It’s hard to get solid information, but a storm appears to be brewing on KVR Audio. The developer of Wusikstation is allegedly calling it quits — a combination of business and personal reasons, and sales lost to warez. That’s led to an unprecedented solution for some of the users: band together and try to acquire […]

I love synthesis, but there’s something just as appealing about creating sounds from other found sounds — especially if you can make the results unrecognizable. I’ve gradually built a series of tricks using some favorite Mac tools. First, the newcomers: Soundtrack Pro: The newest addition to my arsenal is Apple’s Soundtrack Pro, which arrived here […]

Chris O’Shea points us to Ben Hanbury’s project Recycle TV, which combines an old TV set (well, actually, he substituted a picture of one for ease), a Max/MSP patch, and Eric Singer’s real world-to-MIDI interface, the MidiTron. Via copyrighted and open source clips, you can mix together musical phrases constructed from miliseconds-long clips. The beats […]

Linux audio must be making some headway: they’ve even got sequencer/DAW rivals. MusE is a full-blown DAW / MIDI sequencer / audio multitrack application for Linux, based on ALSA (audio framework), JACK (for interconnecting audio between apps), and LADSPA (open source Linux audio plugin format). It’s got an impressive feature list, with extensive MIDI controller […]

As some thought my post about Pd was meant to convey all available free software, I am rounding up the major free applications, open source applications, and commercial applications for DIY sound-making. (Wasn’t my original idea, but, hey — good idea!) We’ve covered them routinely, but it would be great to have them linked from […]

“Give it All, Zero For Rules!” shouts Mattin. For some, free music software isn’t just a way of saving money. It’s a way of life. At the center of the debate is a semi-rivalry between two similar programs: Pure Data (aka “Pd”), and Max/MSP. Both Pd and Max/MSP use a similar interface, allowing you to […]

DIY hardware is all the rage these days (see the Make:blog), but how about DIY software for music? An increasing number of free and commercial tools on every platform makes it possible to create wild, custom software configurations for real-time music and video without code — or cash. OS X Tiger users have access to […]

Sure, you may be a big fan of All Things Considered — but have you considered getting audio advice from pro NPR and PRI vets? That’s exactly the idea behind the superb site Transom, which brings in public radio experts and celebrities to talk about sound, radio production, and how you can create your own […]

The Art Interface Device (AID) is a microprocessor platform for interfacing with sensors, motors, and electronic devices. If installation art doesn't turn you on, this could work just as well for building interactive electronic instruments. Best of all, the hardware design itself is open source / GPL, so you can just download the plans and […]

No, not a USB interface to MTV's Real World. The Muio is a new interface to real-world sensors and devices (motors, robotics, etc.). It works via USB, and sends and receives MIDI, OSC, and a socket/UDP stream using XML, accessed via Windows DLL or Mac OS X Framework. (CDM issues an 'if you have to […]