NAB 2011 New Gear Preview: HDMI Mixing and Capture, Other Goodies Could Transform Live Visuals

Dawn of the HDMI VJ age? Photo (CC-BY-ND) Sam_catch. Ed.: Create Digital Motion contributor Anton Marini reports from NAB, the broadcast gear show this week. While “broadcast” had traditionally been the emphasis, this is 2011 – and a lot of what’s on offer could transform live visuals and design. From tablets manipulating Photoshop to new […]

A Record Player Made from Paper, as the FlexiDisc Lives; Thanks Be to Pythagoras

It’s not in any way digital – we’re in paper and needle territory – but clever design transforms packaging and notecard into playable music device. Create Transducer Music, anyone? Designer Kelli Anderson concocted a novel approach to the wedding invitation for her friends Karen and Mike: turn the paper invite into a playable sound device. […]

Adventures in Time and Space: Timelapse and Macro Photo-Motion

Photography can transform scale, whether in time, space, or a combination of the two. scntfc, the hyper-talented audiovisual artist, sends some eye-explodingly good work our way, prompted by yesterday’s coverage of a two-minute condensation of a trip from San Francisco to Paris. Before returning to the theme of timelapse time travel and aerospace, let’s look […]

Learn Mastering Technique in Free Videos: Limiting, M/S, Dubstep Bass

Mastering to me is a bit like applying stain to wood: done correctly, it brings out the definition of what’s there rather than covering it up. But making mastering effective is a really special art. Danny Wyatt, a veteran mastering engineer now working as an instructor with Dubspot, has some serious credentials both on the […]

Timelapse Collapses Space: San Francisco to Paris in Two Minutes

If you haven’t seen it make its rounds yet, the collaboration of textile artist Kate Nartker and musical-visual artist Nate Bolt has put together a stunning example of timelapse done right. Timelapse is often conceived as a way to collapse the temporal, but time and space are, indeed, relative – most of all when strapped […]

An All-Android Hip-hop Album, and the Tools Used to Create It

Now airport lounge layover-ready and musical – the Android platform. A hip-hop release that used these handheld tools exclusively is a good window into what’s out there. Photo (CC-BY) Laihiuyeung Ryanne. From an eBay-purchased Atari ST to your phone, you really can make electronic music however you like, wherever you like. Generally, I’ve therefore been […]

Free Ableton Live Racks from Old Upright Piano, Bowed Guitar

Speaking of goodies for Ableton Live, NYC-based electronic artist and songwriter AfroDJMac has been creating some unusual, nicely quirky Device Racks for Ableton Live. Unlike a Max for Live patch, these are accessible to anyone with a copy of Ableton Live – and may be easier to edit for those of you not comfortable tinkering […]

Meet the People Who Invented the Digital Camera

The transformation of expression in digital form is not the magical outgrowth of some unseen force, nor the studied assemblage of minds to tackle a high-priority, high-profile problem (as was nuclear fission). It is the result of a handful of tinkerers, working on “what-if” research scenarios with little money or priority from their employers. They […]

Music Patchwork: Ableton Makes Max for Live Cheaper, Showcases Creations by Henke, Hawtin, More

As Max for Live matures, Ableton is working to convince more people to try this open-ended tool – and creations built for it – as a way of extending the experience of using Live for performance and production. For years, music software has focused on trying to do everything you need, to be a solution […]

Sonically-Rich Compilation for Japan Could be One of the Best You Hear All Year, via Microscopics, More

Artist Mat Jarvis in the studio. Yes, his gear collection is enviable – but more importantly, so, too, is his sound. Courtesy the artist. Musical tastes are fickle and diverse – it’s actually the disagreement that makes musical freedom such fun. So I can only ever speak for myself. But ever pick up a compilation, […]