The short answer is, if you’re using Ableton Live, you’ll want to wait to upgrade to Windows Vista, period. The long answer is, there are some specific incompatibilities in Live that Ableton will address in a future release. Today, Ableton posted official information on their forum: In principle, the latest Live 6 version (6.0.3) works […]

I don’t know how I managed to miss the release of the CodaNova VMX VJ, but thanks to Grigori for bringing it to my attention: Now this is more like it. The NuVJ is on the right track, but without having had a go my initial impression is that it doesn’t have quite enough controls […]

In November, Bill Van Loo showed off his custom-painted Apple QWERTY keyboard for controlling Ableton Live. He’s been painting again, and has now completed his live Live rig with a beautifully-painted Peavy MIDI fader unit. Peavey PC1600x MIDI controller re-paint [Flickr set] Detailed, step-by-step instructions and an explanation of how this all fits into a […]

Preparation for the tour is winding up, and it’s looking like – not satisfied with my current workload to have visuals ready – I will be working on the general stage lighting utilizing projectors rather than traditional lighting rigs. The software side is looking like a Jitter job, but I haven’t been keeping up with […]

Vista for visualists is a problematic proposition. Typically, musicians have the toughest upgrade curve with any OS, but there’s a major incentive for musicians with Vista, as reported on CDM: the promise of significantly improved audio performance and stability. Right now, there isn’t enough software or hardware support for most musicians, though I expect that […]

No matter how many music tech toys you have, no matter how many music tech toys you’ve ever seen, Nine Inch Nails still has more. Michael Hetrick writes to point us to his latest post over on KVR: Total Gear-Porn on new NIN site [KVR Audio Forums] It’s especially nice to see some of the […]

If you’ve been looking to get into circuit bending your own musical instruments and need that extra push to make the jump, MAKE Magazine has posted both a PDF and video podcast with a basic how-to. I got to play with the resulting instrument Bre built, and it’s great fun; the Speak & Spell is […]

On our sister site for musicians, we’ve got lots of goodies this week for DIYers. Arduino fans, don’t miss a new resource site with DMX, Bluetooth, and Ethernet Arduinos. Arduinos controlling DMX lighting? Now that could make a hot visualist set (albeit with inflated setup time). On YouTube, a controllers made from pennies and popsicle […]

If you’re planning to build a creative new instrument or interface for music, and you don’t already have the open source Arduino project on your watch list, you should put it there. Chris O’Shea at Pixelsumo brings some great new goodies for Arduino lovers via the Italian project site / tutorial site / shop Tinker.it:

At the risk of stating the obvious: now is not yet a good time to upgrade to Vista. That much is generally expected with a new operating system. What’s unexpected is that it’s some of the biggest partners who aren’t ready. Microsoft’s own developer tools for Vista are still in beta. Basic hardware drivers are […]