Don’t wait for M-Audio to create the controller of your dreams. DIY. Of all places, some railfans (yes, that’s as in railroads, trains, you know, choo-choos) are giving us some great resources: USB train controller ReDAC USB voltage – to – I/O Full-size train control cab Custom, programmable keyboards and other USB inputs Connect a […]

Just received a dispatch from the good folks of Res on last month’s Optronica show in London, which mixed visuals and sound in a blowout featuring visual acts, live A/V, cinema, VJs, and DJs from around the world. Oh yes, and everyone’s favorite large screen — IMAX. (See previous report). Video clips of the artists: […]

Designer Reynold Rodriguez writes CDM with details of his 00, a luxury turntable stand that’s “really about people who dig vinyl, own hundred of records and have their turntables setup on top of cinder blocks.” More after the jump.

You deserve a break today, so I’ll be featuring some short attention span theater for electronic music fans. -PK Spin answers the terrifying question of what would happen if a turntablist had power over life and death. Just think what he could have done with Ableton Live’s Warp Markers. Take Spin for a spin; let […]

Short attention span theater continues . . . Nate Harrison’s bassline bassline is a video investigation of the rise and fall of the Roland TB-303 electronic bassline and, somehow, electronic music as a whole. It gets philosophical, too: the video: “attempts to explore how and why creative tools fail and how increasingly more options, parameters […]

Here’s a novel solution to the need for portable recording: the new Gemini iKey lets you leave the computer at home for recording, but only provided you connect your own USB hard drive. (See Harmony Central; nothing posted at Gemini’s site as I write this.) The good news: it only costs US$229 and lets you […]

CDM’s Cris and organizer Scott Kellog send along word of a mass, 2-day, free festival in Indianapolis Indiana featuring 18 Midwestern artists. Each day will run noon to midnight, so prepare to get your full dose of electronics, folks, tons of music, workshops, seminars, open improvs, and general electronic geekdom. Avant-garde? Absolutely. Stuff you can […]

Back with Patch Bay, CDM’s ongoing ‘best of the Web’ link log. Yes, sometimes it’s best not to waste your time listening to be jabber on about a link, when you could be enjoying the link love yourself. Speaking of which, enjoy: Matrixsynth has a roundup of Tannerin and other non-Theremin but Theremin-like instruments. Regular […]

First off, major, major kudos to hackaday for providing an extensive how-to on controlling Csound with MIDI. Csound is a free, text-based synthesis environment, directly descended from Max Mathews’ original digital synthesis environment introduced in the late 1950s. (See CDM’s brief history of Max, including how his instrument wound up on the cover of Playboy.) […]

Roxio has posted more details on Toast 7, the update to the venerable CD burning app for the Mac (check out Hear It!): New & improved in Toast 7 [Roxio] As a guest wisely commented on my previous story, there’s plenty here for audio users: “Very hefty stuff… the audio DVD is tops… nothing else […]