Hamsters Play MIDI Music

Oh, sure. You're jaded. You're not even impressed by the sheer bizarreness of a MIDI sequencer run entirely by hamsters. But look closer: to make the music sound as musical as this, Cornell student Levy Lorenzo designed a sophisticated set of algorithms governing rhythmic durations and note choice, so this is really a generative algorithmic […]

USB 2.0 iPod Panic: Overblown

Mac users have been having fits about the unbundling of FireWire cables from this week's new iPods. Even CDM contributor Jason O'Grady says this is a sign of Apple abandoning Mac users. Um, huh? Sorry, but this is pure cost-cutting, nothing else, and streamlined costs have been part of iPod's explosive success. Apple doubled its […]

Video Sharing; Best Media CMS?

Video has come to blogging / media sharing, via vimeo — think flickr for photos. (The name embeds the word 'me' in the word 'video' for word geeks.) The most interesting feature is the service's ability to combine video clips into a single stream. It's blog TV. You can't upload yet as the site is […]

Wireless MIDI: MIDIjet Pro

You know you just can't be restricted by wires when you're jamming on your keytar. Now there's a solution: Classic MIDI Works' MIDIjet Pro not only does wireless, but gives you a full 500-ft. range running on just 2 AA batteries. (Non-pro MIDIjet gives you fifty feet.) It works via 2.4GHz range with low latency. […]

More Unreal “Game” Performances

Reader Andrew Barton sends us details of his own video/audio performances making use of the Unreal game engine: check out the Son of Science ensemble and Floating Point performance. Floating point lets 'players' move around game objects to produce sound. (Boy, I'd really like to see this with the physics in Half-Life 2.) How can […]

Mics for DJs and the Closet Trick

There's nothing I hate more than wading through industry hype, so what a pleasant surprise that Shure microphones has some of the most useful mic info anywhere — minimal marketing included. This week, Shure brings us "What DJs should know about microphones," a textbook-classic but friendly look at mics annotated by the Needelz Brothers. Nice […]

Cheap Tricks: Better Vocals with Pantyhose

While we're on the subject of cheap recording tricks (see also: singing into your closet), why not make a pop filter out of pantyhose? What's a pop filter, you say? If you're not recording vocals with one, you're insane: sibilance and plosives will create unweildly, well, "pops" on your recording. You could buy a pop […]

John Digweed Plays London, Free

NY1, a cable TV station here in Manhattan, has a segment amusingly called 'The World Beyond New York.' Because the editor of CDM recognizes that there is, apparently, a world beyond New York, we bring you starting today events from around the Non-NYC world, such that it is. Send us your info via the contact […]

Unreal Tournament as Music Environment

Unreal Tournament 2004 has been turned into a custom gaming environment and film studio, so why not music production environment, too? That's the question asked by Vladimir Todorovic, who has created the custom Unreal installation tadar.game music. (via the most futuristic blog on the Web, near near future) Best of all, you're invited. There's an […]

Oasys Keyboard Coming Soon?

Korg's new ultra-high-end OASYS workstation was shown at NAMM, but as of yet, details are scant about pricing, availability, and even some of the technical specs on the keyboard. (Is this OASYS in a keyboard — will it have the same models as the original?) You can definitely expect more in-depth details soon, but at […]