With this new page, I plan to go through all the computer programs that I have used or found, not only to make this site, but also when it comes to Dj'ing.

There's a lot of the buggers out there to do all the kind of things that I'll mention in this page. There's a few that I've found that I've just not quite got round to ading in yet, but there's about 1000 times more stuff out there that you can use other than the ones that I'll mention below.

If there's anything that you think I should include in here, then send me all the details for it - URL, Title, What it does, and a biref description of the Demo limitations.

Before I get into everything, just wanted to mention that Digi Design, the makers of Pro Tools are giving away a free copy of Pro Tools on their site at www.digidesign.com Obviously it's not the full buddah that you pay £6,000 for, and it's the LE version which uses your CPU rather than dedicated boards, but if you're running Windows 98 (second edition or better) or Mac OS 8.6 or 9 then it's really worthwhile downloading it. The download goes up to 40Mb, but the prog itself is only about 10Mb.

So, I'll start off with the Dj'ng stuff, coz really that's more relevant to this site than what I used to make it.

For audio manipulation, I mostly use a program called Cool Edit. Now called Adobe Audition.

I use this mostly when I'm making CD's or tapes for people. The advantage of using a prog like this is that if through the 90 minutes or so you do the mix, you make an error near the end - but are either too bored to re-do the whole thing, don't have the time, or don't think you'd be able to get the same magic to the rest of the set, you can just re-record the part that you messed up, and dub over the error with this fix. I know - it sounds like cheating, but sometimes it's just a lot easier to do it this way.

The prog has some nice audio effects on it too. The flanger is a great asset to those who don't have a mixer with effects on it, and it's a fully controllable flange - unlike progs like Goldwave, which have a poor control of the effect. I've only touched on a small amount of what this program can do for you, if you want it for yourself, go to the SYNTRILLIUM home page, where you can download a demo of Cool Edit 2000. (This may no longer be an option due to the Adobe switch - but try searching the net for Cool Edit downloads.

For those of you who are in a music making feel, there's also Cool Edit Pro, which is a multi track prog, easy to use, and will help you make the tune you want - get a demo from the above link.

You might want to check out this lot too

As the logo says, it's a site for computer and music services, and has lots of info on there for both, fortunately, otherwise the name's misleading, huh?

I mentioned another audio prog called Goldwave in the last bit about C.Edit. It's another really good audio prog, with the main advantages being that it's only about 750Kb in size, and can write directly to the disk (apparently). I still prefer Cool Edit because of the control on the effects, but Goldwave still has a lot of advantages over Cool Edit. I don't have a URL for it yet (I can't be bothered surfing for it) but if you check out HERE.

For burning CD's, I use a prog. called " Dart Cd Recorder 98 ". Well, actually, I don't, coz I don't have a CD burner, but what I do use this for is audio clean up. If the tunes you're recording are all scratchy and poppy, and hissy, then there's a nice touch-up facility on this prog. If you do record you orwn Cd's, and are looking for a prog to do it, then this one seems as good as the rest. But, there's also Acoustica which wil help you, and Feurio, which I don't have a URL for, just search for it, Feurio is good coz it will put in all the track marks for you, so you don't have to fiddle around.

For people who have loads of MP3's, and are thinking of getting into Dj'ing, but don't want to go out and get decks and stuff yet, BPM STUDIO have just added a lot more functionalily to their software. There's now a lot of hardware add-ons to the system, making your MP3 mixing akin to CD mixing instead. It's a bit pricey - and probably puts itself out the reach of a lot of people until they know they want to just mix with MP3's - but still, it takes the mouse clicks out of mixing!! The site is pretty chunky as it's all flash based, so if yo don't have a fast connection and a fast processor - it may take a while to navigate.

For those who DON'T want to shell out lot for MP3 progs, there's a prog called "Virtual Turntables" kicking around on the net. It does what it says. It's an emulator for decks (more like CD than Vinyl) that you load your two tracks into, can calculate the BPM's of each track, then mix them together - a petty funky prog if you can be bothered learning how to use it.

There's another in a similar vain called "Digital 1200SL". I guess it's supposed to be a virtual version of Technics decks, but it's not. It's more like a virtual version of a twin CD unit. But, it's easy to use and works with MP3's and .wav files. The demo version is limited to only 15 mins of use, but it'll give you a good idea of its functions.

Another for ya, Ots CD Scratch 1200 I'm told it's great

If you've got a lot of tunes on your system, and you want to calculate the BPM of each tune, then someone told me that there is a prog called WINBPM kicking about somewhere. Apparently, the URL for download is HERE It's a nice little prog. that you just whack the space bar in time with the tune you want to measure the BPM of, and it'll give you a fairly accurate readout (depends on the accuracy of your whacking!!!!!)

If you're into the music making side of life, then there's a few of the buggers out there that will help you on your way. Dance Ejay seems to one of the more popular with the Bedroom music makers, it's pretty nice, I can see why. I've lost the URL for the demo, but again, if you type in Dance Ejay into any search engine, it should present itself.

Another biggy in this genre is Cakewalk . Check it out, it's nice!

If you want to get the tracks from your CD's onto your system quickly, cleanly and efficiently, then it's best to use an Audio ripper program. There's quite a lot of them out there, but the two I'll mention are AUDIOGRABBER and WINDAC . Both of them are very easy to use, and the demo versions of them are fully functional (although, you may have to open and close A.Grabber a couple of times until it lets you rip the track you want.)

For my web-site, I used a prog called Arachnophillia to create all the HTML tags etc. It's a free prog based on the Care Ware principle - where you just have to promise to be nice to people, and you've paid your dues. A really nice (if Naive) idea. It's a great program, simple to use, but you have to know a little about HTML to use it. I actually started this site using a Demo of HotDog 4.5 , learnt what all the HTML codes did using that, then used Arachnophillia to customize everything to my own settings. Both progs are well worth the time to download, so if you're thinking of making your own site, try one of these two progs.

For uploading my files to the net, I use Cute Ftp 4.0 . Nice prog, easy to use, and comes with its own HTML editor if you want it.

This is as far as I've got right now, but I wanted to upload this page because someone asked me about Virtual Turntables, but their Email address isn't working (Kidfunk) so I hope they're going to come back and check out this page.

If any one else has any thoughts on progs I should include on this page, send me a mail with the description of what it does, and a URL to link to a download.

And here's a mail I was sent out. I can't be arsed re-writing it right now, maybe another time, but until then, just read what was sent to me.......

I thougt I should send you a information about another very good PC program.

It's called ACID from Sonic Foundry ( www.sonicfoundry.com ).(Only for WAV Files) It's a kind of arranger Program but it has a lot more power than others..... For example you count the beats of a track and you tell the program the number. You can do so with a lot of tracks at the same time (depending on the PC ram). Than you the program the average BPM an it streches the tracks to this Beat !

It's very nice and sooooooooo easy. You can assign Effects too (ALL DirectX PlugIns are allowed !!!!!!) In the Pro Version you can burn your made CD direct out of the program. (I never tried it, but it goes....I think)

Another tip is the URL www.hitsquad.com were you can get all kind of Shareware.....Espacially (don't know how to write it...) for music.

If you are looking for a Beatcounter, look at this URL, if you are looking for a Synthy, look there. MixVibes is a similar program like Virtual Turntabls, but (!) there are Low, High, and Mid Knobs like on your mixer, to cut Vibes.... It's doesent fit with my PC, but it's very good.Nearly all sound formats are supported.... www.mixvibes.com

So, that's all ! (If only everyone were as helpful as him, eh?)