Reaktor 5 looks poised to be the most intense sound generation studio ever (see earlier report). More juicy details: Predesigned building blocks for creating custom instruments and effects Better sound quality: anti-aliased oscillators, over-sampled structures and high-quality interpolation delays Real sampling and beat syncing everywhere: true, live sampling, plus effect modules with auto-normalisation and tempo-synchronous […]

Native Instruments may be rocking out Germany at the Musikmesse conference, but that didn't stop them from throwing a huge invite-only bash in L.A. CDM's Pierce Case was there, and caught a live demo of a beta of Reaktor 5, plus a live demo of Guitar Combos by Guitarist Joel Whitley. California actually got a […]

Logic Pro 7.1 is now available from the online Apple Store. (No word yet on whether you'll find it at Apple Retail.) Thanks for the tip, Indicator! In brief: they've added everything we've been waiting for (US$19.99 upgrade). Most exciting news: Better Apple Loops Integration: You can now create your own loops using Logic or […]

Not new, but worth mentioning: fREQ is a project exploring the conversion of drawn waveforms into sound: visual waveforms control a drone in real-time. You can download a free mouse and keyboard version (PC only). That's fun, but the installation version (first shown about a year ago) is cooler: it takes an outline of the […]

MIDI drum kits are cool again. But buying them? That's boring. Build them instead. Handy musician Nathaniel Andrew has step-by-step instructions for building DIY drum triggers on the cheap. (via audioserve) You'll need to score yourself some cheap Remo practice pads, and there is a little bit of hard work, though nothing impossible. Nathaniel claims […]

Continuing the 'oldie but goodie' links for today is the 'virtual gramophone / digital needle'. (via audioserve) This is practically ancient, 2002, but I hadn't seen it, and it's hilarious. Ofer Springer pretends never to have seen vinyl records before and treats them as "archeology," trying to reconstruct the means of recording turntables using a […]

What does a hardware synth have to do to compete with software these days? How about offer the same fantastic virtual analog sound for about the same price, for starters? The Alesis Micron is the kid brother to the Alesis Ion synth, with the exact same 8-voice, 4-part multitimbral VA engine. Each voice has 3 […]

Long-promised, but now finally here — CDM's reviews section, launching with Lee Sherman's review of the Alesis Micron. We've got a bunch of stuff on the test table, too, so while the section is lonely now, don't expect it to be by the end of this month! Let us know if there are products you […]

Is DJ Sasha's custom MAVEN controller, as plugged in promotions for the artist, built from a free open-source DIY kit? (Sasha uses this custom hardware to control Ableton Live on his iMac G5 during gigs.) MIDIbox users are speculating the MAVEN is based on the MIDIbox platform in a forum discussion. MIDIbox is a hardware […]

Post Musical Instruments has won acclaim for its piano sampling banks; now US$55 buys you iPianos '05, five of its piano samples for use in Apple's GarageBand and Logic (Express and Pro) — a major upgrade from the instrument that comes in the box. That's PMI's Bosendorfer 290, Yamaha C7, Steinway D and the EMPEROR […]