[Updated with Tiger widget!] As Pac Man turns 25 this week, there’s sadly no mention of the game’s signature sound and music. (And PLEASE don’t mention that awful song Pac Man Fever again!) Not only was Pac Man (aka Puckman in 1980; see the game’s history) the first game that inspired mainstream gaming, but it […]

[Updated]For really retro chiptune music, you’ll want an original Game Boy. But the new Nintendo Game Boy could be the first since the original to really work well for portable music making: Same guts as the GBA SP, for full backwards compatibility (unlike the DS) — this is a new form factor, not a new […]

Okay, by now anyone who cares I’m sure is reading all about the new Nintendo Revolution console on countless other sites reporting live. So why is it here on CDM? Simple: Nintendo has made the highly un-anticipated decision of releasing its back-catalog of games available for the new Revolution, back to N64, SNES, and original […]

The retro-pimping continues. While you’re tricking out your PC with vintage synth chips pillaged from a Commodore 64 (see last week’s report, why not add an integrated audio cassette deck? The PlusDeck (available from ThinkGeek) is a cassette audio deck (Windows-only software) that fits into the drive bay of your tower. It streams in both […]

A terrific, free audio tool is lurking in Mac OS X Tiger’s developer tools. AU Lab is intended for testing Audio Unit effects and instruments, but it’s feature-packed enough to be useful to end users, too. If you haven’t already, install Xcode Tools from your Tiger install disc. Then launch Developer > Applications > Audio […]

Here’s even more open source code for creating new sound interfaces using free-moving blocks for control. We looked at Sonicforms, which is both intended as a project and a repository for information. Chris’ project uses a projector aimed at a tabletop for additional feedback, and IR lights for sensing. That adds cost to the system […]

Linux audio must be making some headway: they’ve even got sequencer/DAW rivals. MusE is a full-blown DAW / MIDI sequencer / audio multitrack application for Linux, based on ALSA (audio framework), JACK (for interconnecting audio between apps), and LADSPA (open source Linux audio plugin format). It’s got an impressive feature list, with extensive MIDI controller […]

Okay, enough of using wooden blocks for music for a bit: let’s get back to the veritable DJ mixer. The Ecler NUO4 (that’s the letter “O”, 4, not “04”) DJ mixer claims to be the first DJ mixer to add full MIDI control. I’ve heard from the North American distributor for the NU04, Jon Ghoddoussi […]

A brand that eschews market trends to focus on pleasing a devoted audience of die-hard loyalists. System hardware with smart industrial design that some have accused of being “underpowered” and “just for kids.” A proprietary PowerPC-based platform with CPU chips supplied by IBM. Rumors of muliple-G5 systems in the near future. Apple? No, Nintendo. Nintendo […]

CDM Exclusive: Reflexaudio tells us that they’ll be manufacturing the HardSID Quattro PCI card, a PCI card featuring authentic vintage SID chips as used in the original Commodore 64. (European readers may be aware the HardSID product has been available over there for a while, but Reflex will bring manufacturing and broader North American distribution.) […]