Geek Gawking: An Opticon Podcast and a Plogue Maestro

Chris Randall of Analog Industries (and, of course, Audio Damage) is on a roll in his latest around the Interwebs roundup. Not to steal your post here, Chris, but on the off chance someone missed this, he nets both: 1. A podcast episode with music made entirely on the Optigan, Mattel’s bizarre “optical organ” of […]

Listeners Test New 256kbps iTunes Plus Tracks — Can You Taste Test the Difference?

Apple’s iTunes Plus is here, featuring higher-res files and no DRM. CDM reader Ryan Pollack points us to Slashdot, where readers are abuzz about a Maximum PC taste test shootout: “Maximum PC did double-blind testing with ten listeners in order to determine whether or not normal people could discern the quality difference between the new […]

Free U-NO-60 Windows Plug-in, Modeled on Roland JUNO 60

Okay, JUNO lovers: while we ponder why Roland won’t reissue some of its classic JUNO models, you can get your fix from some very responsive indie developers, at least on Windows. VST U-NO-60 from Togu Audio Line Before we get into the specific features of the plug-in itself, let’s talk about the features of the […]

Muon: Spectacularly Beautiful Speakers, with Gorgeous Sonic Visualization in Processing

The Speakers and Processing-coded visualization got a fittingly-lovely venue in Italy. Photo by Chris O’Shea, via Flickr. Looks can be a powerful agent for changing how we think about sound. Pairing liquid, organic speakers with equally fluid and dynamic visualizations, the launch of Muon last month in Italy made this principle readily apparent. I’m all […]

NYC: Rocking Robots, They Might Be Giants

They might be … robots. Yipes, they might be Cylons. Cylons look like us now! Run! Robosonic Eclectic: Morton Subotnik, They Might Be Giants, and robotic musical instruments on the same bill? That … doesn’t happen very often. But it does happen this weekend, starting tonight. With a lineup that includes They Might Be Giants, […]

M-Audio Announces Vista Drivers, But Many Aren’t Ready Just Yet

Music hardware giant M-Audio has been one of the big obstacles to Vista compatibility for many users. (We certainly heard from many of you that you didn’t want to upgrade until M-Audio support was ready.) They’re announcing driver support today. Note that “announcing” doesn’t necessarily mean they’re available right this instant, but it does sound […]

Guitar Strumming on the Nintendo DS, Coming Stateside; Videos Galore

M-06, the previously Japan-only game that allows you to transform a Nintendo DS into a guitar, is coming to the US via Ubisoft, reports Newsweek’s OneUp. (What’s this? DS music in Newsweek? Times have changed!) Exclusive: Ubisoft to Publish Jam Sessions, an Improved Version of Japanese Cult Hit Guitar Game, in North America This June […]

More DIY Music Tables: MultiTouch Console, Built in Processing

Via Music thing (be sure to read the comments, in which they sort out what it actually is), here’s another multi-touch music table built on freely-available tools: MultiTouch Console Quite a lot of tools have been connected to make this happen, but they’re all out there so you could do something similar. Let’s see if […]

Microsoft Unveils Surface, Multi-Touch Digital Table, But Why Not Make Your Own?

The good news: Microsoft is taking multi-touch, camera tracking, and gestural technologies seriously, and they have what looks like a very nice implementation that will be one of the first commercial implementations. The bad news: it’ll cost US$10,000 out of the gate. That high price will mean you’ll see at places like T-Mobile stores and […]