From the forums . . . if you’re interested in hooking up a monster game joystick and going Top Gun on your latest music and/or live visual setup, you’ve got options: Joystick to MIDI [CDM Forums Thread] There are quite a few apps for Windows (not surprisingly, as it’s where the gamers are), but options […]

The “Heartbeat of America, Today’s Chevrolet” takes on new meaning. The Heartbeat Bass Booster project by Takehito Etani and David Tinapple involves one seriously pimped out Chevy Cavalier. Driving the project is a heart-shaped pendant with a heart sensor that clips to your finger or earlobe. Plug that into a PowerBook running Max/MSP, and your […]

You may have heard a lot about the InterWeb, a new network that magically connects people around the world through their Compute-trons. You might have heard about its powers to promote music, perhaps by an ill-researched story yesterday where I stupidly pointed to a UK artist who will go unmentioned here. (As it turns out, […]

In 2001, everyone wanted to get rich on the Web. In 2006, everyone wants to be a rock star. There’s a musical gold rush now, filled with tales of artists who have made it big through non-traditional, online promotion, like the perpetually-hyped MySpace success story Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. The challenge: separate real potential […]

Dr. Robert Moog would have had his 72nd birthday today, May 23. There are plenty of words you can say about him on this occasion, but why use words when you can use music? Richard Lainhart is kind enough to share one of his Space Jams with Jordan Rudess: I’ve attached an MP3 of the […]

To round out this edition of DIY Day, we close with the final proof that MIDI has been used to control absolutely every technology in the known universe: RoombaMIDI: Roomba as MIDI Instrument Scoff, you might. Sure, the Roomba lacks a certain . . . well . . . expressiveness. But that probably means you […]

Want a truly powerful device for interfacing with motors, sensors, lights, and more? CDM’s assistant editor and Web ninja Jaymis Loveday and I are both excited about the upcoming MAKE Controller Kit, built by MakingThings (of Teleo fame). MAKE has started taking preorders, and shipping should start in a few weeks. You might want to […]

From South by Southwest comes an interesting chat with DIY synth x0xb0x (and MIDIsense) creator Limor Fried: Open Source Physical Objects: Limor Fried and her x0xb0x Synthesizer As someone in comments notes, the idea of selling DIY kits for devices like synthesizers is an old one. But that idea has fallen by the wayside in […]

While we’re on the subject of making your own custom musical/visual interfaces, none other than a college friend of mine, Jesse Mejia, has a tip on a great starter board that fills the non-MIDI niche nicely: I’m not sure if you’re working with sensors much these days, or what you may be using to interface […]