Cyber surfer

Desktop DJ

At last, an 'EZ' way to mix your own beats and breaks

Reviews by Matt Leppard

Popular DJ Fatboy Slim started his musical career with British pop group The Housemartins, who had a number one single, 'Happy Hour', 17 years ago.

Cybersurfer likes the idea of not working to make ends meet. While life in the velvet-lined suites of Student Weekly is a bit like a daily holiday, we're always on the lookout for something that's a little less work. And so we stumbled upon EZ-DJ (http://www.shockwave.com/sw/content/ezdj), an online program that allows you to mix other people's records with beats and samples to make your own. Move over Moby...

Shock to the system

Using the Shockwave plug-in - a computer program that allows you to use sounds and animation - you can select the tracks you want to mix, then blend in drumbeats, cymbals, samples and scratches. And all at the click of a mouse button. You can use a cross-fader as well as special DJ effects like filter sweeps and echo drops - and the great thing is you don't have to know what these mean because within 10 minutes of using the site you'll be a pro.

Once you've mastered the art of using these effects, you'll be on this site for hours. Our only gripe is that when you first start using the site, you are asked to choose a music label to mix, but once you have chosen there doesn't seem to be any way to get back to the selections once you have started mixing.

But never mind - the rest of the site more than makes up for it and the best thing is that you can record your track and send it to a friend. Or do like Cybersurfer did and mailed it to a record company executive and asked for money.

Clickthroughs

If you like this site, you might like to check out these cool links as well:

Collapse II (http://www.shockwave.com/sw/content/collapse)

Play a great game - basically Tetris - with Shockwave.

Turntables (http://www.turntables.de/)

Same idea as EZ-DJ but harder to use.

Now sea this

Explore the Titanic from the comfort of your own room

Primarily a promotional website for Titianic movie director James Cameron' s latest TV show, Ghosts of the Abyss (http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/ghosts/index.html) offers up a multimedia journey through the world's most famous shipwreck.

Some of the photos are very eerie and you can even guide an online version of the mini-robot the programme-makers used to shoot the film (although this takes time to load and is a little confusing). Finding out how the movie was made and the technology involved is also fascinating.

Overall, the site is slick, well-presented and well worth visiting, but ultimately you should remember that it's really just an online ad for a TV show.

Clickthroughs

If you like this site, you might like to check out these cool links as well:

The Real Titanic Story (http://www.realtitanic.co.uk/)

In memory of the biggest ship disaster of all time. Facts, pictures, dates, diagrams, and media coverage.

The Alternative Titanic Story (http://www.geocities.com/sour25/stories/gracestory.html)

What if the Titanic hadn't sunk? An alternative ending to the popular movie.

Vocabulary

make ends meet (idiom): make sure you have enough money for the basics of life such as food, clothes, etc.
stumbled upon (idiom): discovered almost by accident
sample (v): to record part of a piece of music, or a sound, in order to use it in a new piece of music
track (n): a piece of music or song on a record, tape or CD
blend (v): to combine with something in an attractive or effective way
cymbal (n): a musical instrument in the form of a round metal plate
scratch (v): in music, to spin a record in the opposite direction
pro (abbrev.): short for professional
gripe (n): a complaint about something
music label (n): the part of a record company that an artist records with
primarily (adv): connected with advertising
multimedia (adj): using sound, pictures and film in addition to text
strange, mysterious and frightening strange, mysterious and frightening
shoot the film (phrase): make the movie
slick (adj): done or made in a way that is clever and efficient