pure:dyne is a new free, open source, Linux-based, bootable, low-latency, high-performance operating system with Pure Data (Pd) as its main emphasis. Pop a CD, USB key, or bootable hard drive into your PC or Intel Mac, and you’re ready to go. pure:dyne, the Art + Music Performance OS for PCs and Intel Macs [Create Digital […]

Can sound editing be as intuitive as graphics editing in Photoshop? That’s the question Soundbooth, the new Adobe sound app, poses. Waiter! There’s a lasso tool in my audio editor! I’ll give Adobe this: they know their audience. First, they woo audio fans with this sweet-sounding phrase: “A brand new audio application in the spirit […]

If you’re into hard-core patching of custom live visuals and music, you now have a dedicated Linux-based OS you can run with all the tools you need — free. Ever wish you could leave your general-purpose operating system behind and boot into a pristine, low-latency, high-performance OS built for playing visuals and sound live? That’s […]

Moog unveils the limited edition Tribute’s successor. It’s the last call on the Moog Little Phatty Tribute Edition, the beautiful limited edition release of Moog Music’s latest synth. Moog Music president Mike Adams says, “We are completely sold out and my understanding is that only a few dealers have the Tribute Editions available.” I’m not […]

I’m always amazed when I meet After Effects users who don’t know about or utilize expressions. I’m no scripting guru, but the few expression tricks I know get used constantly. A couple of simple expressions are extremely useful for visualists, allowing you to quickly pump out incremental clips by just changing slider values. The creatively […]

I can’t take it any more. In one corner, we have PC pundits negatively reviewing Apple’s possibly-upcoming iPhone weeks before it’s announced — reviewing a product they know nothing about that may not even exist. (Incidentally, Microsoft’s new MadeUp Pro 2007 Edition — total crap. So is the new Imaginesoft NeverNeverLand iMadeUp Express.) And in […]

The problem with iPod DJ mixers? They’re generally pointless toys that are a poor substitute for real DJ gear. The wonderful thing about iPod DJ mixers that actually are intended as pointless toys that are a poor substitute for real DJ gear? For only US$30 or so (check Froogle for some last-minute deals), you can […]

We know you readers range from newcomers just trying to navigate the soup of music software product names to senior product managers at music software companies, Microsoft, and Apple. I’ll bet very few of you in any of those categories can get all of these right: ridiculous_fish: Hair care! / Digital Audio! Maybe they hire […]

There’s nothing worse than owning a shiny, new MacBook and discovering you can’t run music software you want to run. “All I want for Christmas” (or Hannukah, too, as these are just in time) “is a Universal Binary.” Good news: my inbox continues to report incoming Intel-native plug-ins and instruments. XO Wave, pictured at right, […]

This didn’t take long. Someone has already begun using the Wii controller to trigger samples and settings in Ableton Live. (Thanks, Johan Larsby — happy holidays to you, too!) One-handed, wireless DJing is born: The wiili server is back, so that Wiki is your best source for how-to information. In this case, what we’re seeing […]