iPod Shuffle! To many who’ve known my habit of carrying big bro iPod 4G, this addition would have been thought redundant. “Why an iPod Shuffle when you already got a 20GB one?” If anyone were to know me well enough, he or she would have noticed that I live on music and I’d always have it around anywhere I go. I can roam around cities alone with just music in my ears. I used to roam Manhattan with just my Sony minidisc walkman. Sunsun’s choice of this gadget is like a portable oxygen tank to me. She knows the Allen who talks little but breathe music into his own ears. In fact, my iPod fever came at the same time we decided to be together. I got my first iPod 3G in Japan, which is also the same time I ‘proposed’ to her. I lost that iPod on our Bangkok wedding day, believed to have dropped out of my bag when we were rushing to our hotel suite to prepare for the wedding ceremony. A month later, when passing by a duty free electronic shop at Changi Airport, my newly wedded wife suggested to me that perhaps we could get me a new iPod. She knew that part of me who just couldn’t breathe properly without the mobility of an iPod. Now, a year later, this little addition to the family signifies not just our 1st anniversary, but also the first ‘bought’-day of my 4G iPod, conveniently known as SeraPod.
Similarly simple in form, the iPod Shuffle seems to sound better than its big brother. Also, it is incredibly light weight. Sizing just slightly larger than a pack of Wrigley gum, this little 0.8 ounce stick differs from its precedents by Sony, Creative and other earlier makers of flash memory MP3 players not just by the simplicity form, but the weight factor is contributed by stripping it of a fancy LCD display and the array of control buttons. With this light weight, one can actually do somersault with an iPod Shuffle. You can never do this with the 4G iPod without feeling the weight of the gadget and consequential hearing of the “THUD!” sound when it hits the ground (not that I plan to breakdance with a Shuffle either… That’d look so odd when watching someone breakdance without music). Also unlike it’s big brothers, the hard disk based iPods, it is stripped of the jukebox ability of carrying your entire CD collection with you down to the bare simplicity of just 100 plus songs you need for the day.
Last but not least, I love the variety of accessories and add-ons to customize the look of your own unique iPod Shuffle. Like Threadless.com, the iPod Shuffle also has its open design website selling unique protective sticker site at ShuffleSome.com. I think I’m going to contribute a design or two to the website. For other interesting updates on iPods, you may find some interesting reads at iLounge.com.
It’s here. The killer-suits for my shuffle have finally arrived after SeraShuff has been running around naked for the past 2 weeks (yeah like a bare-bottom baby). Like I mentioned in my previous posts, my iPod fever was partially caused by the customizability with accessories for these brother gadgets. From cases to slings, and now with slick-free stickers that not only act as a protective layer, they also make them more pleasing to the eyes too. 
This is it! My 1st Anniversary gift from Sunsun. An iPod Shuffle! To many who’ve known my habit of carrying big bro iPod 4G, this addition would have been thought redundant. “Why an iPod Shuffle when you already got a 20GB one?” If anyone were to know me well enough, he or she would have noticed that I live on music and I’d always have it around anywhere I go. I can roam around cities alone with just music in my ears. I used to roam Manhattan with just my Sony minidisc walkman. Sunsun’s choice of this gadget is like a portable oxygen tank to me. She knows the Allen who talks little but breathe music into his own ears. In fact, my iPod fever came at the same time we decided to be together. 
I got my first iPod 3G in Japan, which is also the same time I ‘proposed’ to her. I lost that iPod on our Bangkok wedding day, believed to have dropped out of my bag when we were rushing to our hotel suite to prepare for the wedding ceremony. A month later, when passing by a duty free electronic shop at Changi Airport, my newly wedded wife suggested to me that perhaps we could get me a new iPod. She knew that part of me who just couldn’t breathe properly without the mobility of an iPod. Now, a year later, this little addition to the family signifies not just our 1st anniversary, but also the first ‘bought’-day of my 4G iPod, conveniently known as SeraPod.
Similarly simple in form, the iPod Shuffle seems to sound better than its big brother. Also, it is incredibly light weight. Sizing just slightly larger than a pack of Wrigley gum, this little 0.8 ounce stick differs from its precedents by Sony, Creative and other earlier makers of flash memory 
Now what’re in these cases? Totally suspicious…
Unknowingly, the interiors hold tools of destruction…
Assembly #1
Assembly #2
Ready for destruction…
Hahaha! Can’t destroy shitz when they’re the size of a Zippo lighter.