One notable problem with Java (and thus Processing) is that, on its own, it’s not the best solution for doing the pixel-by-pixel processing and computer vision / motion tracking / video analysis, as it’s not as efficient for those kind of tasks as C/C++. The motion tracking / computer vision library for processing JMyron is […]

As someone relatively new to Processing, I’ve experienced equal parts excitement and frustration. 0115 is a reasonably mature build, and I’m glad I didn’t try this earlier, but more advanced work is likely to get easier as the software develops, improves, and squashes bugs. Before I dive into the full, technical explanation for those of […]

TyphoonLabs Shader Designer is a free IDE for creating your own vertex and pixel/fragment shaders, the magical code snippets that process 3D geometries, textures, and even images and video on your GPU. I’ve been fiddling around with it a bit on Windows as I work on learning OpenGL’s shading language, GLSL, and it seems quite […]

One major carrot Microsoft is holding out to convince people to upgrade to Vista some time next year is the broadly-overhauled DirectX 10. I’m skeptical about many of the new features in Vista, but I have to say, DirectX 10 is tempting, at least based on what we know now. Details are somewhat sketchy, but […]

Geeky, powerful (if tricky to master), free — it’s Csound 5. This audio program, which can trace its lineage directly to the first ever digital audio synthesis tool, doesn’t get major upgrades that often. So the just-released version 5 upgrade is big news, if nothing else because it makes Csound interoperable with lots of other […]

Welcome, Keyboard Laptops Live and Computer Music Readers! Feel free to say hi and check out the rest of the site. Photo: Vello Virkhaus with Red Hot Chili Peppers in London (thanks, Vello!) Live visuals for keyboardists? Absolutely: if you’ve got MIDI chops, slick new tools can help you tickle projected imagery while you tickle […]

Okay, so it’s another free graphical audio and interactive development environment, with a patching interface (again), and synthesis, MIDI, and real-time processing features (again). But Open Sound World deserves at least a brief look: it has some programmer-friendly features, it’s easy to add features (including via C++), and runs on every platform (Mac/Windows/Linux, even SGI). […]

The freeware VCV Rack ports of Bastl’s delicious PIZZA family now include the original Pizza oscillator, Crust drum/percussive voice, and Basil stereo delay. Endless patching pleasures await with these (and don’t forget the free and open source KOMPAS “probability navigator,” too).

Chris Johnson, aka Airwindows, continues to share his love for DSP with free tools, open source code, and elaborate discussions of the joy of crafting reverbs. So just in case you don’t feel blessed enough with free effects after SuperMassive’s new Sirius reverb/delay, here’s the tiny and the thick in all-new Airwindows editions. And they’ll even run in VCV Rack or on a Raspberry Pi.