Via the Pd announce list, a class of students are doing some pretty sophisticated experiments in design and interaction using Pd. I tend to have my own students focus on Pd for sound-making (since it naturally lends itself to signal flow) and use Processing for visuals (some are also using OpenFrameworks), but I’m impressed with […]

Osmos, the game that couples particle physics-based, absorption gameplay with a beautiful soundtrack (available in near-entirety here on CDM for free), continues its march to new platforms. iPhone and iPod touch users will soon get a handheld version, and a free port to Linux means you can play the desktop game on all three desktop […]

You’ve heard the lamentations before: album art died with the move from the large canvas of the LP vinyl record to the CD. Well, eat your heart out, LPs: album art is back, it’s interactive, and it’s trippier than ever. Just ask Flying Lotus. Fieldlines is a free Mac and Windows application that creates an […]

Apple’s iPad-to-VGA Dock Connector adapter hasn’t exactly been a home run for consumer end users, who have been disappointed to discover that applications don’t mirror to the output automatically and DRM-ed content won’t play. That has caused the device’s ratings to plummet on the Apple Store, and Engadget had this to say: Apple iPad Dock […]

Photo (CC-BY) Hryck. / Todd. Barcelona-based, Los Angeles-edited PublicSpacesLab is an example of what a netlabel can be. Instead of just another dumping ground for sounds, it feels like a well-curated cafe, pairing regular but thoughtful releases with reflections on music making. Everything is Creative Commons-licensed, free music, from a variety of artists spanning geographies […]

Jan Schacher at Sonic Circuits. Is the object to his left the best form factor for the situation – or not? (CC) IntangibleArts / Hawkins. The sight has become ubiquitous: if you’re hearing an electronic live act or computer DJ, there will be a laptop hovering nearby. The glowing logo of one fruit-themed computer brand […]

As touchscreens grow in popularity, let’s pause to reflect on the joy of the tangible, the physical. Juda (oneworldoneband.com) writes to share his rig coupling the Sega Arcade Controller for the Dreamcast game system with a computer. The ingredients: one terrific Sega game controller, one USB adapter, one Max/MSP app called MultiControl (runs via runtime […]

Ernesto Aello, aka VJ Pr4, has made a really beautiful video showing TouchOSC in action on the Apple iPad, demonstrating the utility of the touch tablet as a control surface for live visuals. Takeaways: Yep, that big screen is great. OSCulator, as always, is fantastic. You don’t need OSCulator to use OSC – but developer […]

Photo (CC-BY-SA) Antonio Manfredonio. Editorial: When you use an image tag on a website, you don’t have to worry about whether it’ll be readable by all devices or whether some intellectual property lawyers could make it costly to use. Believe it or not, it wasn’t always that way, even with still images. Today, the problem […]

Image courtesy Machine Orchestra. Ed.: From modern electronica to South Asian Classical music, machines to humans, the Machine Orchestra is doing fascinating things with electrically-powered, digitally-manipulated, physically-robotic music. Here’s more about what makes the ensemble tick. It’s been nearly three months since I had the opportunity to guest blog here on CDM about a project […]