Editor's Note: This post is from The Functionality's resident music-editor-at-large. Now and again, The Functionality will feature articles focused on the intersection of music and technology, we love music and we know you do too...

It's a cliche at this point, but laptops open up an arsenal of options for casual and professional noise-making. Using Serato or Ableton's Live suite, artists and DJs can blend multi-layered compositions, or just gin-up remixes on the fly. One of Ableton's secret weapons is its patches, which can let you dice audio into component tracks which then trigger like instruments with the touch of a midi-controller. Isolate an arpeggiated bassline and then drop it on a crowd with the flick of a switch. With all the possibilities that opens up, some breathless folks forget that cut-and-paste has long been hardwired into pop music's DNA. Software just flattens the learning curve. Case in point: a 1986 cassette-only 60-minute megamix by Dr. Dre, sold at the Roadium Swap Meet in LA. Part 1 is a hip-hop mega mix with healthy helpings of classic rock and top 40; part 2 is serious electro. Throw on your hightops and jumpsuit, and do the cabbage patch.