• Category Archives Music

  • SIMPLE – Play Spotify etc thru Raspberry Pi

    Posted on by dubster

    If you just want your Raspberry Pi to stream music to a dock or powered speaker, all you really need is a DAC hat (cheap & good; Audio DAC SHIM from here ThePiHut) and install HIFIBerryOS on the pi itself. Honestly, such a simple, reliable system, I’m shocked I didn’t find out about it when searching!

    I spent months faffing about with different distros and music specific eco-systems just to get Spotify Connect working, and kept hitting brick walls and problems.
    Volumio, Mopidy, RaspianOS with Spotify (kinda) installed – they all had issues and essentially wouldn’t output sound or had a monthly sub fee, which sucks.

    So, gave up in the end and had a Pi and DAC doing nothing, until I found HiFiBerry OS
    https://www.hifiberry.com/hifiberryos/


    It’s a really small image (about 400mb), you access it entirely from a browser, so no need to have a screen, keyboard and mouse attached to the Pi.
    Setup is simple, connect your phone/laptop to the WIFI hotspot created on first boot, open a browser and type it’s IP into the address bar (get that from your broadband hub) and you’re ready to configure.

    Install the Spotify add-in (made easy from the menu) and add your Spotify Pro login details (yes, you need Pro to use Spotify Connect) and that’s it.

    Back on the phone/laptop, load Spotify, start playing some music and tap the little “Devices” icon, choose HIFI Berry and hit Connect. Job Done !!

    As a side bonus, it’s all ready to play tunes over Bluetooth – simply connect phone/tablet to HIFIBerry (BT device) and play music from any app, Tidal, Amazon.


    Android Music RaspberryPi Technology 📎and tagged

  • Dubster mixtape 21-3-13

    Posted on by dubster

    Play this mix on Mixcloud – 
    http://i.mixcloud.com/CCQkba

    Tracklist:

    Getting Nowhere (ft. John Legend) – Magnetic Man
    Metropolis – EmalKay
    Riot powder – Caspa
    Fun house – The Others
    Light Up Ya Spliff – The Others
    Breathe – Delilah (Emalkay Dubstep mix)
    Anthemic – Magnetic Man
    Africa VIP – The Others
    Bad Taste – The Others
    Technophobia – The Others
    Fallout – The Others
    Fabrication – EmalKay
    Inside My Love – Delilah (Redlight)
    Feel It – The Others
    Stargate – The Others
    First Flight – The Others
    Showdown – The Others
    Tell Me Why (92 oldschool) – Rachel Wallace
    Go – The Others
    Everybody Do The Super Skank – The Others
    Flying Into Tokyo – Magnetic Man

    Download this mix here:
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/zwg5tlijjht36ri/Dubster_21-Mar-2013.mp3


    Music Traktor 📎and tagged

  • Why didn’t I hit RECORD !!! *grrrr*

    Posted on by dubster

    Oh Man! Just had the best little mixing session with Traktor and the DJ2GO, I’ve fetted with the mapping slightly to give me a triggering Cue button (vs toggle on or off) and worked out the effects a bit more.

    Here’s the rub, I did the whole playlist (below) with some ‘Freakin A’ mixing, great use of effects (gating and a few filters mostly) and I was sounding pretty damn good (if I say so myself)

    BUT I DIDN’Y RECORD THE BASTARD !!!!     *hrrumph*

    Basically to record a set I gotta faff about with the USB sound card to allow headphone monitoring and recording, and I didn’t this time cos it was [quote] “just a quick play” goddammit.


    Music Technology Traktor 📎and tagged

  • Ready. Set. Go….

    Posted on by dubster

    Took a while, but I’ve got a set list worked out.
    Includes Emalkay, Magnetic Man, The Others and even some Delilah albeit dubstep mixes 😀
    Quite a few tunes from The Others, as I’m loving their sound atm.

    So here’s my initial track list:

    Flying into Tokyo – Magnetic Man
    Fun House – The Others
    Everybody Do The Super Skank – The Others
    Breathe – Delilah (Emalkay mix)
    Anthemic – Magnetic Man
    Inside My Love – Delilah (VIP mix)
    Metropolis – Magnetic Man
    Africa (VIP) – The Others
    Technophobe – The Others
    Fallout – The Others
    Light Up Ya Spliff – The Others
    Fabrication – Emalkay
    Feel It – The Others
    Getting Nowhere – Magnetic Man
    Go – The Others
    First Flight – The Others (VIP mix)
    Red planet – The Others
    Stargate – The Others
    Showdown/Polaris – The Others

    Still a little tweaking to do on the soundcard before I can record a set with split headphone monitoring, but think I got it sussed now.

    Watch This Mixpace !!


    Music Technology Traktor 📎and tagged

  • Mix it up Fad Boy, part 3…

    Posted on by dubster

    Well, Traktor and a controller sure is the way forward.
    So much quicker to do stuff, line up, start & mix tracks. Me love it long time 😛

    Haven’t toyed with custom mapping the DJ2GO yet, but will have a go on my next session. I want hands-on access to bass filters, as they’re the main thing I adjust during a mix. Great to cut out bassline A when bassline B kicks off – avoids over loading and can freshen up a track. I’ll have a play with the 4 deck setup at some point, as some tunes just aren’t good enough on their own, but could supply their fat bassline to another track.

    Also joined MixCloud.com primarily to hear a old school ’92 set by Ed (Extrinsic), but have since discovered Joe Nice and a wealth of other peeps on there, plus tonnes of old school mix tapes. Plenty to make my ears go wobbly 😀

    Once I’ve put a decent dubstep set together I’ll record & upload to MixCloud.


    Music Technology Traktor 📎and tagged

  • Mix it up Fad Boy, part 2…

    Posted on by dubster

    Traktor 2.5 really is fantastic – manages perfect sync on almost all the dubstep I throw at it, but only counts half the BPM on DnB tracks which is annoying. Simple enough (if time consuming) to sort, although my brain needs a calculator to work out what 86.35 bpm is when doubled 🙂

    So, moving forward & keeping a super tight budget, I’m borrowing a super small Numark DJ2GO unit from a mate at work, plus a 4ch USB sound card. If it does the trick I’ll gladly part with the £20 he suggested !! He just doesn’t use it or anything similar these days, which is a bonus for me!

    Numark DJ2GO - compact DJ midi controller - click for large image
    Numark DJ2GO compact DJ midi controller – click for large image

    Reviews of these wee devices all pretty much love it [LINK] as a compact, clean controller.
    Despite the small size they’re apparently well built, good fun to use and interface neatly with Traktor, after a little midi-mapping of course!

    Talking of mapping, there’s a couple of options;

    Numark’s official map for Traktor 2.5 is here: https://www.numark.com/dj2go

    or a customised map with improved file browsing, control of effects & a bunch of other stuff is here: http://www.traktorbible.com/freaks/mappingview.aspx?id=427

    So, I’ll have a play this weekend, see how it all works and let y’all know!

    He-he – I say Y’ALL like anyone actually reads this crap, or even visits the page 😆
    Where in fact it’s simply a receptacle for any links & useful bits I find online when not at home.
    Still, it’s more fun than simply emailing the stuff to myself, like who’d be sad enough to do that? 😉

    IF I actually get this lot working, I might even record & upload a Dubstep – DnB set for a grin!


    Music Technology Traktor 📎and tagged