I was one of a handful of editorial contributors to the HUGO BOSS-sponsored Red Never Follows project. The exhibition presents twenty creatives at Saatchi Gallery in London, celebrating HUGO’s 20th anniversary, later this month. Here is the full text I wrote for the catalog with added illustrations, as I think it gets to the heart […]

If you’ve been pondering picking up Traktor on iOS, now is probably your moment. Both the iPhone and iPad versions are completely free. Native Instruments confirms with CDM that sale will end Sunday. (The sale celebrates the fifth anniversary of the iTunes App Store.) Traktor DJ for iPhone Traktor DJ for iPad By the way, […]

It is unintentionally turning into “crowd-funded experimental keyboard week” here on CDM. Miselu, the startup known for developing their own, custom Android-based hardware platform, now turn their attentions to iOS. Miselu’s Jeffrey Horton tells CDM they have suspended work on their existing hardware and “hope to resume android development when the time is right.” This […]

The essential quality of electronic music is, in some sense, collage: drawing from multi-track recording, it is defined by the ability to put things together in records or performances in new ways. The contents of that collage need not always be drum machine beats or synthesized alien sounds. And so, many artists draw from a […]

The centuries-old piano keeps fighting back every time someone tries to improve it. Case in point: polyphonic aftertouch. The cause for something new was straightforward enough. On a normal piano, you lose expressive possibilities once you play a note. Because of the necessity of the way hammers work, your fingers are left holding down keys […]

If computers are compact and $25, we’re talking a very different world of music hardware. Armed with the popular Raspberry Pi, Servando Barreiro has made an incredibly-affordable, ultimately-customizable rig with free software and the open source community. Oh, and he’s made the KORG monotron polyphonic – after a fashion. See video at top for some […]

Oregon-born engineer, inventor, and thinker Douglas Engelbart has died. He’ll be listed in many outlets as, mundanely, the inventor of the computer mouse. Certainly, the demo of that technology in 1968 had a profound impact. But what’s stunning is that even at that demo, the mouse wasn’t the most impressive thing Engelbart showed. At the […]

Professor Kliq – Wire and Flashing Lights from Patator on Vimeo. It’s digital stop motion – wire, flashing lights, and paper are animated in a crazy-catchy groove in this latest animation from Paris-based director (and CDM reader) Victor Haegelin. Working with music by Chicago electro artist Professor Kliq (Mike Else), the track name is also, […]

The lust for new sounds can take many forms. It leads some to reduce, forcing themselves to stick to minimal choices to channel their creativity. It leads some to reuse and recycle, repurposing old gear. But it leads some into a quest for arcane racks of gear, spaghetti tangles of wires and flashing screens alike, […]

Aw, kawaii! Wait… sorry, poor choice of words. Aw, how… uh… Korg! Yes, in case they hadn’t given us enough reason for adoration lately, the folks at Korg are now giving away cute little USB stick versions of the microKORG if you purchase a microKORG or microKORG XL+. And if that’s not quite your budget, […]