State of Slipmat 2/2022

Good Hello Slipmatians!

It’s been too long since last update but I deliberately wanted to not promote anything before we got something actual to show. It’s been a looong and at times pretty crazy path to get here today :slight_smile:

So, the important bits first: the new v3 platform is coming together slowly but surely, and updates to the old site will continue being kept to absolutely bare minimum to not waste time and effort on something that we’ll totally ditch when we get to jump to the new site.

The Vision

Slipmat originally started as a generic place to put random tools for DJs. (It all started with the Playlist Converter – which to this day is one of our most used tools!) Then Mixify died and many DJs wanted a better place to stream. We decided to hack together a similar thing with a better chat and let YouTube handle all the video stuff. Then someone got the crazy idea of "hey, if Google/YouTube can barely do video almost well, surely we can do better with a totally shoestring (read: zero) budget! Cue 2022.

The streaming world has changed a lot in few past years. Everyone is streaming now and every imaginable platform has their own thing, some better than others. Very few are specifically intended for DJs and, in my opinion, no other platform still cares about the listeners as we do. We’re 100% free, offer hands down best audio quality and collect 0 data from anyone (hence no “please accept these privacy invading cookies” anywhere on Slipmat).

The future of Slipmat will not be pushing streaming things or trying to build a huge walled garden like the bigger kids do, but quite the opposite. Starting today we’ll be open sourcing more of out tools and platform, and our continuing mission is to build more and better tools for artists and allow them to give good quality and safe (in the ethical sense) experiences for their audience. In other words, the aim is not to get every imaginable DJ and artist playing on Slipmat, but to make it as easy as possible for those who actually care. (Let’s face it, most don’t, and it’s totally ok – not everyone needs to care about same things.)

What are these “better tools” then?

Glad you asked!

Here’s some of ideas:

  • Easy to use tools for (collaborative) planning and creating shows (example: Slipmat Show Scripter demo)
  • Tools for creating and hosting virtual (and non-virtual!) festivals and events across timezones (example: Slipmat EventPlanner demo)
  • Open and free developer APIs for building tight integrations with various most-used platforms and social media sites. (Examples: Discogs artist search API, Spotify playlist parser API, Tidal playlist parser API, APIs for interacting with Twitter/Twitch etc. from one single place during live shows etc.
  • Tools for DJs to host their live shows on their own sites (using Slipmat Frankie and automatic restreaming to various services)
  • (Open source) tools for managing DJ software, OBS, and other streaming-related things from one central place without expensive kit or unnecessary lock-ins to various third-party services.
  • To offer the best possible free listening experience for your audience (ie. the current live page, only better)

So many ideas, so few hours in a day… I hope we find more people willing to help in building this :slight_smile:

What is Slipmat v3?

In short, the same as Slipmat v2, only easier to use and all features fully implemented, including automatic recording of shows.

The main difference is that v3 is designed from day one to be a more general and easy to integrate platform. It’s basically the result of everything we’ve learned about livestreaming and the biggest pain points of DJ work during past ~10 years.

When?

When it’s ready.

You can help if you want to. We’re an open community!

But you said there was something TODAY!

Yes. Finally!

Tightly integrated Desktop and mobile applications are something we need for a truly easy and well-integrated livestreaming experience. Many modern DJ controllers and some software also don’t have well working sample functionality which many radio DJs absolutely need for playing jingles etc.

So, today, we’re proud to introduce the first official Slipmat v3 infrastructure tool:

Slipmat Soundboard

Slipmat Soundboard is a simple MIDI-enabled desktop soundboard app. It’s a handy little tool for example people in the Denon world to fill the missing sample playing void. It’s also open source.

The first release is only available for macOS (as I don’t have access to Windows PC at the moment) but hopefully the community steps up and we get a Windows and Linux versions available soon :slight_smile:

You can download the (very early) version 0.0.1 from GitHub (see the detailed info first and then find the app from the releases page). We’ll put up a better page here on Slipmat for this tool up soon.

Soundboard app, really??

Well, yes. It’s not about this first small app, it’s about the fact that we now have a published and Apple-notarized first version of a desktop app that integrates With Slipmat v3, works with open MIDI, and is open source.

This is the first step, many more (and more relevant to most of you) to come!

You can follow along on our Discord server, on our official @slipmatio Twitter account, and a bit more daily progress on my personal @uninen Twitter account.

If you want to help, the easiest thing to do is to share things on social media and tell your friend about us. And if you want to do more, just contact me!

Now, comment, discuss, ask questions, and most importantly – keep on playing great music on Slipmat! :heart:

See you soon!

- VS // Uninen

1 Like

Sounds exciting! I’m looking forward to playing with the new tools. :¬)

1 Like