My Laptop and nLite (Smiter of Microsoft)

At last! My laptop finally got back about four days ago. I was saddened to realize that although Staples had fixed my hardware, the operating system was too corrupted to save most of my photos and stuff. However, I keep my important stuff elsewhere, so my music is safe.

Anyway, as I write this, I’m reloading all my music onto my data partition after reformatting and installing a customized version of Windows XP, modified with possibly one of the greatest programs ever to happen to (not by) Microsoft – nLite!

You can read about it on the site, but quite simply, nLite takes your current, in-tact Windows installation and makes an installer out of it. It then allws you to strip away all the parts you don’t want. At last, Microsoft haters can be rid of crap such as Internet Explorer and that laughable software suite, Microsoft Security. You can also disable everything from themes to tooltips to those moronic sounds that windows has that seem to always play way too loud right in the middle of class, coffee shops, etc. You get the idea. MSN doesn’t work anymore, but I’m using Miranda IM, which is better anyway.

So yeah, that’s the latest update, and I will make a concerted effort to get back into production. Probably some time midweek. Later today or tomorrow I will be reinstalling Traktor and I’ll start mixing again during the week. Until then, take it easy, and check out nLite!

Vinyl At Last

Something like three years ago, I figured out how DJing was done, and what turntables were used for. I’ve been wanting them ever since. Yesterday, I got my wish

So, this is my new setup: two SL-1200MK2 turntables which I bought from my good friend Lazy Rich who recently switched over to some CDJ-1000Mk3s (amazing things. About $1700 worth of amazing, each ), the BCD2000 midi mixer I’m borrowing from my friend Jannus (DJ Loki. His website’s not up right now, but I’ll shoot it to you later), my boom box, my roommate Joe’s laptop (mine is STILL away being repaired. It’s been there for 38 days so far), and some duct-taped, 3-year-old KOSS headphones that are absolutely trashed (UR-20’s – I don’t think they even make those anymore).

The turntables were $700 in total, and Rich threw in cartridge and slipmats, and is even letting me borrow a few vinyls until my collection gets moving. Oh, and by the way, get moving is something it will be doing with a vengeance (my eyes are set on “Risingson” and “Butterfly Caught” by Massive Attack, along with some Trentmoller). Up until a few weeks ago, I’d been intending on saving up for Serato Scratch Live. That way I could save money on vinyls and just mix my mp3s in… but earlier today I was messing around with the few records I’ve got right now, and I tried mixing in some mp3s with B-DJ, and the sound difference is staggering. Now, admittedly, B-DJ is a terrible piece of software, and the mp3s were low quality, but even so, it was actually painful to listen to them. The other thing is that with records, I think each track would get the appreciation it deserves. With mp3s, you can pick up cheap or free tracks and not even really listen to them, but with vinyl, you don’t buy it unless you really like it.

Anyway, some point I’ll pick up Serato Scratch Live just because I want to be able to play my home-produced stuff. But for now, this works. Here’s a few more pictures of my setup. Enjoy!

These three and the first one are my favorites. Just some quick snaps from last night with my phone camera (hence the bad quality). Here’s a couple of others, including a really bad shot of B-DJ on Joe’s laptop. I wouldn’t use it if I didn’t have to, but the BCD2000 only does analog inputs if it’s hooked up to the computer.

     

Anyway, it’ll be a while before I get to upload any mixes with these things, I think. I’ll need to pick up some records, and I don’t want to install anything more on Joe’s computer than I have to. But hopefully Jannus will be up for jamming some point, and he has Serato Scratch Live and a very sexy mixer, so that should be awesome.

Until next time, I recommend anyone who hasn’t heard them to go listen to some Massive Attack, Morcheeba, and Tricky.