Programming offers incredible possibilities for music creation, and with the free Processing development environment for Mac, Windows, and Linux, even non-programmers can get into the artistic horizons of code. But code doesn’t always think like composers do. That’s why the new sound library jm-Etude looks promising: New sound library: jm-Etude [Code & form] jm-Etude for […]

Mackie has released a free-for-download version of their C4 Commander software. Before we start warping this to our own purposes, let’s start with how Mackie likely intends this to be used. The C4 Commander software maps knobs and displays to a wide variety of software, plug-ins, and external MIDI hardware (new and vintage), either via […]

Apple has been making a big push to get its developers into OS X’s eye candy, including Quartz 2D and OpenGL 3D graphics. Here are two Mac applications that take advantage of gorgeous UI elements for audio analysis.

As I predicted, summer 2006 looks like the timeframe in which most Mac music software will ship with Universal binaries for Intel Macs. (All is going as I have forseen, erm, and whatnot.) Linplug is shipping their flagship RMIV analog/sampled drum machine and Albino synth first. The RMIV is available now, with new, lightweight acoustic […]

I had this crazy dream where I thought I’d be able to keep track of which software was Universal (native for Intel Macs) and which was not. Boy, was I wrong. What’s made it especially difficult is that lots of tiny developers have been making rapid progress on Intel-native Mac releases, often without releasing press […]

CDM reader subbasshead points on our forums to a newly Intel-native release of Sonic Charge’s MicroTonic beatbox app. Sonic Charge downloads Product page, up close and personal with UI Why do we like this app so much? Its elegant interface is the creation of Magnus Lidström, who contributed to Propellerhead Reason, including the Malström synth […]

In case you haven’t seen it yet, The New York Times reports today that New York-area schoolkids have resorted to an unusual solution to cellphone bans. Apparently unaware of phones’ vibrate mode, the students have opted for an incredibly annoying ringtone pitched at 17,000 Hz. Theoretically, “adults” shouldn’t be able to hear that. (The real […]

Hearing over the din of noise is something that humans do a lot better than computers. A new mathematical technique promises to provide highly accurate models of sound, even with broadband noise in the picture. Why does this matter, aside from mathematical curiosity? For one, better sonic analysis could mean more realistic models of instruments […]

Hungarian composer György Ligeti died in Vienna today. (See Bloomberg.com obituary, Jam obituary, Wikipedia entry with many links.) I can think of few composers who have been as inspiring and imaginative in their sound world as Maestro Ligeti. While he largely shunned electronic music production, his music for choir and orchestra challenges electronic and acoustic […]