It is a strange thing to say for a man, but I always had a vision of how my own wedding would play out. Call me a new romantic, or just a little bitch, but I always saw a close group of friends watching me walk down the aisle in Tadao Ando’s Church of Light, dressed in a made-to-measure Tom Ford suit, with a gorgeous bride dressed in a Vera Wang gown soon following me. I dreamed of a hybrid between the traditional and non-traditional, a statement of who I am as a person, but more importantly who I am as a member of a team; one that from that day forward would be inexorably tied together not just by the bonds of love, but by the bonds if marriage. Surely it is hubris to plan such an event without the hint of who or when, but sometimes dreams do come true.

Mine did.

Except my dream wasn’t realized for me, but for two of my dearest friends, Robert and Marlena Love.

I don’t think that I have ever been happier, nor as emotional, as I was at their wedding. To see two individuals who have shared so much, who put away fears and past trespasses to allow love to conquer what circumstance could have easily torn apart, take their vows was a unique privilege that I will treasure forever. To see them share the same sort of wedding dream that I had held privately, down to the Tom Ford suit and the Vera Wang gown, could easily be written off as coincidence. However, one dismisses such coincidence at their own peril.

Rather I took it to be a confirmation of their love through the my own personal experiences. To accept no compromise. To want the best for your partner. To see it through no matter what bad cards are dealt along the path. All of these are emotions I’ve felt in my own personal wedding fantasy, and seeing two people who shared this fantasy, but also made it a reality, gives me supreme confidence that not only are their feelings true, but they will certainly be lasting.

In a way there was a certain melancholy that came with seeing them wed. They had found their happy ending in a mirror image of what I always thought mine would be. But any bittersweet feelings were overcome by the joy I had in seeing two of my most beloved friends make official in their own way, with their own dreams and words and vows, what I had known and continue to know to be true. While it takes courage and maturity to believe, compromise and patience to sustain, love truly conquers all.

Robert and Marlena proved it to me when I had come to doubt it myself. It was a gift worth more than the hours or miles of distance traveled, and it is one for which I am eternally grateful.

Enjoy your lives together. May your happiness and love grow stronger each day.

One of the project goals with Cue Play DJ was to make an application and an interface that would be instantly familiar to “real DJs.” If we can get you to understand Cue Play DJ on a fundamental mixing level, you can walk up to any set of CDJs and mixers in the world and those skills will transfer. They will transfer even more closely if you walk up to a Serato Scratch or Traktor setup. On the other hand, if you already know how to DJ, Cue Play DJ shouldn’t force you to learn how to do it all over again. There are interesting ideas, such as visual mixing, or slick interface designs based on Apple’s HID guidelines, but the only interface we care about is the mixer and decks. They should look real and behave realistically. We think we hit the right balance.

Ferry Corsten (http://www.ferrycorsten.com) was recently in Japan to play to crowds in Osaka and Tokyo. During his trip on the bullet train, we sat down with the latest version of Cue Play DJ and discussed where we could improve the application and what interesting features we can add for future versions. Feedback from world class DJs like Ferry is critical to making Cue Play DJ the only DJing solution you will ever need for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

Ferry was so happy with the app, he let us take a picture of him with the app in ageHa, Japan’s leading superclub. Ferry was playing on DVDs that night for his Once Upon A Night release tour, but how long will it be before someone of his caliber is playing a real gig on an iPhone.

Sooner than you think! DJ Taro, longtime lunchtime DJ on Tokyo’s seminal J-Wave radio station (www.j-wave.co.jp) decided to do a set live on the air via his iPad and Cue Play DJ!

His experiment on-the-air was also broadcast over his in-booth live Ustream account. In addition to the countless radio listeners, nearly 2000 people signed in to UStream to see DJ Taro play on Cue Play DJ.

We even got to meet up with him later on that week to discuss his experiences using the application in a professional environment, and how we can make sure Cue Play DJs like Taro or Ferry never have to worry about the tool they are using, but how we can get them to focus on their mix and their audience.

Real DJs love Cue Play DJ because it enables them to use an interface they love to play the music they adore, but even if you are a beginner, Cue Play DJ will get you into the beats faster than anything else. It will make you a “Real DJ.” Who knows where you will take your skills from there.

For the past 14 months, I have been working with my friend Max in my free time to create an iPhone app. It’s called Cue Play DJ, and it is basically the best mobile DJing solution available for any platform other than your laptop.

We set out to make something that would distill the experience of Traktor and put it into your hand. I think we have succeeded, but I would love for you all to check it out yourselves.

One of the best parts of the project for me has been showing it to my DJ friends. From Ferry Corsten, who was on-board the project at a very early stage and has been incredibly supportive, to Mike Koglin, who literally could not let go of the app, to all the DJs who play with me at my residency at Club Joule, it has been an absolute blast to see people realize what we can do on mobile devices now. A radio DJ who does the lunchtime slot daily for Tokyo radio station J-Wave (www.j-wave.co.jp) is even going to use our app on an iPad to DJ his next non-stop megamix!

The best part is, it is only going to get better. Mikami-san always told me that getting into the nitty gritty parts of production from zero to the finish line was the best way to learn things, and he could not have been more correct.

Anyways, if you are interested in the app and want a promo code, I will pick a few people from the comments and send one out. Make sure to include your email address in the required field so I can get ahold of you.

Osaka-based Capsulated Software and Rotterdam-based dance pioneer and leading producer Ferry Corsten today announced a global promotional partnership for the 150th anniversary broadcast of Ferry’s weekly radio show Corsten’s Countdown. The collaboration will see tracks from Ferry’s label Flashover Recordings included free in Cue Play DJ 1.1, Capsulated’s pioneering DJ application for the iPhone OS released last week.

With Ferry Corsten in an advisory role, Cue Play DJ meets the stringent requirements of today’s DJ. Version 1.1 of Cue Play DJ features the hotly anticipated introduction of effects, such as delay and flanger, to an industry leading feature set that includes Cue Play DJ’s exclusive wireless master output streaming, a 3-band equalizer, automatic BPM detection and syncing, looping functions, hot cues and more. Available at a cost of $9.99 USD or its equivalent, Cue Play DJ robust feature set makes DJíng accessible and affordable to all.

Corsten’s Countdown becomes truly interactive with Cue Play DJ, as starting April 7, Ferry Corsten will ask listeners of his internationally syndicated weekly radio show to use Cue Play DJ to mix four trance hits from his Flashover Recordings label and submit their mixes to http://www.cueplaydj.com. Corsten will personally choose the winning mix. The grand prize winner will have their winning mix included on the special digital compilation version of the 150th edition of Corsten’s Countdown, available May 12, 2010 on the iTunes Music Store, and receive an Apple iPad courtesy of Capsulated Software. Two other winners will receive customized Cue Play DJ Vaja cases for their iPhone or iPod touch.

Ferry Corsten and Capsulated Software are both dedicated brining the passion and creativity of Ferry’s DJ performances to the palm of your hand with the Corsten’s Countdown radio show / podcast and Cue Play DJ.

Links:
Corsten’s Countdown Contest Page
Ferry Corsten
Flashover Recordings
Dance Therapy

Welcome to the Capsulated Software Official Blog!

We are going to be quite active here, giving you news on our products, our thoughts/tips on iPhone DJing with Cue Play DJ, and insight into our future projects.

Our first big news is that we have submitted version 1.1 of Cue Play DJ to the App Store, along with a few modifications/bug fixes to make your experience smoother, we’ve added a big new feature set and set the stage for an amazing April collaboration with one of the world’s best DJs. Keep watching this space for news on version 1.1!

One of the most common email requests/questions we have is regarding the knobs on the EQ section. Cue Play DJ is a DJ app for DJs, so the knobs have to behave in rotation mode first, because that is what a DJ expects to happen. However, with the limited screen space on the iPhone, turning a knob can take a while to get used to, or you may just prefer that things behave like faders.

We support this.

Just pop into the options menu and the first option you will see is Knob Mode.

We support the default rotation mode, vertical slider mode, and horizontal slider mode. I like horizontal rotation mode because it behaves like a horizontal slider across the screen. That way I know once I catch the knob, I can go left and right and never have to worry about making any accident swipe ups and heading to the Headphone area of the mixer. But pick which one suits your style. Cue Play DJ is about enabling you to DJ on the go as close to how you would DJ in a club or at home. You suit these environments to your style, and we want you to do the same with the App.

Until next time! Cool things are on the way.

This course scares me just watching it. At 1:35, he tags a nasty boulder and lets out a yelp that is almost pure terror.

I was having a kinda bummed out night, but strangely, this made me a little happier.

Alexander McQueen was an inspiration to me.

There was something daring about his clothes. Something naughty and slightly off-kilter. They were about taking the places inside that we keep private, and transforming them into these intricately cut garments that forced them to the surface. Walking into his boutique in Osaka was one of my favorite things to do, just to feel the clothes, look at how they were tailored, dream of having the money, and the audacity, to wear something more than one of his skull scarves or a t-shirt.

This is the L.A. store. I visited it back in October, and I loved being there. The man hanging from the rafters is now prophetic and sad. He isn’t actually hanging though.

I loved his Puma collaboration. My white trainers came with a sharp metal fang that I loved too much to remove from the shoes, until they began to scar the outside of the white leather. I eventually took the fang off, not because I disliked what it was doing to the shoes, but because I never wanted to look down and see it missing.

Then there was the women’s wear. Whether he was misogynistic or not, as a man, a woman dressed in McQueen was scary and desiring. His last collection (where Lady GaGa premiered Bad Romance) was about these computer generated scale prints, vaguely reptilian or fish like, but when I saw them paraded down the runway, I thought that he had created a feminine praying mantis. They were scary, and deadly, and incredibly alluring.

However, my favorite collection was probably Autumn 2007. Themed after the witch hunts, he played with long sleek shapes, tall hairdos, and darkness. Models walked a red pentagram drawn on a dark floor, lit only by spotlights following them. A few weeks after I saw this show on TV, I walked into PlatinumGames for the first time and saw Bayonetta. She is, and always will be, the Alexander McQueen model of video games to me. I saw her and instantly I identified his influence in her.

Watch that, and tell me if you still think Bayonetta’s proportions are “off”. Alexander McQueen used scissors and fabric to make these women look larger than life. And yet they still seem dangerous, and intensely sexy. If Bayonetta were real, I bet she would have adored Alexander McQueen.

But now he is gone. Life is a little bit more mundane. Women are a little less sexy. The world is a little less dangerous.

Thank you.

A little speculation from GameTrailers on what’s next…
My lips are sealed, as always.

Silver Week is upon us, and the best way to celebrate your last free night, Tuesday 9/22, is by coming to Joule in Osaka.

Come check me spinning house up on the Terrace at Joule (open to non-VIP patrons for the first time since the big move) while Ken Ishii, Q’Hey, and Dai tear apart the main room with the best Japanese techno has to offer.

Guest list is, of course, a given – so hit me up in the comments if you need to be added to the list.

It has been ages since I’ve posted on this blog.

Part of it has to do with the complete and total implosion of my personal life (Mai and I broke up after six years a little less than four months ago). The other part has to do with a faulty AirPort Extreme that didn’t let me blog from home.

But putting all that aside, I suppose I should blog about this awesome art exhibition I went to today.

Art Osaka was held at the Dojima Hotel, an upscale design hotel in Umeda. They took over four floors of the hotel and had a gallery turn each room into a mini-exhibition for their shop. There were tons of slightly deformed, dark takes on the human form, which seemed to be a trend at the show. But my own personal interests trending more towards the pop side of things, I thought I would introduce some works that caught my eye.

BTW – I don’t often go to art galleries/shows, but I really enjoy them. I went alone this time, but if anyone is interested in going to a show, or going to Geisai with me next year, drop me a line.

This is a work by Chih-Wei Chiu, an artist from Taiwan. I really like the focus on the eyes, and the vaguely sexual imagery going on. Use of color is incredibly as well. Very cool.

These are supposed to be steampunk robots that protect infant babies. The one in the center has a pacifier on its chain, and the hawk is actually a bottle. I don’t think you could call these simple figures, nor could you call them sculptures. They are a nice high-low juxtaposition that really attracts me. Very cool resin models.

This is by Masako Higashi, a 25 year old girl from Osaka who is currently working at a game company. Her work was my favorite at the show, and I wanted to buy a particular painting that matched the color scheme of my apartment. I like the mix of anger and innocence, and it is easy to imagine the emotions inside a Japanese girl that would encourage these kinds of works. It is a mix of the pop art cultural influences that youth in Japan are raised in, along with early 20s angst and a kawaii design aesthetic. I spoke with her for a while (she is very cute… I wish I could have gotten her number) and her work is awesome.

So there was my Sunday. Off to bed now. I ate too many homemade tacos and am damn near in a food coma.