Here’s a switcher story of a different color: from the Mac, to Linux. It’s one thing to talk about operating systems and free software in theory, or to hear from died-in-the-wool advocates of their platform of choice. In this case, we turn to Kim Cascone, an experienced and gifted musician and composer with an impressive […]

Finally, we’ve got a digital instrument you can squeeze. Arrays of buttons may be digital in character, but they’re not a recent invention. Combining the organic, physical gesture with precise control over pitch via some sort of actuator is part of the tradition of musical instrument design. So, strange as it may be, this hybrid […]

Okay, Apertus doesn’t actually look like this just yet. But you can shoot video using an all-open solution today – and that’s an encouraging sign for more ambitious plans down the road. Forget deeper philosophical or political arguments for a moment. Right now, the proprietary chain of technologies for video, from sensors to firmware to […]

“A Kiss From Tokyo” Theatrical trailer from Stephane coedel on Vimeo. In the box, out of the box — in motion or still — part of what is exciting about the digital age as it matures is the ongoing blurring of lines between media. Digital art can rely on traditional media for input or output, […]

“A Kiss From Tokyo” Theatrical trailer from Stephane coedel on Vimeo. In the box, out of the box — in motion or still — part of what is exciting about the digital age as it matures is the ongoing blurring of lines between media. Digital art can rely on traditional media for input or output, […]

Ready for more dynamic control of Ableton Live, on the cheap? My how-to on MIDI Remote Scripting in Ableton Live was just last week, but it has already inspired new scripts for hardware, this time on the Novation Nocturn. (My examples for the tutorial were the Korg nanoPAD and nanoKONTROL.) The Nocturn is also very […]

The market is clear: guitarists (and other instrumentalists) want to plug in a piece of hardware, fire up their Mac, and start playing with GarageBand right away. The announcement of Apple’s new Logic Studio 9 last week coincided with the release of new hardware from Apogee, the audio vendor that has gone Mac-only and Apple-centric. […]

Ed. For this guest review, we welcome artist and musician christian.ryan. What started as a simple review of the Mimo UM-710 7″ USB LCD monitor becomes a reflection on deeper issues of how the design of objects can impact workflow. By the end of his usage journal, I come away with a sense that user […]

Photo (CC) Jay Vidheecharoen. The KORG nanoSERIES has a rabid following among many Ableton Live users, and with good reason. The nanoPAD and nanoKONTROL street for about US$60, provide basic knobs + faders + transport (KONTROL) and pads and X/Y control (PAD), plus a fully-featured, cross-platform editor, but still fit in a backpack. They’re small […]

A handsome shot of the Korg nanoSERIES pad and controller makes them look pricier than they are. Photo (CC) Jay Vidheecharoen. When software has “Live” as its name, you know control will be everything. So it’s great that many control surfaces will behave intelligently out of the box with Ableton Live, including devices like the […]