“What if you had to take just one software instrument with you to a desert island?” It’s not an entirely silly question, with so many choices in software potentially distracting you from real music making. I say, cheat: take a tool that lets you build your own tools, specific to the job. Reaktor immediately springs […]

Sometimes in technology, the design of a product can have an impact beyond just the tool itself, and that’s easily the case with the Akai MPC. Even if you aren’t part of the device’s cult-like following, you’ve likely worked with software influenced by its approach to musical interaction. While we await the coming of creator […]

The creator of iTouchMIDI — now iTM MidiLab — writes to let us know that Apple has approved his app. I know various iPhone and iPod touch owners were waiting to turn their device into a mobile, wireless MIDI controller, so this is good news. See previously: Unreleased iPhone – iPod Touch MIDI Controllers, Ready […]

Neon is among the best of a breed of obscure, indie VJ software gems around the world. The creation of mac/xplsv.com and later shine/xplsv.com, it’s made a mark not only as a VJ performance app but as a creator of real-time motion demos. It can event manipulate 3D Studio Max 7 scenes in real-time. All […]

Thor wants you to help support the legacy of synthesis history! Image: Dunechaser. The Bob Moog Foundation is still urgently seeking support so it can work to preserve not only Bob Moog’s legacy, but his massive archives pertaining to the history of music technology in general. Propellerhead is donating money and came up with the […]

If you’re interested in generative and algorithmic music – music that evolves organically rather than being pre-composed in start-to-finish linear fashion – you won’t want to miss this site. Nodal is a free (for non-commercial use) app for developing generative musical systems and transmitting MIDI. You’ll need a Mac (PowerPC/Intel) to run the software, but […]

With all this talk of mobile music creation, it’s time to get a little scientific. Which mobile digital platforms do you actually own? Which do you want to read about on CDM? We have, of course, lots of interesting stuff happening with actual mobile computers – think UMPC, Eee, and OLPC – but then, those […]

Intrigued by the Kaossilator, but annoyed by hearing two bars over and over and over and over…? Our friend David Battino has the solution, and while it’s a simple trick, it wound up being the deal-maker for buying Korg’s cute little “dynamic phrase synth”: What loosened my credit card was a secret hack Korg revealed […]

The Joy of Interlacing from Videopia on Vimeo. As it happens, interlacing is not a diabolical technology invented just to make your life miserable by creating those annoying Venetian Blind patterns on digital videos. (Who knew?) The wonderful people of Videopia don’t just explain interlacing – they defend it, starting with its early history. Then […]