So the EP got released yesterday and is currently sitting at #5 on the Juno charts after a day on the market, which is pretty neat. If you’d like to buy a copy and support my projects, it’s available from these fine stores:
I think getting it to #1 on all those charts would be real nifty. 
Thanks for the continued support and I hope you enjoy the music.
Hello world!
Sorry for the lack of updates but I have some cool stuff to share with y’all today.
First on the agenda is the cover art for my debut EP, soon to be released on One Foot Groove. The illustration and design is by the talented Jeremy Steamhat Carver who took the concept from my mind and made it visual. I’m really happy with the result as it sums up the themes and feel of the tracks perfectly.
Looking sick.
Next up we have the biggest video project I’ve undertaken – an hour long look at the awesome outdoor that was Jungala Festival, by PsynOpticz Productions. Featuring over 40 artists and a killer soundtrack compiled by SwiTchCacHe and mixed by me. Check it out if you have an hour to kill.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.
So here’s a project I did for L&F – who’s been one of my favourite producers since I got into the scene. First time I’ve edited something like this, but I think it works really well. The track was written to the visuals, so it just took some nudging and cuts at the right places for it to all fit together.
Enjoy. 
So this post is a bit late, but better late than never. Let me start at the beginning.
Towards the end of 2009 I purchased my first laptop, an HP Compaq with a cool fake-chrome C on the lid that I really dug. I bought it solely for the use of Ableton Live – it was going to be a performance laptop. Around the same time I got it I also bought a Novation NIo 2/4 USB soundcard.
So I get the laptop, install everything all excited-like and plug in the sound-card. I open Live, open my live set and hit play expecting mega-boOmz – instead, I’m greeted with “xxxxxxxx-crackle-crackle-crackle-glitch-glitch-glitch”
“Hmmmmm” I think with a bemused smile on my face. I close Live, unplug the sound-card, put it all back together and try start Live again. Nope, nothing – it hangs at the splash screen and I have to CTRL-ALT-DEL my way out of there. I check the buffer settings for the Nio’s driver – it’s sitting at a 4ms latency. Not too bad, shouldn’t be giving any problems – but I bump it up to 10ms anyways. Unplug the Nio, reboot the laptop, put everything back together, boot up Live, open my live set, hit play expecting uber-mega-BOOMZ.
xxx-crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle-glitch-glitch-motherfuckingglitch.
“Hmmmmm” – through gritted teeth now, my molars grinding against each other quite audibly.
The same shit happens – Live hangs at the splash screen the next time I try boot it up and I have to reboot Windows each time. I try a lot of things (this is about 3 hours after first encountering the problem by the way) – Asio4All works once but subsequently crashes the audio drivers in Windows, necessitating a reboot. After spending the whole day fucking around trying to find some kind of fix for the problem, I figure out that if I set the buffer size so that the latency is 2ms – not a ms slower or faster – the audio stream will run fine 80% of the time (I also figure out that the Nio has to be plugged into the USB port closest to the screen, the other two are crackle-city no matter where the latency is sitting. Traktor, Cubase, Live, whatever. The same problem. I use a DPC latency checker and see that everything is in the green, there shouldn’t be any reason whatsoever for a glitch.
So anyway, I play a couple of live sets like this – with the possibility of a total sonic fuck-up always hanging above my head. I vividly recall one Psynopticz set where the audio just totally collapsed, literally eight seconds before I was supposed to be on. In that time I managed to swap RCA cables from the Nio back to the CDJ and cue up my back-up CD, narrowly avoiding total disaster.
Every so often, over the course of two years, I’d try a different fix. None of them would work. I flashed the Nio firmware, I flashed the laptop BIOS, I downloaded new drivers and updates for every component you could think of. I spent hours bugging a Novation tech support guy and we went through every possible problem with no solution to speak of.
At one stage, I learnt that the problem was probably due to Windows assigning a virtual IRQ number to any USB device, which I guess meant that its data stream wasn’t being given any priority. For webcams and mice this is fine, but for streaming high quality real-time audio – there’s a bit of an issue.
At one point, deep into my obsession with the crackles, I figured out that if I disabled my display adapter, rebooted and then enabled the display (rebooting again) – everything would work fine until a subsequent reboot. So that was my fix for a couple of months.
Then one day, about a week before my live set at Groovy Troopers, I was about 12 pages into Google’s search results for “Compaq Novation Nio crackles” when I stumbled onto a thread on an M-Audio site. A user there had been experiencing similar problems with his M-Audio card on his laptop. And he apparently had a fix.
A USB Audio Filter Driver he acquired deep within the bowels of the HP website (I should also add that my lappy was some obscure model, possibly only available here and in Eastern Europe, so finding specific help with it was quite a mission.)
I absent-mindedly downloaded the driver, thinking more about how I could get 20K together for a MacBook Pro before the weekend. But then I installed it. And my God it worked. Just like that. Sorted. From nearly two years of constant crackling, each week losing more confidence in my ability to actually perform a real live set to crystal clear, flawless audio. Just like that. No matter which port the sound card was plugging into.
I can do infinitely more on this machine then I ever thought possible before the fix – I have a pretty dense Live set running now that only hits 20% CPU usage. I haven’t heard a crackle since that day.
If you have a laptop that just doesn’t seem to play nicely with audio, give it a whirl. Google “(laptop manufacturer) USB audio filter driver” and see what you can find – you never know. You might end up believing in miracles.
So I’m releasing a 4-track EP shortly and this will hopefully be the first track.
If you’re a fan of the series/book, A Game Of Thrones, you should recognise some of the themes. I’m going to write it in three acts. One for House Stark, Lannister and Targaryen. The preview is House Starke with a bit of Targaryen at the end. This is the only preview I’m going to post, if you want to know how the story ends you’re going to have to get my EP. 
Feedback always appreciated.
Because they do it better than me, check out PsyMedia’s review of the epic Village party.
A TI video will be out soon. By the looks of things, this video of this weekend’s awesomeness will precede a longer video detailing the evolution of The Village. I know that the guys have a ton of footage from old parties (I hear of crazy stuff, like shots from helicopters) that I think can be compiled into a cool semi-documentary detailing the journey the Village has taken.
The footage I shot over the weekend was some of the best party footage I’ve ever gotten, seriously cannot wait until the final cut!
In the four years I’ve been doing the Psy thing, I can safely say that Vortex’s latest Easter adventure was the best festival I’ve had the pleasure of attending. I found that the adventure (and that’s what it was) transcended the usual party vibe. This was a marathon of awesome people, beautiful aesthetics (the string art, my God the string art!) and incredible music, a playground that had been created for six days where straight-up partying took the backseat. This was engineered to entrance the senses, a truly psychedelic experience.
I arrived with my girlfriend on Friday afternoon to the half-time chug of Dubstep. We got comfy in our brand new camping chairs with Irish coffee, a box of Chocsticks and a YOU magazine blockbuster crossword (are we naughty?) I was trying to get as relaxed as I could before my set in a few hours time. I’d been waiting for that day for the last six months and have realised for just as long that this was going to be one important gig.
At twenty past eleven I went backstage armed with 710ml of Red Bull and began getting ready. I liked where Sway‘s set was going, as I thought it was leading up to exactly where I wanted to start. Started my first track a bit early so if you heard a big DOOF unexpectedly, that was me.
After the first mix and the dissipation of the stomach butterflies I really got into the set. The energy on the dancefloor was incredible, I’d never been so amped in my life. Seeing the eyes of the entire first row bulge out of their heads when the drop from Mindcore – Universal Prophecy hit was spectacular. The awesome response from you guys despite that bone-penetrating cold was probably the most exciting experience I’ve ever had. Thank you so much.
Shot by the always amazing Danni Panton
I look like a toss, but I couldn’t help giving back the energy I was getting. (I should also add that the visuals are out of sync with the audio until the last shot – although I know that Jew boys can’t dance. )
Fellow One Foot Groover, NoiseAnomalie
I enjoyed the music throughout the party (does anyone remember this? .) A different breed of Psytrance seems to get played at a Vortex party – somewhere between fat, progressive acid and banging full-on. It’s just straight-up Psychedelic Trance. To anyone who was on the LSD, I’m sure you’re feeling fulfilled this week.
We spent both Saturday and Sunday at the back of the dancefloor with a cooler box, chocsticks and a bubble wand (left the YOU in the tent.) Best time at a party ever. I felt totally content for two days, no-stress-no-worry. Even when I discovered my car battery was dead on Sunday, it didn’t even scratch the surface of the good vibe. Eliav (the really friendly Israeli guy) and Will from The Village radioed in an on-site mechanic known only as Billy who not only gave me a jump but tightened my fan belt too. What an absolute hero, nice one Vortex. If you’re reading, Billy, let me buy you a drink the next time I see you.
Sunday was spent filming Sonic Species who were probably the best international act I’ve seen this year. Groovy, driving acid. The pure stuff – I really respect the calibre of artists Vortex brings down – they introduced me to a whole different side of Psytrance.
I sincerely think Steps To The Stars was in a league of its own. Everything was catered for, especially bonfires fighting off the biting Wintry cold. Eagerly awaiting the adventure in December and already wondering who’ll they bring down.
PS. If you like Trance and you’re on Facebook, you probably know by now that Scott (the official party photography) had his gear stolen by some muppet(s). All the memories of the party went along with it, and he’s too nice a guy to get be knocked down like that. Whispers are afoot about a fund-raising party. I’ll keep y’all updated.
what are you doing muppet?! you aren't a photographer, you can't even take photos. you are a muppet)
