Solving a problem none of us knew existed, Motorola has patented a method for entering notes into a cellphone via an “intuitive” method that emulates frets. Pay close attention, and see if you can make sense of this: . . . an input specifying a root note (FIG. 2) indicating a position on a neck […]

Alesis has always managed to make good hardware synths at low prices, and the quality of their analog-modeling synths (see our review of the Micron) has been stunning. The Fusion is a particularly impressive deal, with multiple synthesis engines (sampled, physical modeling, virtual analog, and FM) and even a genuine-article Alesis HD 8-track hard disk […]

Over a hundred years ago, Thomas Edison first attempted to record sound and moving image in synchronization (a task that still challenges undergrad film students). The results were believed lost for many years, until the sound was recovered on a broken cylinder. Edison’s original experiment actually failed, but in the hands of legendary film and […]

Motion graphics and animation are everywhere you look, but an installation last week reached out to audiences with a simple device: old music boxes. Visitors to the elegant 18th-Century Norfolk House Music Round found several music boxes atop a table with projected visuals. Turn the crank, and varied scenes produced in Flash responded to the […]

This wins the comment of the week: velocipede (via AdamJay) points us to a thread benchmarking Ableton Live 5, in which the first Intel Mac benchmarks are coming in: Live 5 Performance Test [Info, downloadable benchmark at Ableton forums] Core Duo iMacs (scroll down and look for the words “Intel” and “Mac OS X” in […]

Apple continues to replace their products’ CPUs with new Intel processors, today unveiling Mac minis powered by the Intel Core Solo and Core Duo. (See product page, full specs from Apple.) Especially given the price, these look like they’ll be great machines for music production, at least once the software catches up. You won’t want […]

Music software is expensive, I know. So I’m not surprised when I talk to lots of people who haven’t upgraded to the latest and greatest version, or are still running light versions of their software. If you’re not running the latest version of Ableton Live — either an old full version prior to Live 5, […]

Digidesign has promised Intel Mac versions of Pro Tools LE and M-Powered by May. Naturally, they’ll be testing that software, and last week sent out a call for testers of the new release. [via]Note that this is LE and M-Powered only, because Apple hasn’t yet shipped Intel Macs with the PCI slots required by TDM/HD […]

Audio developer and blog personality Chris Randall at Analog Industries has acquired a Wayfar MidiNES cartridge. This gem is a genuine 8-bit NES cartridge that converts your Nintendo game system into a MIDI device so you can sequence it, control it with other devices (with some work), etc. Chris is blogging the results: he’s got […]

When the Web isn’t sucking away your time with utter silliness, it could be helping you brush up your musical chops. Here’s a roundup of useful resources, all of them completely free, for a variety of skill levels, whether you’re trying to learn to play with half-diminished chords or build yourself a DIY drum trigger […]