Arturia MicroBrute: $349, Semi-Modular, Analog Keyboard Synth – Details, Full Gallery

If there was any doubt left, the analog monosynth keyboard has gone mainstream now. Fusing 70s electronic instrument design ideas with nerdy lust for sound with modern ideas about connectivity, accessibility, and timbre, a generation of instruments has made it a wonderful time for synth lovers to be alive. And the latest from Arturia is […]

Multitude is an Insanely-Controllable Quad Delay for Rhythmic Excellence [Mac]

The problem with most delays is that they’re a bit like dumping water on your whole project, rather than a precise shade of watercolor. They delay everything at once. So, then there are multi-tap delays, and more precise delays. And then there’s Multitude, a kind of delay studio that allows you to produce rhythmic delay […]

OS X Mavericks Compatibility with Music and Audio Software: Updates, Resources, Advice

The usual advice applies: if you’re thinking of rushing to update to a major new OS, and you’re a musician, take your time. That’s the advice for OS X Mavericks as it would be for any big update to OS X, Windows, Linux, and now even iOS. But with that disclaimer, OS X Mavericks is […]

30 Days of Free Ableton Push Tutorial Videos, Now Also Downloadable

Ableton’s Push really is growing on me; it’s astounding to have lots of the working methods from software integrated on a piece of hardware, in pads and buttons and knobs. But because it does so much, because it’s open to so many tasks, it isn’t something that reveals itself in just a day. From mapping […]

The Magic of the New Kinect is in the Hardware; Great Reading on the Specifics

After years of frustration with computer vision on general-purpose computers, the upcoming second-generation Kinect sensor really does begin to look like a breakthrough. And that breakthrough happens inside the hardware design, a System on a Chip that yields high performance data transfers that simply aren’t possible on the laptop in front of you. The site […]

Ryoji Ikeda's Test Patterns Dazzles in Duisburg [Video]

The perception of digital media and electronic arts has changed. These media once caused riots; they once earned angry cries of artificiality (even the very term “synthesizer” was derogatory). They alarmed and shocked even recently. And then, more recently, use of raw digital sounds, of glitches and hard edges, were seen even by digital art […]

Ryoji Ikeda’s Test Patterns Dazzles in Duisburg [Video]

The perception of digital media and electronic arts has changed. These media once caused riots; they once earned angry cries of artificiality (even the very term “synthesizer” was derogatory). They alarmed and shocked even recently. And then, more recently, use of raw digital sounds, of glitches and hard edges, were seen even by digital art […]

Cyborg Beatboxer AV: Gloves, Heartbeat, Gesture Merge in Wild Performance

Humanelectro + “∑(SIGMA)” from Ryo Fujimoto on Vimeo. Once, you might see strange sensors or generated graphics as a kind of novelty, used for their foreign, futuristic quality. Now, a generation immersed in such tech exploits these tools because it’s second nature. That’s the message of the creators behind a fantastic trans-media beatbox performance starring […]

What Apple’s Event Means for Creatives: 10 Takeaways on Mac Hardware, Software News

To the rest of the world, Apple’s event today was about new iPads. To most people reading this site, it’s probably more along the lines of, “can I finally stop putting off buying the new MacBook I need?” Answer: yes. But let’s quickly review what was announced that’s relative to music makers and live visualists: […]

aleph Soundcomputer: Interview with monome creator Brian Crabtree and Ezra Buchla

aleph is something of a curiosity: it’s a dedicated box uniquely designed for sonic exploration that isn’t a conventional computer. It comes from the creator of the monome, but while dynamic mapping is part of the notion, it is the first monome creation capable of making sound on its own. The monome is a controller […]