Video Diversion: Poking Fun at Point-and-Shoot Camera Modes

I always knew Sony was actually trying to kill me. With all this talk of serious matters, programming, and such, it seemed the right time for a diversion. No further comment. The project is the work of Sheep Films.

Cooking up Sounds, with One Synthesizer Every Day

John Keston of Audio Cookbook sends in a fascinating project: he’s producing one sound each day from a different synthesizer. Sounds like a great way to build up a library of sounds. He writes: On January 5, 2011 I started a new project on AudioCookbook.org called “One Synthesizer Sound Every Day”. It’s in the vein […]

HDMI Now on iPad, iPad2, and Android Honeycomb; HDMI Tablet VJ, Anyone?

Tablet? Check. HDMI output? Check. Mixer? Fail. Apple’s new Digital AV Adapter, announced today [see Apple Store link], is pretty darned near perfect for the iPad performer. It might just be better news for the readers of this site than the iPad itself. At US$39, it includes both HDMI and USB ports – meaning you […]

There Will Never Be Another Music Production Platform. Ever.

Supposedly this computer and the idea of a QWERTY keyboard are dead, but you may have to pry them each out of someone’s cold, dead fingers in order to get them back. Photo (CC-BY) Tobias Carlsson. The question of whether there will ever be any music apps for any non-iOS mobile platform is apparently bothering […]

Apple Gets Into iPad Music with $5 GarageBand

For everyone who imagined something just like this, here it is. Apple is getting into mobile music production with a US$4.99 version of GarageBand that runs on iPad. It looks very impressive for a $5 app – which could be bad news for other music developers trying to set higher pricing for more serious apps. […]

Imagining a Tablet Synth: Developer Christopher Penrose Shows Us SynthTronica for iPad

What can a new digital synth be in 2011? How will it work and sound? And given access to so many excellent tools, how can it stand apart? In place of a press release and some marketing-speak, developer Christopher Penrose (Leisuresonic, Cosmovox) sent us an extended essay explaining his thinking behind his just-released SynthTronica synth […]

Kinect in Teaching: Playful Puppets, Terrains, Lighting, and More Breakthroughs

Teaching has its moments of reward and frustration in equal measure, but I’m of the belief that there are no limits to the new ideas that can grow out of groups of engaged students. In fact, it’s often in the first draft, the first experiment, the first time a student has tried something that I […]

We Love DJ Kool Herc: Free Compilation for the Father of Hip-Hop

Saturn Never Sleeps, the band and label, released a new free compilation late last night to send love and thanks to DJ Kool Herc, the pioneering Jamaican-born DJ who gave birth to the hip-hop age in the West Bronx, New York City. I’m honored to have been part of the compilation along with a broad […]

Adding Dimension to Cinema's Future: A Hypercubist Manifesto, and 3D Aesthetics

The futurists are on the side of 3D, even with silly-looking glasses and 19th-century stereoscopy, while luddites rail against it just because they don’t know any better? Think again. A good, long look at Super Mario Brothers might just change the way you think about time in media – seriously. The advent of photography and […]

Adding Dimension to Cinema’s Future: A Hypercubist Manifesto, and 3D Aesthetics

The futurists are on the side of 3D, even with silly-looking glasses and 19th-century stereoscopy, while luddites rail against it just because they don’t know any better? Think again. A good, long look at Super Mario Brothers might just change the way you think about time in media – seriously. The advent of photography and […]