While we’re talking retro, here’s a full hour of the work of Robert Abel, the innovative computer animator who worked on projects like the 1982 Tron.
Music
Tbilisi’s music scene is still out in the streets, defiant
Music December 27, 2024
Interview: Michael Vincent Waller connects concert music and hip-hop
Music Stories December 26, 2024
Live radio from Gaza, Khan Younis and Bethlehem-Hebron choirs meet
Music December 24, 2024
Mid-1980s GE and Maxell cassette player advertising was next-level
In a post-apocalyptic dystopian nightmare, handsome models will find the oppression with their … GE cassette players. Look, it all makes some kind of 1985 sense. This is exactly how people do not feel about their smartphone in 2024. I don’t know exactly what the GE marketing department was doing in the mid-80s – let’s […]
Make your Apple Watch into a wireless MIDI controller: MidiWrist Unleashed
Put your Apple Watch to work. MidiWrist Unleashed transforms the device into a standalone Bluetooth MIDI controller, complete with touch and motion controls, for use with your Mac, iPad and iPhone apps, and even Bluetooth LE devices.
VJ, meet Eurorack: excellent Vidvox VDMX LFO, step sequencer tutorial
It’s all about wiring this into that. So why not connect VIDVOX’s evergreen Mac VJ software to your Eurorack modular, using the LFO and step sequencer as modulation sources? The mind boggles at the potential, and this video shows you how.
Put headphones on your heart and enter Leeni’s magical chip music world
From an ultra-meta cover of Lana del Rey’s “Video Games” on video game consoles to poignant chip ballads and Underworld covers, plus “8-dimensional” spatial electropop, if you don’t know Seattle-based synthpop music artist Leeni Ramadan, now is the time. Oh, and if that hasn’t already made your day, stick around for “doom-wop” covers of Britney Spears.
AAS Multiphonics CV-2 now follows dynamics, pitch from inputs
Applied Acoustics Systems’ software modular, Multiphonics CV-2, just got a big update with the ability to follow an input’s dynamic level and pitch, plus new modules for pitch shifting and working with control voltage math.
Elektron Digitakt II: stereo sampling, multiple FX, more horsepower, storage
Eletkron’s Digitakt II, leaked earlier today, is now official. This beefs up some of the specs under the hood to keep pace with features like expanded effects and modulation, 16 voices (up from 8), 20 GB internal storage, and stereo sampling, all with a more refined shell and display. It’s an incremental update, but it does sweeten the deal.
Class is in session: DeForrest Brown on Black innovation in music
If you want a take on exactly how Black innovators have influenced music, look to this full-length lecture (and performance) from DeForrest Brown. It’s your free ticket to sit in at Harvard.
Grimes update: technical team describes failure, aftermovie
Perhaps taking a page out of pro wrestling, there’s a good chance that Grimes staged her “technical difficulties” at Coachella as a kind of performance art.
VCV Rack 2.5: powerful stackable inputs, cable color customization
VCV Rack, the free and open-source virtual module platform, gets a tidy refresh with input cable stackings and cable color customization. That input stacking opens up more than you might think, too.