Dub & Reggae News

Due to a heavy work load in real life, work on the Dubbook has been quiet during this summer. There are still some things to fix, e.g. the tagging display error you see in the news below this one. Next week I will run a bigger security update. For that, the site will go offline for a few hours. Fingers crossed that I won't screw things up. 😉

Thanks to @paam_soundsystem" data-entity-type="user" data-entity-subtype="user" href="https://www.dubbook.org/profile/paam_soundsystem" data-user-id="paam_soundsystem">Paam Soundsystem and @RonTingzDubwise" data-entity-type="user" data-entity-subtype="user" href="https://www.dubbook.org/profile/RonTingzDubwise" data-user-id="RonTingzDubwise">RonTingzDubwise I was able to finetune the security settings in the backend of this site. As both found out, the restriction for posting pictures in one setting was too low. I updated the setting and it should work now as intended. Sorry for the difficulties. But thanks for testing the Dubbygram out. 😄

Small quality of life update: I finally found out how to “de-clutter” the activity timeline. From now on, the list doesn't show anymore when users befriend each other, when users add or change an avatar and when users attend an event. In case you use filters for the timeline: The filter “users” won't show any results anymore due to this update.

On 12th May, the Android app version of the Dubbook finished it's beta test phase and was officially accepted in the Google Play Store. It is available from Dubbook – Apps bei Google Play. Already 10+ people downloaded the app. 😉 The test phase was quite extensive and exhausting, thus I needed to take a little break after that. I still have my “to do” list and will continue updating the Dubbook. Looking forward to your posts in all the categories. 😄

Small quality of life update: If you make a post with a photo, you can now link to a photo instead of (re-)uploading it, in case you for some reason don't want to or cannot upload a photo. An example where this is helpful: If you uploaded a photo to your Dubbygram and want to re-use that photo for your Dubbypedia entry, you don't have to re-upload it, but you can copy the image URL from the Dubbygram page and paste it into your new entry. You can check some entries in the soundsystem section I will create today for examples. Those entries use images from @soundsystemuniverse" data-entity-type="user" data-entity-subtype="user" href="https://www.dubbook.org/profile/soundsystemuniverse" data-user-id="soundsystemuniverse">Sound System Universe 's Dubbygram.

We have a new category in the Dubbypedia: “Dub tricks, technology and gear”. Put all your dubby hints you want to share here, if you like. For example a cool sounding VST you use, an analog delay you love, a unique way of creating a siren sound etc. pp. I allow it, if you use this to promote your own product, as long as it's not too much on the nose. With that I mean: Create a proper wiki for your product and add a link to your shop.

DFR035 came back from mastering today, thus I'm positive that the release will be available from all the streaming platforms on 4th May, as planned. It's a digital-only album release by Dubby Cruiser called “Convertible Dubs”. The individual tunes were previously released as digital singles on Whimsical Music, but all songs received fresh mixes for the album. There will be 8 songs in 2 versions each, thus 16 tracks in total. Free download on Bandcamp.

During the last two weeks, I spent a lot of time fighting spam registrations. I implemented a couple of solutions and today I managed to integrate the hCaptcha tool. I hope that the spam stops now and I can focus on developing the site itself again.

WHIM042 is coming out this Friday, 11th April 2025. Spoiler alert: Convertible Dubs Season 1 Episode 8. This means that the first season is complete. Yay. 😄

Well, that was a loooong Sunday. But GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! After over one month of trying, the navigation is finally optimised for desktop and mobile view. It was such a difficult task, and eventually, thanks and praises go to Nikolai from WZM who provided the last missing pieces of the puzzle. At the same time, I tweaked the general layout and the whole website looks classier now. Dubbook inna fine style, seen. Do you agree or disagree? Comment below. (Buttons and some areas needs further styling.)

I made a new logo for the Dubbook. You can see it on the start page (if you click e.g. on “The Dubbook” in the top left corner of the site). It's a classy golden record-kinda style. I'm still working on making the top navigation more user-friendly on mobile and at the same time, will try to improve the visuals of this site. The framework isn't that easy to update. If you're a PHP or CSS coder and would like to help make the Dubbook more pleasing to the eye, send me a message. 😄

WHIM041 will be quite the treat. I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm gonna say this: Sandstorm. Out on 1st April. No fool's day joke. 😉

Great initiative! Big up Ralph and Dub Flash family!

50+ users are registered now and some first posts have been created, e.g. in the “Dub Events” section. Step by step forward. I'm currently still working on the mobile view navigation area. It's trickier to update than e😜ected. But I'll get there eventually. 😄

A small update for convenience to the “Dub Events” section: You can list past events now. It's nothing fancy, but it's one more option which didn't exist before.

We already have 44 registered users on the Dubbook. 😄 Not bad. Let's add some spice: New user no. 50 gets a Bandcamp download code of their choice for a Dub Flash release. Spread the word. Also, to all artists: Please check https://www.dubbook.org/jobs/view/1775/dubbook-allstars-compilation-release.

Good news everyone: The Dubbook has notifications now. Don't miss new posts, comments, likes etc. Unless you don't want notifications, then you go to your settings page in your profile and unmark what you're not interested in. I'm still testing this out more. Stay tuned.

Off to Iration Steppas now in Helsinki. Any other Dubbook member going?

Tomorrow Iration Steppas in Helsinki! Who else is going?

Yes, yes, yes! For one month, my biggest difficulty was creating an Instagram-like design for the dub photos section, which is actually an online photo album tool like Flickr. But I made it. Without external coding help. It doesn't look perfect yet, and the photo upload isn't as smooth yet as I one day want it to be, but nonetheless, I herewith announce our own “Dubbygram”. Post your pictures, dubheads!

Another new feature got added today: “Dub gigs”. You can now search for dubwise collaborateurs for your projects on The Dubbook. Just enter what you are looking for, for example a singer or a carrier of heavyweight soundsystem scoops, and specify your project's details. Happy collaborating! 😄

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! The “Dub Releases” section allows you now to EMBED your Bandcamp release directly into your post just by copy&pasting the URL (internet address) of your release. (Note: This doesn't work for merchandise; only music). On top of that, you can also embed your release on Soundcloud or a YouTube video. Now all we need is people posting their new releases here. 😉

The “Dubbypedia” has categories now. To add yourself (or someone else) in one of the categories, simply click on the category and then on the “Add wiki” button at the top of the category-page. Then add your information as you like it and “save” your wiki. Done. Note: If you want others to be able to edit your entry, choose “logged-in users” for the “write access”. If you want to be the only one who can edit your entry, choose “private". My suggestion is that you choose “private”, if your entry is about yourself, but “logged-in users”, if your entry is about someone else. Like this, we can build a evry nice wikipedia for Dub.

I'm working on a “Bandcamp” embed function for the “Dub releases” section. Fingers crossed that I manage to make it work. It would mean that you could easily embed your Bandcamp-releases to The Dubbook. For now, it is already possible to do, but a bit complicated. I let you know when it works. I think it would be sweet.

It is done. All of the Dub Flash social media accounts have been deleted. Shame to lose 1.500+ followers. But 99% of those didn't actually follow me anyway. I feel relief and motivation to finally start posting news again, freely and savely. I have a lot on my “to do” list and this page will be filled with life step by step. The only thing slowing me down is real-life work (which happens a lot, unfortunately). Otherwise I am fully committed to The Dubbook. By the way, it's called The Dubbook, because it was originally The Facebook. Then they thought that two words is too difficult for their userbase. But I know that the userbase of this site is capable of comprehending two words. And that's one reason why The Dubbook is better than The, I mean, Facebook. Onward to Andromedub, my dub friends!

I'm wondering about a “Dubbook” collaboration release. Exclusively available here as a free WAV download. Various Artists. I'll put it on the “to do” list.

Testing out the news feed…

People of The Dubbook, please post some news for testing purposes. I'm updating the functionalities all the time, and the more feedback I get, the better. Thank you.

Listening to Dub Conference #296 right now:

Hello world. I like Dub music. 😄How about you? Click on the comment icon and let me know if you like Dub music as well.