NI Posts Free Soundpack Compilation, No Kore Ownership Needed; Tweet for Joy

Yes, the Internet moves fast. Just hours after Native Instruments announces a free soundpack, it’s already popping up on Twitter – AudioGeekZine reports happy times with the new Compilations Volume 1 soundpack from Native Instruments. Here’s the story: because Native Instruments uses the free Kore Player for its soundpacks, you can make use of the […]

LEDs In The Sky: MomentFactory's "Show Environment" for Nine Inch Nails

MomentFactory have released a video displaying some of the tech behind Nine Inch Nails fantastic Lights In The Sky tour. It’s a heady mix of tech, combining “stealth” LED screens, laser-controlled interactive video, particles, feedback, cameras… Oh my! There’s further information and video available on Wired’s coverage of the show, including future plans from NIN’s […]

RIAA Website: Portrait of an Industry Group Out of Touch with its Own Interests

This Website is brought to you by Chicken Little and Bad Cop. Much of the debate online about the record industry has devolved – with quite a lot of help from the misguided message of the US trade group, the RIAA – into a debate about piracy. It winds up being something dumb, like, “Piracy […]

Judge to Record Industry: Lay off Mom and Dad’s Computer, For Now

Harvard’s Legion of Legal Super-Heroes. They can lock arms and emit a powerful beam of Legal Logic that can defeat any foe. Yeah, okay, I’m glad I’m not in law; these look like the sorts of people who would beat me. What happens when people targeted by record industry legal intimidation fight back? What if […]

Harvard Students Defend Privacy Against RIAA; Industry Pushing Campus Licenses?

Reflecting Harvard: a bike passes through Cambridge. Photo (CC) sandcastlematt. Music DRM may be a thing of the past, online sales may be growing, but that doesn’t mean the U.S. record industry has missed a beat in its ongoing legal and lobbying campaign against music piracy online. The latest battle starts today in Rhode Island […]

Demos and Tutorials: Live Control of Open Source Animation in Animata, even with a ViewMaster

Mickey Mann from Matti Niinimäki on Vimeo. MATTI NIINIMÄKI, aka Original Hamsters, has been hacking away with the fantastic new, open-source animation package Animata. Using OpenSoundControl (OSC), he can control live animation with two other open source tools: “Pure Data” Pd (which opens up all sorts of other sonic and control capabilities) and the Arduino […]

MOTU Traveler Mk3: More I/O, Features Hit Mobile FireWire Audio Interface

Let’s start with the important bit: the Traveler really is a mobile interface. It weighs under four pounds and fits into a backpack; it’s actually a little lighter and more compact than a typical 15” laptop. Now, if your input and output needs are limited (a mic in, headphone out, and stereo out do suit […]

Inspiration: A Musical, Visual Sketchbook

moiré (piano and organ) from defetto on Vimeo. I expect I’m not alone in this: I use to spend time as a kid listening to long records of Beethoven and other stuff I loved, doodling endlessly in a sketchbook. I immediately found stimulation in the challenges of synesthesia: did that squiggle that was so much […]

Exclusive: Free Ableton Live Slicing Pack by Covert Operators

Slice of Winter from Bjorn Vayner on Vimeo. Hate soundware and generic downloaded samples? You’ll love this. The “Slice of Winter” sound pack created by Covert Operators for CDM doesn’t have a single sound in it – not one; you bring your own. Instead, install this pack and you get a whole mess of slicing […]

TR-808: The Pillow, Plus Other Soft Synths

Mike Payne sends this our way, from a blog post he just wrote: it’s a pillow rendition of the legendary Roland TR-808, courtesy Gwendolin Taegert of Berlin. (Being Berlin, I could imagine them soon having their own IKEA-style furniture store, exclusively for synth and music geeks.) Now 808 fans have something on which to cry […]