The Magic of High Speed Photography: An Egg-Themed Tribute, an Affordable Camera for the Masses

Technologist magician Marco Tempest is back with another effort fusing traditional techniques and new gizmos. And I like how Marco celebrates Easter: not by painting eggs, but by filming them in motion on high-speed cameras. This time, he calls our attention to George Karger, a pioneer in high-speed photography and amateur magic – a pre-digital […]

Friends Don't Let Friends Make Bland Music Videos; Walking in Slow Motion

Jonni Music, novelty music act for BBC Comedy, nails plenty of current music video cliches in “Walking in Slow Motion.” And it occurs to me we could use your help. Next time you come across a bland, dull music video, take note. Like field researchers tagging migrating ducks, we can begin to identify the whereabouts […]

Friends Don’t Let Friends Make Bland Music Videos; Walking in Slow Motion

Jonni Music, novelty music act for BBC Comedy, nails plenty of current music video cliches in “Walking in Slow Motion.” And it occurs to me we could use your help. Next time you come across a bland, dull music video, take note. Like field researchers tagging migrating ducks, we can begin to identify the whereabouts […]

Patch Cords, Buttons, Pixels, Noise: Free Modular Code-bending Instruments as Playgrounds

illucia is a project at the intersection of lots of forms of goodness and imagination. The physical interface – what you see first in the image and video here – is a DIY modular controller, complete with Buchla-style patch cords and arcade buttons and pretty knobs. But while that might lead you to believe we’re […]

Max Mathews, Father of Digital Synthesis, Computer Innovator, Dies at 84

Max Mathews is best known for his involvement in the debut of digital synthesis, but he contributed much more. His Radio Baton predicted gestural controllers that arrived much later from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, and it may be his code design ideas that outlast even the memory of the computer’s first musical utterances. Photo CC-BY-NC-SA) […]

Optical Music: Bibio's New Album, Videos, Inspired by Bokeh, Film, and Optical Effects

As film makes a resurgence as a medium, music, too, responds with optical, chemical halos. Bibio’s music, sounding acoustically as if wrapped in a layer of warm gauze, was already partially cinematic. His new album for Warp, “Mind Bokeh,” is more tuneful and poppy, but as the name implies, it also draws directly from visual […]

Optical Music: Bibio’s New Album, Videos, Inspired by Bokeh, Film, and Optical Effects

As film makes a resurgence as a medium, music, too, responds with optical, chemical halos. Bibio’s music, sounding acoustically as if wrapped in a layer of warm gauze, was already partially cinematic. His new album for Warp, “Mind Bokeh,” is more tuneful and poppy, but as the name implies, it also draws directly from visual […]

Processing 1.5 Arrives: Android Support, GLGraphics OpenGL Awesomeness

For people coding for visuals, Processing just keeps getting better. And for people who aren’t … well, you might just want to give it a second look, as a growing global army of people who never fancied themselves coders suddenly start typing up new creations. A new release makes mobile development easier and corrects lots […]

Isle of Tune: City Simulation as Music Sequencing, Soon to Leap from Browser to Mobile

A music score is, in essence, a way of making space into time: traversing notation from left to right and top to bottom, you move through a series of events. So, why not make that spatial map an actual map, as in the familiar, isometric interactive cityscape popularized by Will Wright’s classic game Sim City? […]

Gold Panda on Sampling; Moby on Drum Machines

Something has happened to the mystique of the musical artist, as the superstars have faded. It seems people are increasingly interested with understanding process, in understanding what’s inside the magical black boxes of sound. Jess Gitner hosted Derwin Panda, aka Gold Panda, at National Public Radio’s studios for Morning Edition. She talked to the artist […]