Music videos with actual live video? That’s so expired. Wired: using Flash to create interactive visuals to listen to while you play a track. That’s exactly what our tech-savvy friends in Boston band Freezepop have done (the same folks who I noted have a PlayStation version of themselves and jam live with their PS2s: Fancy […]
Music
Go support these Lebanese releases on Bandcamp
Music October 4, 2024
Asheville and southeast USA, we’re thinking of you
Music Music tech September 30, 2024
Lebanon’s cultural scene is responding with emergency crisis centers
Music Stories September 27, 2024
Remembering Achim Szepanski, Mille Plateaux founder and dissident
Music September 25, 2024
Leading Divas of Theremin: Singapore’s Xenovibes
Theremin playing is a growing global phenomenon; more proof comes to us from Singapore. I’ve already done a brief roundup of leading women of the Theremin; Shueh-li Ong writes us to say that she’s known as “Singapore’s only diva of the Theremin.” You don’t have to be in Singapore to hear her, either; she’s touring […]
Turn Your (Net) Radio On: Open Source Music + Discussion
Chris at Pixelsumo points out that tonight on Resonance FM, London’s 24-hour art radio station, OpenLab is hosting a program on using free and open source software tools for music. Sounds like chat, discussion, and some live sets. 7 PM London time, but of course they’ve got MP3 and Real Audio streams, too, because the […]
Peterson Beer Bottle Organ: MIDI + Keyboard Control
CDM’s round-the-clock beer bottle organ coverage continues! Yes, in addition to the Gulbransen Beer Bottle Organ, there’s yet another MIDI-controlled organ. This one comes out of Chicago: Peterson Tuners Beer Bottle Organ (Thanks, Charles; great find!) Best of all, there are sound samples of the Peterson, demonstrating that this more or less sounds like a […]
Steinberg Update: Studio Case II; HALion String Edition; The Grand 2
Okay, I’m behind on Steinberg. But the summer lineup from them is just making me yawn, I’m afraid: Steinberg Studio Case II: Status: just announced. US$299, Windows/Mac September, watered-down versions of everything Steinberg makes. For entry level users, this could be a decent deal: Reason, by comparison, costs $450 and has a lousy sequencer and […]
Weekly Link Love; Significant Others
The music blogosphere is starting to really pick up here, so I’m going to have to start to just link instead of ramble about every single item. (Anyone got a suggestion for a better name? Wait, maybe significant others?) Here’s what’s hot: Many cool and bizarre circuit-bent creations on eBay, including a whacked-out video synth […]
Digital Cowbell Resources; Wired on “More Cowbell” History
Ah, the cowbell skit / Behind the Music: Blue Oyster Cult parody from Saturday Night Live. (see also text transcript) Like other viral Internet phenomena (see also: All Your Base Are Belong to Us), it’s funny and it spread. If you’ve had your head in a hole since the year 2000 (that’s where I keep […]
Wanted: ReWire Troubleshooting + Tips [Updated]
One audio app at once? Never enough, right? I’m working on a new tutorial with tips for setting up some typical ReWire scenarios. (For the unitiated, ReWire is a technology developed by Propellerhead for connecting multiple audio apps. Run a master app first, then launch the slave app, and the master should control transports while […]
Bizarre, Pricey Resonator Neuronium; New Retro Blog
Got EUR2499 burning a whole in your pocket, eh? Maybe you’re an eccentric hardware synth lover, who made your unspendable fortune on . . . oh, I don’t know . . . genetic engineering or artificial intelligence. Maybe you can both appreciate and afford Jürgen Michaelis’ new synth, the Resonator Neuronium. There are certainly things […]
The Violin That Plays Itself
“The dream of a violin that can play itself has tantalized inventors for over a century.” Well . . . mad scientist inventors, maybe, along with dreams of self-cleaning carrots and ironing boards that can go into battle. Nonetheless, here it is: I give you the Gulbransen Virtuoso Violin, a QRS Pianomation Player Violin. Put […]