Music for Squares: Visualism and Architecture and Mapping Showreel

Architectural Visual Design aka Apparati Effimeri apparently have liked our ongoing projection mapping stories, so they send along their showreel. The music, appropriately enough, is Apparat. Visual performers: Federico Bigi Roberto Fazio Marco Grassivaro http://www.apparatieffimeri.com/ The documentation is a bit rough (boy, do I know that challenge), but I absolutely love their visual style. Even […]

Virtual Reality: 2 Wii's, 3D Glasses, XNA, and Some LEDs

What if virtual reality and seamless three-dimensional interfaces arrived, and they turned out to be a lot simpler technologically than you imagined? Well, perhaps you know a technology is within reach when it can not only be implemented, but implemented in a way that’s elegant and lightweight. The latest in the ongoing YouTube-able head-tracking and […]

Virtual Reality: 2 Wii’s, 3D Glasses, XNA, and Some LEDs

What if virtual reality and seamless three-dimensional interfaces arrived, and they turned out to be a lot simpler technologically than you imagined? Well, perhaps you know a technology is within reach when it can not only be implemented, but implemented in a way that’s elegant and lightweight. The latest in the ongoing YouTube-able head-tracking and […]

MPC5000 Gets 2.0 OS; Does it Stack Up to JJOS Alternative Firmware?

Akai has announced 2.0 OS for their flagship MPC5000 drum machine workstation, a free download for MPC owners. Now, the MPC itself has long been a bit minimalist in what it does – I think that’s part of its appeal, that it has resisted complexity. But users of the MPC1000 and 2000/2500 have as a […]

Video Mashed Kutiman Funk: What if All of YouTube Played a Song?

It’s the soul of YouTube. Or at least, YouTube soul, mashed together. In case you haven’t already seen this making its rounds, an epic collection of instructional and jazzy video clips get mushed together into a colossal, remixed funk band. What’s lovely about this is that the results don’t sound like a mash up: they […]

Tips: Fix Windows Explorer, Be Happy

I’m a big believer in open platforms, computer platforms, and the power to customize stuff. Unfortunately, there’s a simple reality: developers’ work is sometimes a bit like the proverbial bull in the china shop. (Code SMASH!) In short: a lot of times when Windows’ file managemer Explorer is hanging, it’s not Microsoft’s fault. Misbehaved shell […]

SLR Live: Canon 5D MKII On Tour with Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails have been on tour around Australia with the Soundwave festival, and their artistic director Rob Sheridan has been along for the ride, and took his Canon 5D MKII on stage at various venues. Full HD Version from Nine Inch Nails. Screw resolution charts and slow focus pulls on flora, this is how […]

Making Music with Fractals

Photo: Lara Sobel plays with naturally-synthesized fractals by burning into wood via high voltage. Fractals, those wacky self-similar, rough geometries that resemble so many patterns in nature, were once all the rage. Ravers and digital artists embraced them, only to get bored with them, apparently. To billions of years of evolution and natural phenomena, they’re […]

Learning Kontakt: How to Make a Sampler an Instrument, Performance Tool

Music-boxing in NI Kontakt from Create Digital Media on Vimeo. You know the stereotype. “Synths” are expressive. “Samplers” are those things relegated to playing fake instruments. But what makes synths fun to play as an instrument is the power they have over your sound, and the interactivity they provide. Peter Dines did a series for […]

Tangible Music: Build Your Own Interactive Table, Cheap, with TrackMate, LusidOSC

Trackmate LusidOSC Sequencer Application from Adam Kumpf on Vimeo. Want to interact with your computer musically using physical objects and other fancy-schmancy, science-fiction-y interfaces? Don’t want to rely on Microsoft or wait until 2019? You’re in luck. It’s like Christmas for DIYers and interactive futurists. Enter LusidOSC, a set of protocols, libraries, and useful code, […]