It’s like the accordion equivalent of a double-necked guitar. And it’s a digital controller, too. Hmmm … wonder what a physical-modeled synth patch would sound like controlled by a double-bellowed digital guitar … (starry-eyed) I know what I want for Christmas. Accordion Hero II [Shadenfreude Interactive GmbH] via: Accordion Hero makes you want others in […]

My review of Apple’s Logic Studio (including Logic Pro 8) is now live at Macworld.com (it’ll also be in the January 2008 print issue). Summary: Pros: Single-window view speeds editing and setup; MainStage program ideal for playing instruments and effects live; powerful, easy-to-access editing and take management tools; bundles Soundtrack Pro but halves the price; […]

Cezanne never gets attention like this. Yes, a musician and “computer engineer” (take note: even in 2007, using computers can make stuff way more science-y) has somehow made Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” into a musical score. You have to see loaves of bread and arbitrary points on the Apostle’s bodies as notes. And you […]

Don’t get too excited. Gibson Guitar is not, in fact, introducing a fully robotic guitar. Or a creepy robot doll that plays a guitar. Nor are they shipping you a handsome (male/female/your choice) robot assistant who will follow you around and tune your guitar for you. Too bad. But they are launching a robotic, self-tuning […]

Just in case mastering the subtleties of playing a Theremin isn’t hard enough for you, you’re in luck: you can master the subtleties of building a robot that has to then master the subtleties of playing the Theremin. Sarah Angliss, a human Thereminist in the UK, sends us this video of a creepy doll robot […]

Eric Johnson’s musical wall of switches captivates the crowd at the last CDM + Make + Etsy Handmade Music night at Etsy Labs. Handmade Music, the semi-regular evening of DIY musical oddities brought to you by CDM, Etsy, and Make Magazine, will mercilessly descend upon yet another peaceful Brooklyn evening. Expect an informal, free party […]

An increasing trend in video games is featuring brand product placement in the game design itself. Mackie is one of the first non-guitar brands familiar to readers of this site to show up in a game, with prominent Mackie PAs appearing in Guitar Hero III. (See comments: the Guitar Hero franchise apparently loves licensed brands.) […]

Take the modular, patchable sound-making capabilities of Reaktor and (at the other end of the scale) Reason, and combine it with a graphical, zoomable, nodal interface with patch cords showing actual signal, as on the reacTable interactive table interface, and you should get something like Mod271. (Pronounced “mode.”) The software is in pre-pre-alpha phase, but […]

Thank you, Edirol. While some of your competitors lag months behind OS updates or fail to release drivers for some products entirely — not naming any names (I assume our readers will do that in comments) — Edirol has really been on the ball. (Also on our good list driver-wise: RME and MOTU, among others.) […]