The official Head Case broadcast thread

[Knuckledragger]

Final Test Tone from W.Mass airs tonight(!)

[Knuckledragger]

Test Tone @ Home is live on the internets right now! https://testtone.mixlr.com/

[Knuckledragger]

Making strides to getting back on the air.  First mater of consideration is where I'm going to set up a DJ rig.  The second is the time.  I think I'm going to still be on Fridays, but start an hour earlier.  That means 9PM-11PM Eastern, then of course nearly an hour of yammering on the mic afterward.

[Knuckledragger]

Oof.  So I've spent ...entirely too long today working on getting a temporary (or "temporary" if one prefers) setup going.  It has been an uphill battle.  Long time listeners will remember I made use of a Native Instruments Traktor Audio 6 USB audio interface for years. 

It served as both the dual stereo outputs for my DJ software as well as the analogue inputs for Mixlr.  It died a slow and awkward death.  I have been trying to diagnose its issues today.  What I've learned so far:  The device is called an "Audio 6" because it has 6 stereo pairs: 3 in and 3 out.  They are grouped into "Main" "A" and "B.  The "Main" pair is completely shot.  I have not tested the Main inputs today, but given that they were the point of failure when I stopped using this unit, I suspect they have not magically un-fucked themselves.  In addition to that knowledge, I have also figured out that the Main ouputs are just as dead.  Both the Main RCA outs and the headphone jack (which is permanently routed to Main out) produce nothing but horrid, headphone destroying static. 

The good news is that output A and output B appear to be working.  This is a plus as I need a good 4channel USB DAC for this "temporary" setup, preferably one with RCA outs.  I haven't done a proper test with a DJ mixer yet, but so far the Audio 6 looks promising.  Unfortunately, that is the only good news.  I still have to find a space in a tiny room to set up my large-ish 19" DJ mixer, laptop and necessary USB audio widgets.  I also need at least one USB audio device with a working stereo pair of inputs.  In the past I have used an Onkyo MSE-U33HB which dates from the turn of the millennium and was primarily sold outside of the US:

Right before I moved, and again recently I confirmed that the output stage of my unit is dead.  It's probably something as simple as bad capacitors, but it's beyond my ability to fix them.  I need to rest the input stage and see if it's similarly dead.  If it isn't, I'm going to once again press the Onkyo into service as my Mixlr Box.  If it fails that test, I'm going to have to get creative.

[Knuckledragger]

*blows copious amounts of dust off this thread*

Native Instruments is circling the drain.  Due to some bad financial decisions by them in the previous decade + the vampire squid that is private capital, they may never release a new version of Traktor.  I am now testing out DJay Pro.  It's "free" on the app store, but requires a $50/year subscription I hate SaaS just let me buy the fucking thing I swear every MBA needs to die UH I MEAN the base version appears to be functional.  The UI is alien to me, but that's what 16 years of Traktor does to a MFer.  I'm not saying there's going to be a one-off test broadcast tonight, but there is now some possibility.

[Knuckledragger]

Got one of my two Thunderbolt docks, my DJ mixer, my MOTU M4 and all the appropriate wires out.  I've got nearly everything set up and my Thunderbolt cable has gone missing.  I cannot find it anywhere.  I had it at the start of the evening and it's now touring outer Waziristan.  No show tonight.  Maybe one tomorrow.

[Knuckledragger]

I've been off the air for nearly 3 years at this point.  So today I did the logical thing and pay Native Instruments to upgrade from Traktor Pro 3 to 4.  So far the experience has been absolute misery.   Their install app wants to contact every tracking site in the known universe and has taken ...45 minutes to download what purports to be a 500MB install.

[Knuckledragger]

I mentioned in the rest in peace thread that DJ Dan died unexpectedly at 57.  I did some digging.  I was wrong when I said I did a 4 our set downstairs at RISE.  It was 5 hours (1AM-6AM).  The entire thing is on Mixcloud and has been since 2012.  Mixcloud has fallen down the path of enshittificaiton in the last decade.  The entire tracklisting is on the page, but only I can see it now.  I don't have a copy (of the list) locally anymore.  After entirely too much futzing:

1 Freeland - Wish I Was Here
2 Carmen Cuesta-Loeb - While My Guitar Gently Weeps
3 Bazille Noir - Big Time
4 Bally Sagoo - Dil Cheez
5 Funki Porcini - Dubble
6 Mr Scruff - Honeydew
7 Massive Attack - Karmacoma (Bumper Ball Dub)
8 Kid loco - She Woolf Daydreaming
9 Urban Species - Blanket
10 Tricky - YOU DONT
11 Waldeck - Floater (Dubblestandart mix)
12 Flight Facilities - Crave You (Adventure Club Dubstep Remix)
13 Freestylers - Cracks (Flux Pavillion remix)
14 John lennon - Imagine (Nicoluminous Remix)
15 Sofa Surfers - SEE THE LIGHT
16 Chin chillaz - Konkret
17 Death In Vegas - Rematerialised
18 Massive Attack - Teardrop (Phutureprimitive Remix)
19 Saafi Brothers - TOGETHER IN SILENCE
20 Kruder & Dorfmeister - Shakatakadoodub
21 Alex Cortiz - Chambre 606
22 The Delta - As A Child I Could Walk On The Ceiling (Dub Edit)
23 Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Mustt Mustt (Duck Pond Dub Mix)
24 Shen - Embrace
25 NENEH CHERRY - Move With Me
26 Tycho - From Home
27 Pitch Black - The Random Smiler (Live)
28 Small World - Shuttle 3-5-8
29 J Boogie's Dubtronic Science - Le Booty Cinematique
30 Alex Cortiz - SMOOTH
31 Gary Jules - Mad World (Phutureprimitive Mix)
32 Andain - You Once Told Me
33 Sneaker Pimps - Six Underground (The Perfecto Dub)
34 Minuit - Except You
35 Minot - Distant Lights
36 Dj Food - 3 Pound Skank
37 Hol Baumann - Benares (live edit)
38 Pretty Lights - Hot Like Sauce Rustified Remix
39 Pretty Lights - Country Roads (Pretty Lights Remix)
40 Pretty Lights - Gold Coast Hustle
41 THIEVERY CORPORATION - The State Of The Union
42 THIEVERY CORPORATION - Lebanese blonde (French Version)
43 Hooverphonic - Club Montepulciano (Bugs Downtown Remix)
44 Nacho Sotomayor - Song for a Lonely Men (Part 1)
45 RJD2 - Ghostwriter
46 Shen - Symbol Range
47 Heyoka - Diesel
48 Statik Sound System - Valentine
49 The Smiths - How Soon Is Now
50 Planet E - Klub Kola (Uptight On The Rocks Mix)
51 Heyoka - Two Sea Blues
52 Ennio Morricone - L' Estasi Dell' Oro (Bandini Remix)
53 Depeche Mode - It's No Good
54 DNA feat Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner (12'')
55 Dj Food - Dark Lady
56 Beef Wellington - Tacet
57 BANCO DE GAIA - Qurna (Mister Christian on the Decks)
58 Leftfield - Inspection (Check One)
59 Heyoka - Shmazdipdoodlydurkayoda
60 Tosca - Mango di Bango
61 Bush - Letting The Cables Sleep (The N.O.W. Remix)
62 Baby Mammoth - Frank's Angels
63 Rabbit In The Moon - Dubassex
64 Jester - Free
65 Bullitnuts - Heavy Air
66 The cure - Burn
67 Neotropic - Here i am
68 Nightmares On Wax - You wish
69 Pretty Lights - Finally Moving
70 The Nomad - Check The Pitch

It's a pretty good selection. TBH there are a few tracks in there I'd skip these days.  IIRC it took me a solid week to program that set.