A Ballet of Quadrotors: Helicopter Spectacular from Saatchi & Saatchi [Vicon, OpenFrameworks]

So, we can point lights at different stuff and map projections to surfaces and do all that good stuff. You know what’s even more fun? Flying the lights around on helicopters. In a dazzling visual display of abstract spectacle, Quadrotors – in this case, small, mobile four-rotor helicopters – buzz about like a precision ballet […]

Got Goosebumps? In ‘Limbic’ Music Video, A Close-up View of Your Body on Music

limbic from Institut Fuer Musik Und Medien on Vimeo. Music isn’t just syntax; it isn’t just a binary message in our brain. It somehow connects with our body in an intimate way. The music video “limbic” explores this visceral connection right at the level of the skin, at sweat and goosebumps and facial reaction. “limbic” […]

Make Renoise into an MPC-Style Groovebox: Pking, padKONTROL

Music production tools like Renoise have a tremendous amount of power. But what if you could program grooves with the kind of touch-a-pad workflow offered by something like the MPC? In the latest example of users doing wild things with the powerful API in tri-platform tracker Renoise, mxb attempts to make a sort of Renoise […]

Interface an Arduino with Ableton: Light-Controlled Dubstep Wobble Bass

Over the years, we’ve seen all kinds of far-out interfaces for music. But where do you begin if you want to just get started? Interfacing a simple sensor with your music software is a decent place to begin. Nick Latocha, aka myredhotcar, uses Max/MSP to connect Ableton to the output of a photodetector (a resistive […]

Live Music Tools at the Bleeding Edge: Laura Escudé, From Herbie Hancock Collabs to Solo (Live Berlin, Sat)

It’s one thing to talk about tools. It’s quite another to put them into action, to make them withstand the rigors of creative process and idiosyncracy, let alone the torture test of touring. Laura Escudé is as deep in the trenches, on a day-to-day basis, as just about anyone on the planet. The music tech […]

SJS-ONE: Open, Arduino-Based Synth, with Crazy Cases and Web Troubleshooting

SJS-ONE is an 8-bit synth that you add to an Arduino board, making it ideal for hardware and firmware tinkerers and lovers of unique monosynths. But we’ll give it bonus points for two other reasons. First, it has some really bizarre cases available as add-ons, which look a bit like punk birdhouses. (Birdhouse squats? Hot […]

Robotic Mapping Pulls a Model Building, Tron-Like, Into the Virtual

MPS – Building Presentation from White Kanga on Vimeo. A model building rotates, light spilling over it. A virtualized sun creates shadows and accelerated days. And then, halfway through, the building still gliding in circles, it’s as though you can see through the building to wireframes beneath. The latest illusions from the White Kanga crew […]

Immersive AV Dome, as Pole Meets ZEF&SANTO at Mutek, SAT [Featured Live Set]

Pole @ SAT /// MUTEK 2012 – Immersive visual performance by ZEF&SANTO from Santo / Pharaoz /antoine St Maur on Vimeo. You want to see movies on the big screen. (Ask recent Batman ticket buyers.) You want to hear sound on big, loud, clear PAs. So, if you want one way to make audiovisual performance […]

Immersive AV Dome, as Pole Meets ZEF&SANTO at Mutek, SAT [Featured Live Set]

Pole @ SAT /// MUTEK 2012 – Immersive visual performance by ZEF&SANTO from Santo / Pharaoz /antoine St Maur on Vimeo. You want to see movies on the big screen. (Ask recent Batman ticket buyers.) You want to hear sound on big, loud, clear PAs. So, if you want one way to make audiovisual performance […]

What To Know About Mountain Lion, So Far

Actually, okay, just backup before you install and maybe wait a couple of point releases and everything will be fine. Photo (CC-BY) Ingrid Taylar. OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is out this week. And it’s a great time to point out that Lion, 10.7, is a terrific upgrade for anyone with a recent Apple machine and […]