Playlist: 21 Hours of Music, on the Eve of a Female-Organized Fest in Berlin; Sarah Farina Mixes

There’s talking, there’s showing, and there’s doing. And there’s listening, too – but we’ll get to that in a moment. When female:pressure put some numbers behind the relative absence of women in festivals, the long-running discussion about the role of females in the scene was accelerated. Suddenly, the entire music press seemed to be talking […]

Armin van Buuren DJ Boombox a Pale Imitation of the 80s; A Look Back at Real Ghettoblasters

In the latest megarich DJ – electronics manufacturer collaboration, we find Dutch giant Philips with Armin van Buren. (In fact, you might begin to wonder if these guys are just competing over the Forbes highest-paid DJs list.) This time, what you get is an all-in-one iPad dock with DJ control surface with speaker. That in […]

Digital DJing: Serato Scratch Live is Dead; Long Live Serato DJ [In Depth]

Serato DJ With DVS is Here from Serato on Vimeo. Let’s not mince words: Serato’s DJ offerings had gotten confusing, and updates and compatibility lagged. This week, the company has changed the tune: there’s one Serato to support everything, and it’s coming soon. For controller users, that means being ready to go in October, thanks […]

Bubbles and Light, in an Interactive Costume, Integrated with Music

Coded Environments from Jekka on Vimeo. Big EDM stage shows aside, in the realm of more intimate electronic performance, there seems tremendous untapped potential in combining wearable technology with performance. There, the immersion speaks to the player – essential, as in computer music much of what the performance artist does and imagines is invisible. Jekka, […]

Audiobus for iOS 7 Update is Already Here

Audiobus’ developers have already pushed an update to the inter-app framework, in advance of Apple’s upcoming operating system: With iOS 7 just around the corner, we’ve just released an update to the Audiobus app that addresses some issues. We highly recommend updating now to stay compatible with our community of apps. We’ve been working hard […]

Surprise: Korg Brings Back the Old School Rhythm Machine, in Pocket Form

Back in the day, rhythm machines were push-button affairs, not elaborate step sequencers. Press a button, get a backing rhythm, play along. Just one problem: these old-school machines were huge and expensive. But they helped launch the electronic fortunes of companies like Korg and Roland, and were the predecessors of today’s far more programmable drum […]

Novation Releases $99 Launchpad Mini Grid, $99 Triggers and Knobs [iOS, Mac, PC]

Here’s this week’s theme from Novation, in a nutshell: Stuff that costs US$99 (street). Stuff that’s ultra-mobile/portable. Stuff that works with Mac, PC, and iPad. CDM readers already worked out that they weren’t done, watching the video for the $99 Launchkey mini keyboard, which also fits this theme and combines pads, knobs, and keys. Looking […]

Abuse Sampling for Sound Design: Free Tutorial, Rack in Ableton Live

The response to the breaking Live 9.1 news this week was fast and furious; we were honestly surprised at the vast readership of the story. A lot of you must have multiple displays or virtual desktops you want to use (or, now, even a Push). But sometimes the best upgrade is the one you can […]

Try FL Studio on Mac Right Now; Or Touch a New Image-Line App on Windows 8

In one fell swoop, Image-Line has given computer musicians two things they might have thought they’d never see. One is a version of FL Studio that runs on the Mac – something the developer once actually vowed openly would never happen, but which is now actually happening in beta. See video, above. The other is […]

Android Gets Patchable Audio Everything: Free Patchfield Architecture [Video, Resources]

Android audio users, developers, patchers, and musicians just got a huge gift. Patchfield is, as the name implies, a space in which you can connect synths, effects, and sound modules in an open, modular environment. It’s a free app you can use on its own, as well as a free architecture developers can use in […]