I’m working on a story now on VJing, and am faced with an issue I’ve had before — which VJs should I mention? There are regularly “top VJ” contests and lists, none of which seem to make complete sense. I’m curious to hear from readers of this site: who are the VJs/visualists, now and through […]

No, wait! You, too, can do this! Then show everyone your shader code and feel like a bad-ass. Or, better yet, get a GLSL shader code tattoo. Shaders, snippets of code for processing pixels and 3D points on your 3D card’s GPU, are cool — that much you may know. You may even know that […]

Reel to Wheel is a massive sound-making device built from bicycle parts and a dismantled reel-to-reel tape deck. Move around the absurdly over-sized controls, and its analog inner workings groan and creak their way through recorded sound. Move the wheel at the right speed, and you get an effect quite like scratching — or, since […]

Animator and musician Brent Green creates truly unusual animated films and performs live musical soundtracks to them, as he did for fellow Makers at Maker Day during last week’s Maker Faire. Hand-drawn frame by frame, his work seems barely to contain its own movement, described as “cobbled together” yet strangely beautiful. Evocative, simple soundtracks accompany […]

Want to wear your video on your sleeve? Wearaware Design hacked the cradle for the Archos line of video devices in ways that make the device both more practical and more … wearable. How? By eliminating the cradle, an always-worthy goal: The cradle itself is not necessary for accessing any of the A/V i/o ports […]

Evan has been hard at work on his free Wii remote drum machine for Windows, and he’s got a fantastic new version with an updated interface, more features, and nunchuk adapter support. All you need is a PC (or Mac) running Windows, a Bluetooth adapter, and Wii remote. (Hey, speaking of which, anyone know if […]

Ready to start using sensors and unusual interfaces for music, but don’t know where to begin? I’m doing a workshop tomorrow night (Wednesday) here in New York giving an overview of alternative musical inputs, including infrared sensors and barcode scanners. I’ll be on at 9:30pm as part of the Warper Party, a two-level monthly grab-bag […]

Finding a PR spin is often a challenge for artists, particularly when people delve into experimental electronica. Here’s how Future Sound of London, erm, “sugar coats” their work, circa the early 90s: Choice quotes: On sampling: It’s a way of lying. “I’m wasn’t the girl screaming in the park. That wasn’t me … She did […]

Maker Faire this weekend had plenty to offer fans of DIY musical gear, from Theremin karaoke performances to wild, home-built instruments from independent DIYers and academics. I spent most of the weekend tied to my booth, making music by scanning barcodes, manipulating a simple infrared sensor and touch sensor, and running live interactive visuals in […]