Amon Tobin has launched a new website, full of floating sea creatures and a Star Trek:TNG-style Flash interface. (Via friend-of-Create Digital Motion Eternal Gaze.) The good news here is, if you dig in the Media section, you’ll hear some gorgeous new clips from his new album Foley Room, due out March 6. It seems Amon […]

Soldering is strangely addictive, like knitting for tech geeks. Maybe it’s the solder fumes, but I find myself oddly relaxed. The other big surprise is that it’s really far easier than beginners think. (Read: I’m a klutz. If I can do it, so can you.) And there are plenty of good visualist hacker projects to […]

At the very least, it looks like Apple is working on significant new music software features, as you might expect. But depending on how you read their patents, new music hardware — even touchscreen hardware — could be in store. Apple is a big company with a lot of intellectual property, so teasing out patents […]

For those of you who missed the fireworks, Native Instruments recently left its partner Stanton Magnetics (makers of Final Scratch) to pursue its own DJ strategy, which it unveiled at NAMM as (coincidentally named, I’m sure) Traktor Scratch. As with any breakup, that raised questions about support. Here’s where the first bad news hits: the […]

The gradual rise of computer DJing raises questions about just what gear a DJ would want. Mixers were, after all, designed for working with a couple of decks, not a computer that itself can mix. Allen & Heath’s solution has been to cross-breed its popular DJ mixers with MIDI control and computer audio interface functions. […]

At the risk of stating the obvious: now is not yet a good time to upgrade to Vista. That much is generally expected with a new operating system. What’s unexpected is that it’s some of the biggest partners who aren’t ready. Microsoft’s own developer tools for Vista are still in beta. Basic hardware drivers are […]

We’ve been watching Zoom’s upcoming, unannounced $199 H2 recorder, seen at NAMM. The H2 has the advantage of price and flexible mic patterns for its built-in mic. But its shipping, larger sibling, the $299 H4, may be a better choice, depending on your needs. The H4 has basic 4-track operation, built-in effects, X/Y-pattern mics, and […]

Robert of Flight404 fame has posted his initial dabblings in Quartz Composer. I find it rather exciting that a Processing Ninja such as Robert can find inspiration in QC. I have a terrible head for languages – both human and machine – so I’ve been wondering whether a node-based environment may be easier for me […]

While on the subject of Gallo Speakers, here’s about as far as you can get from the baby-sized A’Diva satellites: speakers that tower 78″ tall, pack some 12 4″ aluminum woofers each, and deliver nearly omni-directional sound. Micro speakers (5″ each), yes, but in a slender but tall enclosure. The Reference 5LS speakers, due third […]