A random collection of a bunch of things I want to do this year, ie. 2021 🙂

For one, I’ve been planning and preparing to write several lengthy, detailed articles about how to use Icecast in combination with OBS, eg. to solve the “current song” issue most DJs run into, when streaming live to platforms like Twitch or YouTube. But also, what you can do further with OBS, just by relying on the the magic of the web (ie. HTML 5, CSS 3 and Javascript).

The other topic is how-tos and articles just about the environment of Twitch and online DJing in general. That includes gathering statistical information from multiple sources, eg. quite a few point towards the statistical result, that the sweet spot for shows per week are only TWO. Anything further supposedly decreases the viewing time or viewers per show per se. Etc.

Next on, I want to add several services to my existing web development “empire” (of dirt), specifically aimed towards DJs, musicians, projects / bands. That includes building or restructuring WordPress-based websites towards their needs, and offering plugins, and extensions which allow you to connect your own site with eg. Twitch, at least to some extent. Not to mention I plan to build own plugins to improve my own site and publishing cycles (eg. multiposting to other platforms, straight out of ClassicPress / WordPress), which eventually will be turned into premium plugins.

Talking about plugins: Lets not forget about Classic Forms 8, a fork of Contact Form 7 for CP and WP 4.9.x. Gotta get it working till the end of January 2021 🙂

Last but not least, I intend to improve on my own channel and shows, trying to get it down to 1 1/2 shows per week = primary show is on Sunday, 4 – 9 pm EST = 21:00 – 02:00 UTC+0, but I also do a different show, once every few weeks, on Thursday afternoon (ie. Central European Time = usually starting around 17:00 CET). This I want to change into bi-weekly, so eg. every odd or every even week. Further improvements include saving money for a decent workstation and streaming computer. Plus improved audio hardware.

Apropos further improvements:

Need to get the backlog uploaded to Mixcloud. Its currently sitting at shortly afte November 16th, 2020, spanning 11 recordings. Thus, improving the website (Gothic-Forest-Troll.org) and turning it into a CP-powered site, with optional frontend members only etc. pp. is a totally nice goal for the next few months. Maybe folks might even be inclined to join one of the the Steady subscription plans? 🙂

Plans for the workstation are:

According to several sources, CPU power still overrules GPU power, when it comes to streaming video, at least with common streaming software like OBS; hence I plan to either get a AMD Ryzen 4750G Pro (essentially a SoC with a Ryzen 7 3700 + Vega 11 GPU), or a Ryzen 9 3900X / 3950 X plus a simple GPU like the nVidia GTX 1650.

Thus, the rough setup is going to be:
– CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 4750G Pro or Ryzen 9 3900X / 3950 X, plus a nice Noctua 14/15 cm CPU fan
– GPU: either SoC / APU or nVidia GTX 1650
– Case: probably Cooler Master HAF XB Evo or the Corsair 4000D Airflow; but no fancy bullshit RGB / LED light garbage 🙂
– Case Fans: Noctua + Scythe Flex ..
– RAM: 32 GB, 3200 MHz, CAS 15 timings (to aim for the 10 – 11 ns sweetspot)
– Storage: 1 TB NVMe + raid of regular SSDs (Goodram SSD IRDM PRO Gen2 1TB, Intel SSD D3-S4510 or maybe Seagate Nytro 1000)
– OS: Linux triple / multiple boot, one with Kubuntu / KDE Neon base, and the second system is gonna be Manjaro; maybe even with a Windows 10 Pro partition

Plans for audio hardware:

After intense studies and research, my personal sweet spot seems to be the Rode Procaster, which is surprisingly flexible in its usage. Aside of being a really good microphone for talk and moderation – which is what I want to get back into strongly, having done web radion since the early 2000s – it is also quite comfortable to use as a directional microphone for recording the sound of instruments; which was my initial idea behind getting a Samsung E845 S.

Not “hardware” per se, but I finally want to get some decent percussion “hardware”, ie. a nice cajon plus bass or 2-in-one cajon, maybe a bongo or two, very possibly an african conga, and others 🙂

And finally, there is those things like with the extended lockdown in Germany till mid of February, and all that stuff going on .. trying out yoga, and picking up sport / stunt kiting again. Actually, my parents both did yoga even before my birth, so its .. both familiar, but also new. Also, I did sport kiting for over 10 years, and that was kind of the only real type ofsport I liked, aside of cross-country skiing.