I want to highlight a comment from a recent story in which I was reflecting on how to approach Processing, and – in a larger sphere – design simplicity. Tom writes: My opinion – the problem with Processing is that is not part of a software ecosystem. Flash is aligned with Illustrator and After Effects […]

At work in Renoise. Photo (CC) Federico Reiven [blog]. If you’re ready to show your skills creating digital music, we want your work. UPDATED! New contest entry page, new deadline (10/25): http://www.renoise.com/competitions/indamixx/ Plus tips, tracks, and more to give you additional inspiration: More with Less:”Efficient” Renoise Music Tracks and Tips Renoise, the "bottom-up" music production […]

All kinds of fun. Prolific German/New Zealandish artist The Rainbowmonkey unleashes Google Image Search on to Okyo, to spectacular effect. “Monster” by okyo from The Rainbowmonkey on Vimeo. This was basically my first attempt at motion-tracking. Heaps of masks made out of random google images. Some inaccurate tracking and rough motion do show the piece […]

All kinds of fun. Prolific German/New Zealandish artist The Rainbowmonkey unleashes Google Image Search on to Okyo, to spectacular effect. “Monster” by okyo from The Rainbowmonkey on Vimeo. This was basically my first attempt at motion-tracking. Heaps of masks made out of random google images. Some inaccurate tracking and rough motion do show the piece […]

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo. At the World Science Festival in June here in New York, specialists – including musical specialist Bobby McFerrin – gathered to ask what in music we humans hear universally, versus what is culturally specific. Is our […]

New features in Modul8; for more shots, see Modul8’s Flickr stream. Mac-only visual tool Modul8 is getting some significant improvements in version 2.6, available now as public beta. The final version will cost EUR49. Snow Leopard users, this corrects some compatibility issues with Apple’s new OS, which I believe now brings all the major visual […]

It’s a strange and wonderful sampling instrument and live rig, capable of mangling and remixing live, synced to tempo. It’s proof that live computer performance doesn’t have to be in only one tool, or use one technique. It’s a ready-to-play, affordable instrument you can pick up and use. It’s a Reaktor patch gurus can pick […]

Nodes of musical events, arrayed onto virtual tracks, in Jakob Penca’s iLoveAcid sequencer. Take a weekend, and make something: that’s the challenge behind the Music Hack Day, which joins a growing phenomenon of events built around collective creation. (CDM held its own tangible interface hackday online, which I definitely hope to follow up soon!) Initiated […]

An almost perfect example of some deep and subtle work with a flexible tool, creating magical results: Ólafur Arnalds – Ljósið (Official Music Video) from Erased Tapes on Vimeo. If you’ve spent any length of time with Particular, you’ll recognize this instantly. The look of the Spherical Field and spread lines of particles when the […]

The wait is over – and rumors that Melodyne’s bleeding-edge technologies to allow direct access to notes in polyphonic audio had failed to come to fruition turn out to be false. (I was skeptical about those rumors in April.) Melodyne DNA did take longer than expected to ship, but then, that isn’t exactly news in […]