Here Come the Fixes: Live 8.1.1 Begins Squashing Bugs

(CC) Pikturewerk. Minor releases and bugfixes don’t generally make CDM news, but this is a special occasion. Ableton founder and CEO Gerhard Behles got everyone’s attention this week by making the rare public announcement that Ableton’s development team was temporarily halting work on new features to focus on fixing bugs. That has prompted some seriously […]

NodeBox 2: Free, Python-Powered Tool Gets Visual Patching, Windows Support

Free tools like Processing and OpenFrameworks have provided elegant, quick coding for live graphics, but their interfaces have tended to be code-based. One exception has been the Mac-based Field, which provides graphical patching. Now, you can add NodeBox to that list. This free graphical creation toolkit, built on Python, had long allowed tinkering with and […]

Tell Us Your Picks: Top Visualists, Best Work of 2009

Another calendar clicks by. Printable calendar and photo by Joe Lanman. Visualists: it’s time to talk about the work that inspired you over the past year. As I go through the top electronic music albums of the year, it occurs to me that a similar compilation is badly needed in the world of visuals. What […]

Round-Up: Robotic Drummers, Robotic Percussion

So, your human drummer can’t bang out the elaborate breakcore beats you’ve composed, huh? Build your own robotic replacement, putting the magic of positronics into rhythm. That’s what the folks of Texas Central Positronics and the David Crowder Band have done with Steve_3po, the robotic drummer. It brings new meaning to “drum machine,” blending acoustic […]

Got a Product at NAMM? Get in Our Guide, Request Meetings; Correspondents Wanted

Yes, folks, NAMM is big. Photo (CC) bigdrumthump.com If you’re introducing or demonstrating new products at NAMM, and you’d like to be considered for CDM’s curated NAMM products guide, let us know. Incidentally, since I don’t represent the NAMM organization, that can mean anyone in LA around NAMM or otherwise timing announcements that week, whether […]

Ableton Suspends Development to Focus on Bug Fixes for Live 8

Killing bugs dead, as pictured in a sign in Ikaho, Japan. Photo: Rick Hall. New features are great, and yes, it’s often us users asking for them. But reliability and stability are more important to most of us. It’s therefore a welcome surprise to see Ableton’s CEO post the following message on Ableton’s forum today, […]

Resolume News: Major 3.1.3 Update, Ableton Live (and More) MIDI Sync Tutorial

Major new goodies include, from left to right, mask blends, keystone plug-ins for your projection mapping enjoyment, and effects like the lovely Cube Tile. Resolume in 2009 set out a new course for the visual performance software, and more than many of its live visual rivals, was particularly ambitious about melding audio and visual media. […]

"Let's Enhance!" Montage Views Image Processing Through Hollywood's Eyes

There is technology, and then there is the popular imagination of that technology. Even in our increasingly-tech-savvy society, there’s often a gap between the two, conscious and subconscious. The imagination of how image processing might work, though, is especially incredible. If you haven’t seen the video above, it’s hilarious – and familiar. Perhaps the greatest […]

“Let’s Enhance!” Montage Views Image Processing Through Hollywood’s Eyes

There is technology, and then there is the popular imagination of that technology. Even in our increasingly-tech-savvy society, there’s often a gap between the two, conscious and subconscious. The imagination of how image processing might work, though, is especially incredible. If you haven’t seen the video above, it’s hilarious – and familiar. Perhaps the greatest […]

Create Digital Motion is Back

An odd sign, but perfectly apt here. Sorry. We are open again. Photo (CC) Bill & Vicki Tracey. For the record, we have restored our domain after confusion with our registrar. I want to personally apologize for this happening and confirm that we won’t let it happen again. I wrote a bit on Create Digital […]