Computer, Meet Groovebox: A VST Editor for Korg Electribe

Hardware workflows can be musically productive and rock-solid reliable. But why choose between hardware and software? Combine them. DirectEMX is a VST Editor for a Korg Electribe MX. Now, why would you want to drag a mouse around when you have physical knobs? DirectEMX has a number of answers to that. You can copy and […]

Kinect with Anything: TUIO Gestures from Kinect

TuioKinect from Martin Kaltenbrunner on Vimeo. Post hacking, Kinect is starting to look like it could be a do-anything controller in the mold of Nintendo’s Wii remote. Martin Kaltenbrunner, of ReacTable fame, has already posted a convenient application that maps gestures from Kinect to TUIO. (TUIO is a lightweight set of message specs atop OSC, […]

Dynamic, Projection-Mapped Topographies of Light, with hc gilje

Reasons to be thankful: it seems we’re at the beginning of an explosion of projected digital imagery as medium, with the best yet to come. And some of the most compelling work right now deals with the most elemental qualities of this medium, how light and space interact. Take the work of hc gilje. He […]

Kflux, an Editable Granulator for Max for Live

Kflux looks like a killer patch for Max for Live, a granulator you can drop in for sound-bending effects and, if you’re decent with Max, open up to learn more about how it works or edit to customize for your own purposes. At EUR9,99, seems like a must-buy if you’ve got a copy of Max […]

Black Friday Deals: NI Half Off, Rain Computers, and Gorgeous $150 TMA Headphones

Photo (CC-BY) Lululemon. (Bonus points if you spotted their logo, yoga fans, though “ohm” works well for us, too!) Black Friday, named originally for the day on which retailers typically broke even for the first time in the year (think black ink), has become a holiday for sales in the US. I’ve seen a handful […]

Ten Music Technologies to Be Thankful For Right Now

Photo (CC-BY-ND Dave/riptheskull. Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers. I was thinking about technologies for which I’m particularly thankful, some non-obvious, some perhaps so obvious they might be easily be taken for granted. Each I hope represents some opportunities for others. At the risk of starting a Thanksgiving roast, in no particular order, here are […]

Interview: Music Production Guru and Violinist Laura Escude

She’s a composer, a sound designer, a performer, and a violinist; she’s recognized as an expert in Ableton Live and has worked with artists ranging from Cirque du Soleil to Kanye West. But now we really get to hear Laura Escudé’s musical vision as a complete picture in her debut album this year, Pororoca. That […]

Velocity-Sensitive Touch: Manta Meets Ableton Live, 7up

Seven Mantas from bar|none on Vimeo. You’ve got fingers. Those fingers are incredibly sensitive and expressive with pressure, which can translate to music. Happily, touch panels and velocity sensitivity can coexist, as we saw yesterday. There’s more where that came from. bar none points us, via Twitter, to work he’s doing with Ableton Live-controlling patch […]

AVCLASH: Insane Interactive Audiovisuals, Free in Browser, via Flash

AV Clash – Tag Mash from Video Jack on Vimeo. What if you could witness the birth of life at a microscopic level in some alternate, digital universe? And what if it made a deliciously-raunchy racket? That’s the sense I get looking at AVCLASH, a free audiovisual interactive artwork built in Flash that runs in […]

Vizzie: Free Patch Add-ons for Jitter Make Live Visualism Easier

Visuals for live performance require a lot of the same things over and over again – media loading and browsing, crossfades, effects… Vizzie is a set of macro-style add-ons for Max/MSP/Jitter, free to current users, you can drop into any patch. Very cool, and they look very nicely designed. Read some praise for the plugs […]