Cloud Music Making, Just Vapor? Amidst Shifting Businesses, Standards, Aviary Closes Shop

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. […]

Rock Zebra2 Like Hans Zimmer: Dark Zebra Pairs Soft Instrument, Dark Knight Sounds [Video, Screens]

A shadow was unquestionably cast across the film by tragic events last week in Colorado. But while it became an unexpected stage for terrible events, The Dark Knight Rises itself is also a cultural object from artists we care about, and as musicians and sound designers, we value every chance to express ourselves. Composer Hans […]

Mostly Robot, Behind the Scenes: When Electronic Masters Form a Band [Video, Panel Audio]

It began as a way to demonstrate Native Instruments technology. But watch the video above of Mostly Robot, and you’ll see what happens when some well-loved solo electronic stars work to form a band. This isn’t just about some cool toys: it’s about really playing electronics as an instrument. And as the Internet debates what […]

"Particles" by Daito Manabe & Motoi Ishibashi: A Pixel Roller Coaster

PARTICLES / Daito MANABE & Motoi ISHIBASHI from stereolux on Vimeo. Pixels, no longer merely abstract ephemera, become kinetic sculpture in the latest interactive installation work by masters of new media Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi. The focus of the work, the creators say, is no less than the “field of vision.” In Nantes, France, […]

“Particles” by Daito Manabe & Motoi Ishibashi: A Pixel Roller Coaster

PARTICLES / Daito MANABE & Motoi ISHIBASHI from stereolux on Vimeo. Pixels, no longer merely abstract ephemera, become kinetic sculpture in the latest interactive installation work by masters of new media Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi. The focus of the work, the creators say, is no less than the “field of vision.” In Nantes, France, […]

USB3 + Apple Update from NI; Your Best Bet — Wait

Native Instruments, whose hardware was some of the first to prompt reader compatibility reports, now has issued a statement. I had hoped for more background on what’s actually going on – we’ll keep pressing vendors to tell us more – but the short-term advice on the MacBook Pro and Air and their USB3-only ports is […]

MIDI Control Platform: One Open Box, Any Notes, Harmonies, and Rhythms [Gallery]

What if you just had a box that crunched MIDI data? In the realm of DIY hardware, ideas tossed aside by the bigger music tech market thrive. And so, we have the MIDI Control Platform, a poplar wood and lasercut-aluminum box with basic controls and a graphic display. It’s a box that does … well, […]

With 'This Exquisite Forest,' Animations That Evolve, Collaboratively

With all this talk about the future of art being in browser windows and such, you might forget to ask the question – why? What will it actually look like? Artist Aaron Koblin has been, perhaps more than any one artist, someone who has pondered what form art made by online crowds might take. His […]

With ‘This Exquisite Forest,’ Animations That Evolve, Collaboratively

With all this talk about the future of art being in browser windows and such, you might forget to ask the question – why? What will it actually look like? Artist Aaron Koblin has been, perhaps more than any one artist, someone who has pondered what form art made by online crowds might take. His […]

Music in the Browser: A Soundtrack from a Crowd, A Keyboard for a Mouse

Slowly but surely, the web audio API creeps toward being something that’s usable in more than one browser at a time. In the meantime, we get a glimpse of how generative music could be a part of what’s to come. It’s a long way from those horrid, looping audio files that plagued the Web in […]