Sure, we may live deep into the future. High in our Blade Runner apartment studios, we use androids for all of the vocals. Yet we still have that occasional need for good, old-fashioned compression. Like the soy-based dinners we microwave and the synthehol beer we wash it down with, it has to be simulated. Audio […]

Pixel Bender from Adobe is capable of developing all manner of filter eye candy, like these selections from users at the Pixel Bender Exchange (many of them free to use). In case you didn’t watch comments on my Pixel Bender preview, there was some good discussion, including Kevin Goldsmith, who manages the Adobe Image Foundation […]

Pixel Bender from Adobe is capable of developing all manner of filter eye candy, like these selections from users at the Pixel Bender Exchange (many of them free to use). In case you didn’t watch comments on my Pixel Bender preview, there was some good discussion, including Kevin Goldsmith, who manages the Adobe Image Foundation […]

Reconstructing The Eraser with the monome from makingthenoise on Vimeo. Via Monome virtuoso Matthew Davidson (aka Stretta, the man who has built a lot of the patches that give the Monome its unique personality), here’s a video that really demonstrates how the Monome turns a set of buttons into a way of arranging and performing […]

Reaktor is a massively powerful toolkit for building instruments and effects, but that power can easily be overwhelming at first. Peter Dines has completed a five-part introduction tackling sequencing events. It’s one of the trickier bits, but also the skill that will help you have the maximum amount of fun. Be a Reaktor Sequencer Ninja […]

We’re seeing all sorts of musical sequencer creations with grids, from software to hardware like the Monome and Yamaha Tenori-On. But, of course, the whole beauty of a grid is that you could map to it whatever you like. Maybe you want your sequencer to work differently than someone else’s sequencer. CellDS, from the creator […]

One of my most important requirements for an effective working environment is pixels. The more I have, the more efficiently I can work. Starting in the days when dual-outputs required having an AGP and a PCI card working in tandem, and eventually bringing in multiple computers controlled via Synergy (on CDM) I’ve steadily upgraded to […]

One of my most important requirements for an effective working environment is pixels. The more I have, the more efficiently I can work. Starting in the days when dual-outputs required having an AGP and a PCI card working in tandem, and eventually bringing in multiple computers controlled via Synergy (on CDM) I’ve steadily upgraded to […]

Politics and economics are well beyond the scope of this site and ridiculously far out of my area of expertise. But at what point does economic confidence start to impact music technology? That’s a question I know colleagues and industry figures are starting to wonder about. Here is an entirely non-scientific “temperature test” — even […]

Vista, launched in an ice house in Toronto. That’s where I want my project studio this winter, for sure. Photo (CC Sam Javanrouh. On a purely technical level, how does Windows Vista work with a leading pro audio application? A lot of that depends on just how much the developer does to tune their software, […]