Hand-Mixer “Cappuccino Synths” and Rare Earth Pickup How-To

Cappuccino Synth from Gijs on Vimeo. An oscillator is, after all, just something that oscillates. So it is that a handful of hand mixers can become sound sources, in Gijs Gieskes’ new “Cappuccino Synths.” The sound isn’t much raw, though with some processing it could go in any direction you might imagine, and there’s something […]

Free SoundCloud Sampling with Creative Commons Search, Player; Q+A

Creative Commons button. Photo (CC-BY-SA) Andy Melton. Finding samples and remix-able music — or advertising the availability of tracks you want to release for that purpose — has just gotten a lot easier. As part of a raft of improvements to the SoundCloud service – including some nice non-CC enhancements to search and tag browsing […]

Brian Eno “Small Craft On a Milk Sea” Confirmed on Warp, Preorder Wed.

After a fuss over a leak and then an official confirmation from Warp, Brian Eno has unveiled his next album, “Small Craft On a Milk Sea.” The launch page reveals far more about the packaging than the actual music (though I must say, the packaging is very pretty). But the album does focus on collaboration, […]

Off Topic: A Motorcycle, a Film, and the Sound of Machines

“Off the phovea” thinking describes, using the eye as a metaphor, focusing on a problem by reflecting on what’s not at the center of that problem. On this rainy Sunday, that’s how I’m starting my day, so I thought I would share. This film about motorcycle maker Shinya Kimura fits here, even off-topic, for two […]

Composing for 1-bit Microchip: Tristan Perich

Tristan Perich releases music entirely as electronics, with his 1-bit Symphony, coming out next week. But before we get hung up on the novelty of the thing, take note: there’s some real musical, compositional goodness inside that jewel case frame, locked up in the circuits. To begin the conversation about that music, Primus Luta, aka […]

iPhone Devs Get MIDI Keyboards, MIDI I/O, But With Some Strings Attached

Mobile devices are here, they’re powerful — get used to them. Now, could they just connect to the rest of your noisemakers and studio rigs? That’s the potential of new iOS SDKs for MIDI I/O and keyboard docking. But aside from some restrictions imposed by hardware support on iOS, what many developers are publicly wondering […]

Packed Decibel Festival Slated for Seattle, Led by FlyLo, September 22-26

Dancing in the park at Decibel, ca. 2009. Photo (CC-BY) zenobia_jo. Seattle’s Decibel Festival has announced a packed lineup of artists, events, and workshops for its 2010 edition. With growing events across the continent of North America, maybe it’s time to stop claiming the “only” event of the year is Mutek. (Nothing against the spectacular […]

Fragmented Architecture, Made from Vanishing Points, and Visual Acoustics' Master Photographer

Extracts of Local Distance from STOESELTNTPRO on Vimeo. Can something as simple as a vanishing point become the beginning of a different way of seeing? Whether through experimental new digital imagery or the master of modern architectural photography, trained in classical technique, volume and photo hold immense potential. They do so in an embrace from […]

Fragmented Architecture, Made from Vanishing Points, and Visual Acoustics’ Master Photographer

Extracts of Local Distance from STOESELTNTPRO on Vimeo. Can something as simple as a vanishing point become the beginning of a different way of seeing? Whether through experimental new digital imagery or the master of modern architectural photography, trained in classical technique, volume and photo hold immense potential. They do so in an embrace from […]

Guerilla Projection Mapping, 30 Minutes

Integrated Visions / City Eventions Projection Mapping (Stationary View), 08-09-10 from Integrated Visions Productions on Vimeo. Part of the appeal of projection mapping to me is not so much the novelty of the thing, as its promise to take live visual art and free it of limited contexts. As with live electronic music, there’s a […]