The Traktor Kontrol X1 is an exercise in minimalism, reducing the various uses of Traktor to a few encoders and buttons and a compact form factor. But while it supports MIDI for use with any DJ software, its “high-resolution” mode – as with Maschine before it – uses a proprietary protocol. The unit will sell […]

Qeve is a promising-looking, open-source visual performance tool built in visual patching environment Pure Data (Pd). It was built primarily on Ubuntu Linux but should also run with some adjustment on Mac. (Pd itself runs on Windows, but some of the visual dependencies are not available on that platform. I’d still recommend Linux.) Aside from […]

Clean is overrated. If you’re ready for a little digital dirt in your synth life, powered by the open-source Arduino hardware, Marc Nostromo’s Squealer is for you. Built atop the wonderful, Arduino-based Pocket Piano kit by Critter and Guitari, it’s a full-blown, simple, digitally-gritty synthesis engine. You get a monosynth, some fixed waveforms, a resonant […]

Novation’s Launchpad, its affordable (

OpenCV powers a multitouch interface, built in openFrameworks. Project by / photo (CC) Todd Vanderlin. When Thanksgiving rolls around, OpenCV will be one of the gifts for which I’ll be thankful. OpenCV is a “computer vision” library, capable of tracking motion and analyzing images, but generally useful as a pixel-crunching video library for many tasks. […]

An 8-bit Black Mage graces a very special Jack-o-Lantern. Photo (CC) Kevin Meehan / Coldways. If 16 bits spoil the mood of your All Hallow’s Eve, and you need some chips with your treats, the good peoples of the chip music community are hear to make sure the celebration of the visiting dead are properly […]

The veil between the living and dead is growing thin, and I… uh, have some free music for you. Sorry, it turns out I don’t have a clever lead for this story, and my segue makes no sense. So let’s get to it! Friend of the Site Liz McLean Knight aka Liz Revision aka Quantazelle […]

Photo (CC) Brendan Dawes. It’s round, it’s mechanically-resistant, it’s tangible, it supports multi-touch and gestures. Yep – it’s the turntable, and outdoing it would mean reinventing the wheel, literally. And so it is that more than a few Ableton fans have wondered how they might work vinyl into their software axe of choice. Ableton and […]

It’s striking how audiovisualism has broken into maximalist and minimalist streams, toward DJ-style cut-ups and mash-ups of video at one end of the spectrum and geometric generative animation at the other. Firmly planted in the maximalist, Emergency Broadcast Network-descended sliced-and-scratched popular culture, we have Eclectic Method. The duo does audiovisual pop-fragmentation better than anyone right […]

“Drum Machines Have No Soul.” Wait — “Drum Machines Have Soul, Ableton Has No Soul.” Photo: Leo-setä. Given a choice between boring and crazy, I always choose crazy. After all, craziness is part of the artistic persona. So bring it on. It’s been a while since we had a celebrity saying things that didn’t really […]