Wicked in the sense of wicked-good for computer DJs that is!  The stage of computer technology is set to change drastically before our eyes in just the next ten years.  What does that mean for those of us already using a Computerized Performance System or a laptop now?  For lack of a better term, I’ll call it a major shift in paradigm from fragile components and trying to squeeze more speed out of CPUs to totally integrated solid-state memory and storage to absurd numbers of cores on a single chip as well as integrated CPU/GPU functionality.  (more…)

After a long day of seminars and presenting two of them myself, it was getting late in the day and I was starting to seriously think about getting some dinner.  Many of those folks that I talked to late in the afternoon were looking forward to making some plans for dinner too.  But we still had one more thing on the schedule with Professor Jam and Dr. Drax hosting an “open mic” style question and answer session for whatever was foremost on people’s minds.  But with things winding down in the Tricerasoft room as well, a growing group of us were looking forward to getting our party on!  (more…)

The next day - Monday - was looking like it was going to be quite a busy day.  The schedule had seminars lined up all day long and going into the evening hours and the plan was for everyone to get together after dinner for the big party.  Also during the course of the afternoon, Tricerasoft was going to be conducting a workshop for all those folks who chose to learn all the ins and outs of Swift Elite.  Of course there was also plenty of time scheduled for all of us to break for lunch and again for dinner too. (more…)

Well after finally making it to Atlanta, GA for the 6th Annual Computer DJ Summit and hanging out for several hours, I decided to go get some dinner in me and while I was finishing my meal, I had the pleasure of meeting one of the new attendees.  She came into the restaurant like a breath of fresh air, not knowing anyone, decided to sit down with me and have some dinner herself.  Now I’m not one to readily allow business and romance to mingle freely, however I could not help but be increasingly captivated by her smile, her laugh and her personality. (more…)

I have heard it said time and time again that “getting there is half the fun.”  All I have to say is that whoever coined that tired, old pithy bit-o-wisdom probably did not do a whole heck of a lot of traveling by plane!  While I am not so sure that I would call it fun, I would definitely label it as interesting.  However, the opportunity to spend time with like-minded folks, sharing stories and meeting new friends certainly out weighed any sort of negative.  But what fun would it be to skip over the “fun” part?  (more…)

I’ve been thinking the past few days since I had the original conversation with my friend from yester-year and wrote the article New Dog, Old Tricks.  Specifically I have been thinking back over what I wrote and that there were some other things I wanted to mention that I didn’t touch upon. A few things that I didn’t hit on that I thought would be good to write a follow-up article about was that of using obsolete software on newer machines or newer software on obsolete machines. Aside from the fact that those who are stealing music and/or software opening themselves up to all sorts of headaches such as viruses, Trojans and computer hackers, there is also the issue of most software developers now placing more means of thwarting software piracy. (more…)

The other day I bumped into a friend who I have not seen for a very long time.  We exchanged the usual pleasantries, filled in each other ever so briefly on what we have been doing with our lives for the past 20 some odd years and talked about some great memories.  During the course of the conversation he tells me that he is a DJ now and having the time of his life “making good money” as he put it.  Of course he also mentions that he is using cutting edge technology (a laptop) and has all this music that he got “off the Internet” (MP3s).  When I asked him what program he was using he gave me this puzzled look and said…  (more…)

Oops! It just came to my attention that some folks were having trouble buying a copy of my books from the new Online Store page.

It would seem that the way I had it previously formatted in the static HTML page worked with no problem. However, when I transferred it to the page now on my blog, Wordpress didn’t like the way I embedded the payment gateway form.  Needless to say, there has been a lot of traffic for folks seeking my new book, but they were unable to buy it due to this boo-boo.  I sincerely appreciate the folks that gave me the heads-up!

Anyway, that is all now fixed and it appears to be working properly. Thank you for you patience and my apologies for the inconvenience.

Well after a short breather from writing laptops suck articles, I found another conversation about laptops that sparked my creativity and gave me the next great idea of telling you why laptops suck (for DJing that is).  This conversation, like way too many to count, talked about issues with the audio noise/interference coming from a laptop and ways to (cheaply) work around it.  Of course these threads where someone complains about a laptop doing this or not doing this is far too often also followed by some form of statement where the laptop-sufferer is looking for a free or the cheapest way out of their laptop blues - but I digress…  (more…)

The following message I received from my good friend Brian Smith, Platinum Disc Jockeys.

Wolfy- how good are the dvd’s as a learing tool for cps dj’ing- I’ve got a couple of platforms- OTS and PCDJ most prevelant- worth the investment?

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