Massive News Roundup-o-rama: After Effects Tips, Plugins and MacPro Instructions, Photoshop Layers into Illustrator, 8mm to Digital for Free…

A combination of frenetic CDM backend design work and all of my clients finally giving me materials 2 weeks before I leave to holiday in Vietnam has kept me from writing, and for that I apologize. Peter has or course kept up the fantastic content, but there is some more material which needs to be […]

Moog Little Phatty Unboxing, Impressions

There are lots of fantastic music tools out there, but some of them just inspire love and envy, and the Moog Little Phatty certainly fits the bill. Via Matrixsynth, Melbourne Sydney-based composer / music maven Sofie Loizou has posted her unboxing ceremony and first impressions of the Moog synth. (At this point, I would normally […]

Microsoft Live Labs Photosynth Transforms 2D Photos into 3D Worlds; Hands-on

Photosynth is one of the coolest pieces of software of any kind to emerge this year. And despite the fact that the name begins with the word “Photo” from a major software developer’s “Labs”, this time it’s Microsoft Live Labs giving us love instead of Adobe Labs. Photosynth takes hundreds — or thousands — of […]

The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Vista

At the beginning of 2006, we learned that legendary guitarist Robert Fripp would create a musical theme for Windows Vista, following in the footsteps of the likes of Brian Eno. Well, after a brief joke that circulated about what the sound set would sound like, here’s the real sound theme, at least as far as […]

Digidesign’s Mbox 2 Mini: Pro Tools LE, 1 Mic, Stereo for $329

Digidesign has taken a minimalist approach to their latest audio interface, the USB-powered Mbox 2 Mini. The new hardware gives the mobile Pro Tools LE user the basics for on-the-go use, and nothing more: One mic input (on a dedicated XLR, though only 2 inputs max can be used at once) 48V phantom power Two […]

Playing with Blocks: Interactive Blocks as Interface, and Resources to Make Your Own

When those infants graduate from playing with computer music-controlling pacifiers, they can move on to blocks. Our friend Nat points today to a brilliant tangible computing interface that generates sequences of musical events. (Also seen last week on Matrixsynth.) The transmitter (some sort of RF operation) communicates with a receiver connected to the compute, and […]

DIY Portable Music Player Kits

Enough of whining about Apple, Microsoft, and other hardware players: make your own media player instead. Co-Editor Jaymis has been hitting nasty firmware issues with his iPod, and I’ve been having issues with oddities on Zune. So let’s do things the DIY way and build a player that’s exactly what we want! yampp, “Yet Another […]

More Zune Coverage; Why Hobble Wi-Fi?

Now that the Zune has been unleashed on the wild, we’re getting some more coverage on the player and this mysterious deal with Universal Music Group. (Incidentally, I am hoping to get someone from PR to explain to me what that deal is for, whether it’s intended to cover pirated music played on the device, […]

Universal, Microsoft Screw Over Artists, Set Absurd and Dangerous Precedent with Zune

At first, I thought I was reading something wrong when I got this press release this morning: “Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Universal Music Group, the world’s leading music company, announced today an agreement which creates a groundbreaking, new revenue stream for UMG and its artists: in addition to the standard payments it will make […]

Real-Time Visualizations, VJ by Hearbeat: Jan Kremlacek + Processing

Image from Whizz, projected at a Romanian club by Jan Kremlacek and coded in Processing. Last week, we saw how Flash and Processing code can create custom VJ and visualization tools. Custom code means custom results, and all sorts of dynamic new possibilities for visuals. Jan Kremlacek writes from the Czech Republic to share his […]