Musically, compositionally, we think in notes and rhythms and patterns. MIDI may be a simple way of describing those elements, but it can be surprisingly expressive. And so, just as we have all sorts of boxes for adding effects to sound, there’s clear appeal to boxes that do stuff with musical patterns and information – […]

Even in 2012, one of the great wonders of computers is, they sure make some damned awesome synthesizers. Z3TA+ 2, around for about a decade, is one of the soft synths you might fairly call a “classic.” (Not just in a press release, either – I’ll defend that moniker.) You’ve probably heard it used in […]

So, we can point lights at different stuff and map projections to surfaces and do all that good stuff. You know what’s even more fun? Flying the lights around on helicopters. In a dazzling visual display of abstract spectacle, Quadrotors – in this case, small, mobile four-rotor helicopters – buzz about like a precision ballet […]

So, we can point lights at different stuff and map projections to surfaces and do all that good stuff. You know what’s even more fun? Flying the lights around on helicopters. In a dazzling visual display of abstract spectacle, Quadrotors – in this case, small, mobile four-rotor helicopters – buzz about like a precision ballet […]

limbic from Institut Fuer Musik Und Medien on Vimeo. Music isn’t just syntax; it isn’t just a binary message in our brain. It somehow connects with our body in an intimate way. The music video “limbic” explores this visceral connection right at the level of the skin, at sweat and goosebumps and facial reaction. “limbic” […]

Music production tools like Renoise have a tremendous amount of power. But what if you could program grooves with the kind of touch-a-pad workflow offered by something like the MPC? In the latest example of users doing wild things with the powerful API in tri-platform tracker Renoise, mxb attempts to make a sort of Renoise […]

It’s one thing to talk about tools. It’s quite another to put them into action, to make them withstand the rigors of creative process and idiosyncracy, let alone the torture test of touring. Laura Escudé is as deep in the trenches, on a day-to-day basis, as just about anyone on the planet. The music tech […]

SJS-ONE is an 8-bit synth that you add to an Arduino board, making it ideal for hardware and firmware tinkerers and lovers of unique monosynths. But we’ll give it bonus points for two other reasons. First, it has some really bizarre cases available as add-ons, which look a bit like punk birdhouses. (Birdhouse squats? Hot […]

MPS – Building Presentation from White Kanga on Vimeo. A model building rotates, light spilling over it. A virtualized sun creates shadows and accelerated days. And then, halfway through, the building still gliding in circles, it’s as though you can see through the building to wireframes beneath. The latest illusions from the White Kanga crew […]

Pole @ SAT /// MUTEK 2012 – Immersive visual performance by ZEF&SANTO from Santo / Pharaoz /antoine St Maur on Vimeo. You want to see movies on the big screen. (Ask recent Batman ticket buyers.) You want to hear sound on big, loud, clear PAs. So, if you want one way to make audiovisual performance […]