Behold the power of the Web: composition ideas become a tool, a tool becomes a means for even casual users sharing musical sketches, and a browser toy can be a window into a Turkish sound artist breeding musical DNA like some people breed strains of flowers. Otomata is a simple generative online grid-based sequencer, owing […]

Photo (CC-BY) srqpix. We are, as every generation, part of a planetary history that’s bigger than anyone can really comprehend, but of which we’re a part. So, music isn’t terribly good at making specific policy prescriptions, or solving tangible problems, or feeding people – all vitally important things. But nothing can express hope or feeling […]

Silhouetted in a fog, Unsound in 2009. Photo (CC-BY-ND) andrej/asebest. “This sounds crazy. I want to see this. I think I may have to see this to understand what you mean. But I want to see this.” David Dodson, journalist, writer, and electronic musician (“Primus Luta” and, most recently at our Handmade Music series, Concrete […]

Making Katy Perry extraterrestrial, the work of CuteCircuit. Photo by KatyPix.com Digital visual effects need not be limited to projection. CuteCircuit have been one of a select handful of designers pushing the envelope with wearables. Here, Katy Perry becomes their celebrity canvas, in what I expect will be one of the only-ever appearances of American […]

The artist at sound check. Beware the Fog of Doom that’s enveloping the stage! Photo (CC-BY) MDL.hu. With a full length record, we also get a glimpse into sound design and live touch control, along with a cross-media event involving photography and sculpture. It’s the latest Amon Tobin, and for lovers of digital sonic manipulation, […]

Digital musician and artist Josh Silverman began the Synplode process with something familiar – a checkerboard. Play a game of checkers on its computer vision-equipped playing field and beats and loops triggered in Ableton Live generated a responsive soundtrack for the game. But as it’s evolved, Synplode has become a general-purpose musical grid. Whether with […]

If stories didn’t regularly belong on both Create Digital Music and Create Digital Motion, I’d know I wasn’t doing my job – and that the mission of this site was a failure. So, while this story is up on Music today, the latest news on controller apps should be relevant to anyone who owns an […]

The Molten drum machine meets MIDI and sync, via the Camera Connection Kit. It’s just one of a number of improvements that have made iOS tools more mature, more powerful – and easy to integrate with other, less Apple-y hardware and software. Image courtesy One Red Dog. It’s nice to think software gets better, not […]

Handmade software distribution: homebrewed USB keys store free software. Photo courtesy Theron Trowbridge. Imagine Pd everywhere. Pure Data, a free tool for constructing music and media by creating graphical code, is spotted this week hacked to run on a lowly Nook tablet and interfacing with the powerful Kinect camera system. A community in Los Angeles […]

Juergen Koppmann, Vienna-based digital media artist, shares his latest creation – “a video shredder live VJ box” that applies horizontal oscillations to “grind” and distort video signals. Specs: 3 horizontal line oscillators, triggered by 3 arcade buttons all 3 can be combined for line and color grinding of any video input signal. additionally voltage reducer […]