Just after making the Mackie C4 Commander software free (which works even without the Mackie hardware), Mackie has unveiled Reason support for their C4 control surface: Mackie Control C4 There’s a PDF there with setup instructions. The C4 is becoming the go-to control surface for just about everything, with robust support for software like Live […]

Remarkably enough, our site logs show that readers are tuning into CDM from both Israel and Lebanon this week. (Such is the Internet, and I expect those of you who run medium-sized sites will find similar results.) I know many people involved of music who, in times of trouble, wondered if they were in the […]

Heretofore, fans of the small but wonderous homebrew scene, for Nintendo DS have one more reason to be happy today. DS Fanboy reports that a new DS flash/cart solution is being developed by a company called Winsunx. The catch? This one doesn’t require a GBA Compact Flash adapter – it is an actual, rewriteable DS […]

DJs and mobile, laptop-toting musicians alike share many of the same needs, for live, controllable sound and beats. We’ve got software that recognizes that: Ableton Live. DJs and computer musicians pushed for many of the same features, and the result is a tool that appeals to a wide group of people because they can use […]

Australian tech blogging ubernerd Dan has published his slightly extended take on the Megapixel Myth. The crux: Paying more money for a camera with more pixels may give you less image quality. So what’s the take-home message? Well, if you’re shopping for an ordinary digicam, bear in mind that money spent on higher resolution may […]

Multi-samplers need good sounds to be useful, and while the new Ableton Sampler looks like it’ll have the same drag-and-drop integration with Live as Simpler does, Live users are sure to want multi-sampled content in the new Sampler. So it comes as little surprise that Ableton is partnering with huge soundware house SONiVOX (formerly known […]

Multi-instrumentalists, Line6 must have you in mind. The equipment maker, known primarily for their guitar products, has plunked a keyboard on their multi-effects box / audio interface hybrid, TonePort. There are plenty of reasons to like the TonePort line: a broad approach to effects that caters to vocalists as well as guitarists, and cheaply-priced but […]

Ableton has been busy, and it looks like Live users could be very happy indeed when the beta starts, coming soon. (I expected we might see the beta at NAMM, but I’d rather wait if it means a more stable version.) Here are a few of the key features in the new release:

There’s virtually no new gear out of NAMM this year, it seems, but Roland does have one tiny, silver 4-track recorder (well, actually 2 track recorder, 4 track playback, with more “virtual tracks”): BOSS Micro-BR For those of you who like old-school multitracking to sketch out ideas but want to go digital, this could be […]