mobile music making

What are your reccomendations for cheap portatble music - making devices?

i've heard of the QY20 but that's about it

I'd like something I can connect to my mac

ta

I'm interested in nitrotracker for the DS but haven't been motivated enough to research the proper home-brew-enabling components yet. If someone could teach me a way to record my teeth as i blast teeth beats from them, that would be immense.

i've used PSPSEQ on PSP, i like it lots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSPseq

you need to homebrew enable your psp of course, which you'd need to research

and nitrotracker for DS i've heard good things about, but i've never been able to give a proper demo.

i believe on the nitrotracker website they walk you through how to homebrew enable your DS

also on matrix synth i saw an ipod with pure data running...

QY70 (don't bother with any other model), MPC500.

Homebrew on DS primer (copied from the Somethingawful.com Games forum because it's so well written I shouldn't bother to try and write it differently):

What's DS Homebrew?

DS Homebrew is non-commercial DS programs. Organizers, emulators, home-made games, etc.

What do I need to get started?

A flashcard, computer, and some patience. Flashcards come in either Slot-1 (DS slot cards) or Slot-2 (GBA slot cart) versions.

Do I get Slot-1 or Slot-2?

Slot 1 cards are better. Slot-2 carts are only if you must have GBA support.

So how do Slot-1 cards work?

Slot 1 devices go in the DS card slot. Most of these use removable media for storage (such as micro-sd cards). You put the microsd card into your computer, drag your movies/music/software onto it. Then put your microsd card it into the flashcard, put your flashcard into the DS, and you're good to go!

So which Slot-1 card should I get?

If you're going to get a Slot 1 card, your best choice is an R4/M3 Simply. These cards have:

- a great price point

- frequent firmware updates

- uses micro-sd cards for storage (cheap and easily replaced/upgraded)

- autopatches homebrew (which is VERY convenient)

The R4 and M3 are essentially identical, but go with the R4 if possible, as it gets the firmware updates first.

There are lots of other cards out there, but right now there is not a compelling reason to talk about/recommend them. YOu can get reviews of most of the other slot 1 offerings at www.gbatemp.net.

What about Slot-2 stuff?

Slot 2 hardware goes in the GBA cartridge slot on the DS. Slot 2 used to be the only way to use DS homebrew, but these cards are no longer in favor. Slot 1 cards are usually cheaper and better supported. But, if you have to have GBA support, check www.gbatemp.net for information about the various cards.

What size/brand memory card should I get?

As of this writing, 1G cards seem to be the sweet spot for pricing. You should be able to find 1G cards for under $20 easily. 2G are fine as well, although no homebrew card takes more than 2G cards at this point.

As for what brand card, it makes no difference for homebrew. Let me repeat that:

Card brand makes no difference for homebrew at all.

The only thing that card quality affects is a few retail DS games. If you really have to have these "backups" work, check this list.

One final recommendation: avoid ebay for card purchases. There are lots and lots of counterfeit, poorly made flash cards, with no way of telling before you buy. Even these may work with no problem, but when you can grab a legit 1GB card for 10 dollars, there's no point in risking it.

Where can I purchase all this beepity boop bullshit?

There's a few sites going around that will happily sell you what you need.

http://www.realhotstuff.com (They even do bundles!)

http://www.winsunx.com

http://www.supercardstore.com/ UK site, recommended despite dodgy website.

http://us.gameyeeeah.com/ New US version of gameyeeeah's site. Good prices.

http://bamboogaming.com - Australian site. Each purchase comes with a free rabid Koala.

Other Helpful Links

http://gbatemp.net/: Reviews for most Slot-1 and Slot-2 cards.

http://www.ndshb.com/: DS Homebrew Database

http://www.double.co.nz/nintendo_ds/

http://www.drunkencoders.com/

http://forum.gbadev.org/index.php

damn, thanks. helpful as fuck today aren't you.

New DS Homebrew scratcher/loop messer-upper:

i have now got this phone:

with which you can use a lot of software for mobile moosic making:

like Audiobox:

and Phoenix Studio

and Syntax:

and a few more.....

so I can now make a track on my fucking phone. mental.

EDIT: if you want to sync it to your mac though you need a program called The Missing Sync - the phone is officially only meant to sync with PC's, so have to use that...

EDIT EDIT: the phone has a 466 mhz processor, so can run softsynths (designed for pocked PCs) and all sorts. you can even get a 303 emulator for it. Mobile Phone Acid.

laptop

  aeser said:

laptop

I have to admit that DS looks cool but I've recently started making use of my internal speaker for the first time in years.

rem annoyance

do

play "t140 o1 l32 a a# b c d e f g"

loop

That kind of thing using my recently inherited 486 laptop. Hell yes.

But in all seriousness, I use Renoise and a laptop - I'm not sure I could get into composing properly on a mobile phone although it does seem awesome if you've got the money go for it.

PS: a better laptop

wow cheers for all the responses. i'm looking for something really small.. that I can use on the train/tube

that mobile phone software looks mental!

Yah if you already have a smartphone that looks ace. The DS Lite though is probably a bit cheaper if you don't have a good smartphone already. Plus once you bring it home you can run the Monome 40h emulator on it and have a sweat ass monome too.

DS Monome Emulator in action:

JIGGYBONES MOBILE DISCO!

  Vegeta897 said:

I have one of these - it's awesome. check out the tunes in my sig (KJ6 Until Now, FG4 Not Really and Aviators) for some idea of it's capabilities and sounds.

There's always nanoloop for the gameboy.

  Braintree said:

There's always nanoloop for the gameboy.

I always imagined that the d-pad would be a shit interface for music making though, the DS stylus is so effortless.

  ten fingers ten toes said:

  Braintree said:

There's always nanoloop for the gameboy.

 

I always imagined that the d-pad would be a shit interface for music making though, the DS stylus is so effortless.

Yeah, it's pretty tricky at first, but you get the hang of it. I would never use it for full blown stuff like I do now, but for little songs it would be cool.

http://www.10pm.org/nostromo/lgpt/

(admittedly, I haven't got anywhere with this yet, but then I have a pathetic attention span)

man nitrotracker on nintendo DS is great!

i finally got to play with it right over the weekend

very smart interface and comfortable tracker, the touchscreen makes up for no keyboard as you can touch the onscreen "piano keys" to enter notes and all that.

you can record right into the wav editor with the DS mic and save as .xm, which is ideal since you could then open that later in a PC tracker and finish it up. (i must assume since i haven't actually done that)

PSPseq is still a good app with it's own built-in synths and composing with probability, but i do think nitrotracker would've been more my style since i mostly compose with Renoise.

if i ever get some more money to blow i might get a DS for nitrotracker

wait so the mpc500 is battery powered? for real? if so im definitly going to get one

  Adjective said:

save as .xm, which is ideal since you could then open that later in a PC tracker and finish it up. (i must assume since i haven't actually done that)

Renoise will open and edit .xm's just fine. Not sure if you can save to .xm but you could at least finish up projects on your PC no problem.

  Ghostbusters III said:

wait so the mpc500 is battery powered? for real? if so im definitly going to get one

Yeah the 500 was made to be a portable MPC.