Ergodex DX-1 Keyboard: Custom Keystroke Heaven?

The Ergodex DX-1 keyboard is a custom keyboard for adding up to 25 macro-powered keystrokes in any arrangement you like. Engadget, Music Thing, and Gizmodo are all talking about it. I’ve found out some more details that will be important to musicians: It’s Windows-only. Ergodex are “investigating” Mac or Linux support, their marketing person told […]

Dream DJ Furniture, Pt. III

The turntable tables keep rolling in. Gizmodo has an entry from the Milan Furniture Fair which is beautifully crafted, though for some reason I imagine it surrounded by shag carpeting. Probably just me, but we’ll never know — no link to the designer. Todd Campbell writes CDM with

Inside NIN’s Studio on Audiohead

As readers pointed out, I got things a bit wrong on what Trent Reznor uses in the studio: it’s not a matter of Pro Tools OR Logic. It’s Pro Tools AND Logic AND Reaktor and Absynth and Traktor and GRM Tools and three Macs and three interfaces (with high-end HD Digi hardware) and a Minimoog […]

More on Mawzer: Modular, Custom Control Surface

We had an early look last week at the upcoming Mawzer Control Surface, a modular box that lets you combine faders, knobs, and controls via plug-and-play modules to form whatever control box you can imagine. Since then, the Mawzer folks have gradually been feeding us more details. Finally we have a high-res image to drool […]

Make:Blog on Hacked Nintendo Controllers for Music

Color me lazy. I'm perfectly willing to settle for a software solution that lets you hook up PS2 controllers via USB to music, like PSmaX. Not Jeff Hoefs: he had to use Nintendo PowerGloves, PowerPads (mats), and Uforce controllers (infrared), which meant digging into a little DIY serial-to-MIDI conversion and assembly code (see MAKE:Blog for […]

Mashing Nine Inch Nails in GarageBand; NIN Doesn’t Use Logic

I’ve been playing with the Nine Inch Nails track (reported by many, many sites in the last few days: NIN made their new single available in GarageBand 2.0 format). I have to say, this is a lot of fun. To me, the song sounds better with more tracks muted: the lesson here is, all of […]

Remix-Friendly Songs in the Near Future?

Nine Inch Nails aren’t the first band to release their tracks in a remix-friendly digital format. If Umixit had their way, you’d see all kinds of music released this way. Umixit ships song with individual isolated tracks; you get 8 tracks by default but can upgrade to 16. Then you can mix and mash using […]

Mad Mashup: Buffalo Gals Girls Cecilia

As Mashup . . . Tuesday continues (gotta work on my alliteration and timing here), we bring you the work of the ever-talented DJ Riko. His latest mashup incorporates: English Folk Dance and Song Society – Buffalo Girls Simon & Garfunkel – Cecilia Alanis Morissette – Thank U Malcolm McClaren – Buffalo Gals (a cappella) […]

Ecler NUO4 Combines Mixer, MIDI Control

How did I miss this? The new Ecler NUO4 (“nuo” / 4), reported in a skratchworx exclusive (with no information available anywhere else — Ecler’s DJ division included) is a mixer-control surface hybrid. From what I can get from the photos and limited description, the four knobs in the center are MIDI-assignable, with some additional […]

Podcast: Pink Floyd Drummer Looks Back at Band, Forward to Music’s Future

CDM’s friends at the Fake Science Lab report have a new podcast up, featuring Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. As the creators point out, this is one small step for Nick, one giant leap for podcasting — Mason is the first industry figure to weigh in on an indie podcast. He talks about the book, […]