Nearly 1000 stories and one year after creation, we’re rolling along here at CDM. I’m on a weeklong vacation from major editing duties, though I hope to share an occasional dispatch in the meantime. After I get back November 18, some big developments will be coming here at CDM as we begin work on a […]
Music
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Music Stories October 25, 2024
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Music October 11, 2024
Synth Designing Dream Job: Korg R&D’s Dan Phillips
Dan Phillips with Korg Research & Development is one of the designers behind Korg’s ultra-premium Korg OASYS keyboard, among many other projects. In addition to getting to design electronic musical instruments for a living, Dan is an electronic singer-songwriter, writer, composer (Fox TV, As the World Turns), consultant (Santana, Emily Bazar), producer, remixer, and even […]
Korg Adds Physical Modeling, Software Upgrade to OASYS Synth
Scoop: CDM has learned that this week Korg will announce a major upgrade to its luxurious flagship musical instrument, the Korg OASYS. The free software upgrade, to be available in December, will enhance the OASYS with support for up to 2 GB of RAM, plus enhanced modulation and navigation. That’s nifty, but here’s the big […]
Korg’s OASYS Synth: How it Was Built, Why it Runs Linux, Why It’s $8,000
Electronic musicians can be forgiven for dismissing the Korg OASYS for its sticker price. But this is a keyboard that’s worth a look even if you’re not in the market to buy. Why? It’s a model of sound design, representing the specs Korg’s best had dreamed of for a decade and a half, it’s a […]
Korgs (and Eventides) Past: Music Creation Preservation in Action
To cap off today’s Korg Love Fest, let’s take a moment to remember gear of yesteryear . . . meaning, of course, just a few short years ago. Sure, the latest-and-greatest is always lovely, but I love the fact that Dan Phillips from Korg has an extensive site devoted to the
Pioneer DJ Goes Software; Making QWERTY Cool
Pioneer, known for their DJ software (and their superb video scratching hardware, the DXJ-X1 as covered here previously) have opted to release a software-only solution. But unless I’m missing something, the new DJS software has little going for it other than the Pioneer name. All the basics are here: MP3 support with built-in ripping, auto […]
Apple Brags About AU Plugins; Build One in 5 Steps
Updated: The plugin pictured here, as in the Apple story, is Urs Heckmann’s Filterscape. I ommitted a reference to his site. Urs has done some truly incredible things with AU and in plugin design in general; sorry I missed that. See comments for some heated discussion from developers on AU, from a number of angles. […]
Reverbs from the Next Room, Metal Tanks, European Cars, Woods, More
AudioEase’s Altiverb remains the king of the convolution reverbs, providing highly realistic recreations of reverberations and other sounds by digitally combining your source with a recorded impulse. Lately, they’ve been going mad for impulse response recordings, the samples that drive the convolutoin process. The original Altiverb was infamous for its creation not only of soaring […]
Palm/Treo Music: BeatPad Pattern Sequencer Exports to PC; New Pro Music Suite
A powerful music workstation in a handheld? Regular readers know that subway/airplane-friendly portable music creation is a reality, and here’s another tool for you. miniMusic helped launch the handheld music creation craze, and their Palm/Treo software just got a big update. BeatPad 1.1 is an update to miniMusic’s pattern sequencer. The “point-one” is actually a […]
Avoid Generation NEX; Get a Real NES for 8-bit Music
Reports keep coming in (along with several from readers): the next-generation Wi-Fi remake of the vintage Nintendo game system looks like a complete flop. Too bad: the idea itself, adding on features like wireless control, was appealing. But some of you are probably savvy enough to hack your own 2.4G wireless into the original. Of […]