Open and DIY doesn’t have to mean you don’t get a finished product. It just means the product can continue to change once you’ve got it – which is the beauty of three new tools coming to the music tech world. Photo: Bug Labs. You buy a box. You unwrap the box. You plug it […]

Plushy soft replicas of beloved synths have become something of a meme. Via our friend atariboy of Plasq fame, here’s the latest addition to the cuddly vintage instrument category on Etsy. Think about what this means, if you will: it’s a synthesizer you can curl up with while you sleep. Now that’s love. (I know […]

As your options multiply, I think there are few excuses in 2009 not to develop using portable, free and open source, multi-platform, mobile-ready platforms — period. We talk a lot about the Java side of the pond, or even C/C++, but the other reality is you have options for just about any job using just […]

Before you correct me, this is actually a Commodore B128. But it’s one of the oddities you’ll see at the Personal Computer Museum. What if all the technology you loved, everything that ran on electricity, came to life and played one epic musical performance? That’s about as best as I can sum up the “Emergence” […]

Akai was one of the music manufacturers that stole the show at this year’s NAMM trade conference. The simple reason: the APC is a rare combination of a whole mess of colored buttons with a whole bunch of faders and knobs. Now, the APC’s big selling point is its out-of-box experience with Ableton Live. Contrary […]

It’s called “Handmade Music,” but I’m hopeful CDM’s ongoing DIY party in Brooklyn will start to add more visualists. Jay Smith of Livid has made an appearance, and most recently we were able to feature the wonderful, circuit-bent Nintendo console motion art of noteNdo (Jeff Donaldson), pictured above. We have a lovely projector ready to […]

Enough of the empty cheerleading. Web-only networking can have a dark side, too — and the music community can do better. Playing devil’s advocate this week to one-dimensional Web 2.0 optimism, we welcome Dave Dri, musician, producer, and founder of Segue. -PK I write a column for a weekly street press magazine in Australia. The […]

Nothing digital here, but for any fans of sound exploration, there’s still plenty to inspire, regardless of the level of tech you’re using. It’s time again for Handmade Music, the party – musical performance – science fair geek-out for musicians and the musi-curious. We’ve got an amazing lineup this month if you happen to be […]

After our previous performance at Game On, Sampology and I have been asked to return to the State Library of Queensland to wind up the Game On exhibition with a bigger, brighter, geeklier AV turntablist set, which we’ll be streaming live tomorrow night. You’ve already seen what Sam can do with Serato Video-SL (as reviewed […]

Following GarageBand has long been a good way to follow what improvements might be in store for Apple’s flagship Logic. And many Logic users use GarageBand as a sketchpad for bigger sets – Apple, of course, hope that GarageBand is a gateway drug to their delicious higher-end studio. GarageBand ’09 is no exception. New Models […]