touchAble, A Dedicated iPad Controller For Ableton Live, Covers All Bases

Many musicians and producers appear to be betting that the killer app for iPad will be Ableton Live. That is, they’re interested in controlling Ableton Live’s live performance engine, running on a full-featured Mac or PC, from the iPad as a touch control surface. Little wonder: the iPad, at US$500, has what’s likely the best […]

Griid, iPad-iPhone Controller for Ableton Live, Now Available

Image courtesy Liine. We got a first look at Griid, a dedicated Ableton Live clip launcher for the iOS platform, late last month. It’s now available in the iTunes App Store, along with pricing. Not previously announced, there’s a version for iOS handhelds (iPod touch and iPhone). A free version lets you see how you […]

Resolume 3.3: Audiovisual Performance Tool Adds DMX, Enhancements

Resolume “Avenue,” the audiovisual and VJ performance app, has reached the 3.3 milestone. Those of you registered users on the mailing list know all about this, of course, but here’s a look at the forward progress of this software for Mac and Windows. DMX input: If it sends DMX, you can use it to control […]

The Most Out of Windows 7: Choosing and Optimizing Windows for Music

From our call for CDM reader studios, Eric Beam’s studio. In his setup: Windows 7 64-bit, Cakewalk’s SONAR 8.5 DAW (with native 64-bit support), and the excellent modular patching environment Plogue Bidule. Click through to Flickr for a closer look. Photo (CC-BY) Eric Beam. This week, while we poll readers to find out what platforms […]

Loopseque, New iPad App, Offers Circular Sequencing and Visual Inspiration

For centuries, music has had scores as visual representation. Now it has visual interfaces in software, too. I know from our in-progress platform survey that most of you don’t own an iPad. (At the moment, I’m with you.) But that makes me doubly hopeful that what we get in music software design in general is […]

The Most From Your Workspace: The 5 Best Trash Audio Music Making Environments

Atom TM cut back on the gear and wires, opting instead for decoration. The result: warmer visual inspiration, and even a warmer sound. Operating systems aside, the most important “platform” for your music may be the work environment you create for yourself to produce. Seeing that physical environment for someone else can be an inspiration, […]

Your Input Needed: Visualist Platform Survey 2010

“Why don’t you cover more…” “Why are you biased toward…” Vocal, or perhaps a silent minority or majority, readers have platforms they choose that matter to their art. In parallel with the sonically-inclined survey launched earlier today on Create Digital Music, we want to know what platforms you use and care about seeing covered on […]

Tired – LED Walls; Wired – Giant Fluorescent Tube Displays! Meet "I Am Display"

I AM DISPLAY from dada technology on Vimeo. “I Am Display” is 10,000 watts of lighting goodness, composed of original, handmade electronics and some 182 lighting tubes, deployed in a 13-meter length, which debuted early this year. I’m not entirely sure I follow the designers’ intentions here: There is a sense of inverted communication between […]

Get Counted: CDM Platform Census 2010

Image (CC-BY-SA) by opensourceway, who has a particular bias — but, as it happens, our poll can be returned on both of these devices. So there. We hear your opinions in comments (sometimes loudly). Now it’s time to be counted. Which computing platforms do you own, and which do you use for music – desktop […]

Free How-to on Circuit-Bending the Saw Vocal Recorder; Handmade Music Austin Sunday

“Your kids will love this Saw figure.” So, too, must have been the calculation of the person who decided to immortalize the film Saw with little toys and figures containing 30 seconds of voice recording, because this toy is now available in quantity for — wait for it — US$2. A $2, 30-second sampler? Now […]