As a cross-platform Windows and Mac user (I really have to be as a writer), I can tell you I really miss Mac OS X's brilliant Core Audio when I'm on Windows. And looking at Apple's updated Core Audio page for Mac OS X Tiger, Core Audio is only getting better: Core Audio file format […]

Mocean is an interactive installation that uses a tank of water as an interface for sound. Dip your hands in the tank, and the installation whistles and hums. The water doesn't create the sound directly; instead, an array of antique organ pipes resonate above the tank, triggered by a video camera that analyzes pictures of […]

As seen on Slashdot: a group of students at MIT have constructed a Disco Dance Floor, with over 1,500 LEDs and covering 128 square feet. Dance on it, and pressure sensors trigger some 4,000 colors. Jeez, I knew I shouldn't have gone to Sarah Lawrence; these MIT folks don't mess around. Not only are the […]

Dance Wednesday continues, so get your dancing shoes on. You can trigger audio and video with a Dance Dance Revolution pad (or any USB game controller). Resources: You'll want some kind of PS2-to-USB converter so you can plug it into your computer, for starters (here's an example). Then check out software like STEIM's JunXion (Mac […]

Updated: PACE copy protection has been updated and will be compatible with the shipping version of OS X 10.4 Tiger. Read CDM's updated report.

Even Bob Moog's circuit boards are gorgeous. Qwave (via a Harmony Central message thread) couldn't just admire his Minimoog Voyager keyboard from the outside — he had to check out the guts. That has ignited some controversy over the lack of discrete transistors in the analog Voyager, but I think people are overreacting. The ultimate […]

It's the attack of the clones. The latest is a clone of Clavia's Nord Modular keyboard, the EUR 149.00 North Mood. (via Gearjunkies) The VST plug for Windows/Mac painstakingly sampled, sometimes note by note, presets on the original Nord. Supposedly it's an instrument "without compromises" — but here's a significant one. Part of the whole […]

The Princeton, NJ chapter of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) is celebrating 50 years of the RCA Synthesizer on Thursday, April 14. (PDF info) Automatic lounge music: The RCA Mark I wasn't exactly what we'd think of as a synthesizer. Developed by RCA engineers Harry Olsen and Hebert Belar, its original intention was to […]

Straight from the files of "Looks-like-an-April-Fool's-but-it's-real": From owlProject: The Log1k and iLog are instruments built from logs. (via near near future) The Log1k is a log with a gearbox motor that spins wooden disks to produce rhythmic noises, complete with "touch-sensitive switches" — wait, as opposed to non touch-sensitive switches? Don't forget the flat panel […]

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger is shipping, with delivery by April 29. US$129 to upgrade, but there's a bundle with the new iWork and iLife (including the superb GarageBand 2) for $249, and students/faculty can nab it for US$69. My OS philosophy remains: if you're an audio person, don't ever install the OS upgrade the […]