Max/MSP 4.6.3: Beaucoup Bug Fixes

Debugging is a never-ending process, especially for music software which must interact with operating systems, drivers, and other software changing simultaneously. Programs like Max are a unique case, as users are building their own software inside someone else’s software environment. Here’s the latest for Max: Even as Cycling ’74 is working on Max 5, Max/MSP […]

“Loudness War”: Music Over-Compression, Demonstrated on YouTube

Talk to everyone from armchair music production critics to dyed-in-the-wool pro engineers, and you’re likely to hear about how today’s records are over-compressed. (We think this is what Bob Dylan meant when he said records “have sound all over them.” But we made fun of him anyway.) To audio lay people, though, it may be […]

MacBook Speed Bump: Still a Fantastic Mobile Musician Bargain

Apple has made a minor upgrade to its MacBook line — same price, same lineup, but improved offerings. The $1099 white model is actually a pretty great deal now: 2.0GHz / 1 GB RAM / 80 GB HD means you get a pretty solid model out of the box. Upgrade to 1.5 or 2 GB […]

CDM Giveaway Starts Now: Win Free Hardware, Software, Swag, and Link Love

I’m pleased to announce the first-ever CDM Giveaway. We’ve got over US$4,000 of hardware and software tools for music creation, and we’d like to give you the chance to win them. To do that, we’re holding a good, old-fashioned prize drawing — I’ve been warming up my true random number generator — so that all […]

Cakewalk Vista Musicians’ Resource Page, Lots of Vista Drivers

Cakewalk has posted a Vista Resource Page for Windows users. You might expect this to be pro-Vista and Cakewalk-centric, but it’s actually a very useful jumping-off point for some solid information for upgraders. Most helpful: there’s a comprehensive list of audio drivers for Vista, and an exhaustive list of links to coverage from various publications. […]

KORE as Sound Format: Camel Adds Synth Presets for KORE, Absynth

Camel ports some new sounds to NI’s KORE. Could this be the first of many — or, at least, encouragement to try managing your own sound design and performance presets in KORE? Oh, and yes, those strange geometric patterns and crawling lizards and camels all mean something … having to do with sound. Way back […]

Tiny Instruments: Strange Pocket Soundmaker Toys from MiJam

Tiny MP3 players have become ubiquitous, but MiJam thinks you’ll want to use pocket-able toy-like music gadgets that make music. At about US$20 each (according to Technabob, these odd little devices purport to behave as musical instruments, down to what looks like either membrane or very slim buttons for keys: miJamm Mini Lixx is supposed […]

The Joys of Synthesis, with Suzanne Ciani and 3-2-1 Contact

Matrixsynth points to this gem, from the US educational kids’ program 3-2-1 Contact, produced by Children’s Television Workshop. (I can’t think of any science programs today for young people quite like it, sadly. Ordinarily I’d hold off for Matrix’s wonderful Week in Synths, but I just can’t wait on this one. Good Sunday evening watching.) […]

Happy Mother’s Day, Chiptune Style

8-bit musicians appreciate their moms, too. (I hear nearly all of them have mothers. One or two were forged out of spare C64 parts, which is pretty cool, as well.) That’s M0M with a zero in it. (M0th3r’s D4y?) A group of chiptune musicians decided they wanted to honor their mothers this holiday with a […]