• Sigma’s Pacemaker App Review

    Please find below a review of the Pacemaker App by one of our forum users Sigma.

    If you are an amateur or an up and coming DJ, or just someone who likes to experiment with music, I can save you a lot of time and money and simply tell you this: go ahead and buy a Blackberry PlayBook if you don’t already have one and just buy the Pacemaker app. Both function and perform exactly as advertised, so if you have been to http://www.pacemaker.net, seen the feature list and watched the tutorials, the app sells itself and what you see is exactly what you will get.

    However, if you would like the long story read on.

    I have always loved to DJ. Bedroom, living room, beach, radio, nightclub. Whatever. I love music and I love mixing music. Unlike much of DJ culture itself, I have always liked to experiment with different ways of playing and mixing music. From vinyl and turntables to discs and CDJ units to tablet laptops and fancy external sound-cards – I have tried it all. And the first time I saw the Pacemaker device, I knew it was for me.

    I stumbled on the device on a popular retail electronics site in the “DJ effects” section. A couple years too late – even though there was stock and on sale, some research indicated the manufacturer was no longer in business. No support, no upgrades, no parts or service – I could not justify the sale.

    I continued mixing on my laptop – then by fluke I stumbled upon an on-line article about the release of the Pacemaker application on the Blackberry PlayBook based on the same code and similar interface and look and feel as the device.

    Hope is a beautiful thing. I bought a 64GB PlayBook unit as well as a cable to allow for split the audio output, loaded it up with the app and MP3s and I have been in heaven ever since.

    What the app does:

    When coupled with your MP3 collection, a BlackBerry PlayBook, Griffin DJ cable, headphones, and a speaker set-up, the application gives you a basic portable two channel DJ mixing solution for under $500 all in.

    1. Multi-touch interface lets you apply and tweak EQ and FX to both channels simultaneously.

    2. Separate cue and master via split output and Griffin DJ cable to allow headphone premixing and monitoring.

    3. Basic sampling and looping.

    4. Four FX types: reverb, roll, echo, high/low frequency pass.

    5. Four EQ controls for each channel: gain, treble, mid, bass.

    6. Kill all function to remove all applied FX and EQ settings applied.

    7. Cue/headphone 2 channel independent cross-fader.

    8. Master 2 channel cross-fader.

    9. Master tempo/time stretch – tracks retain key even when pitch bend and pitch control applied.

    10. The app calculates and stores BPM info of tracks and allows one touch beat matching

    What the app doesn’t do (yet):

     

    1. Record mixes on the device

    2. Output to true stereo – split output means you have two channel dual mono signal.

    3. Allow you to cue in headphones and output master to blue-tooth audio

    In my opinion what the app does, it does exceptionally well, and what it doesn’t do are more wish-list items that would be nice but are not in any way critical.

    If you add this to the fact that the Blackberry PlayBook has a lot of other features and applications besides the Pacemaker app (blue-tooth wireless audio, GPS and maps, web browser with flash, native email, calendar, contacts, media player, HD video camera and still camera, remote desktop, word processor, pdf viewer) the value is undeniable.

    But don’t take my word for it. See it for yourself, join up with the forum here and let the community know about your experience.

    PS: Written on a flight at 35 000 ft on my PlayBook with PMA running in the background.

4 Responsesso far.

  1. tim says:

    best if I want to publish my mix is a framework that I need to check what can I do, my server because I like the mix I made was stored on my PC and stored on my mobile phone can you help me? mvg tim

  2. fernando says:

    Will you have a version for the ipad?

    • admin says:

      This website is run by the community for the Pacemaker Device (not the Pacemaker Application which is for BlackBerry PlayBook). For announcements regarding the Pacemaker Application and support for other platforms, check Pacemaker.net.

  3. schwarzmal3r says:

    Is an iOS Release planned?

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