Logic Pro? Check. Ableton Live? Check. But don’t think about running a new Intel-based Mac unless your drivers work, too. M-Audio has finished their new Intel drivers, covering a huge selection of devices. (Odds are, you have something from M-Audio sitting in your studio, I’ll bet.) And M-Audio isn’t alone: the Intel transition is going […]

Say M-Audio and you probably think of plastic keyboards or USB audio interfaces, but M-Audio’s latest creation is a multi-pattern, large diaphragm studio condenser microphone, with a retro design and a military-grade vacuum tube. The Sputnik is not M-Audio’s first microphone — they make a line of budget-minded condensers — but M-Audio is crowing about […]

One of the things that makes Max/MSP special is that a wide variety of tools, from simple MIDI utilities to complex interactive art, can be represented by a graphical interface of interconnected visual objects instead of lines of code. But actually building those patchers can involve some repetitive tasks, if you need to connect a […]

This week is just a powerhouse of music hardware hacking: while California gets ready for the Maker Faire, New York has the latest installment of the legendary BENT circuit-bending festival, BENT 2006. The entire week will feature performances, workshops (including the especially fun open play lab where you can try this yourself), and installations. Saturday […]

Over its first five issues, Make Magazine has established itself as a must-read resource for DIYers and digital homebrewers; aside from regularly writing for the thing, its back issues have a special place on my shelf. Now, Make is hosting a kind of cross between Burning Man and a digital State Fair, the Maker Faire. […]

TC Electronic is rapidly becoming a household name for audio gear and not just a high-end plug-in maker. The lead item in their newest lineup is a drool-worthy new audio interface loaded with some of their best built-in effects, plus PowerCore for PCI express and some treats for guitarists and hardware effects lovers. Here’s a […]

Windows on Mac? OEM Windows on Mac to save cash? Triple-booting Intel Linux along with Windows and Mac OS? These are strange days, indeed, so since I’m as confused about the exact details of Apple’s BootCamp, here’s a round-up of the most important details you need to know if you’re taking a shiny silver or […]

Thomas Dolby is back on the road, as we saw yesterday. He mentioned in his blog that he’s playing custom MIDI controllers made out of re-built vintage signal testing equipment. Apparently Dolby uses these to tweak his soft synths. (Beats a Behringer control surface, huh?) Well, now we’ve had a chance to get a closer […]

What’s that racket? 16 player pianos, three xylophones, four bass drums, a tam-tam, a siren, and three “airplane propellors,” all MIDI-controllers, are playing what may have been the most modern piece of music in the 20th Century. It’s “bad boy” composer George Antheil’s 1924 composition Ballet Mechanique. And it’s take 21st-Century technology to realize his […]

The Monome is a new music interface with LED-backlit pads, a USB interface that transmits OSC and MIDI data to a computer, and — here’s the unusual part — open source, hackable firmware and software interface. Touch the pads, and you can use this as a step-sequencer and remix tool (as in the example), but […]