James Carey, games editor for the UK’s PC Format magazine, ripped the guts out of a toy guitar and built it into his very own USB guitar controller: Frets on Fire [PC Format Blog] Via The Guardian Gamesblog (Thanks to Guitar and Gaming Hero Chris from Pixelsumo) The results look fantastic: it’s an instant USB […]

Whether using your home MIDI gear and software or building an elaborate DIY MIDI project, better understanding MIDI is essential to getting the results you want. Many musicians are aware that the applications of MIDI aren’t limited to traditional musical implementations, but a broad range of creative DIY projects. Explaining what MIDI is, how it […]

Cycling ’74 has made the final version of Jitter 1.6 for Mac (and its corresponding SDK) available, concluding a public beta test. You can download the beefed-up new Jitter for Mac as a free update, provided you own Jitter 1.5. Intel Mac owners, this is the release you’ve been waiting for, with native support for […]

Everything’s coming up soundflowers over at Cycling ’74: Max/MSP/Jitter Free Upgrades, Now Universal: Max/MSP 4.6 and Jitter 1.6 are available as a free update for Max/MSP 4.5 and Jitter 1.5 users, respectively. (The beta is over; this is the final version.) In addition to various new features and fixes, the software is Mac Intel native. […]

People continue to pump out eye candy using the free Java-based tool Processing. This week’s example: a test of a new surfaces library for Processing: Go check out examples and download the library on the Processing boards. Via the German-language blog eskimoblood. And yes, this resembles more than a passing resemblance to Autechre’s Grantz Graf. […]

In addition to carrying cool stuff no one else does, like the Faderfox controllers for Ableton Live, San Francisco’s Robotspeak sells various circuit bent creations, like this mangled Teletubby: TinyFlaccid TubbyBox: LAla [Robotspeak] Modified from an interactive children’s toy, the Microsoft/ActiMates Interactive Teletubby LaLa, the bent LAla makes sounds everywhere you touch it, and cycles […]

If you’re finding massive soundware libraries to be a little overwhelming — on your hard drive, your brain, and your wallet — you’ll like the idea of the new expansion packs from Tone Research. The first two are 13MB downloads priced at US$4.99 each. They work with Live 5 and get bonus features from Live […]

The ultra-compact but loaded Faderfox controllers have a cult following among lovers of Ableton Live and Traktor DJ. They’re the rare controllers that actually seem to have been designed around software, with smart buttons for triggering Live scenes and clips, a slick X/Y joystick, and the essential knobs and faders just where you want them. […]

In an effort to create the “YouTube of video games”, Microsoft announced yesterday that an offshoot of Microsoft’s XNA Framework will be available in August in beta form, with an official release this holiday season for an annual subscription fee of $99. Indie game developers, homebrew fanatics, and educational institutions will now be able to […]

Free tools like Quartz Composer (Mac) and Processing (cross-platform) now make it possible to run visuals and music on the same computer. Accelerated on the 3D graphics card in your machine (or integrated graphics on the new MacBooks), you can run live visuals without taxing your CPU, and use MIDI and/or audio signal to translate […]