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 […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

It’s odd that these days we’d reignite the debate over what DJs do. DJs mix records and make people dance. This seems reasonably understandable and valuable, and there are plenty of known variations on the topic. The realm of the unknown may be with what the VJs, or visualists, or live visual performers do. (Yes, […]

If you really must stare at a beachball, might I humbly suggest it look more like this? Photo (CC-BY) hadleygrass. Slow down, Mountain Lion early adopters. Okay, remember how a few weeks ago we made note that a number of audio interfaces weren’t working with USB3 ports on new Apple laptops? And remember how last […]

Doing creative work in the browser has, over the years, delivered a fair bit of hype. What it hasn’t delivered is a tool with any real apparent staying power. And as we watch the meltdown of creative Web poster child Aviary’s music suite, caught between changing business models and evolving standards, there’s reason for concern. […]