Reaper 4.0 has hit prerelease, the latest version of this $40+, lightweight (measured in a handful of megs) DAW for Windows or Mac. The banner feature is called WALTER, “Window Arrangement Logic Template Engine for REAPER.” The idea: you should have your music production screen look the way you want, with elements moved to whatever […]
Music
Interview: Michael Vincent Waller connects concert music and hip-hop
Music Stories December 26, 2024
Live radio from Gaza, Khan Younis and Bethlehem-Hebron choirs meet
Music December 24, 2024
Liz Pelly’s Spotify book reveals how company uses ghost content
Music Tech Web December 19, 2024
Sol Installation Probes Solar Energy, Uses Rapid Processing Prototyping
Sol, an interactive “spatial” installation, examines the roots of solar energy. (Your sun: the greatest nuclear fusion power source within light years.) Visitors to the installation get to participate in “staging” the whole cycle, playing with particles that simulate nuclear fusion, then watching the response of DMX-controlled LED and fluorescent lighting, all set to an […]
Social Recording: SoundCloud Adds iOS, Web Record Buttons, More Social Integration
SoundCloud for iPhone from SoundCloud on Vimeo. While it’s easy to focus on one platform or another, a profound trend in 2010 has been toward sharing media in the cloud. The basic concept is as old as the Internet, but from applications like Instamatic for photographers to syncing storage to tote around documents on iPads, […]
Virtual Synths: Modeling Gear, as Imagined by Communities and Engineers
Do Androids Dream of Electric Synths? Imagining an instrument from a clean sheet of paper is an essential part of the design process. It can remind us of the extent of possibilities – and, sometimes, why compromise is necessary. The German site Amazona.de this week unveiled mock-ups of an instrument conceived by their community. The […]
Stereoscopic Dance Theater, with Kafka
CPU (Central Processing Unit) – 2min edit vs2 from 1n0ut on Vimeo. The use of illusion to create onstage ghosts (Pepper’s Ghost) dates back to the 19th Century; optical effects and dramatic trickery far further. So, naturally, new digital techniques are sure to provide ammunition for creative theatrical staging, as in this work, “CPU.” In […]
TRON: Legacy Gets the Projection-Mapping Treatment
TRON: Legacy Projection Mapping trailer – Southbank London from Guided Collective on Vimeo. The original Tron film, combining optical effects, hand-painted techniques, and elemental computer graphics, had a big impact on my visual imagination as a young person, as I’m sure it did many. The glowing inner world of that movie has surely had an […]
Elegant, Simple Soundmakers Handmade by Brian McNamara
Dead-simple, focused on one task, the Wicks Looper reminds us why we liked looping. And I love the handmade gift case he made to go with it – an idea worth duplicating with other gear. All images courtesy Brian McNamara. For all that latest plug-in may perform every kind of synthesis ever, much of electronic […]
Digital Video Fragments, Flowing as if Liquid: A Chat with Robert Seidel
In Robert Seidel‘s “motion painting” Meander, digital video is fragmented into atomic textures, as sound and visuals alike crackle through streams and clouds. Don’t mention the word “glitch” or “datamosh”: it’s really more like digital action painting. Working with the visual development environment TouchDesigner, Robert collaborates with sonic artist Heiko Tippelt, as seen here in […]
A Very Visualist Holiday: Tell Us What Eye Candy is Worth Wishing For
Photo (CC-BY) Valerie Renee. Musicians get loads of gift guides. Still photographers, too. Visualists – people who care about live visuals, fun synesthetic toys, experimentation for your eyes, and visual innovation – not so much. Let’s change that. Whether it’s a book about Nam June Paik, a set of lenses, a novel live controller, we […]
Virtual Theremin Made with Kinect; Real Thereminists Will Make it Useful
Therenect – Kinect Theremin from Martin Kaltenbrunner on Vimeo. Who says technology has to move fast and die young? Leon Theremin may have been a full century ahead of his time, before computers, before transistors, before jet engines or atomic power or rockets. ReacTable creator Martin Kaltenbrunner has a virtual Theremin prototype built with Microsoft’s […]