It’s time to get beyond the geographic bubble – without resorting to narrow expectations of “world music” – and really appreciate the wide-open world of music making in which we now live. To take us there, CDM’s Zuzana Friday talks to Cedrik Fermont, who is evangelical when it comes to breaking apart old stereotypes and […]
‘R is for Roland’ is Coffee Table Pr0n For Synth Lovers
Blah, blah, the influence of the Roland drum machines, their musical/cultural significance… I’ve actually written those words before, so I’ll skip doing it this time. In case the YouTube subtitles aren’t working, let me translate the German from the making-of video below: “We decided to make a giant bit of pr0n for you because these […]
Get Inspired with Excerpts of Ableton’s Making Music Book
Following our interview with author Dennis DeSantis, we can start your weekend with some sage advice from his book Making Music. While published by Ableton, this isn’t an Ableton book. It lies as the boundary of software and music, at the contact points of creativity in the tool. For a CDM exclusive excerpt, I wanted […]
Non-Oblique Strategies: Author on the Discipline of Making Music
The blank screen. The half-finished project. The project that wants to be done. We talk a lot about machines and plug-ins, dials and patch cords, tools and techniques. But the reality is, the most essential moments of the process go beyond that. They’re the moments when we switch on that central technology of our brain […]
A New Book from Ableton Wants to Help You Make Music
Imagine if the Eno/Schmidt Oblique Strategies, a music theory book, and an Ableton quick-start manual all got caught in a transporter accident with a bunch of different music producers.* That seems to be what you get with Making Music: A Book of Creative Strategies. In one sense, the aim is to be none of these […]
Learn Max for Live and Control Ableton: Exclusive Book Excerpt Download and Discount
Max for Live represented an important milestone in music making software. It paired one of the most popular music production tools, and easily the most popular real-time workflow, with one of the most popular tools for users wanting to realizing their own musical software ideas. Max for Live, as a result, can become a window […]
Melding the Physical with Screens: Prototyping Interfaces, in Videos [vvvv, Book]
Prototyping Interfaces – Interaktives Skizzieren mit vvvv from Prototyping Interfaces on Vimeo. With knobs and motors, wheels and cameras and bits of Play-Doh, a series of elegant interactive experiments provides physical controls to screen interfaces. Prototyping Interfaces, the book, can show you how, all with loads of pictures and examples in free-as-in-beer (for non-commercial use) […]
The Natural World, in Code: Dan Shiffman Talks Genetic Algorithms
Dan Shiffman @ Kickstarter HQ on Genetic Algorithms on April 2nd from Kickstarter on Vimeo. Creative code may, to most people, be as far from the natural world as possible. But in a purely aesthetic way, finding the connection between natural environment and code expression is the mission of Dan Shiffman’s recent tome. And in […]
‘The Nature of Code’ Book Illustrates Coding Design Secrets – And Power of Self-Publishing
In traditional visual arts, some knowledge of color theory and form is essential to being expressive. From there, you move on to tricks of shading and perspective. These shared understandings allow even radical experimentation: the likes of Picasso, Dalí, and even Pollock played with their classical inspirations and training. Creative programmers have a bag full […]
'The Nature of Code' Book Illustrates Coding Design Secrets – And Power of Self-Publishing
In traditional visual arts, some knowledge of color theory and form is essential to being expressive. From there, you move on to tricks of shading and perspective. These shared understandings allow even radical experimentation: the likes of Picasso, Dalí, and even Pollock played with their classical inspirations and training. Creative programmers have a bag full […]