Screenshot of an early build by goatmilk on reddit. Some open source software, fairly or unfairly, has acquired a reputation for being “poor man’s” clones of commercial projects, outside the popular acceptance of Linux servers and Firefox browsers. Video software, worse, has typically been labeled unusable, because of the primitive state of some early projects. […]

“Decode,” “Digital Design Sesnsations,” opened last night in London at the Victoria & Albert museum in a show running through April. The event was held in collaboration with onedotzero, a digital arts label, presenting organization, and production firm.  Rarely has there been this kind of blow-out explosion of interactive design creativity on this scale. Decode […]

The monome phenomenon in music making owes a lot to a combination of powerful elements: elegant, human-readable messages that describe button presses (using OSC), open software built with a patching environment that anyone can modify and customize, and sample-slicing audio playback mayhem with the popular MLR tool. In one tutorial, you can learn about all […]

Clean is overrated. If you’re ready for a little digital dirt in your synth life, powered by the open-source Arduino hardware, Marc Nostromo’s Squealer is for you. Built atop the wonderful, Arduino-based Pocket Piano kit by Critter and Guitari, it’s a full-blown, simple, digitally-gritty synthesis engine. You get a monosynth, some fixed waveforms, a resonant […]

The Pico model may lack the impressive array of keys on the flagship Alpha, but when it ships next month it’ll cost well under a grand. And even the Pico promises high-resolution touch, velocity-sensitive keys that you can “bend” as well as press, and high-resolution breath input. The “space bassoon” Eigenharp seems to have landed […]

Marrying open source and commercial development, or trying to bridge analog consoles and computers – either task on its own might seem improbable. But yesterday, a newly-announced tool promised to bring together all those dimensions. Ardour is the free and open source Digital Audio Workstation software for Linux and Mac. It’s widely underrated and has […]

Okay, Apertus doesn’t actually look like this just yet. But you can shoot video using an all-open solution today – and that’s an encouraging sign for more ambitious plans down the road. Forget deeper philosophical or political arguments for a moment. Right now, the proprietary chain of technologies for video, from sensors to firmware to […]

You’ve seen the demos. You like the idea of tracking tags in the real world to create visuals. And now you want to try augmented reality for yourself – and, incidentally, you’re a Flash developer. Reader Eric Socolofsky writes to share a framework he’s created that makes it much easier to work with the Flash-based, […]

Yeah, I know, not the same VST. But I know a lot of you feel the VST spirit, so it works. (Just look at your rants on the Propellerhead Record post.) Photo (CC) Phil Baum. The mda-vst collection of effects has been a long-time favorite for me. It’s a set of no-nonsense, unique, simple effects, […]

Philia 01 Support Video from Lia on Vimeo. Artist Lia has created her first piece of art for the iPhone and iPod touch, something called PhiLia 01. It’s a quirky, gorgeous generative sound and visual app activated by movement, one that encourages users to save their own artwork. http://www.iphoneart.org/philia01 On the iTunes Store Composer Morton […]