Ask CDM: Stuck in a Hospital? Learn Advanced Visualism!

Dan writes: Please pass on as many links as you possibly can think of for a beginning VJer who is currently stuck in hospital for a time – lots of time to play and practice and learn through tutorials etc. any help appreciated. Excellent question! So, let’s help him out — any suggestions, folks? Heck, […]

Livid Cell: New, $99 Simplified VJ and Live Visual Tool

Clean, straightforward, with a US$99 price tag, Cell could be the basic, cross-platform (Mac/Windows) live visual app many have been looking for. And it could be the entry-level app that still seems to elude some of the bigger manufacturers. We’ll be watching it. Not everyone wants loads of advanced video processing, compositing, custom programming visual […]

Tenori-On Debuts Sept. 4: Innovative Musical Instrument Launches in London

In Toshio Iwai’s world, THX 1138 is way, way cooler. Fans of radical exploration in instrument design have watched the Tenori-On since 2001. The instrument, designed by composer / sound artist / visualist / interactive designer Toshio Iwai, is part sequencer, part sampler, but with a novel, integrated interface using a grid of buttons. And […]

eMotion – Quartz powered particle based madness.

EMotionDemoUploaded by AdrienMondot Adrien Mondot has posted a preview of his latest creation for OS X – eMotion. eMotion is an physically modeled, OpenGL powered particle engine enabled app that is Quartz Composer friendly, has an incredible text engine, and has Wii remote, wacom tablet, OSC and sudden motion sensor inputs to drive parameters. Watch […]

Meatspace Networking for Musicians: Chicago Demo Swap Party Wrap-up

Ed.: Social networking, online sites (this being one of them), Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace … sometimes it seems like all the connections are being done online. Naturally, the Web’s real power is when you can meet all those virtual personalities you’ve gotten to know offline. Far better than getting demo CDs in the mail or listening […]

Preview: Splice Music 2.0 Could be First Web 2.0 Music App

Splice’s new interface looks suspiciously like a desktop music application — and even allows real-time effects. Screen grab by our friend Marco Raaphorst; if you can read Dutch, he sounds very, very excited about this website. Okay, calling anything “Web 2.0” is about as cool as casually slipping in the word “synergy.” Generally meaningless; definitely […]

Various Free Synth Samples from Reverb Rick

Reverb Rick writes to tell us he’s got various synthesized samples free for your use: Sample Giveaway There’s an interesting idea behind it: people can only use the sample once. Once it’s been used, it’s removed. So you run zero risk of hearing the sample in someone else’s song. This could be a fun way […]

New York Declares War on Tripods, Photography

New York City, having already banned dancing (don’t ask), now wants to ban videography in the streets without a permit and $1 million in liability insurance. Some I talked to suspected anti-terrorism paranoia. I suspect the lucrative deals the city feasts on for big-budget, commercial projects — and an utter disregard for everyone else. That […]

Web Songwriting with ChordStudio.com: Like Online GarageBand, But With Chords

Apple’s GarageBand is a powerful tool for recording MIDI and audio and arranging loops. It can be puzzling to songwriters, though, because it doesn’t really understand chord changes. Sure, you can transpose MIDI loops or (more problematically) audio, but that process is a bit clunky and rarely sounds right. Many beginner-level GarageBand songs (especially by […]