What a brilliant day 1 of GitOps Days it was. Weeks of hard work from a great team went into this, as was quite apparent. Minor glitches, some last minute shuffling of speakers, but apart from that very very seamless. (You can still sign up and get links to the recordings.)

I had a bit of an unusual role: I was DJing at an online event.

Some questions online were about the setup and why I wasn’t changing records during playing (well spotted!). So here’s what I used during the event:

  • 2x Technics SL-1210 MK2 decks
  • Allen & Heath Xone:23 mixer
  • Serato time code vinyls
  • Native Instruments Audio 4 DJ interface
  • Dell XPS 13 (9370) with xwax on Ubuntu 20.04

I’ve used this setup for a long time and it’s rock-solid. Having played real vinyls for years, I just never updated my muscle memory to use a CDJ or any other fancy new controller. At some stage I just had to move on from buying records every weekend or two to digital - there’s just so much more stuff out there and you don’t suffer as much from tracks (and records catching dust) that you find to be quite short-lived.

On the transmission end, I was very lucky that Lucijan (one of my besties) gave me his Windows laptop (in use for making Windows builds of Sitala - their free drum plugin and standalone app). I needed it because we used Zoom (as in zoom.us) for transmission and only the Windows or Mac versions of Zoom offer the “Original Sound” option where your sound is sent “as-is”, which you very much want when you’re playing live music. I also used his Zoom H4n recorder as an external soundcard.

To get a better view of what I’m doing, I mounted an external webcam on an USB extension on a broomstick (yeah I know, very professional!). The webcam was the piece of equipment that most urgently would need replacement. It didn’t really cope well when it got darker here in Berlin (it was 23:59 here when day 1 ended) and I had to add additional lighting. Also the disco ball didn’t come out quite as well as I wanted.

All in all, I had a great time supporting the event and look forward to day 2. The vibe was incredible - the audience was super friendly and had great conversations. I also learned that one of the speakers, Vuk Gojnic (Deutsche Telekom), used to be a DJ in the past and we’re losely planning to play at an event near you when this pandemic is over. We also had somebody who used to VJ in the late nineties. I love interactions like these - so diverse interests apart from GitOps.

Today I’ll also make sure to move and sit a bit more during the times when I’m not playing. I was standing most of yesterday.

One thing that was asked for as well was a playlist. Looking at this I’m quite surprised how much I managed to play on day 1.

The Rebirth - Evil Vibrations
Daniël Leseman - Ease The Pain (Extended Mix)
Yuksek & Bertrand Burgalat - Icare (Yuksek Remix)
Mooqee & Beatvandals - Player (2019 Disco Rework)

Afterclapp - BRZL
Claudia - Deixa Eu Dizer (iZem ReShape)
Dengue Dengue Dengue - Simiolo (Cumbia Cosmonauts Remix)
Twerking Class Heroes - Vanakkam
Romare - Down the line (it takes a number)

Jorge Ben - Ponta de Lança Africano
Edu Lobo - Viola Fora De Moda (Cau Lopez Remix)

Quantic & Nickodemus feat Tempo & The Candela Allstars - Mi Swing Es Tropical

Cocotaxi - Dejala Corre
Daniel Haaksman - Puerto Rico (Neki Stranac Moombahton Mix)
Cupcake Project - This Ain't No Boogie (Prosper & Adam Polo Remix)
Frajle - Pare Vole Me Extended Club (Gramophonedzie remix)

Fela Kuti and The Africa 70 - Shakara (Diamond Setter Edit)

Romare - The Blues (It Began in Africa)
Owiny Sigoma Band - Doyoi Nyajo Nam (Quantic Dub)
Zed Bias - Trouble in the Streets (feat. Mark Pritchard)
Gramophonedzie - Why Dont You

David Walters - Mama

Please join us for day 2 of GitOps Days - the schedule just looks great. I look forward to seeing you there! 💞