About Mark Della-Libera

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So far Mark Della-Libera has created 54 blog entries.

Genre Overview: Balearic Beat

History: Like Goa and the Melbourne Shuffle, Balearic wears its geographic origins firmly on its sleeve: the Balearic Islands are the archipelago that contains Majorca and Ibiza. It’s here, in mid-eighties clubs like Pasha and Amnesia, Paul Oakenfold and friends first discovered something amazing happening. They brought it back to [...]

By |2023-11-24T07:45:30-05:00October 18, 2011|

iMaschine Is Here!

Billed as The Groove Sketchpad, iMaschine follows hot on the heels of the 1.7 release of the full software, and the launch of Maschine Mikro, a slimmed down version of the original hardware. The family is growing, and given Native Instruments’ versatility with their software to date, it’ll [...]

By |2023-11-23T22:27:25-05:00October 17, 2011|

The Irresistible Fruit: Apple Loses Its Core

I’m sadder than I should be, with Steve gone. I don’t know why – he was nobody to me personally and in fact he represented the damnable, irresistible fruit; the zenith both of gorgeous gadgets and emotionally manipulative marketing. I love Apple despite myself. I know its shortcomings and I’m [...]

By |2023-11-24T07:59:26-05:00October 13, 2011|

Magix Digital DJ – A Moral Dilemma

Magix made their name with Samplitude in Germany in the 90s, and they’re also behind undervalued PC DAW Sequoia – so they have some credibility. In fifteen years they’ve gone from a team of five with one product to a global company with 300 staff and a portfolio that includes [...]

By |2023-11-23T22:10:41-05:00October 5, 2011|

The State of the Digital DJ – The Death of the 1200s

Panasonic’s 2010 decision to discontinue the truly legendary Technics SL-1200 turntables was a response to the prolific adoption of new breeds of technology that featured combined advantages of massively increased functional versatility, and a much broader range of viable price points thanks to greater variety in materials, lower [...]

By |2023-11-24T07:30:09-05:00September 30, 2011|

MixVibes U-Mix Control Pro Review

Regular Crossfadrs will already be familiar with young French team Mixvibes and some of their previous offerings: Cross DJ is mixing software, and it’s not without its flaws but its core is strong and flexible. U-Mix Remote is an iPad controller for Cross. It’s a very good controller [...]

By |2023-11-23T22:10:41-05:00September 28, 2011|

Classic Album Review: 4hero – Creating Patterns

By the time Creating Patterns was released in 2001, the group was already known for their sublimely crafted drum and bass. They had already established a reputation for the kind of smooth harmonies and melodies that would help define the liquid funk sound so popular in London shortly before the [...]

By |2023-06-05T08:59:32-04:00September 21, 2011|

Genre Overview: BROKEN BEAT

HISTORY: Broken beat is usually traced back to west London in the early 1990s. With influences as diverse as jazz, dub, hip-hop, funk and drum and bass, its eagerness to hybridise reflects something of the broadly multicultural context in which it bloomed. IDENTIFYING FEATURES: The name Broken Beat is actually [...]

By |2023-11-24T08:00:12-05:00September 20, 2011|

Maschine 1.7 Update

Native Instruments’ Maschine has really led the way in terms of solid updates since its impressive, but admittedly premature 1.0 release back in 2009. User requests have been incorporated and great new features added such that the all-in-one production studio is really starting to live up to its [...]

By |2023-11-24T07:59:42-05:00September 19, 2011|

Production Tips: MINIMAL

Good minimal strikes a balance between simple and complex sounds and rhythms, often without the listener really grasping what it is that they’re hearing. We’re going to build a phrase in Ableton and dirty it up a little, turning it from something plain to a whirling, psychedelic centrepiece and back [...]

By |2023-11-24T07:45:30-05:00September 14, 2011|
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