The possibilities of a microphone and the world are limitless, so as this week we looked at a recording of music made with playgrounds, a mic, and Ableton Live, readers responded in kind with a fantastic spectrum of sampling-inspired, real world-produced musical wonder. From comments, a few examples: Diego Stocco, a favorite sound designer on […]

More than just a label, Ghostly is establishing itself as a hub of design, as in the new poster series by Swiss artist Sonnenzimmer, available from their online store. With artists likewise drawing heavily from visual inspiration, the connection between sight, sound, and taste is an evocative one. Photo courtesy Ghostly International. You can expect […]

We could almost use a feature that tracks projection mapping projects around the globe. We’ve seen Mongolia; this lovely project comes to us from an opposite part of the world, in the Dominican Republic. The smartly-titled “Last Night a Hipster Saved My Life” is a mapped audiovisual performance with Modul8, featured at the twenty-sixth National […]

We could almost use a feature that tracks projection mapping projects around the globe. We’ve seen Mongolia; this lovely project comes to us from an opposite part of the world, in the Dominican Republic. The smartly-titled “Last Night a Hipster Saved My Life” is a mapped audiovisual performance with Modul8, featured at the twenty-sixth National […]

It’s a creative spot for a company – Ericsson (the network folks, not to be confused with Sony-owned Sony Ericsson, the mobile phone company). But it’s worth mention here for a few reasons. One is, it’s nice to see clever design and match moves, yes. Two, the message of the vendor in this case – […]

Compare the complex model of what a computer can use to control sound and musical pattern in real-time to the visualization. You see knobs, you see faders that resemble mixers, you see grids, you see – bizarrely – representations of old piano rolls. The accumulated ephemera of old hardware, while useful, can be quickly overwhelmed […]

In the latest example of what people are doing with open source Kinect tools and movement, PRICKIMAGE sends a performance that works with the Windows-based vvvv. It’s still a work in process / proof of concept, but I’m really enjoying seeing experiments with this technology. There’s definite potential to be explored. The artists write: I […]

Sonic and musical inspiration are never far away, especially with a microphone in hand. For the latest example, Ableton Live meets a local playground. Jason Richard, aka “bassling,” used field recordings in the park to compose a track. He writes: I’ve been recording playgrounds and remixing the sounds in Ableton Live to create tracks. To […]

Machine rhythm: the steps on a Roland TR-808. Photo (CC-BY-SA) Brandon Daniel. What makes rhythm human? Music technology has introduced machine rhythms, perfectly-calibrated to electronically-perfected grids, yet we know that natural playing is more organic. Or, that is, we know we have certain intuitive preferences. How do those preferences and rhythms really work? And what […]

Presenting a moving (and moving) snapshot of what the emerging field of live visualism is all about, the new trailer for the Mapping Festival might just give you a shiver. Thanks to Jerome Monnot, the trailer’s director, for sending this our way – and for the fine work. mappingfestival.ch Remember, you’re fast approaching the deadline […]