Dynamic control is fantastic. The idea is this: when you switch to a new app or instrument or effect, the hardware controller automatically assigns parameters to controls. That means no messing around with templates, assignment editors, and configuration, and the ability to quickly gain control of your software when editing or performing. Novation’s MIDI-controlling keyboards […]

This has been posted all over the web this weekend, but in case there’s anyone out there in CDM Land who hasn’t already encountered it: Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn’t seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo. Of course, apart from being a high dose of both Cute and Funny, there’s a CDMo […]

Computers speak digital signal. Analog synths and modulars speak control voltage. (It’s sort of a “men are from Mars, women find these metaphors insulting” kind of situation.) What if you could bridge the two elegantly and graphically, using a drag-and-drop, modular interface with calibration and control features? MOTU has developed a solution called Volta. It’s […]

  From top: ComputeHer, 8 bit Weapon. You’ve heard the chip hype. But there’s something behind it: vintage digital chips can make wonderful sounds. And I’m thrilled that someone has painstakingly reproduced those sounds in an upcoming package. Emulating analog circuitry, from amps to classic synths, has been long understood. But we’ve finally reached an […]

When Ableton refers to controllers, they do use “controllers,” plural. So you can expect more Ableton-official controllers coming soon. Ableton does have a video where you can see more in action. (Video via the terrific audioporncentral.) What I need you to tell me is what you can’t see in this video, so I can sit […]

Photo: Derek K. Miller (penmachine) catches some Live action from friend Paul. Updated: Rewrite. We in fact had several users successfully upgrade from Live 6 to 7 overnight, for free. That seems to have been either some extremely particular circumstance or a server glitch. (Pointing to the latter, Ableton took their shop down for maintenance […]

Jitter screen grab by droolcup, which is what you’re about to need. I’ll give you a second to let that headline sink in. Max for Live, announced at the NAMM music trade show, adds Max/MSP/Jitter to Ableton Live, including – in a move that really caught me by surprise – Jitter. In addition to the […]

CDM readers heavily lamented the loss of Roland’s AX-7 “shoulder keyboard” (better known to the world as a “keytar”). Sure, the keytar has a reputation for being dorky (bad news, chaps, the keyboard has a reputation for being dorky). But putting instruments on your shoulder is also a simple way to make them easy to […]

If you could have an ideal drum machine and sample-slicing workstation, taking the physical control of hardware but the flexibility of software, what would it look like? We talk a lot about hardware control of software, but hardware usually comes second – software gets designed first, and then either you have to figure out how […]