Exclusive Behind the Scenes: Interpol’s Live Rig

You’ve seen plenty of live rigs with mile-high stacks of keyboards and sound modules. But this setup is different: one of the world’s best bands is using an elaborate setup of software synths. Binding it all together is one of the most sophisticated software configurations I’ve ever seen, the fruits of labors by of our […]

Pro Tools Controller for iPhone, iPod Touch Available; More DAWs Coming

It’s cheaper than dedicated Digidesign hardware or automation surfaces – and it’s pricier than all the other iPhone / iPod Touch music apps we’ve seen. But Alex le Lievre has made his iPhone Pro Tools controller software, a story we broke on CDM in December, available on Apple’s store. And it’s the most like a […]

VJ Olympics? Addictive TV Remixing Sports for Adidas and Austria

With the Olympics opening ceremony coming up, I’m sure there are some visualists right now in Beijing preparing for one of the biggest performances of their lives. Since 2004, generative video and projection mapping has come a long way, so I’m expecting we might see something completely bonkers in the next 12 or so hours. […]

Mixxx, Open Source DJ Tool, Adds Vinyl Control

Mixxx running with a custom skin. Mixxx is an impressive-looking, fully free and open source DJ package for Mac (Intel only), Windows, and Linux. (It’s also the featured DJ tool on the Indamixx, Linux-based ultra mobile PC – mine just arrived, so hands-on is coming soon.) Adam Davison from the Mixxx development team points out […]

Unreleased iPhone – iPod Touch MIDI Controllers, Ready for Ableton Live and More

When I first saw the iPhone at Apple’s keynote in 2007, my first thought was, this could be an interesting controller: big, pretty display, accelerometer sensors, and multi-touch input. It’s not without some problems (namely, small amounts of latency, the lack of tactile feedback inherent to touchscreens, and the size of your fingers reducing accuracy). […]

iPhone Ups and Downs, Unhappy Developers, and the MIDI Controllers You Can’t Have Yet

Whether you care about the iPhone or not, the Summer of iPhone Development reveals a lot about where mobile computing, and mobile music creation, might be headed. That includes Apple’s challenges as well as its accomplishments. Despite the hype around Apple’s platform, the iPhone and iPod Touch have some strengths and weaknesses, just as any […]

Ableton Live Shortcuts in Infrasonik Video, Live Tutorial Player

Live beginners, want to graduate to Live ninja? Sample pack maker Infrasonik has posted a video that walks you through a number of shortcuts for Ableton’s software. (Via wire to the ear and Synthtopia; I agree with Synthtopia that the narration is a bit cheesy at moments, but yes, it’s still quite useful to have!) […]

Radiohead House of Cards Data: Time Lapse Rendering in Real Legos

When the creative team behind Radiohead’s new video for House of Cards released 3D imaging data of Tom Yorke’s head, I’m sure they looked forward to finding out what people would do with it. I’m guessing one thing they didn’t expect was for someone to go manually through the data and painstakingly reproduce it in […]

XLR8R vs. Daedelus Video: On Musical Influence, Monome pr0n, Obama

XLR8R TV Episode 71: Daedelus from XLR8RTV on Vimeo. XLR8RTV has a fantastic video interview with one of my favorite artists, Daedelus. The man is, as always, like pure musical joy. He talks about his musical influences, the early connections he made (including at USC, alma mater of a number of the CDM community), his […]