Spherikal from Ion on Vimeo. Speaking of Cinema 4D and eye candy, here’s a lovely set of etudes on the sphere, a compelling example of the many ways one can approach a modeling problem. Remarkably, the whole project was just a student project, but quickly ascended to popularity among the discerning eyeballs of the Vimeo […]

One of the handful of USB 3.0 devices currently available: the new “SuperSpeed” port on a Verbatim hard drive. Photo (CC-BY-NC-ND) auxo.co.kr. “SuperSpeed USB” or USB 3.0 offers major forward advancement for hardware ins and outs, with faster throughput (yielding up to ten-fold speed gains over USB2), improved overall performance, and lower power consumption. That […]

Touring as Haale in 2009, The Mast’s vocalist Haale Gafori. Photo (CC-BY-SA) Sean Richardson. We watch an exquisite music video on Create Digital Motion today for The Mast’s recent single “UpUpUp,” so it’s only right to call attention to this terrific New York-based duo. Combining acrobatic percussionist Matt Kilmer with skilled and silken-voiced composer/singer Haale […]

Come on in; the water’s fine. A chain of remixers cross oceans as they remix “Oceandrift,” by Kelp. Photo (CC-BY-SA) Derek Keats. The opening track is aptly-named, a diving bell launched into aquatic depths of ambient sound. But on this release, it’s just the beginning of the journey. From Kelp’s track “Oceandrift,” a set of […]

What are they building in there? Create Digital Music teamed up last fall with Amsterdam’s STEIM, a hub for musical research and invention, to invite makers of musical inventions to show their unique creations. Above, some excerpts of some of what we showed, capping off with a massive improv chorus of everyone making a racket […]

Cover image by Michael Cina. Courtesy Ghostly. Let me drop journalistic distance for a moment here: the last Willits + Sakamoto outing, teaming up Californian Christopher Willits and Japanese composer/musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, is one of my favorite albums. So I’m thrilled to hear these two are doing another release. Willits’ dreamy, evocative reveries meld perfectly […]

Users are already getting their hands on vjay from Algoriddim, a VJ app for the iPad. The novelty is clear: vjay’s features aren’t so different from a typical VJ app of a few years ago, but fitting that on an ultra-compact, touchable tablet is another matter. Readers of this site responded negatively to a lot […]

Some people release remixable stems. Some people release little tools or utilities. Glitch Factory is a complete tool set for live performance, combining performance presets, an Ableton Live set, and even remixable track stems. It’s like getting to borrow someone else’s computer to see how they play – after they first cleaned everything up and […]

TRI▲NGLE from Onur Senturk on Vimeo. While various powerful options are available, Cinema 4D has become a go-to tool for three-dimensional motion graphics, including those looking for a factory to produce slick visuals for live performance. Now, that power is free for students. (free as in beer – something I hear students also use for […]

MacBook Air, now starting at US$999 and with USB3 and Thunderbolt onboard. Photo courtesy Apple. Apple, of course, rolled out new Mac laptops yesterday. The most desirable of these – new MacBook Pro laptops with ultra-high-resolution Retina Displays – will require a significant budget, with pricing beginning at US$2199. And it could be worth it […]