Samchillian, the oddly-named, circuit-bended (and spray painted) ergonomic QWERTY keyboard that New Yorker Leon Gruenbaum invented is more than a wierd name: it could be a chance for keyboardists to finally cure themselves of guitar envy, AND look nerdy while doing it! Since QWERTY keys are mapped to pitch change, not specific pitches (stay with […]

Weren't those touchpad controllers great on Star Trek? Every control was projected from behind, so controls could change flexibly based on what you were doing, and everything could be manipulated by touch. Guess what? Star Trek-like control has arrived for music. Witness Lemur, a digital touchscreen controller for music and VJ applications. Customize your touchscreen […]

The Electronic Music Foundation is celebrating its 10th anniversary by holding a panel on the future of electronic music at New York's Chelsea Art Museum; the guest list reads like a who's who of music. These are the people who literally invented the technologies we now use: Jon Appleton: worked on the team that built […]

I've loved MacInTouch's reader reports since I bought my first Mac in 1996. Today there's a lively discussion going about audio interfaces for mobile recording. It's a natural for the CDM 'fine reading of the week' award. Only problem is: too many interfaces. In fact, you can see why consumers are likely to gravitate to […]

Enough of the speculation: Propellerhead today has formally announced Reason 3 and posted full details. Here's what's new, boiled down: Combinator will let you build combination patches of multiple Reason instruments, as I and others had predicted. MClass mastering suite includes EQ, stereo imaging, compressor, and maximizer.  'Performance' features: better control surface support including motorized […]

You heard it here first. Tony Amendolare of ElektroKraft, creator of the Axe*Synth we covered here on CDM, writes today to tell us about his newest creation: the Space Box combination digital photo-theremin + effects. [Press release] It's a light theremin: Wave your hand above the photocell, and the box will respond to light and […]

M-Audio has released its USB-powered, 22-lb., 88-key semi-weighted keyboard, the Keystation88es; list US$299. What? You're as confused by M-Audio's revamped product names as I am? Here's the new lineup: Keystation es: Semi-weighted, no knobs; 49, 61, 88 keys Keystation Pro: One 88-key, fully weighted 'hammer action' keyboard with a control surface (knobs and faders) Radium […]

Propellerhead is now soliciting beta testers for version 3.0 of its wildly popular synth workstation software Reason. As reported on Music Thing, Propellerhead has been titillating its Reason users by leaving tiny fragmented images of a new module in the upcoming version, which forum members bravely sorted out and reconstructed into the 'Combinator' Device. Bizarre […]

MegaSeg 3, the OS X-only DJ package announced last month, was released today. The developer says there are more than 100 improvements, but here are some big ones: Redesigned hardware-style Dual-Deck Mixer Direct open/save to iTunes (with full support for AAC songs purchased from the iTunes music store!) Library and playlist printing, HTML logging, playlist […]

1980s, meet 2004: DLO (Digital Lifestyle Outfitters) is shipping their new iBoom iPod boombox. What makes it cool is that it runs on D batteries or plugs in, so it's a true portable solution, without having to bother with those annoyingly unreliable FM radio transmitters. Bonus: built-in FM radio with digital tuning and preset buttons. […]