Touch-Free, Gestural Interface, Powered by Electrostatics

3D Computer Interface from Free Flow on Vimeo. During long winters with indoor heat running overtime, I imagine you’ve built up your fair amount of static electricity, and as the sparks fly, wondered why you couldn’t put that power to some good use. Working with electrostatics, a team of students at Northeastern University in Boston […]

Ableton Live 8 Misuse: Ping Pong Psuedo Scratching Effect Video Tutorial

For all the emphasis on learning how to use creative tools the proper way, it’s often when you misuse a feature that it really becomes a powerful tool. So, in the spirit of some of the “mistutorials” from Ableton’s own Dennis DeSantis, here’s our friend Michael Hatsis of New York’s Track Team Audio / Warper […]

Processing Credit Cards on Tour with New iPhone App; PayPal, Other Alternatives?

Selling merch on the road – whether your band has CDs and shirts or you run your own enterprising business in geeky goods as our contributor Liz McLean Knight does – is a big challenge. Buying a full-blown credit card terminal is expensive. That’s why I’m absolutely with Hypebot’s Virgil Dickerson: running credit card numbers […]

A Bike Journey, Reimagined as an Arty 3D Game, with Blender, Processing, Real Bike

lb to sf via bike from vince mckelvie on Vimeo. What will become of 3D gaming engines when in the hands of new digital artists? You’ll get plenty of surprises and unexpected artwork. This is no ordinary California bicycle trip: it’s a trippy, Magical Mystery Tour in 3D, played as a game from a (real) […]

Burial and Four Tet Team Up … On Vinyl Only: “The Black Album,” In Real Life

Let me get this straight. Burial and Four Tet are working together on a record. But there’s … No artwork. No promos. An entirely … black cover? And it’s vinyl only? I’d believe the whole thing were an April Fool’s joke, if the folks at Bleep didn’t put out an email: We was so excited […]

The New Avid: M-Audio, Sibelius, Digidesign Subsumed into Avid Branding?

Avid, the parent company of music product makers Digidesign, M-Audio, and Sibelius, has decided to assert the brand of its mothership more aggressively. As near as I can tell, that means you won’t see the M-Audio, Digidesign, or Sibelius brand names any more – along with video maker Pinnacle. You’ll see, presumably, Avid Pro Tools? […]

Google’s Android Starting to Show Musical Potential, at Last

Google Android platform running on the TMobile G1. Photo (CC)  Josh Russell. (Ironically, a Silverlight evangelist for Microsoft!) I’m not exactly doing the Android a great service by talking first about all the applications you can get for the iPhone. But I’m still optimistic about the potential for the Android platform. Because it’s built on […]

iPhone Roundup: Field Recording, DJ Tools, Odd iInstruments, Cinco de Mayo

Now we’re talking: FiRe turns your iPhone into a serious recorder. No, really, a serious recorder – with advanced features and actual mic support. Your pocket is bulging with power. Wait… okay, that sounded really wrong. Anyway, the mobile software revolution continues. There’s so much stuff out there that it can actually be hard to […]

Auto-Tune The News, And Channeling Steve Reich, Anyone?

The Internet, having satisfied itself yesterday with video that faked a Beyonce who couldn’t sing, now imagines news that can. And Steve Reich is proven ahead of his time — again. (Congrats on the Pullitzer – it took them just five decades to notice!) Yes, Antares’ Auto-Tune plug-in – now so ubiquitous in mainstream, non-audio-engineer […]