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DJ Tips – Windows XP/Vista/7 Optimization

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httpv://youtu.be/Ey-YiiXpwoM

If you’re a Windows OS (Windows XP, Vista, or 7 systems) based computer to DJ like myself (whether it be laptop or desktop PC) you’re going to get flack from your Mac OS X counterparts. Simply put, the Mac OS is much more “tuned” to multimedia than Windows, whereas Windows is more flexible from an application stand point (support more “stuff”).

In other words, because specific parameters are put in place that limits and thus prevents rampant resource abuse of the system in Apple’s Mac OS that are not present in Windows– Windows has more of a potential to “leak” memory and lose performance where the Mac simply hums along without a slowdown.

The simplest way to fix this is to simply reboot your PC before doing a show (or even better yet: Do a full shut down off site then start up on site), but it’s important to keep your system clean nevertheless.

DJ Tech Tools (which is an awesome electronic DJ or eDJ site dedicated to MIDI controllers, mixing/editing/composition software, and general eDJ culture) is running a great article on additional steps you can take to “tune your Windows DJ system” that can be found here:

http://www.djtechtools.com/2011/08/14/optimizing-windows-for-djing-part-i-power-script/

 

This includes MixTrain’s (another great web site for the eDJ) awesome Windows Optimization Script:

http://themixtrain.wordpress.com/resources/djtt-pro-audio-optimizer/

You should also check out Spy Bot Search and Destroy:

http://www.safer-networking.org

While the utility is great for removing “spyware” and cleaning the system up, it goes deeper than that. In the tools area you can scan your registry for errors and remove those errors.

Also check out CCleaner, which is another great application for cleaning up your application data, tuning Windows, and cleaning up your Registry (the Registry is the closet where Windows stores all its file info, but sometimes stuff gets left in the closet that is no longer needed– these applications clean that closet out and make sure only what you need is in it keeping less in the closet and giving Windows more room to “breath”).

http://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER

Finally, don’t forget to do your Windows Updates so that you all the latest critical and optional fixes. The optional fixes have lots of sound driver andĀ multimediaĀ application fixes that “help” keep your computer running good with DJ software and controllers.

I’d recommend keeping two PC’s if you afford it– one for your every day work like surfing the Internet and testing out applications. Then have a portable for your DJ software and your “accepted” configuration of applications that is used solely for performance/composition/recording. This will insure you have a “stage ready” rig and experiment properly in a “sand box” that if it gets hosed won’t stop you from playing a gig.

The sand box doesn’t have to be anything amazing. A simple $899 desktop from Dell or HP with a decent 24-bit sound card and high resolution 2D video card will do. Just be sure to get your system memory above 4GB if possible.

Happy DJ’ing boys and girls– keep the mix going!

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DF.com v12 Beta 1

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I’m happy to announce we’ve moved out of alpha class release into beta class release for version 12 of digitalflood.com. We are back in black again and looking sharp in our new tuxedo of a web site. The new server is doing very well with the normal site load. In about a week or so we’ll finalize the graphics on the site then move into full release. We thank you, as always, with sticking with us while we sort things out and make the site better.

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4 Days

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Sorry about the four day outage. I was stuck in Linux Hell and things took a bit longer than I thought it would as far as moving over to the new variant of CentOS goes. I have migrated the site to the new server though completely and everything came through intact minus some configuration conflicts I had between security permissions and the CMS that runs the site. This migration should fix the capacity issues we had for the past six months. Now on to rebuilding the site itself.

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Raiders of the Lost Ark

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For those of you who know what I do for a day job, it will come as no surprise that my career choice tends to at times consume much of my time. Nor will it surprise you that when I get home the last thing I want to do is go on the computer. And so that partially begins to explain where I’ve been and why there hasn’t been too much going on at digitalflood.com for the last few weeks. A harsh winter and an old house that demands me paying attention to how much snow is outside to avoid minor things like– oh I don’t know having my propane regulator freeze so I loose hot water or having my water pump freeze so I lose all water tend to occupy your time.

With all that said, those of a keen eye may have noticed the Code Info page of our site keeps going up a tick or two everyday. Appearances can be deceiving and just because the main page isn’t changing it does not mean there is nothing “going” with the site. So this was the case with my latest endeavor that required much experimentation and playing with our underlying code.

This was all in an effect to make a quick recovery of my employer’s web site at http://www.warwick.net. The site is the web portal for my employer (WVT Communications) and homepage to many of our broadband Internet subscribers. Literally taking down that site is like turning off Google as far as our little web world goes in Warwick, NY. There was therefore a sense of urgency to restore the site when a slight mishap took down the existing (though arguably older) web engine.

It took me about 16 hours of straight time, but I managed to get the framework and branding done. There’s going to be a lot of grunt work needed by my associates at work to get the content filled in, but what you see before you is a CMS driven site that is Web 2.0 in look and feel. It has consistent branding and sensible layout. It loads in less than six seconds. It has a web search feature. Access to our various online portals (including web mail and bill pay) and content fed via RSS streams, as well as, mash up widgets. The result is a full featured basic launch point that is easy to navigate and yet feature filled. It loads well in any browser and depreciates when accessed by mobile device to speed up load times. Considering the time line (three days) and the budget (zero bucks) I am quite pleased with the accomplishment.

In so many ways this is a preview of what I had planned for df.com before I was drawn to put out this fire first, but in so many ways it also helped me understand some new directions I wish to go in that will lend itself to better structure here. So yes while there has been no news– there is good news nevertheless. Stay tuned.

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Mopping The Deck

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Rig at Prow of Sailing Ship -- That's what she said!

Rig at Prow of Sailing Ship -- That's what she said!

I’ve been pretty busy mopping the deck at digitalflood.com over the last 24 hours (despite my continued and never ending bout with stomach flu) trying to improve some things on the site.

My most recent updates to the site include:

  • Updated WordPress CMS to latest version – Improves security, stability, and overall functionality.
  • Updated all plug-in’s for new WordPress – Again improves security and features.
  • Added Browser Navigation Bar Icon – That little thing next to our web address in your browser is our DF Pirate Radio symbol. If you re-bookmark the site you’ll be able to have a cool icon in your bookmarks. ROCK!
  • Updated Mobile WP – Improves mobile phone load times and reduces initial latency loading site.
  • Updated the digitalflood Pirate Radio Volume 5 Cliff Notes to reflect all that happened behind the scenes this year.

This adds up to putting us at digitalflood.com Version: 11.3.2 (Final) as reflected on our DF Code Tracking page.

Things have been humming along since my last updates and I’m not noticing anymore issues with the site going down. I found not only a spam attack, but a strange web attack as well linked to some configurations on our web server. Overall things have been better so there is no plans on upgrading the server anytime soon, but eventually we will have to go there– this is the price of fame I suppose.

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