The Japan Times, an English-language newspaper, reports today that the Japanese government is backpedaling on its plans to ban the sale of used electronics. (Thanks to velocipede for the tip, in comments on our previous story.) It sounds as though musical instruments were at the heart of the controversy, as Ryuichi Sakamoto argued for vintage […]

Sometimes I forget I’m dealing with Moog Music. Apple wanted to dig through the email accounts of websites republishing specs of a rumored audio interface it never shipped. But Moog? They’ve basically said, oh, whoops, we accidentally leaked specs, and have nicely provided official confirmation on the front page of their Website. Basically, what you’ve […]

Reason is more than a soft synth package: it’s a platform, with rich support from a devoted community and, increasingly, an incredible amount of soundware tailored to the program’s unique features. IK Multimedia and Sonic Reality are going hog wild with new sounds for the app, and the quality of their Sonic Refills is very […]

It slices, it dices! It runs in GarageBand! (and every other AudioUnit host on the Mac) How much would you pay for an effect that has a stereo delay, random pattern generator, envelope follower, “glitchy” decimator, ring modulator, low and high shelf filters, lowpass filter, and a randomizer for parameters? That’s not one, not two, […]

Matrixsynth and Music thing have continued their coverage of Japan’s hated new PSE law, set to go in effect April 1, which would ban sales and purchase of used equipment that fails strict electrical certification — read, all that vintage game and music gear you love so much. Trying to follow this story is more […]

Plug-ins are great, and they’re a nightmare. They’re great because you have access to literally tens of thousands of virtual sound making and processing devices, from costly works of art to bizarre free toys. They’re a nightmare because the plug-ins in the latter category — the odd free plug-in you just downloaded — can crash […]

Music creation in your pocket — and a little Metroid Hunters to boot? Believe it. The Nintendo DS is taking off as a platform for homebrewed music creation. First glimpsed via comments here, Tobw has launched his NitroTracker for Nintendo DS. Based on tracker-style sequencers of old, NitroTrack is a sophisticated mobile composition tool, with […]

Soundtrack Pro 1.03 finally feels about perfect. The software itself aside, here’s why it matters to me — and why its transition to Intel will be different from its pro brethren. Standalone audio editors can save tremendous amounts of time, preparing samples for instruments, batch processing recordings, fixing problematic audio, and generally letting you focus […]

From the commentary on historical music software interfaces prompted by the colored bars of the Music Animation Machine, you won’t want to miss this: The Apple IIGS Anachronistic Application Ring: Creative Aural Applications

Sticking your desktop machine into a flight case doesn’t require a PC. You knew some high-end Mac audio customers would come up with something. Mike Salera writes us from the pro audio department at the legendary NYC Mac shop Tekserve. He’s got just the solution: We recommend the folks at Nashville Custom Cases, who offer […]