(Via Music thing) All my thoughts are with the family and friends of Bob Moog in what sounds like a profoundly difficult time; an update on the CaringBridge page today reports Hospice has been called in and Dr. Moog is facing serious challenges with treatment. Note that the visits counter on that page, which was […]

Okay, Web gurus, weekend bloggers alike — it’s time to band together. Thanks to your support and contributions, I’ve got lots of ideas for where to take this site in the future. Only problem: we could use at least some light Mambo, PHP, and Web expertise to give the sight a new look, easier navigation, […]

[Updated: Something odd happening with links. My links were posted incorrectly (my fault) but the address from Focusrite isn’t working, either. I’ll post once I get a corrected link from Focusrite. Thanks for your patience. -PK] Important news — please forward as widely as you can, particularly to anyone in a position to watch for […]

Here’s a quick look at new products that are now on their way to you: Orchestral Sound Libraries: IK Multimedia’s massive Miroslav Philharmonik is now shipping, as of today. (Why does that give me images of cellists being packed in crates and loaded on container ships?) Added reason to buy it now: introductory price of […]

How do you update something as seemingly simple as CD burning in the year 2005? Pyro and Toast are adding lots of extras, like a quick cell phone ring creator (Pyro) and video features (Toast). First, a look at Windows: Pyro 5 is a feature-packed tool from our friends at Cakewalk, with new ringtone creation […]

Finally, vintage sounds we can afford (as opposed to the many, many we can’t). Zero-G has released a massive sound library called Nostalgia. 1.3 GB, with 1,300 patches running on Native Instruments’ Kompakt engine for Windows/Mac. Synth enthusiast Steve Howell is behind the design. Sure, part of the appeal behind vintage synths is their interface. […]

Real-time audio and MIDI collaboration, Mac and PC, video chat, exchanging big files, Web space — we all know what the wish list of features would look like for online musical collaboration. Back in April, Digitalmusician.net promised these features, with a public launch planned for August. Unfortunately, that beta was massively crowded, so many of […]

The beauty of musical instruments lies partly in their strangeness: odd objects that have mysterious sound-making powers. So really, why not a toilet? Toilet, Pooh, Pikachu: Cementimental’s “Optical Theremin Loo” packs an optical theremin (with a photoresistor, in other words) into a plastic toy toilet. (Tom at Music Thing should like this as it’s white, […]

As you experienced digital musicians know, digital audio is powerful stuff, not to be trifled with. The gang at TechDweeb (see today’s circuit bending link explosion have conceived a very terrifying new technology: Omnidyne Psychotronix Limited Brain Reconfigurator This device was evidently installed here in New York State at “the ‘Compostar Oculus’ spacehub and interstellar […]

Trained musicians can all read music notation. (Well, okay, insert favorite musician joke here.) But why can’t different computer notation programs share files? Wasn’t that part of the appeal of going digital in the first place? Recordare‘s products bridge the gap between notation software, thanks to the power of XML, with their format MusicXML. Finale […]