Serato Video seems poised to be a leader in introducing visuals to the DJ world. It’s maturing fast, and while there are a lot of options for these kind of visuals, few could boast this sort of friendly, minimal, familiar Serato-style interface. It’s also eminently controllable for turntablists and controllerists – at least if they’re […]

Brilliant in more ways than one, this LED wall is affordable, practical, beautiful, and completely open source, from physical design to software. Hans Lindauer of Portland, Oregon sends us his project, constructed with collaborator Alex Norman for the band STRFKR, on tour with it now. Check it out in action: It defies the idea that […]

Yes, the tools are better and shinier – but there is a method to what musicians are doing with them. Maschine 1.8 arrives today, a bit early, a free update. I looked at this release when we went hands-on with the updated software and new color hardware. Whether or not you get the new controller, […]

Solvoid is a mystery shrouded in a riddle. Three brilliant EPs have appeared from this artist online in the last several months, each one a tricky mixture of two-step, electro, breaks, and 8-bit arpeggios, with hints of the mystic, the playful, and the divine. As with Athena, they seem sprung fully-formed from the head of […]

St. Vincent is doing some amazing live shows, so it’s little wonder that a look inside the software rig and approach to computer-enhanced performance got some attention Friday. Eagle-eyed readers, though, weren’t only satisfied hearing from the band about the role of Ableton Live and Reason. That expansive rack of stompboxes, including some of my […]

Borderlands Granular from Christopher Carlson on Vimeo. If the tablet has a strength, it’s in re-imagining software as something truly immersive – no knobs, no switches, just a futuristic wash of visuals and sound, like touching noise with your fingertip. Borderlands (soon to have a slightly different name) hints at that promise. We took a […]

At the end of the day, what motivates extra technical preparation is the same thing that drives musicians to practice scales or work long hours in the studio: that extra discipline can pay off in real freedom of expression. So, it’s moving to hear St. Vincent talk about musicality as the end point for onstage […]

Visual Smash Up from Parag K Mital on Vimeo. What happens when you distort a video with a video? It’s what artist and coder Parag K Mital calls a “visual smash up,” which he says “takes existing content and mashes it up to create new content.” Huh? Well, have a look above for an example […]

Universal Audio is first out of the gate with an audio interface add-on that uses Intel’s Thunderbolt bus, the high-performance, low-latency connectivity option on current iMacs, MacBook Pros and Airs, and Mac minis (though, conspicuously, not the ever-more-outdated Mac Pro). The solution isn’t the most elegant – you need to add in an option card […]

Increasingly, the phone is the go-to device for recording, whether it’s journalists making interviews or bands grabbing a rehearsal or gig, or producers sampling interesting sounds on the run. SoundCloud’s app had always been reasonably cool for uploading directly to the Web sharing service, but an update finally adds the features you need for serious […]