mrmr Provides Instant OSC Visual Control; Gallery Show, Workshop in NYC

Automatic for the people: the beauty of mrmr is that it’s an instantaneous, ubiquitous interface for any interactive visuals. Walk up to an installation, and via wifi, your mobile device receives a set of controls that can be used to manipulate what you see. You can collaborate on performances, provide interactions with software and data […]

EMS Synthi, Recreated in Max, then Controlled with a Webcam

The headline says it all. Oh, sure, as if it isn’t enough to recreate the legendary EMS Synthi synth – one of the most creative vintage analog instruments ever devised – this artist takes it one step further, controlling parameters with a piece of colored paper tracked by a webcam. It’s an achievement of sheer […]

First Video Tutorial: MIDI + iPad + Ableton Live – But Much More to Come

That didn’t take long – there’s already a how-to video for using an iPad as a multi-touch controller for Ableton Live. Great work, Atlanta music tech wizards! You can thank RyanNoise.com. Note: See notes for why they’re using this combination of software. Code is online in GitHub. Updated: the video has been refreshed (clips needed […]

LA, NY: Learn Control + Interfacing with OSC, Arduino, Pd, Processing

Joshue Ott’s Multidraw in action, as an Apple mobile provides wireless, collaborative drawing for anyone. Today, iPhone/iPod touch/iPad, but tomorrow, more computers and devices will be supported. Come learn more in NY, using free (as in freedom) tools – or choose open source tactile controls in LA – or stick around for more online. For […]

CoGe 1.0 Beta 2, Open Source Quartz Composer Modular Visual App

CoGe 1.0 Beta 2 Teaser and interactive Quad Warp demo from luma beamerz on Vimeo. CoGe 1.0 is now in its second public beta, bringing this modular, Quartz-Composer-based visualist app to Mac users. 1.0 introduced a new rendering pipeline, new user interface, new UI, and richer Quartz Composer support. Every single element of the visual […]

The First Round of iPad Apps Is Here: Updated Round-up, More Thoughts

I’ve completed my round-up of some of the most compelling music creation applications coming to iPad at or near launch: iPad Apps for Music Making: What’s Coming, The Bigger Picture The revised post includes some new videos and apps introduced over the weekend, so check out the full line-up. My thinking was that putting everything […]

Monome-tastic: 512 Musical Buttons, in Action, and Musical Flatlands

five twelve portable sunsets from tehn on Vimeo. A 512-button monome may be well out of reach of mortals, but as the Bugatti Veyron is to lovers of supercars and automobile design, so is this expansive array of buttons to fans of digital instruments. I mentioned the monome 512, now up for bidding in an […]

Open Source Code Changes Visualized; Results Amazingly Hypnotic

You’ll hear odd cynicism about people working on free software / open source projects. Something like, “well, harumph, it’s not as though a bunch of people will make this stuff in their free time.” Not only are these folks wrong, but you can actually visualize the contributions to source trees – and the results look […]

Digidesign Name is Gone, But Avid Reassures Customers in Open Letter

Avid users of the future? From the Vancouver Film School Sound Design for Visual Media program (CC-BY). A big motivation behind the push to unify its brands, says Avid, is that a new generation of independent producers is blurring the lines between video and audio work. Get used to saying “Avid Pro Tools.” Avid is […]

Of MIDI, iPhones and iPads, and a Restrictive Future for Hardware?

For years, in music technology and computing, we’ve relied on an idea so ubiquitous, we take it for granted. That notion is that you can use things together, and they work. At its soul, MIDI gives us the power to assemble different sounds, to record ideas. It means the investment you make in one device, […]