It’s been eight years since Ableton Live introduced its signature screen layout for live performance: clips, scenes, sends, tracks, and devices. For the first time, a single controller combines all the basic elements of that Live set in a single hardware layout. Akai’s APC40 is a plug-and-play, driver-free hardware controller developed with Ableton. The APC […]

Manufacturers have attempted to make USB connections for audio and MIDI more transparent before. We’ve seen mics with USB cords instead of XLR, and USB cables with little humps in the middle with built-in circuitry for MIDI connections. But new cables announced this week by Chinese manufacturer CME go further: a USB/MIDI cable that’s as […]

Roger O’Donnell helms his Moog at the Apple Store. Photo: Lee Sherman. Sometimes limitations can lead to the purest forms of self-expression. That’s what Roger O’Donnell found. After years of access to unlimited resources with The Cure, he decided to record an entire album, “The Truth In Me,” with but a single Moog Voyager synth. […]

Automapping, the ability to automatically assign controls on hardware to software parameters, is a big draw for a lot of users, and a new upgrade to the ReMOTE SL keyboard brings this feature to Pro Tools for the first time — while smoothing out the rough edges in support for other software. The ReMOTE SL […]

Ableton snuck a feature into a late beta of Live 6 that will make many users very happy indeed: crossfader curves. The Live user community, as usual, is even more on top of the new feature than the Abletons. Live forum contributor kabuki from Texas tested, graphed, and labeled the new curves: Curves in all […]

2D drawing software is hard enough to use; usually when you think of 3D the word “impossible” comes to mind. But SketchUp, now available from Google in both a commercial and powerful free version, is different. It’s easy enough for non-illustrators to use for creating accurate DIY designs with dimensions, whether you’re working on DIY […]

In addition to carrying cool stuff no one else does, like the Faderfox controllers for Ableton Live, San Francisco’s Robotspeak sells various circuit bent creations, like this mangled Teletubby: TinyFlaccid TubbyBox: LAla [Robotspeak] Modified from an interactive children’s toy, the Microsoft/ActiMates Interactive Teletubby LaLa, the bent LAla makes sounds everywhere you touch it, and cycles […]

Don’t knock physical faders: they work. And with proliferating options, somewhere out there, there’s a control surface for you. The latest candidate: Codanova’s new VMX, yet another control surface for self-powered use via USB or standalone MIDI operation. 59 assignable controllers, including 2 jog wheels, a cross-fader, and various faders and knobs. The jog wheels […]