Here’s a novel concept: Provide video tutorials that teach you how to play an instrument and walk you specifically through the technique of a song Make them available as downloads Charge US$4.99 each Get the artists (and producers) involved in the original song Let people hear the original track Break down the song piece by […]

Apple has posted the details of GarageBand ‘09. Most of the new improvements are in the form of the new Lessons feature, both built-in “Basic Lessons” and a la carte, $5 “Artist Lessons.” The basic specs: Basic lessons: Included with the program, these teach you the fundamentals of piano and guitar, with side-by-side notation, frets, […]

Photo: transcribed solos by Jamie Aebersold. Not high-tech, but invaluable. Now, let’s hope Apple’s latest is just the tip of the offering for tools to help make us better musicians. Photo here, below (CC) naturalkinds. What’s the biggest obstacle in music making? For most people, it’s basic musicianship. I’m not at the Macworld keynote, but […]

It’s port talk time again. As I suspected, Apple’s 17” MacBook Pro does get one additional port. You get 3 USB ports and one FireWire 800 port – though this means that, even though there’s almost no hardware that supports FW800, you’ll need an adapter for FW400 devices like HDV/DV cameras. At least unlike the […]

One chip to rule them all: over a quarter century later, the sounds of this chip are reborn in the newest mobile devices. Photo (CC) Dejdżer / Digga. Take a look at the long view of history, and the Commodore 64 fares nicely. It remains the most popular computer of all time. And this newfangled […]

The Nintendo mobile is a solo instrument no more. Lovers of the Korg DS-10 cartridge for the Nintendo DS handheld are making their own ensembles. And one such trio is a selection of who’s who in Japanese game music. The Korg DS Trio performed a celebrity concert after the Tokyo Game Show. GameSetWatch has an […]

Photo: Ben Hanbury, from a very cool BBC event. Sort of sums up game audio, this. For one area in which forward-thinking digital music types are doing innovative work in game and interactive audio, look no further than the Interactive Audio SIG. They’re doing really interesting stuff in looking at how tools can support future […]

Finally, NVIDIA extends a welcome mat. Photo by Anna Irsch. For graphics cards, drivers are everything: it’s just not possible to be on top of stability, performance, and functionality without access to new, stable drivers. But for Windows notebooks, unlike desktops, traditionally you had to turn to OEM PC vendors to get your NVIDIA graphics […]

Music for mashing buttons to. Photo (CC) Jon Jordan, Pocket Gamer. Perhaps it’s a sign of the times that, as far as the conference calendar for 2009 goes, some of the most interesting discussions about audio, composition, and technology are happening at a game developer conference. The terrific GameSetWatch “alt.video game” blog has a nice […]

Keep Your Resolutions Dance Party NYE 2009 from Robotkid on Vimeo. How did you spend your New Year’s Eve, visualists? And how much do you love live visuals and dancing? Our friend Robotkid (aka Josh Randall) just showed me this video of the frigid dance party in Boston, complete with –10-degree (Fahrenheit) wind chills and […]