Cesare Marilungo has sent us a draft tutorial in development on using the iPhone / iPod Touch as a controller, via the open-source patching software Pure Data (Pd). He gives examples for both mrmr, the open-source project by Eric Redlinger here in NYC, and akaRemote.app from Masayuki Akamatsu (pictured). One advantage of akaRemote: you can transmit data to it for additional on-screen feedback.

This also isn’t a bad way to learn how to use OSC (OpenSoundControl) for communication. As you can see, it’s not hard at all — and this is patching OSC behaviors from scratch. Once you have X and Y coordinates, it should be easy enough to send MIDI messages to other applications that don’t support OSC, via IAC (Inter Application Communication) on Mac or a tool like MIDI-Yoke on Windows. (Linux and Windows users, note that the interface editor for mrmr is Mac-only.)

Using an iPhone or an iPod Touch as a music/multimedia controller (with example Pd patches)

Game Boy musician nitro2k01 has taken on the controversy over Crystal Castles, the band that just joined the long line of artists recently appropriating sounds from the 8-bit musical underground.

Get ready, CSIs: nitro2k01 uses spectral graphs to try to demonstrate the Crystal Castles song "Love and Caring" is also ripped off, with beats borrowed from Covox’s "Sunday."

Crystal Castles and Chip Music Copyright Infringements [Gameboy Genius]

Crystal Castles responds to earlier allegations via the 8-bit collective forum. Representative Andy writes:

…songs with Lo-Bat samples were left off the CC album because we didn’t have the sample clearance. Many songs were left off the CD because we needed more time to clear the samples. We are hoping to have the songs on a future release (maybe a rarities/demos/remixes compilation) and would love to clear this with Lo-Bat.

Of course, this is not the way to go about things — and it’s a mistake artists make too often.

CDM traffic has taken a sudden plunge. Now, it could be all those digital DJ stories (um, sorry about that), but based on past experience, we tend to see a dip in readership whenever the weather turns lovely (which also happens to coincide with the end of the semester, a big deal for the many readers in school). I, for one, love the outdoors (despite what you might suspect reading this site), and absolutely encourage the trend! (And if you’re just studying for exams, I’ll send you positive Brain Energy.)

But that got me thinking. I think for creative health it’s important to spend some time out waterskiing or birdwatching that isn’t musical time. But what about those time when you have music making to do and you have to reconcile it with pretty outdoors time? Have you found a mobile setup that you take with you to the park? Let us know. Maybe I do need one of those HP Mini-Notes like our friend Brad just picked up. Some micro PC, solar power … sounds rather nice, right?

And if you’ve got an image of you, a keytar, and a surfboard, or perhaps a solar array powering a mountain-top Reaktor programming session, send them our way!

Updated:

That didn’t take long! Here’s Soundfreaks playing, complete with keytar and Speedo, on a lake outside Munich. Nice one, guys. Now, I just need a waterproof computer…

I love our readers. You’re just sitting on your hands waiting for Max 5 to arrive, because the moment it goes up my inbox is suddenly full. As of a few moments ago, the long-awaited upgrade to the popular modular patching environment for music and visuals has arrived. You can download Max 5 right now, and according to the C74 site, it will happily run alongside Max 4.6, so you can keep the old version for compatibility while you evaluate the new one. Let us know how you like the new release!

Max 5 Downloads

Max 5 Product Descriptions [links now working!]

Max Online Documentation, including what’s new

I still love the idea of soft circuits: electronics packaged in soft form factors instead of hard. It’s a big challenge — for one, you need some soft fabrication skills along with electronics skills, and then you have to contend with keeping your electronics happy in a soft (warm) place, which is the opposite of what they tend to like. But when you make a huggable calculator synth, it’s all worth it.

Our friends Brian Crabtree and Kelli Cain of Monome fame write to let us know they’ve got spots in their felt circuits class at the awesome Machine Project in LA. Brian sez: "this year we’re making small contact mic amplifiers with a bent freakout capacitive touch point. it’ll be great fun." (East coasters, we’ll have to have them do the same over here, huh?) If you’re in LA and have the time, have a good time and take some project photos!

Felt + Circuits Workshop

Previously:

Felt + Circuits, for Sound and Enjoyment, From Happy Sheep

For more plush circuits, here’s a show in Nova Scotia featuring stiched sonic works, including a radio — but it looks like they don’t work. Functional electronics, even better, I say.

And for fans of the Monome, head over to Create Digital Motion today:

Monome as Visual Controller

While we’re having a Nintendo DS-laden week, I thought I might mention that I got tipped off (thanks, Laurence) that the popular, multi-platform tracker Chibitracker has made its way to the DS. Consider this a rumor posted in the hopes of prodding the developer to release the ROM file.

That said, readers, what’s your favorite tracker of choice — particularly when it comes to a “tracker to go” on your mobile device? (If I could get one running on Java, I could set up a Blackberry tracker — surely that friendly QWERTY keyboard could come in handy.)

If you’re planning on competing at the NASA Ames Research Center Saturday, don’t wait another moment to fill out your entry on yuricdm.com. I’m finalizing the lineup and details today. I’ll accept any entry up until midnight tonight Monday, New York City time, but if you can avoid waiting until then, please do drop me a line so I can start organizing.

1. Send me an email.

2. Fill out the Google Docs form. (Save your entries, just in case something goes wrong.)

International / non-CA entries for the showcase (no prizes, but fame), feel free to send me those any time this week — we’re only concerned about the folks who will be competing in person at Yuri’s Night Bay Area Saturday at 2:30pm. More details soon!

RSS readers can be terrific; I use FeedDemon and NetNewsWire, both of which recently became free. (Yeah, after I bought them.) But sometimes it’s just too much to wade through RSS, especially after you get back from vacation. Alltop, a site headline aggregator, recently added CDM to its music page, and I’ve started using it as a quick way of glancing over topics like “Music” without cluttering my RSS reader more. Oh, yeah, and it’s nice to see CDM next to KEXP. Alltop is the product of Guy Kawasaki; he’s been a hero of mine since he introduced evangelism to Apple (you know where that led), and he’s still doing great stuff with business and marketing. So, thanks, Guy!

That brings me to my question, though: what’s your preferred method for keeping up with blogs and forums and mailing lists without eating up all your time for music making? (We do see CDM readers on different platforms, including someone who just spent 12 minutes reading on BeOS. Also featured: Wii, PSP, Atari, UNIX, Symbian smartphone…)

Anything we could do to help you keep up with feeds more easily — not only ours, but other sites, as well?

We’re still accepting entrants to the Futuristic Music Design Challenge at Yuri’s Night Bay Area. It’s a chance to showcase your personal musical hardware and/or software creation in a live performance competition. You’ll definitely take home some swag and get a free pass to the event. If you’ve got what it takes, you’ll come home with a new Yamaha Tenori-On from CDM.

1. Check out the competition details and rules.

2. Fill out an entry form on Google Docs. (Save your responses, just in case something goes wrong.)

3. Drop us a line to let us know you filled out the entry form.

We likely won’t be able to take everyone, so we’ll notify you if you’ve been accepted. Deadline is officially Monday April 7, but the sooner we get entries, the better, so don’t wait.

While we can’t offer any physical prizes, we’re also interested in people who can’t make it, but have work you’d show if you could. So if you’ve got some amazing, futuristic music design — as always on this site — we’d love to see it. If it’s in any way related to ecology and the environment, the planet, space, or space exploration, be sure to launch it to our email box now.

Our friend Florian Grote is giving a workshop at STEIM in Amsterdam on Pure Data, the open source patching environment that’s a close cousin to Max/MSP. Florian tells us there are a couple of spots left for anyone near STEIM. The workshop is geared for composers, live performers who want to create their own instruments, and installation/visual artists interested in working with GEM’s visual capabilities.

The workshop will start with a thorough, two-day introduction to creative audio work in Pd, and then expand its focus on the GEM extension library for Pd. With GEM, sophisticated tools for visualization are available directly inside Pd, and their handling is not different from the audio-related elements. This enables Pd users to seamlessly integrate their own visuals into their musical performances or installations, as well as to get creative with the user interfaces for their instruments.

Cost is EUR200. There’s also a class blog, which I’ll be watching closely to make up for not being out there.

Pure Data & GEM Workshop @ STEIM