I am currently in the midst of an awesome toys storm! This week has seen the arrival of a Macbook, Crumpler Backpack and I just picked up my M3 DS Simply from the post office. With a Numark AVM02 arriving tomorrow, I’m worried that I’ll become paralysed by the sheer weight of cool techy stuff. […]

Lack the budget and space to collect vintage analog synths? Michel Le Stum is selling custom kits for creating your own, entirely out of paper: SDIYCUT: Synthesizer Do it Yourself, via synth fetish blog Matrixsynth (sorry, Matrix; I’m a couple of weeks behind but was getting ready for an exam that week!) 15 EUR each, […]

The 2007 way of promoting your VJing: giving away clips. So while we’re on the subject of legal, free clips to use in your next visual set (classic movies were the subject last week), this week: 68 Vintage Fairlight VJ Loops by VJzoo (2007) [Archive.org, from VJzoo.com Get ready for some grungy, glitchy 80s electro-style […]

The creators of Fruity Loops aka FL Studio (Image Line software) have just announced a new DJ application called DeckaDance, and this thing looks like the answers to our prayers. We here at CDM love applications that don’t tie you into a specific controller/hardware/control vinyl solution. DeckaDance seems to have everything we’ve ever wanted in […]

For bigger gigs I tend to include a DVD player running as a backup in case of a crash. I’ve never actually needed it yet, but it’s nice to have the safety net. Here’s a simple technique utilizing Adobe Encore to turn your AFX composition into an Autoplaying DVD, sans menus. It also uses Dynamic […]

In honor of post-Valentine’s Day weekend, the Love Philter. FL Studio, better known to PC musicians as “Fruity Loops”, is now available in its version 7 upgrade. (This release was announced last month but wasn’t immediately available.) FL Studio’s lifetime upgrades mean that, unlike your operating system, the upgrade is free if you’re a previous […]

Winning the award this month for “Most Insane Project Mockup”, I give you the Plattabass. It’s a bass. It’s a record player. It has magnetic sensors embedded in the neck. And yes, that is a crossfader. Even crazier: Mobius (Ray Belden) plans to actually build this thing. We’ll be watching. Proposed specs, courtesy Ray: 2 […]

The Musini began its life as an award-winning toy. The product description is hilarious: A perfect gift for rambunctious toddlers, the Musini music box provides a constructive way for children to channel their physical and creative energy. While kids step, jump, turn, and tap, the Musini’s patented MusicSensor detects their every move and translates it […]

Could the Nintendo Wii remote liberate DJs from wired hardware, freeing them to wave their arms around and make embarrassing dance moves? DJ ! hopes so. DJ ! (read “DJ Shift 1”) has devoted himself entirely to the Wii controller for DJing, in what he calls WiiJing or “wireless DJing.” This “mashup DJ” says he […]

Roland has published a compatibility list for all its current relevant hardware, under the BOSS, Roland, and Edirol brands. Windows Vista Compatibility Release The table setup is a bit unusual. “Yes” means “will be compatible” in the future tense, but that apparently translates to “it works now”; links are included to 32-bit and 64-bit drivers. […]