In action, a Eurorack module by superb builder MakeNoise, with whom we caught up in March in a get-together in Austin, Texas. Photo (CC-BY-SA) Andreas Wetterberg. Modular music making is a throwback to the early days of electronic music, in which a spaghetti of patch cords is the price of open-ended sound creation. Fairly or […]

For fans of slicing, dicing, glitching, reversing, and shuffling incoming audio streams, this Max for Live Device is for you. Shuffler 2.0 is the latest in a series of “modular” Max for Live devices from developer Isotonik Studios. Mappable to MIDI, the suite of Devices focuses on simpler tasks in ways that can be combined. […]

I’m not sure how everyone who owns an iPad uses it for music, but I find myself strangely drawn, more than anything else, to analog step sequencers. With MIDI connections – via a special interface or a standard USB MIDI interface connected via adapter to the tablet – you can even drive hardware. For me, […]

Then: flat, rectangular displays. Now: projection mapping flat images to 3D objects. Next: volumetric displays. From New York’s Chelsea neighborhood come two very inventive visual projects, opening in January. Matt Parker, veteran of New York University’s ITP brain-building program (don’t ask what it stands for), leads research at NYC’s Eyebeam in some seriously-cool volumetric display […]

Then: flat, rectangular displays. Now: projection mapping flat images to 3D objects. Next: volumetric displays. From New York’s Chelsea neighborhood come two very inventive visual projects, opening in January. Matt Parker, veteran of New York University’s ITP brain-building program (don’t ask what it stands for), leads research at NYC’s Eyebeam in some seriously-cool volumetric display […]

Come on – you know that occasionally you want technology to respond when you slap it. As my sister watched an episode of the television show Quantum Leap, I thoroughly enjoyed watch Dean Stockwell’s character Al give his pocket computer, looking for all the world like a 7″ tablet, little helpful smacks. SmackTop does that […]

The weather outside is frightful, but the hi-fi is so delightful. Let it snow. Photo (CC-BY) Junichiro AOYAMA, Kyoto. From Berlin’s Melissa Taylor and Tailored Communication, for my money, just about the best publicist for electronic music out there, we get one epic playlist. If you’re lucky enough to get one holiday or another (Christmas? […]

Christmas in Cork, at – where else – McDonald’s. Photo (CC-BY-SA) jf1234. If you can find a spot in the rotation with your Mannheim Steamroller collection for something a bit different, CDM reader Leigh Walsh of Cork, Ireland sends in her work. She describes it as “punky gothy electronic … for Christmas,” with any proceeds […]

Image: Jason Hickey. As Christmas revelers head out for last-minute shopping in the last surge of pre-holiday capitalism, they might catch over piped music the ouvre of one Mannheim Steamroller. For all the electronic artists we might imagine as representing the genre, this guy has sold one heck of a lot of Christmas records, in […]

As 2011 winds down, here’s a good end-of-the-year resolution: get your showreel together – or get some inspiration from others. Our friend James Cui (VJ Fader) put together his latest reel. Based in LA but working internationally, he’s been a very busy guy, working with Processing and Max/MSP and Jitter to code custom solutions, from […]