Today on my weekly 'Economy of Scales' segment for Gizmodo, I take a closer look at Dave Smith's new analog/digital-hybrid keyboard. How did Dave earn the "pioneer" title? His background includes co-founding Sequential, makers of the classic Prophet synth, and a leading role in the creation of MIDI, as well as fathering the Korg Wavestation. […]

iPods curently record at only a 8kHz sampling rate, unsuitable even for clear dialog recordings. That's kept me on a MiniDisc as my primary recording medium for music and even interviews. However, Phillip Torrone points out at hack-a-day, you can get around this limitation by installing iPodLinux on your iPod. That's a little less scary […]

Reality television has finally come to DJing, with a new show on Spike TV called The Club, featuring DJ Paul Oakenfold. Oakenfold's spinning skills will be featured alongside the adventure of managing and marketing nightlife at Ice in Las Vegas. Shure is using the show as a chance to push their line of turntable cartridges […]

If you've been waiting to download a free copy of Mackie's incredible audio/MIDI application Tracktion discussed here on CDM, do it now: Tracktion is available free only until 12/31. After that, you're limited to downloading a demo version that introduces white noise after 2 weeks of use. (The free version is fully functional forever.) Mackie […]

Based on a poll of a few weeks ago, it's clear what CDM readers wanted under the tree Saturday. So I've decided to give it to you — virtually speaking, anyway — based on the top three winners. The Readers' Choice goes to: Fairlight CMI: The original ultimate digital synth/sampling workstation (shown); while it's not […]

'Twas the night before Christmas, that the folks at Dave Smith Instruments let their new 4-voice analog keyboard out of the bag. Like the Evolver rack, the keyboard coming at the NAMM show next month will have real analog circuitry, a MIDI-synced analog-style sequencer, and extensive effects and editing parameters. Of course, there are the […]

Carillon is a free Windows VST plugin from Tweakbench: analog-modeled bells and chimes plus chorusing and reverb. Sounds fantastic. Plenty of other free stuff over there for Windows users, so check it out! Yes, it's a bit late if you're ready for some Nutcracker or other Christmas bell ringing, but why not celebrate the 12 […]

This week's Gizmodo installment from me highlights the Smart AV console, the intelligent control surface shown at AES and appearing again next month at NAMM. If you haven't seen this yet, it's a futuristic computer DAW control surface that uses touch-sensitive and light-sensitive surfaces to allow a limited number of physical channel strips to virtually […]

Normally, I don't like to cover 'point-one' releases, but MOTU's Digital Performer 4.51 is a major upgrade for users of this popular Mac-only digital audio workstation: Dynamic CPU Management frees up the CPU when plugins are idle. All MOTU plugins have been updated; third party MAS and AU plugins have to be updated by the […]

Musical instrument giant Yamaha will acquire 100% of Steinberg GmbH, including Steinberg USA, in a closed competitive bidding deal announced yesterday. Steinberg is developer of software products like Cubase and Nuendo. The purchase isn't a surprise: Steinberg and Yamaha collaborated on integrating Yamaha gear with Steinberg software via Studio Connections, integration that's likely to deepen […]