Despite being a musical technology enthusiast, I really do think of my Android phone first and foremost as a communications device. I imagine I’m not alone, just as I’d guess that people who want a mobile music maker may look first at the iPhone. But that raises the question, are there tools you’d install on […]

As input device, Microsoft’s Kinect has its shortcomings – largely summed up by saying that you don’t always want to be waving your arms around through space just to accomplish a task. But one place Kinect really shows the potential of mainstream computer vision is in its ability to track the body. And that means […]

MacBook Pros, 64-bit, all. Photo (CC-BY-SA) Benjamin Nagel. I’m not one to post every single minor software update, but with the latest handful of free upgrades for Native Instruments software, I think it’s safe to say the 64-bit age has come to the Mac musician. Windows developer Cakewalk heralded just this sort of advance for […]

Prefuse 73 at work; photo (CC-BY-SA) Claudio Ruiz. Sonically rich, thickly layered with texture, crackles, and low end, the upcoming full-length by Prefuse 73 nonetheless promises a focus on songwriting and vocals. That could make it a highlight of the year – whereas dense production can often render singers almost decorative, early samples of the […]

Projection mapping is everywhere these days – corporate event fad, technical gimmick, and very often in reserved, controlled, abstract geometries. That can be lovely enough, but variety is the spice of media. And that’s why it’s nice to see the above video of real guerilla projection – it’s loud, explosive, sometimes garish and percussive. It’s […]

As the level of knowledge and expertise in visual expression and science continues to explode, so, too, do gatherings on these topics grow in importance. Allen Bevans writes to bring readers’ attention to a call for works for a seriously sophisticated conference in Vancouver: I’m a long-time reader of both CDMs, and I also happen […]

Interlude Consortium’s competition-winning MO makes everyday objects interfaces and does some surprisingly-sophisticated analysis of gestures. Nearly as long as we’ve had electronics, musical inventors have tried to imagine new electronic instruments. In the crowded world of new instrument design, the Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition has emerged as a key prize for the best work, […]

We live in three-dimensional worlds, and physically we can move easily through 3D space. But mapping our intuitive sense of space, movement, and position to the computer is a massive challenge. Our interfaces are primarily two-dimensional, and even the three-dimensional interfaces may lack the kind of sense of space that comes naturally to a child. […]

In a more connected world, we begin to understand more profoundly the life we share on a planet that is both fragile and potentially destructive. I remember the sobering feeling of listening to radio reports from Haiti during NAMM last year. There are countless calls for support for Japan, and I hope that, as in […]

Ready to make your Ableton Live pattern programming a bit more polyrhythmic with the power of math? In Monday’s reflections and round-up of cycles and circles, I mentioned Euclidean evenness and Godfried Toussaint’s research. The basic idea is that a mathematical algorithm for spacing pulses has a lot in common with traditional preferences for polyrhythms […]