Flex (and thus ActionScript 3 / Flash) are going open source, according to an Adobe announcement today. Ely Greenfield, Flex architect, and David Wadhwani, vice president of Flex Product Line, explained to Robert Scoble what it all means: It’s difficult to say yet exactly what all the implications are, but something very exciting is happening […]

Onyx, the lovely open and extensible Flash-based live visualist tool, now runs on Mac as well as Windows. (Next stop, since it’s built in Flash: Linux.) And the latest build has some great new features: Snap to tempo, tempo-synced filters Build your own TempoFilters Mutable bitmap filters “Mix files” for saving multiple layers and filters […]

Interested in using webcams to translate on-screen motion to MIDI? Want x, y, and z 3D tracking? Ben Tan writes to let us know about his in-development software project called Peripheral MIDI Controller (pmidic) which does just that. The current build is still a work in progress, but has added enough stability and features that […]

In case you missed this in comments, CDM reader Trademark has rigged a quick demo of how scratching with the Nintendo Wii remote might work. To manipulate the audio, he’s using the open source Mac/Linux audio programming environment SuperCollier: If you think of this as a replacement for vinyl, you’ll naturally be disappointed. (The same […]

Open-source ActionScript meets Mozilla: it’s either a geek wet dream or an odd title for a Japanese monster flickr. Emmy Huang, Product Manager for Flash Player at Adobe, reports on her blog: New open source project with code contributed from Adobe ActionScript Virtual Machine See also Tamarin Project page at mozilla.org Now, before you get […]

Ornament & Crime is the open module that basically is a computer – but a very elegant, minimalistic one. And with the actively developed Phazerville firmware, it keeps getting more superpowers, all on a module platform you can buy affordably or make yourself. Here’s a snapshot of how active that Phazerville development is, as version 1.7 drops.

This month has brought unimaginable suffering atop thousands of deaths in both Morocco and Libya. To readers whose communities and loved ones have been directly impacted, we’re thinking of you. As music makers and instrument makers, I hope we continue to connect to remain tuned in and responsive. News can be overwhelming, but we live in a world where connections – and action – is never far away.

Patch sheets and synth overlays too often assume sighted users – so how do you make them accessible for people with low vision or blindness? Geert Bevin and Tim Burgess have tried 3D-printed patch sheets for the Moog DFAM and Mavis. They’re open source and could be a starting point for more; we’d love to hear from people with different levels of sight about whether this works for you.

The scene format that began its life at Pixar Animation Studios is poised to become a standard for all things 3D – scenes, but also tools, data, and workflows. And yes, that could make this into 3D’s MIDI moment. It’s not that OpenUSD is anything like MIDI – it isn’t. But it has the same […]

It’s difficult to focus today here in Europe as we’re rocked by war and have friends in danger in Ukraine. To readers, colleagues, friends in Ukraine – I can’t imagine what you’re going through. I hope to make at least some space for networks in Ukraine and across the region working for better futures.