Stats of the Union tells health stories in America.

Sound Cells – Universal iOS App Creates Generative Music.

Aphonium – App Creates Generative Audio and Visuals.

SunVox – Multiplatform Modular Music Creation Studio.

Surprise Surveillance Theater: An Experimental Drama with Unwitting Stars.

Japanese artist Eiji Watanabe cuts butterflies out of printed field guides and sets them free, covering the walls and ceilings of installation spaces.

15 Shopping Rules of Thumb.

Every individual needs emotional and intellectual support from her creative tribe to sustain a positive, thriving and aspiring practice.

Hidden is an app that lets you spy on the person who may have stolen you laptop.

Urban Quiver camera bag from Blackstone Bags.

Everything is a Remix Part 2 (video).

DataMarket launches with international time series data.

25 Years of Digital Vandalism by William Gibson.

Unsolving the City: An Interview with China Miéville.

European robins may maintain quantum entanglement in their eyes a full 20 microseconds longer than the best laboratory systems and Particles can be quantum entangled through time as well as space.

Sustainism Is the New Black.

Dingsaller is a workspace for creating algorithmic compositions on the iPad.

Americans Have No Idea How Much Welfare They’re Getting

Binaural Beats = Synchronize Brainwaves & Alter Consciousness.

Phil Durrant on Reaktor and the Laptop as Improvisational Instrument.

Are Writers Powerless to Make a Living in the Digital Age?

Useful Resources and Tips for Managing Your Virtual Staff.

I have been busy working on new compositions, some of which can be heard in my Recent work set. They continue to feature generative beats, synth patterns and polyrhythms. I’ve also been exploring techniques in granular synthesis, including using the new (and recommended) Density M4L and Pulsaret M4L devices, to explore the world of microsound. I have utilized some aspects of granularity in the past but hadn’t been able to pay much attention to the full scope and theory until recently. I find myself fascinated at the variety and range of tones and rhythms that come from making slight changes to the source material. I also like moving away (at least as an option) from rigid note quantization and the familiar timeline of sequence-based composing. I created a Microsound set with some recent pieces, so have a listen to hear what I mean.

I’ve been re-reading some books by Marshall McLuhan, including The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects and War and Peace In the Global Village. His work is so dense with non-traditional ideas about media and culture, I often have to take it in small doses. I am awaiting delivery of the books Microsound by Curtis Rhodes and Electronic Music and Sound Design by Alessandro Cipriani and Maurizio Giri and look forward to reading them over the holidays. (All links to books above kickback to my Amazon affiliate account.)

Happy Holidays and “Cheers, thanks a lot!”

Ben Fry, the other co-founder of Processing, on  “Computational Information Design” (video)

Emily Pilloton’s TED Talk,  Teaching design for change (video)

“Silent Evolution” builds a beautiful coral reef from statues.

Terms you need to understand for a record contract.

That Spunky Sound 0.12 particle synthesizer.

Oxygen-enriched booze makes for less-intense hangover.

Trapcode ProLoop is a powerful and flexible loop player for iPhone.

A brief history of monome production.

Physicists look for the arrow of time, biologists find it.

A conversation with Robert Henke: Silence, Technology, and Process.

In Disobedient Rooms: China Miéville On J.G. Ballard.

Osmos For The iPhone Coming.

“On average, bronze medalists are happier than silver medalists.”

The other extreme: low-alcohol beers.

Deep below New York City’s bustling streets lies a dangerous world inhabited by “sandhogs.”

The Rise and Fall of Design Within Reach.

How Robber Barons hijacked the “Victorian Internet”

Robert Henke talks with Rashad Becker about audio mastering.

Apple’s Mistake: An organization that wins by exercising power starts to lose the ability to win by doing better work.

Processing T-shirts 2009/2010.

ABC Oddity iPhone app for toddlers.

What design researchers can learn from hostage negotiators.

Christian Swinehart’s visualizations of Choose Your Own Adventure stories.

Reinventing the MBA: 4 reasons to mix business with design thinking.

Report: 237 millionaires in Congress.

Nutrition-style labels reveal companies’ social responsibility.

Miles Davis: The Complete Columbia Album Collection.

The Botany of Desire: based on the book by Michael Pollan.

5 Reasons your marketing plan will fail.

New editions of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series let you create your own cover art.

An investigation by The Smoking Gun unmasks the leader of Pranknet and the miscreants behind a year-long wave of phone call criminality.

Nathan Shredoff has released a series of free syllabi and teaching materials to help instructors teach students key topics for the future.

Learn logo design from top brands.

Taking Steps toward zero waste.

Olympus announces LS-11, a compact digital audio recorder.

• 50% of all work is sub-par or unremarkable, i.e. upholding the status quo.
• 45% of the remainder tends to exist for shallow issues only, i.e. as decoration, current fashion or surface styling only.
• 5% is great and to be appreciated and recommended.

YMMV.

Be a Music Geek Ninja with Electronic Music Programming in Pd. We heart Pd, because it’s open source—though perpetually on our To Learn list.

Wacom Intros New DJ Touch-Sensitive Nextbeat Consoles: looks sweet.

Tea Cup Stool: want.

Computer security expert Bruce Schneier gives his vision of the challenges facing society because of technology.

Old Growth Media And The Future Of News, by Steven Johnson, author of The Invention of Air and Everything Bad is Good for You.

How to Switch from Personal to Business Branding, because you know, you might want to take a day off or sell your company and retire some day.

• Listening: Monolake in the morning, Biosphere in the afternoon
• Watching: My Neighbor Totoro, Dark City (Director’s Cut), Thieves Like Us, Quiet City
• Reading: The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll’s House, Coraline, Stardust by Neil Gaiman
• Drinking: Starbucks Serena Blend Organic Coffee, Xingu Black Beer, Red Stripe Lager
• Playing: Circle Synth, AAS Modeling Collection, iZotope Ozone 3

I’ve uploaded an archive of some recent sketches (70.4 MB zip) for your consideration. Most of these are shorter tracks, in the Short Fictions vein, along with two longer pieces. Individual files:

1. Mad house (sketch) (3:38, 5.3 MB MP3)
2. Headsville (sketch) (4:19,6.1 MB MP3)
3. Minimal (sketch) (4:00, 5.9 MB MP3)
4. Slow rave (sketch) (4:43, 6.8 MB MP3)
5. Strangler (2008 revision) (11:58, 17.1 MB MP3)
6. Untitled 2008-07-17 (sketch) (2:30, 3.7 MB MP3)
7. Broken beat box (sketch) (2:29, 3.6 MB MP3)
8. Tonglen dub (15:57, 22.9 MB MP3) – features elements made with BeatMaker

I’ve been using Intua BeatMaker for about a week now on my iPod Touch. It works well as a mobile sketchpad for writing simple tracks of beats and patterns. The user interface took some getting used to, as features are split up between Home, Pads, Sequencer and FX screens. There’s a noticeable lag when switching between screens as well. Sample kits and exported audio can be transfered to and from an iPhone or iPod Touch using their file transfer utility BeatPack. It’s easy to drag samples from my computer into a set and then transfer it over, although I had to add the ports (3131) to my Firewall to get a connection. There are two audio effects busses, but the choices are a bit meager: synced delay times are only divisible by 1/4 notes (e.g. no 1/3, 1/6, 1/12), three-band EQ and a simple bit-crusher. I’ve already exported a half dozen sketches for use in Live, so I’ll be posting some of the results in the coming weeks.

UPDATE: here are some sample exports: 001, 002, 003-8-bit, 005-hard (MP3s).

In recent weeks, I’ve been rediscovering the state of minimal techno and micro house music. (Aside from playing in the background while I work, I don’t actively listen to much dance music these days.) Doing so makes me want to strip down my device chains in Live to focus more on each individual part. Looking back, I had a tendency with my early music to mask my inexperience by over complicating the mix. This led to a sculptural, effects heavy, wall-of-sound approach (which I still like). But, simplicity —i.e. making things simple(r)—has been my mantra in recent years. I expect more reflections of this trend in my audio and visual work.