Finally, ultra-portable digital recording is catching on. Edirol got the party started with the R-1, a CompactFlash-based USB device packed with a decent built-in stereo mic, effects, a metronome, and tuner. The extras on the R-1 are nice, but the unit was big and boxy, so when M-Audio introduced their cuter, iPod like MicroTrack, also […]

Okay, wannabe cyborgs, you know you want it: no matter the price, you have to have a robotic armature on your body that sends MIDI data. The latest, via Engadget: the Gypsy MIDI controller. (Wait a second, the gypsy MIDI controller? Now, that doesn’t sound very cyborg. Marketing department, please?) It’ll cost you US$855 an […]

Updated: Fixed broken link (my fault). 7.1 surround sound organs? Check. Saxes painted with porcelain-skinned, Rococco women? Check. Laser beam metronomes? Guitar picks with faces that morph into skulls? Mic stands with drink holder attachments, or (my personal favorite) Pepsi bottles that double as mic stands? A guy playing his bass upside-down? Obscenely-painted and warped […]

The rumored polyphonic and low-cost Moog synths were no-shows at NAMM but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything to get excited about in the Moog booth. Owners of the Voyager Rack Mount edition are about to get their wish for more expansion capability in the form of the VX-352 CV input expander. The VX-352 turns […]

The other side of NAMM: For a different take on the latest in new music products from last week’s NAMM show, we welcome James Grahame of Retro Thing. James runs Reflex Audio Systems, so he’s able to bring us the perspective of an independent music maker on what goes on behind the scenes at music […]

And they say the PSP doesn’t have a killer app. PSP Rhythm, the homebrew drum machine software for Sony’s portable game console, is getting updated at an astounding rate. New in version 3.0: start/end points for drum samples (a critical feature), warped drum sounds with a reverse feature, and wave file output. Audio output is […]

You need to find a specific sound quick, without hunting through individual plug-ins one at a time. You want to set up some layers and splits so you can play multiple sounds at once, then switch sounds at certain times in your set or during the song structure. You’ve got the instruments you want to […]

I’ve been confused by a feature Gibson is touting on its new Digital Guitar: the ability to route each individual string to a separate surround speaker. Sounds a little like a nightmare surround mix to me. Leave it to the work of an interactive artist to “reinvent the guitar” in the reverse direction: who needs […]

It looks like an elongated Star Trek phaser, but the Akai EWI4000S is actually a brand-new MIDI wind controller. New digital instruments for wind players (like the Yamaha WX5) are fairly rare; it’s nice to see something fresh. And the Akai has plenty of features that suggest it’s worth a look:

Remember when we used to argue about dumb things like whether it was better to use computers or hardware keyboards for sound design? One big theme at NAMM was that all the major hardware makers (Korg, Roland, Yamaha, etc.) have embraced the use of computers for editing. Leading the pack is Korg, with some very […]