All those pads – it took virtuoso finger drummer Mad Zach to take advantage of them. Mad Zach’s five free Drum Racks accompany today’s release of Ableton Live 9.2. Since he, frankly, makes most of us look bad with his agile use of the Push hardware, I wanted CDM to talk to him more about […]

A free update to Ableton Live, version 9.2, is now available and out of beta. We covered this in some detail before: Live 9.2 Answers Your Warp, Automation, Tuner, and Pad Wishes Hands on with the Ableton Live 9.2 Tuner [Video] But today, in addition to the release, we get a closer look at the […]

As the transformation of music heats up, the discussions are heating up, too. Case in point: yesterday’s report on Eternify certainly earned some angry responses. I was of the opinion that Eternify was a decent gimmick – a way of showing just how small fees from streamed music are. Imagine if the music you bought […]

What initially seemed to be a conversation about streaming revenues for artists more or less this week became a conversation … about Taylor Swift. But it’s the debate behind Apple Music that is somewhat puzzling. Taylor Swift wasn’t the only one focusing concerns on Apple Music’s quarterly free trial. Labels were fixated on the same […]

This is the way DP – Digital Performer – looks in version 9. The tried-and-true Mac DAW now has Retina Display support on that platform, and looks like a viable option on Windows, too. DP9 may not get the amount of attention on the forums and such as some rival DAWs (Logic, Cubase, Ableton), but […]

On a very personal note, I’m saddened this week to learn of the news of the death of the great film composer James Horner. See him talk about his approach to scoring Field of Dreams at top for some of his approach. Best of all, you get to see him at the piano. When I […]

“When you grow up, you can be whatever you want. you don’t have to be a dj.” “This is lit.” “It’s just really fun dancing and stuff.” I’ve spent some time at Cielo and – all due respect to the residents – these kids. It’s funny, my Dad and I were on the phone yesterday […]

Making a futuristic new music instrument requires more than just the spark of a clever idea. It needs resources, funding, input from musicians, and other ingredients, in perfect balance. Those dimensions can offer cold, hard reality, but met properly, they can also offer opportunity. And that’s part of what made Barcelona’s SONAR+D such a compelling […]

Gustavo Bravetti is indeed a man of mystery. The Uruguay-born artist is a live virtuoso of dance music, pulling out all the stops. And in his latest feat, he tackles a trio of Elektron black boxes. Fortunately, it’s not all mysterious. The Ableton Push-controlled, Max for Live-based tool that gives him these octopus-like powers over […]

It seems synth guru Richard Devine couldn’t resist revealing something about upcoming Yamaha technology. In an interview earlier this month, he let slip that the instrument includes “alien” new tech: Usually when I work with a company – for instance I’m working with Yamaha on a project right now; I can’t say what it is, […]