Hi everyone, Here's a link to my podcast: http://djaladdin.podOmatic.com See you there! - - madhu

Next-generation Music: Deepening The Musical Experience
Large-scale digital music distribution is bringing about a profound revolution in the way we ‘consume’ music. The market is still in flux, but it is very clear that the hi-fi systems of the future will be significantly different to what we see today, say European researchers.
With the advent of compressed music files (MP3) and easily accessible internet file exchange and download services, consumers are increasingly turning to personal mini-databases of music files (iPod, MP3 players) for their musical enjoyment. The CD market has already taken a hard knock and many predict its imminent demise. The hi-fi market is also suffering with sales decreasing steadily every year.
In the future, the boundaries between the stereo system, computer and the television will become more and more blurred, but how the various functions will combine, and what new ones will emerge, is still ‘a work in progress’.
The Semantic Hi-Fi project explored the possibilities opened up by the digital revolution and paved the way for the next wave of hi-fi, including a number of new features likely to change fundamentally the way we listen to and interact with music.
“Music is no longer limited by a fixed format. Network-based distribution has freed music from the limits imposed by these formats and opened a whole new range of possibilities which will encourage greater interaction with musical pieces,” says Hugues Vinet of the French music and acoustics research centre, IRCAM, which coordinated the project.

Introducing the active listener
The working prototype of this next-generation hi-fi, produced by the EU-funded Semantic Hi-Fi, incorporates a number of new functionalities to help promote a more interactive listening experience.
Using either a hand-held, touch screen remote, or the touch screen display on the central unit, the user will, for example, be able to visualise the structure of a piece through a graphic display which will enable them to navigate smoothly within a piece and even to modify elements of the musical composition: slow the tempo down, speed it up, modify the relative weight of different instruments in the piece, or remove them altogether…
Some of the results of the project have already been incorporated into new products. Project partner, Native Instruments, used many of Semantic Hi-Fi’s features for its ‘Traktor DJ Studio 3’ DJ software solution, hailed as one of the market leaders in its field. The prototype developed by the project also incorporated many of these ‘professional’ tools into a home system accessible to all music lovers.
“The hi-fi of the future will make sophisticated software tools for professional musicians available to a wider public,” notes Vinet. “Owners of next-generation hi-fi will be able to do more than just passively listen, they will have a tool which also allows them to manipulate music and to create new pieces themselves.”
Hi-fis of the future will be linked up to the internet, and it will be possible to share personal works with others through peer-to-peer (P2P) systems. The project has not overlooked the issue of copyright, either.
“The P2P systems envisaged will respect the songs’ copyrights by only transmitting the information necessary for editing and modifying them,” stresses Vinet.
The ability to extract and display a whole range of information – tempo, key, lyrics, musical score – on a musical piece should also deepen the listeners musical knowledge and appreciation.

Managing your music
One of the challenges of the digital hi-fi will be managing extensive databases of music. It will no longer be a matter of simply grabbing a favourite CD from the shelf but of trawling through a database of perhaps tens of thousands of pieces. Semantic Hi-Fi, which concluded in November 2006, continued the work of Cuidado, an earlier EU-funded project, developing search engines capable of extracting information on musical content and providing tools for the effective management of musical ‘libraries’.
As a result of this work, users of future hi-fi can expect to be able to navigate easily through their collections using search criteria, such as tempo, genre, instrumentation, in addition to the traditional search criteria of artist and title. If you have a particular tune running through your head, but no information on it, you can simply hum the tune into the system’s microphone and it will find it for you!
You can also start from a reference piece and search for those similar to it according to selected musical criteria. You can classify and retrieve your songs by defining your own musical categories from a set of track examples that will be automatically generalised to your whole database. Last but not least, the system computes ‘musical summaries’ that give a global idea, within a few tens of seconds, of the main changes occurring in the pieces (intro, chorus, verses, solos, etc.), thus enabling rapid ‘auditory browsing’.
Many of the results of the project are now available for licensing and several are being developed further within the context on new research projects. Targeted applications include multimedia search engines, music portals, and automatic play-list generation.

OTUS – The Next Generation Digital DJ Controller
EKS Otus’ stylish physical appearance, clever design and the solid touch and feel will make any professional DJ feel at home from the very first encounter. The sturdy aluminum frame is built to withstand the physical abuse of DJ’ing and the hazards of travel.

The heart of Otus is its illuminated, high resolution 7.5” jog wheel with sensitivity adjustments. Otus has been designed to fit firmly in the place, or on top of standard DJ turntables, with vibrations substantially reduced due to its unique sharp cloves (feet).
All of the controls onboard the Otus are of the highest professional standards and are illuminated by LED indicators for maximum usability in a club environment.
Independent by spirit, Otus gives DJs the freedom to work with software combinations of choice. It feels at home next to a mixer, external soundcard or another controller, but can also replace them all if needed. The advanced MIDI mapper & Asio software makes creating different setups a breeze.
Otus is also customizable to suit individual preferences or mood. The smoked glass surface along with the feet of the controller can be switched making Otus a truly personal instrument.
Otus offers a wide range of controls enabling the user full control – no mouse or keyboard needed. The placement of each control has been optimized for usability and for show factor. All of the key functions are placed closest to the DJ, while effect orientated controls are placed further away. This allows the club audience a better view of the DJ tweaking knobs.
The Future Proof Ideology of the control layout allows the use of future software features. Assignable buttons, knobs, push-and-rotate selectors and capacitive touchpad enable advanced creative freedom, while the relative touch sensitive slider allows very accurate pitch adjustments. To top it off, all of the controls can be virtually doubled via a color indicated layer selection switch or shift button. The second layer, indicated by LED color changes, offers the option to control two virtual decks with one Otus or even other software like MIDI controllable VJ programs. A professional level audio/headphone output allows direct connectivity to a DJ system or the possibility for headphone preview.

i-Bangles

The iPod is already pretty forward looking in terms of design, but designer Gopinath Prasana decided to take things a little bit further with the iBangle concept. This iBangle design concept is a little bit daring as the design fits right on your wrist instead of clipping to your belt. Don’t let its loose look fool you, the iBangle won’t easily slip off like other “clip-on” MP3 players. Apparently, that tiny blue button that you see in the illustration somehow fills the blue area with air, so it fits snug, but hopefully not too snug.
This MP3 player comes in the form of a - you’ve guessed it, a bangle, and features a multi-touch track pad for you to control your playlist. Guess this is a fancy version of the iPod Shuffle since it lacks the physical real estate for a screen or projector to keep you entertained with movies, so only songs will have to do. Since everyone comes with different wrist sizes, the iBangle boasts a cushion within that inflates so that it is able to fit into just about any wrist snugly.

Music In My Soul
There's music in my soul today,
A joy of heart not there before:
This state of conscience I relay
To rich and proud and meek and poor.

There's music in my happy Soul:
From Heaven's realm doth truly flow
This music in my happy Soul,
My conscience tells me rightly so.

My song of joy I sing to you:
Let peace and love forever be
Among ye men of every hue,
Of every land and charted sea.

I crave no other fortune great,
But joy to live in peace with God;
My hopes are fixed on His Estate,
In faith so true as prophets had.

This music in my soul today
I spread in truth with love unfurled;
On waves of cheer it goes, I pray,
To reach around the belted world.

Space music

Space music, also spelled spacemusic, is an umbrella term used to describe music that evokes a feeling of contemplative spaciousness. Space music can be found within a wide range of genres. It is particularly associated with ambient, new age, and electronic music. Some claim that music from the western classical, world, Celtic, traditional, experimental and other idioms also falls within the definition of space music. Space music ranges from simple to complex sonic textures, often (though not exclusively) lacking conventional melodic, rhythmic, or vocal components, typically evoking a "continuum of spatial imagery and emotion", beneficial introspection, attentiveness for deep listening, subtle trance effects called "spacey", (defined by the Compact Oxford Dictionary as "drifting and ethereal") and psychoacoustic spatial perceptions, particularly, sensations of flying, floating, cruising, gliding, or hovering. Space music is used by some individuals for both background enhancement and foreground listening, often with headphones, to enable states of relaxation, contemplation, inspiration, and generally peaceful expansive moods; it may promote health through relaxation, atmospherics for bodywork therapies, and effectiveness of meditation. Space music appears in many film soundtracks and is commonly played in planetariums. An eclectic form of music, produced almost exclusively by independent labels, space music occupies a small niche in the marketplace, supported and enjoyed by a relatively small audience of loyal enthusiastic listeners.