Even in 2012, one of the great wonders of computers is, they sure make some damned awesome synthesizers. Z3TA+ 2, around for about a decade, is one of the soft synths you might fairly call a “classic.” (Not just in a press release, either – I’ll defend that moniker.) You’ve probably heard it used in […]
Music
Peak 90s Opcode in a Vision training tape, NIN music video
Motion Music Music tech Tech November 4, 2024
Quincy Jones in four essential interviews
Music November 4, 2024
Fun with Turntables: Liberating the Decks By Dancing, Loading Hacks as Records
Here’s a way to change the relationship of dancer and deck: instead of the record “triggering” dancers, the dancers move the record. In “Autistic Turntable,” movement from onlookers gradually moves the platter. The work debuted earlier this year in the Nósomosòn exhibition at Normal at the Universidade da Coruña, España. It’s just one experiment in […]
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 […]
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 […]