Ever miss 1995? In 1995, this passed for online entertainment: static web pages, some 20-somethings hanging out in casual- and swim-wear, and the ability to talk back to the “cast.” Welcome to the Spot. We’re a bunch of friends sharing a beach house in Santa Monica, California. Everyday we put up this website and tell […]

It’s on! The Circuit-bending challenge is officially underway! A quick review of the guidelines: 1. Bicycle, walk, or swim to your nearest secondhand store. 2. Locate and purchase a cheap electronic noisemaking device. 3. Take it home and bend that thang! 4. Document the process and end result, then upload it to the internet in […]

Native Instruments and MOTU have each posted compatibility update pages for Mac OS X Leopard. There’s not a whole lot of information yet (particularly form MOTU), but now’s the time to bookmark those pages! Be sure to watch comments from readers for other helpful compatibility information — much of it positive at this point. Native […]

For a little inspiration, it’s Famea’s bent toy piano. Looks quite playable — nice. Los Angeles readers, Surya Buchwald aka Momo the Monster writes to let us know he’s taking on the Circuit Bending Challenge live and in person, with a workshop. So if you were feeling squeamish about the challenge and want some assistance, […]

Our sources tell us some of you have run out to buy Mac OS X Leopard on its debut evening. If so, do be sure to tell us what’s working or what’s breaking. Our initial reports have told us just about all software should be compatible, including plug-ins. Hardware should work too, generally, though we’ve […]

This week on VJ-U, Benton-C Bainbridge interviewed Ray Sweeten, an audio and visual artist who pushes the creative limits of the oscilloscope, creating gorgeous, abstract forms with intense waves of sound. Watch VJ-U episode dvadeset i dva: Applications in cross-modal media

Digidesign has gradually helped Pro Tools users unchain themselves from the bulky interfaces the software once required. (Anyone remember the days of hooking up an entire expansion card chassis to a laptop, back in the day? Yipes!) But until recently, you still needed an Mbox to lug along. The Mbox2 Micro has a novel twist: […]

Ranjit Bhatnagar, aka Moon Milk Labs, sends this crazy video of his robotic Theremin playing away on Patsy. (After the jump, Theremins playing Crazy, the song.) See also the Moonmilk YouTube page for more. Yes, the robot struggles a bit with the Theremin … but then again, so do I. We’ll be getting up close […]

It was inevitable. With the likes of Radiohead doing “donationware”, DRM-free MP3 downloads, someone was bound to follow. (And, in fairness, Radiohead were by no means the first — this is something various artists have been talking about or doing for years. Updated: for some examples of other free albums through music history, see comments […]

For all of you who are considering participating in this weekend’s Circuit Bending Challenge, I thought I’d offer a few tips on getting started and some creative/low-budget ideas. Finding that special device What makes a device bendable? Two words: cheap construction. Most toy musical instruments are made very cheaply and operate on somewhat simple principles […]