Today, I’m in London doing a hands-on workshop on visual metaphors for music, and covering various topics filed under “synesthesia” at Music Tech Fest. It seems appropriate, with the subject matter on the brain, to revisit the topic of visuals and music in a series of posts.
When you make hardware, with knobs and faders, you’re constrained by physical space – the amount of room on a circuit board, the radius of a knob cap, the size of your fingers. But before you get there, the first step is to sketch an idea. Imagine if you could do that with a marker and paper and ink.
SketchSynth is the latest attempt at a drawable set of controls, letting you turn an illustration on paper into something you can actually use to make music. It’s not the first – this dream of being able to make things come alive with nothing more than [...]

Ok, before you get too scared – no, DJ TechTools is not expanding into a mega-tron-global-in-your-face-blog-force that consumes all around it ( like a black hole!). We simply have 2 remote positions open that can be filled by a few talented people… Read more

After a lengthy build-up extending back to the 2011 BPM convention, Allen & Heath’s new contribution to the growing slim-line compact controller field, the Xone:K2, will hit the shelves at the end of this month. Part update to the discontinued… Read more

Reloop announces its digital mixing controller designed especially for Serato: Terminal Mix 4.

This may already be the image you have in your mind of Skrillex’s fan base, but let’s get real: these are actual kids, and they really are getting introduced to electronic dance music through Skrillex for the first time.
“What is dubstep?”
Darned if I know any more, kid.
What have we learned?
1. All kids sound cooler when they have English accents. (It’s unreal. They can be throwing a temper tantrum and still sound oddly sophisticated, or at least charmingly in-character. CDM’s sizable readership of English people may wonder what the heck I’m talking about, then dare me to buy an umbrella and take up babysitting until I come to my senses.)
2. This video will prompt haterade in comments so long as you have a soul made of ice.
3. Kids can dance.
4. These kids look cooler than I do.
5. Saying you need to take substances to understand Electronic Dance Music is a fair [...]

Like the modulars themselves, an upcoming documentary on these analog synth beasts has been lurking behind closed doors. But that won’t be the case for long. “I Dream of Wires,” the crowd-funded documentary that probes artists’ fascination with making music by connecting patch cords, will see a public showcase at Montreal’s MUTEK Festival. This and an upcoming film release, atop a big get-together in New York, could make this a proper summer of modular.
In anticipation of their showcase, MUTEK has released two significant excerpts from the film. One talks to Carl Craig, Detroit techno legend, top. Craig describes how this tech has influenced his music, and what inspired him to look at modulars. The other clip – true to MUTEK’s Canadian home base and the origin country of the film itself – looks at Canada’s contribution to electronic music history. Detroit’s place in techno certainly needs no introduction, but it’s [...]

These green things, for once, are the stars, in Data Garden Quartet. From the installation version in Philadelphia. All Data Garden photos courtesy the artists.
“On lead synthesizer, a philodendron …” (And the crowd goes wild…)
Vegetation may not be the first association you have when thinking of electronic music. But two new albums, each released via Bandcamp, celebrate biological life of the green, leafy variety. One is a benefit compilation, with proceeds going to help trees and music inspired by that green goodness. The other uses plants as “performers,” generating its form from plant life in an installation and extended “live” release.
It seems a fitting time to think about trees and plants, as those of us in the Northern Hemisphere see the coming of summer. As I write this, outside my home office’s window, everything has become a calming canopy of maple leaves. And so, just as those trees have a [...]

You could almost call it Buchlafest.
Led by Manhattan electronic music hub Harvestworks, fans of modular synthesis, composition and performance with patch cords, and Don Buchla’s modular synths are set to gather in New York this summer. In the video below, they introduce not only their event plans but also provide a neat and tidy introduction to what analog synthesis – and the Buchla name, not nearly as well-known among laypeople as Moog – are all about.

The lineup is looking terrific. This event lacks any kind of corporate sponsor or big event production; it’s a labor of love for people who are passionate about modular synthesis and music. In the lineup: Morton Subotnick, Alessandro Cortini, Carlos Giffoni, Mark Verbos, Xeno & Oaklander, and Loud Objects. Subotnick will debut the premiere of a live performance, and there will be a presentation of tape music by the late Richard Lainhart, all in quad [...]

Have you ever found yourself trying to switch between two DJs that are sharing the same USB mixer, sound card or DVS interface? It’s a common problem in live scenarios, and having a few handy tools up your sleeve can help make a hairy switch… Read more

Welcome back to the Customs House in Atwerp, Belgium where host “Gory” Willems gives us the low down on his super hot Berlinesque arthouse travelling night “Kissinger”. 
Hosting underground heroes, like Tobi Neumann, Tiefschwarz, Oliver Koletski alongside 80s Electro, Kissinger’s broad musical approach has wide appeal.