Appearing from out of a parallel music universe, a Chinese company called CME introduced its UF omnipotent master keyboard at Macworld Expo. Apparently endorsed by leading Chinese musicians and producers, the keyboard is a "MIDI master keyboard" that boasts several firsts: Cool black metallic duraluminum construction (with communist red trim) Digital audio FireWire expansion capability […]

For those of you in San Francisco for Macworld, three events two watch for: Tonight (Tuesday): Drinks are on Discreet at the BAMG meetup — featuring red-hot visual effects artist Culley Bunker (Black Eyed Peas, Spiderman 2) Thursday: Edirol is sponsoring the Iron VJ battle at 9:30 PM, presented by the Video Salon (one of […]

Isaac Guzman, whom New Yorkers may know from his NY Daily News byline, has gotten his hands on DV Forge's JamPlug and now brings CDM a full review. Can a guitar amp that's "the world's tiniest" make enough sound? Read on for details. -Ed Product: JamPlug Manufacturer: DV Forge Price: US$49.99 Availability: Now

Big news from Apple. There's surround in QuickTime 7, for starters, in a Jobs demo, but GarageBand 2 is getting big changes: Included music notation 8-track simultaneous recording Automatic pitch and timing correction, including Vocal Transformer (the AutoTune-like pitch correction in Logic Pro 7) Part of iLife `05 US$79, available this week In other news […]

As I await further comment from Apple, here's what I'm able to tell about GarageBand 2: Multitrack: If you have a multichannel audio interface, you can now record eight tracks at once, plus one virtual instrument track. Notation view: Display and edit your music as real-time notation; essentially a score view you can have on […]

Steve Jobs, with some help from John Mayer, hits the stage on the first day of Macworld. CDM's NAMM/Macworld reporter Lee Sherman was in the audience to give us the scoop. (Update: originally the article said GarageBand 2 lacks MIDI import. The article should have said MIDI export. MIDI import has been added, but export […]

OS X users intrigued by the possibility of controlling sound with a Wacom graphics tablet, here are more resources for you, helpfully offered by a guest comment: Music Unfolding's µMIDI Controller, US$15 shareware (which also works with your mouse, if you prefer) works with the Wacom tablet, though looks like it hasn't been updated since […]

Ripe for circuit bending or just running through brutal effects, it's the new Beat Blenders toys: US$15 groove boxes for "ages 8 and up." Typical ad copy: Kick those guitar lessons to the curb! Just grab this mixer and jam! The guitar riffs will rock, bass lines will thud, drums will rumble and walls will […]

It's difficult providing snappy commentary on the latest bizarre audio hardware people have created. Witness the Jesusonic CrusFX (har, har) 1000. It's a custom-programmed computer effects system, controllable by footswitches, in a homemade wooden case that's shaped like a crucifix. In the words of its creators, it answers the question "What effects processor would Jesus […]

Our friends at IK Multimedia are now shipping SonikSynth 2, their comprehensive sampled-synthesis instrument based on the SampleTank engine. The full version includes 8 GB(!) of sampled vintage and modern instruments, for 5,000 sounds of everything from Arps and Moogs to acoustic guitars and vocal textures. Good news if your budget or hard drive is […]