Visualizations: Visual Music at the Smithsonian

Before VJing, before even TV, turn-of-the-century painters were exploring the connection between music and visuals. The Smithsonian Institute’s Hirsshorn Museum constructs an “alternative” look at the history of modern abstract art through its connections to music in a new show, Visual Music. Sure, some of the work is a little, how shall we say, under […]

Visualizations: London Optronica Show Marries Music and IMAX

When I perform with visuals, it usually involves a dinky projector and a basement club. Not at Optronica, a show running through the weekend in London. Think IMAX: Optronica is a hybrid of film festival and music festival featuring live audiovisual performances, cinema screenings, installations and talks. Headlining at the bfi London IMAX Cinema we […]

Rock Gods of Rock: Cartoon of the Week

What do you mean, we’ve never had a cartoon of the week before and probably never will again? And what do you mean, Music Thing has covered it already? (So, my informant Adrian Anders has a tendency to submit tips to multiple blogs and I was traveling this weekend . . . what do you […]

Make Sense of Electronic Music Genres with Ishkur

Can’t tell your gloomcore from your EBM from your synthtron? Don’t worry. Neither can I. Fortunately, Ishkur’s Guide to Electronic Music (now at version 2.5) makes sense of the tangle of electronic music microgenres in a Flash-enabled multimedia interface the whole family will enjoy. There’s even a tutorial for the tutorial, in case you get […]

Open Sound World: Another Free DIY Sound Environment

Okay, so it’s another free graphical audio and interactive development environment, with a patching interface (again), and synthesis, MIDI, and real-time processing features (again). But Open Sound World deserves at least a brief look: it has some programmer-friendly features, it’s easy to add features (including via C++), and runs on every platform (Mac/Windows/Linux, even SGI). […]

Moogerfooger MF-104Z “Luxury” Analog Delay

Moog Music has officially announced the return of their beloved analog delay, in the form of the new MF-104Z delay unit. This is definitely a “luxury” model, though: US$729 buys you one second of delay. It’s a classic, but it comes at a price. Nothing on the Moog site yet, but if you’re at NAMM […]

Improve Band Relations: Have a 5-way

Jordan sends us this tidbit from CDM’s major rival, The New York Post. From the ‘New York Minute” gossip section: The band that plays together stays together: Two male members of Hinder, a new act just signed by Universal, ended up in bed this week in their Vancouver hotel suite, along with “their female stylist, […]

Sonic Wire Sculptor Web App + Tools That Built It

Interactive music man Amit Pitaru is the creator of the Web sound toy Sonic Wire Sculptor: Try Sonic Wire Sculptor on your Mac/PC browser Thanks to Tim, who notes: “I saw it and got to play with it at the ICC gallery in Tokyo last year and on a video projector and touchscreen; it was […]

Apple Soundtrack Pro 1.0.1 Fixes Final Cut Integration; Your Experiences?

Nothing sounds sweeter than a software bug resolved. Apple Soundtrack Pro 1.0.1 includes major enhancements (see review info; update from Apple). You’d swear Apple knew Macworld‘s production deadlines when they updated all of the Final Cut Studio apps last week, just on the eve of reviews of those products. Since it didn’t make sense to […]

Macworld Review: Soundtrack Pro Audio Editor

My review of Apple’s new audio editor, Soundtrack Pro 1.0.1, is online now: Soundtrack Pro: All-purpose sound tool cuts drudgery out of audio editing and design” (5 mice; Macworld.com) You may think of Soundtrack Pro as geared mainly at Final Cut Pro users (and if you are one, don’t miss Anton Linecker’s review of FCP […]