Who says a projector has to be the output? For decades now, average musicians have easily controlled instruments via MIDI, from drum machines to pianos. Now, software makes it easier than ever for users to do the same with color and lights. The latest entry is the excellent visual timeline app Vezér. As of 1.3, […]

For all the wonders of the hardware drum machine, there’s nothing quite like the flexibility of the software drum machine. More than mere groove-makers, beneath the conventional and familiar drum machine paradigm lies some real potential for sample manipulation and sound design. Native Instruments won over users by demonstrating the hybrid hardware/software workflow in Maschine, […]

It started as an April Fools’ Joke. Then it turned out to be real. But with plenty of new instruments to work on, why would Moog remake a dinosaur – both in form and literal size? Engineer Gene Stopp doesn’t blink when asked that question. In a tour of the modular for me and Keyboard […]

From Germany to Mexico – the next location to host a collaborative laboratory of musical invention will be in Tijuana. One of the participants in our MusicMakers Hacklab in Berlin at CTM Festival has decided to take that inspiration with her, and mount her own event in northern Mexico. You can join, too, if you […]

What if Drum and Bass had been invented before computers, all with analog gear? And what if the drums were played by robots? Watch the video – it’s real. It’s real-time.

Watch from :58. Lots of stand-up comedians have long “get off my lawn” rants about DJ culture in general, but at least Russell Peters manages to sum up the difference between DJs who are doing something, and those who aren’t. Nothing more high culture/low culture than that. There’s a reason the police tell you to […]

mi.1 : Wireless MIDI Interface from QUICCO SOUND on Vimeo. The wireless MIDI adapter we saw yesterday is now a crowd-funded campaign on IndieGogo. And we know more about it, too: the MIDI-powered device should ship in September at a price of US$45. (Funding backers will get their unit for as little as $35; other […]

In a world of machine weapons, construction equipment waging destruction, mechanized warfare and economic mayhem, maybe giant sound machines are a friendlier alternative. Nik Novak certainly has a way of giving sound physical being. And ironically, if some of his creations might appear to assault the senses, his own sensibilities came from the frightening experience […]

Bluetooth has changed. You know the old Bluetooth experience. Assuming you got the device connected in the first place – already a bit of a challenge – you could look forward to dropped connectivity, slow transfers and high latency, and dead batteries. But that was years ago; Bluetooth has evolved. New devices are easy to […]

Google Glass meets … French Horn? Wearable camera technology could offer a new window into centuries of Classical Music tradition. That could happen not only via Google Glass but other online and camera tech, too. Sarah Willis, French Horn player, is using Glass as a way to bring young people closer to the Classical experience. […]