If you're on Windows, you can build your own instruments and effects for $20 or even free, and you have an incredibly broad range of free plugins. (Mac users, don't despair: some of the instrument and effect links are Mac-VST or AU, too.) Check out SynthEdit, the US$20 shareware for building your own VST instruments […]

News flash: Apple isn't releasing a PowerBook G5 anytime soon. A G5 laptop would be bulky, hot, and power-hungry. And ugly. Is it possible? Yes. But it's going to be a while. A long while, like probably 2006. Sound eerily familiar? Only because CDM has been saying just that over and over again, along with […]

Down about no G5 PowerBooks? Want to jazz yourself up about how much you really do love the Mac? Take heart, and listen to: "A Laptop Like You", the song Johnathan Coulton wrote to his Mac! See, I didn't really want you to switch to Windows, cool Cakewalk software notwithstanding. And I certainly don't find […]

We were already stoked about ElectroKraft's Axe*Synth theremin/guitar invention and Space Box effects unit, but new gear from ElectroKraft now features the actual 70s sound chip used in vintage 80s arcade game cabinets. Tony writes us: "It produces those awesome sounds of the UFO and the approaching aliens as well as other synth sounds . […]

Apple updated its PowerBook line Monday, but as we expected this is a "speed bump" release: minor changes only. There is some good news for digital audio users: Faster processors at radically lower prices: US$1699 for a PowerBook means laptop musicians finally have an affordable option, and 1.5 – 1.67 GHz processors should be just […]

PC users have had various simple ways of constructing custom VST plugins (including the popular SynthEdit), but now Mac users can get in on the action: SonicBirth is an environment for creating custom Audio Units for Mac OS X, via a modular 'patch cord'-style interface. The interface is very approachable for this kind of system, […]

Okay, Windows advocates, here's a little break from all the Mac minis and PowerBooks: Cakewalk's VP of Engineering Ron Kuper explains to DMN Digital Producer why 64-bit is a boon to music: more RAM access and better CPU performance. If you're expecting revolutionary enhancements (64-bit is TWICE 32-bit!), think again: you'll only reap memory advantages […]

Robot guitarists, keytars, gunslings for your mics, roll-up keyboards and lighted bullhorns . . . it can mean only one thing. Barry Wood has posted the 2005 edition of the NAMM Oddities. Do you really have anything more important to do than check out NAMM Oddities? No. You do not. Stop reading my site now […]

Yes, I fell off the face of the earth after Tuesday's NAMM update, but CDM will be back to its normal broadcast schedule Tuesday February 1. But if you're in NYC Sunday, you'll have a great way to pass the time: Lemur touchscreen comes to NYC! Share, the weekly Manhattan portable computer music/video jam now […]

iLife `05 is shipping, and that means I've finally been able to test this baby first-hand. But if you're taking the time to read this and you haven't yet ordered your copy, Mac users, do it now. I'm a Logic Pro user and I still love having GB as a sketchpad. The new version offers […]