Reflection II from Datdatdat / A. N. Fischer on Vimeo. Can a sound be a sculpture? While using a familiar technique – mapping frequency energies via a FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) analysis – Reflection has a transformative impact on the perception of a sound by translating it into three-dimensional, physical form. I’d been struck by […]

For all the talk of Android and iOS, the lesser-known Pandora handheld has some juicy visual capabilities in a pocket form factor. You get decent specs (an ARM A8 core plus decent DSP), OpenGL ES 2.0 support, and – critical to making this a mobile visualist box – good, old-fashioned S-Video TV output. Production runs […]

Brian Eno should be proud. Generative sequencing – making lovely, shimmering music mapped to pleasant-sounding modes – is totally in this season. At top, exhibit A: Aura Flux, a new iOS ambient music generator. Priced at US$1.99, it nonetheless packs some 48 different instruments, ambient sounds, four keys, save/load capability, and multitasking support. Sequences are […]

Still from Robert Henke’s set at Optical 1 Our man in Seattle, Primus Luta aka David Dobson, continues his video coverage of the Decibel Festival for CDM with another set of feature coverage. All that coffee out there must be working. Take it away… Despite being the first event after an incredible night, which for […]

ReacTable Mobile has arrived for iOS mobile devices – even handhelds – bringing the visual, modular sound-making environment to the masses. Apart from building your own interactive musical table, the only way to get ReacTable’s software previously was to spend some EUR9700 – and get on a waiting list. Now, any Apple mobile device will […]

The FlyLoTrio After Rocking Decibel – Ronald Bruner Jr., Flying Lotus and Thundercat The patter of rain against the window brings in day two at Decibel.  Early afternoon coffee is the ‘tall’ to order for the conference sessions in Pravda studios.  Robert Henke (Monolake) greets with a smile as he takes the podium for the […]

Who says laptop artist can’t connect? Decibel 2010: 12 Planet. Photo (CC-BY) VeryBadLady / Heather. Ed. Seattle’s Decibel Festival is, as one commenter put it, a convergence of music straight out of many of our music collections. Musician, producer, and journalist Primus Luta (David Dobson) is on the scene to bring us a vicarious experience […]

Photo (CC-BY) Kristian D.. Pick up a pen and draw a sketch. There, that was easy – however crude, you can get out an idea. Sketching with paper is still the fastest way for most of us to imagine something. But between that immediacy and the end result, you need prototypes. The Processing language has […]

Here’s a truly creative application for 3D printing technology: make elegant, cloud-like letters in foam that drifts off into the blue. It’s suggestive of the kinds of creative use of printing from the digital to the physical that may lie ahead. Thanks to Matt Ganucheau for the link, which, judging from YouTube views, has been […]

Multitouch remains a terrific way to control live visuals — but improved response and accuracy would be welcome, if new hardware delivers as promised, as well as finer control via stylus input for drawing applications. On Create Digital Music today, I point to some interesting news regard Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet. This could be the […]