Every keyboard, drum pad, and audio interface these days seems to be crammed with MIDI faders and knobs, and (if you’re lucky) LCDs. If you’re like me, you’re rapidly running out of money and/or room for yet another dedicated control surface. Wouldn’t it be great to take better advantage of these controls with programs like […]

Sound editing can be an unenviable job: against some sometimes absurdly tight deadlines, you have to work with complex, extensive changes to the film or TV show. Virtual Katy is a piece of software that integrates with Final Cut and Avid video editing and handles conforming — basically, taking all those changes and making everything […]

Got a basic USB MIDI controller or keyboard sitting in your studio? Got a copy of Final Cut (or any other software that supports Logic Control / Mackie Control control surfaces)? Wish you could use your hardware to control your software? Thanks to Adam in comments on a story on M-Audio keyboards, we now know […]

We’ve covered homebrew development and players for Nintendo DS before, but since then there have been some new developments. Yesterday, Gizmodo noted a media dock for the Nintendo DS Lite. The device looks great, on first glance: it plays MP3s, movies, and JPEGs off CompactFlash, right on the DS. But the killer feature for many […]

Toshio Iwai, creator of Electroplankton, is working on a new digital musical instrument with Yamaha. It’s called the Tenori-On and, at least from an industrial design point of view, it looks beautiful. And if you’re in Spain, you can check it out live in action.

I’ve had Electroplankton for a while now, and I feel the need to document my experience. Reviews of Electroplankton in general are redundant: people either get it or they don’t. If you’re a music nerd and enjoy experimental music, you’ll love it. Enough said. Hence, this exposition, or perhaps exposé – you choose. For anyone […]

We’ve added the ability to insert YouTube videos directly into forum posts. This will have all sorts of useful applications, but right now we’re having fun: Posting YouTube Videos Full instructions at the link above, but you’ll see a tag in the posting interface. As with all YouTube videos, you need Flash Player installed for […]

M-Audio had a big role in popularizing the cheap, simple USB/MIDI keyboards that are ubiquitous today. By about a year ago, though, M-Audio’s own options were looking somewhat lacking: while still very affordable, they lacked the variety of controls on some of their competitors, plus higher-end features like aftertouch that had begun to make their […]

I spoke last night to Robb Mason, Director of Consumer Sales for M-Audio, at the DigitalLife press reception in midtown Manhattan. He was able to confirm some additional details about M-Audio’s new entry-level software product for Windows: GarageBand for Windows? That’s really how M-Audio sees this product. Their argument is that other entry-level software, like […]

Unless you do all your music work in some combination of Apple Logic (Pro/Express), Ableton Live, and/or Reason, it’s still a little premature to go buy that MacBook. Native Instruments, for example, recently updated their timetable for release. Fall sounds like the sweet spot for most musicians to upgrade, thanks to more shipping software with […]