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 […]

Want to share audio between applications easily on an Intel Mac? Now you can. JACK OS X, the superb open-source solution for routing audio between applications and computers on Mac OS X, is now a Universal binary for Intel/PowerPC Macs with today’s release of version 0.73. That means if you’re running an Intel Mac, you […]

Thomas Dolby is on the road again after 15 years. And how times have changed: unlike the year 1991, the year 2006 means he can blog the whole tour. For starters, he’s posted the gory details of his performance rig “for the geeks and musicians out there.” (You called?) Power Mac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz, […]