Tracks of the Moment: Matthew Dear “Her Fantasy,” “Crimewaves” Demand Your Attention

Actually, with this image, I should have made the headline “your attention is kindly requested.” The singer/producer in the UK in 2010. Photo (CC-BY-ND) blikeng – Magnus Aske Blikeng. It’s my belief that Matthew Dear is truly the electronic trouvère of this generation. Beams, from the Ghostly label he helped establish, isn’t due until the […]

Learn "3D" Projection Mapping, From the Start, with vvvv [Video]

Arguably, democratizing a technique is an excellent way to improve craft. (See: linear perspective in Renaissance painting.) So, why not do that with projection mapping? Here’s the latest installment. Elliot Woods of Kimchee and Chips is one of the leading practitioners of the projection-mapping arts. He also gives away a lot of his tools (see […]

Learn “3D” Projection Mapping, From the Start, with vvvv [Video]

Arguably, democratizing a technique is an excellent way to improve craft. (See: linear perspective in Renaissance painting.) So, why not do that with projection mapping? Here’s the latest installment. Elliot Woods of Kimchee and Chips is one of the leading practitioners of the projection-mapping arts. He also gives away a lot of his tools (see […]

BIAS, Makers of Peak, Cease Operations; Mac Audio Editor Alternatives

Remember me? Peak in its last release had a cleaner look, but I imagine something like this is what popped to mind when you heard Peak. Photo (CC-BY) Chas Redmond. Peak is dead; long live Peak. Small music tool makers don’t always last forever, the victim of any number of circumstances that can cause them […]

Mixing Knobs with iPad Touch: Liine Griid + Livid Code Now Available (and Core MIDI for Griid, Too)

Users of Ableton Live, among other tools, have a dilemma. A touch display like the iPad is really good at simple triggering and interactive displays – navigating Live’s grid of clips, for instance. It gives you visual feedback without having to hunch behind your laptop, and it makes seeing (and touching) clips far easier. But […]

Projection Mapping, The Documentary: A Short Film Profiles the Technique's Significance

Once a novel technique, the likes of which could land you a gig, projection mapping is fast evolving into a fundamental skill every visual artist must have. It’s the ability to work not only with your content, but to be creative with its delivery, almost as much as something as basic as an alpha blend […]

Projection Mapping, The Documentary: A Short Film Profiles the Technique’s Significance

Once a novel technique, the likes of which could land you a gig, projection mapping is fast evolving into a fundamental skill every visual artist must have. It’s the ability to work not only with your content, but to be creative with its delivery, almost as much as something as basic as an alpha blend […]

Traktor 2.5 Remix Decks + Custom Controllers: What You Need to Know, Why HID Matters

“People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware,” said computer visionary Alan Kay in 1982. And when it comes to making computer software into something you can control physically with your hands, that has made some music tool makers look to integrated hardware for control. But music users – DJs included […]

A Concerto for iPad and Orchestra, as a Composer Takes on Tablet as Instrument

For all the ubiquity of electronic instruments and computers in the past half century, it’s still comparatively rare for composers to add these sounds to the largely-unchanging makeup of an orchestra. Therefore, as composer Ned McGowan writes a concerto that claims to be the first for iPad, he’s forced to admit the addition of a […]

A New Sequencer Module, Open Hardware from Music Thing, Crowd-sources Manufacture

Sometimes, when you want something, you have to make it yourself – literally. The blog Music Thing, back in the day, was a favorite reason for any music tech lover to fire up the browser. Now, Tom Whitwell – whose day job at The Times of London keeps him plenty busy – is back, with […]