This week Saltline released its latest freeware VST plugin, an interested pitch bender called Son of a Pitch. I call this plugin 'interesting' not because it is especially feature-rich, or novel. It's interesting because it does one thing well; it is a pitch bending plugin and it has no pretensions to becoming anything else.

The freeware VST features a pitch wheel and a pitch LFO. It also has a basic filter effect that can be bypassed.

Via

We finally have a release date for the long-awaited Korg synth for the Nintendo DS. The Amazon.com preorder page lists the DS-10 release date as September 20th.

Since I start grad school next week, I really can't afford this right now, but I'm not sure that I can resist. It just looks too cool.

Via MatrixSynth

Today, AudioTuts posted a rundown of 11 of the Best Studio Microphones Ever and How and When to Use Them. It's an interesting list, and I can personally vouch for a number of the microphones on it (that I no longer own or have access to ... *sob*).

Of course the good old SM57 makes the list. The author recommends using it on snare drum and guitar amps. Who hasn't done that? There are some more interesting recommendations though.

For instance, the author recommends two small diaphragm condensers for recording classical music: the Schoeps CMC5 body, MK4 capsule and the Neumann KM140. I am not familiar with either of those mics.

Another recommendation that I can vouch for is the Neumann U47. My dad used to keep a Neumann U47 in our home studio, and it was easy to capture a great sounding acoustic guitar with it. In fact, I think that we used it to record the guitars in Drowning, although I am sure that we used multiple mics, so you aren't hearing pure U47 on that track.

via CDM, a look back at the Akai MPC, and the possibilities that it brought to popular music.

I hope that you're not an easily distracted programmer, because this looks like it could be a pretty nice distraction.

Mathematikoi brings us word of a free online genetic programming textbook.

Personally, I can never resist free textbooks. The concept in itself is just awesome. After all, how often is it that you get the chance to learn about something like genetic programming without having to pay for it?

From the preface:

"Genetic programming (GP) is a collection of evolutionary computation techniques that allow computers to solve problems automatically. Since its inception twenty years ago, GP has been used to solve a wide range of practical problems, producing a number of human-competitive results and even patentable new inventions. Like many other areas of computer science, GP is evolving rapidly, with new ideas, techniques and applications being constantly proposed. While this shows how wonderfully prolific GP is, it also makes it difficult for newcomers to become acquainted with the main ideas in the field, and form a mental map of its different branches. Even for people who have been interested in GP for a while, it is difficult to keep up with the pace of new developments.

Many books have been written which describe aspects of GP. Some provide general introductions to the field as a whole. However, no new introductory book on GP has been produced in the last decade, and anyone wanting to learn about GP is forced to map the terrain painfully on their own. This book attempts to fill that gap, by providing a modern field guide to GP for both newcomers and old-timers."

This DS-10 demo was created by em411 user mute. I think this really shows off the capabilities of Korg's hottest new piece of software.

I can't wait for this to hit in the US, but I have to admit that I have a hard time seeing myself ever using this live.

In fact, there's an interesting thread over on CDM right now that discusses the real-world utility of portable music apps. Apparently, it's a pretty controversial topic. If you follow CDM, you know that Peter Kirn, the blogger, loves portable music applications, or at least he writes a lot of posts about them. Still, there are many people like me, who think these apps are fun/cool, but don't see them as viable performance or studio tools.

When I think of interactive music installations, I think of software. I think of computers running programs that people can play with. I definitely don't think of this.

Explanation via archinect:

" The project explores the integration of biological and technological systems in the development of an interactive human interface. This notion is investigated through the design and construction of an interactive installation where user interactions with hybrid systems affect the light and sound-scape of the installation space. The design is suggestive of an information rich, technologically augmented landscape. Kinesthetic user/landscape relationships are forged within a mediated spatiality of light and sound."