strathspey@strathspey.org:26356

Patty Lindsay

Laptop for music playback (Long)

June 15, 2001, 5:57 a.m. (Message 26356)

I've recently configured my new laptop for playing music for classes. 
My goal was to put all of my CDs on the laptop, have a quick and 
easy way to find and play the right recording, provide for variable 
speed playback, have reliable remote control that could be used 
from anywhere in the room, and portable enough that I could easily 
carry it myself.  So far I've been very pleased with the results, so I 
thought I'd share what I've done.

The  laptop is a factory-refurbished HP Pavilion with a Pentium III 
600 mhz and 10 gig hard drive running Windows ME (for less than 
$1000).  

I used Music Match to convert my CDs to mp3 and store them on 
the hard drive.  

I chose Winamp for playback, mainly because I found a plug-in for 
variable speed playback. The plug-in is Pacemaker.  It allows you 
to control tempo (speed control with pitch adjustment) in 1% 
increments as well as pitch and speed control.  The tempo control 
is what we use to speed-up or slow-down playback.  I found other 
speed control plug-ins, but they either did not adust for pitch or 
adjusted speed in huge increments (eg 10, 20%).  The interface for 
Pacemaker is very easy to use. There is both a slider bar and a set 
of + and - buttons.  Both Winamp and Pacemaker are available at 
no cost.

I added remote control capability with MouseRemote by X10.  This 
is an RF device so the range is very good and you don't need line-
of-sight for it to work. (RF stands for radio frequency, vs infra-red 
which many remotes use.)  It looks like a TV/VCR remote.  It comes 
with a RF receiver that plugs into the serial port of the laptop.  It runs 
for $50.  Software is provided, but I used Max10 instead. Max10 is 
freeware that lets you program the buttons on this remote to 
perform various functions on the computer.  Settings for WinAmp 
come pre-setup with Max10, but you can also setup other programs 
as well.  I was able to program it to control the Pacemaker 
program.  So from the dance floor we can do the following: Play, 
Pause, Stop, skip forward/backwards 5 seconds,  go to 
next/previous track in playlist, increase/decrease volume, and 
increase/decrease playback tempo.

I looked for an RF credit card or key chain sized remote so it would 
be small enough to tuck in a sporran or pocket, but the only thing I 
found was $150 and that was more than I wanted to pay.  The 
MouseRemote is a bit bulky, but it is light.   It can be used by the 
teacher when teaching the dance, and then once we're ready to
dance it can be set down on a table at  the side of the room as we 
start to dance.

For speakers, I chose Cambridge SoundWorks speakers in a bag 
for $69. This is a subwoofer with 2 satellite speakers that fit in a 
nylon bag with a mesh front. You can use the speakers without 
unpacking them, which makes them quite portable.  There is room 
in the bag for a portable CD or MP3 player which turns the bag into 
a boom box (sans tape) when the laptop isn't available.  We've got 
good sound from them for the 1-2 set size classes we've tried them 
on.   

For quick and easy selection of dance music, I generated some 
static html pages using FoxPro and the DanceData databases.   
There are pages for looking up a recording by name, by type 
(strathspey, reel, jig etc) and by album name, artist and album id.  I 
can also create pages for the dances on an upcoming program or 
the dances planned for a given class. Once you find the recording 
you want, you just click on the 'Play' link and WinAmp plays it.  At 
some point I'd like to change the static pages to dynamic pages 
that would query DanceData directly, but who knows when I'll get to 
that.  

We've used the setup at 4 classes now and have not encountered 
any glitches.  We're able to select and play music very quickly and 
easily.   In a very short time, you can even listen to several 
recordings for the same dance and choose one to use.  And with 
the laptop in a backpack/rucksack (which also holds dance shoes, 
etc) and the speakers in a bag, I can carry the whole setup on my 
shoulders.

I'd be happy to provide more detail on any of the above to anyone 
interested. 

Happy Dancing!

Patty







Patty Lindsay
Beavercreek (Dayton), Ohio
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx

http://www.rscdscincinnati.org/ - Cincinnati Branch RSCDS