Microsoft Excel spreadsheets are getting use in music, and not just for tracking musicians’ growing credit card debt. First, Tom Whitwell at Music thing discovered an Excel spreadsheet for additive synthesis: drag sliders, and you get real-time Fourier synthesis with both a waveform view and spectrogram. This is more than just a novelty: watching the […]

I thought they might be sold out by now, but Ableton says they have a few more of their custom Ableton-branded Nerdbags for your laptop. They’re the perfect gift for your digital musician friends and family — or yourself, for that matter. I love mine, and would happily have two. It’s one of my favorite […]

These days, labels are coming up with all sorts of ways to reinvigorate their back catalogs for profit-making, but here’s a novel concept: putting them to work for peace. 25 years after the death of John Lennon, Yoko Ono has contributed the entire Lennon songbook (including “Imagine”) to Amnesty International, to help attract new supporters […]

There are plenty of Moog-labeled goodies deserving of special mention in our ongoing gift guide. It’s a bittersweet pleasure since we lost Bob Moog this year, but the Moog film (above) and accompanying film soundtrack are simply must-have, and a worthy gift even for those new to synths. They’re available from your local CD and […]

Please ensure your seat belts are tight and low across your waist, because here’s the most limited audience for a CDM post ever (and yet it’s still an interesting story). Ryan writes us: Long-time reader, first-time commenter 🙂 I am a technical writer at National Instruments in Austin, TX. NI has a graphical programming language […]

It was only a matter of time before the features of virtual software amps hit digital hardware, resulting in what could be a perfect practice amp: Multiple amp models: Clean, crunch, overdrive, whatever you need — in one hardware amp. 11 digital effects: Multiple effects, and even tap tempo for modulation/delay time. Included effects: wah, […]

Jason Freeman, a professor and musician from Georgia Tech, wrote a Java application which scans your iTunes library and creates your own “signature” out of small audio samples from your songs. From reading his technical docs, it’s more sophisticated than you’d think — the program finds your most played songs and then uses an FFT […]

Urs Heckmann is a prodigy of plug-in development, so when he sends something new, we pay attention. And in a world of a look-alike synths, Zebra2 does seem to qualify as “new”: a next-generation “wireless modular synth.” Didn’t quite get that? Think four joystick control, multiple sound-making techniques, massive, graphical sound sculpting and more:

Looking for gifts for others, or yourself? Or a way to drop hints about what you want? CDM is here to help. Next up for digital musicians ready to give and receive: music with a conscience, and books worth reading, many suitable as stocking stuffers.

Musician and author Mark Nelson tries out the highly anticipated M-Audio MicroTrack recorder for O’Reilly Digital media. Mark takes the test seriously, actually heading out into the field (Maui) and recording with it. (See Hawaii, above. Now why don’t I get to do a review like this?) The verdict? The recorder isn’t perfect: no real […]