MeeBlip Open Synth: Read Reviews, Hear It, See It

CDM, working with Reflex Audio in Canada, makes hardware. We would love for you to have it, so we’re doing two things. Through Sunday night, 11:59 PM North American Mountain time, we’re shipping our flagship synth for free. And, oh yeah, we’ll also start talking more about it. The sale is now over, but thanks […]

Reason Rack Extensions: What’s Good for Developers Might Be Good for Users, Too

Reason remains one of those tools that a whole lot of people use. So, the decision by Propellerhead to allow developer access to the Rack, the virtual array of modules in which you make sound, has been one of the fastest-trending music making stories of 2012. But it’s also big news for a wider audience: […]

Beats for Eva: Production Goodies Help One Woman Fight Cancer

Facing a health crisis, whether your own or a loved one’s, can be a serious challenge. It can make music making seem a remote activity. But here’s a case in which music production talent, the power to put together loops and tools, can help fight for someone’s health. What’s unique about this is that just […]

120 MB Picks Up Where MTV Experimental Vids Left Off [Berlin Launch Party + CDM, Videos]

It may be hard to recall, but back in its heyday, MTV was a champion of experimental audiovisuals, one that pushed the artwork further and spread new ideas, virally, to hungry creative masses. But no need to be nostalgic. We have seen the new MTV, and it’s the Internet. Pulling from YouTube, Network Awesome’s latest […]

Music Developer on Windows 8: A Leap Forward for Desktops; A Leap Backward for Metro, WinRT?

Steven Sinofsky showing Windows 8 last year. Photo (CC-BY) BUILDWindows. There’s good news and bad news on Windows 8 for music making. If you’re using Windows on a conventional, Intel PC, running conventional, desktop Windows apps, the news is really all good – really good. It’s still early days, but Windows 8 promises to be […]

Cinder, Smarter with Shapes and Timelines and Samples, Could Make Flash Jealous [Creative Coding]

A Golden Clock from Red Paper Heart on Vimeo. The Company, Bring To Light NYC from Andrea Cuius on Vimeo. Creative coding has blossomed into a full-fledged movement for getting expressive with screens, sound, and media. While much software remains a commercial, proprietary activity, these tools have demonstrated what a collective, free model can do. […]

Camp America Releases a CD Encased in LEGO Blocks [Album Pick]

A paper cover is one option if you’re looking for ways of making music releases physical and tangible. But Steven Cowley went to something a bit more unusual. A release of his one-man project Camp America comes with a bag containing 125 LEGO pieces, and instructions for building the case. Steven writes us as he […]

Immersion, Illusion, Fantasy: Spectacular Projections for Dragon Training, Live

How to Train Your Dragon – Live Projections from Matt Lock on Vimeo. The thread is not-so-subtly woven into what we cover on this site: 3D projection has ushered in a new age of illusion and spectacle. With brighter, higher-definition imagery and perfectly-aligned three-dimensional forced-perspective, the results can be immersive fantasy. After years of low-fidelity […]

Quickie: Make a CD Case Out of a Piece of Paper

Quick! You need to send music to someone! You need to make it count! I love SoundCloud and whatnot, but with everyone so overwhelmed by music, there’s something about making something physical. We’ve covered this topic before, but: 1. I think we can all use a break from 2,000 word posts with 150 comments and […]

DM1’s Touchable, Interconnected Drum Machine App Earns Apple Design Award [iOS]

DM1 The Drum Machine for iPad from Fingerlab on Vimeo. In a studio, very often it isn’t about endless racks of gear so much as the handful of items you most love. So, amidst a sometimes overwhelming flood of iOS apps – and, frankly, some of them quite disposable – a few stand out. The […]