I’m no musician, but Bebot for iOS looks like lots of fun. Much more my speed than the KORG synth for DS I posted about a few years ago… Only thing it really lacks is in-app recording and some kind of drum machine.
I think I saw a Bebot video right before it first came-out but forgot about it since.
Noise.io - Synthesizer for iPhone
It’s similar to the KORG DS-10 I’ve posted about before. I haven’t tried this yet, but it looks cool. There’s some tutorial videos here. [via engadget]
Nice musical dashboard! It’s a lot like the Tenori-on, only it’s free. (via robotindisguise)
Source: tank-commander
Noobie first impressions with the Korg DS-10 Synthesizer
First I want to be clear that I’m a total noobie to synthesizers and I have very little music background. I just have an ear for music, and enjoy good techno and electronic music. So I’m coming to the Korg DS-10 (for the Nintendo DS) with no prior experience, only a knack for using and learning software.
The interface of small text and lots of little knobs can be slightly daunting to start with, but watching a few videos on YouTube (the official tutorials) and just playing around helped me to quickly feel at home with the interface.
I got comfortable on the couch with my Sony headphones and spent about 2 hours last night literally just playing with the synthesizer to see what everything does. I now have a general understanding of how to work it, but it will take some reading of the manual and perhaps some online synthesizer tutorials for me to understand exactly what every knob does; especially the “Synthesizer Patch Panel” that is used for more advanced tweaking via virtual “routing plugs” (no idea what they are really called).
In my 2 hours of play I managed to create some cool sounds, and could have easily sat there for another 2 hours having fun just playing if wasn’t already time for bed. I wasn’t quite to the point where I felt comfortable attempting to make my noises into a real song, but I have a feeling it will be only a short matter of time. The possibilities are almost endless, and if I ever wanted to do something more advanced I could record my tracks into GarageBand to do mixing and editing.
As a music and synthesizer noobie I don’t regret my purchase one bit, and can’t wait to play with it more. At the very least the Korg DS-10 is a fun “toy” but has the potential to be a full blown instrument. Hopefully I’ll get to the point where I’ll be recording songs on a regular basis.
I suspect the Korg DS-10 might be a bit too hard for some people who aren’t very computer savvy, I think being a geek gives me a bit of an edge. If you are wondering if you should or shouldn’t buy a Korg DS-10, I think you should watch some of the example videos to see if you can even get the slightest grip on what they are doing on screen. If you don’t feel too overwhelmed by the videos and are willing to learn I suggest you give it a try.
Here’s an awesome example video of what can be done with the Korg DS-10.
KORG DS-10 Synthesizer delayed AGAIN?! (Nov 14)
(On Amazon.com) What the heck?!
Last delay (Sep 30th to Oct 10th) was a little disappointing, but only 2 weeks. This is getting to be maddening, a 5 week delay now. Almost a 7 week delay from the original North America release date!
The KORG DS-10 website doesn’t even mention a date. However Best Buy still lists the first date (9/30/08) and “backordered”. My Amazon pre-order still lists Delivery estimate: October 21, 2008, so it may just be Amazon’s version of backordering.
I’ll post updates as I learn more.
UPDATE: It’s official… I just got an email from Amazon about my pre-order.
We have received new release date information related to your pre-ordered video game in the order you placed on September 05 2008 05:42 PDT (Order# *******). The release date for the video game listed below has been changed by the publisher, and we want to provide you with a new delivery estimate based on the new release date:
“KORG DS-10 Synthesizer” [Video Game]
Release date: 11/14/2008
Estimated arrival date: 11/21/2008
UPDATE 2: It now says on Amazon’s product page; “This item will be released on November 4, 2008.” so hopefully they’ll be shipping earlier than suggested above.
KORG DS-10 Synthesizer delayed to Oct 14?
It was originally listed as shipping on Sep 30th, and now listed as shipping Oct 14th. Kinda disappointing since I’ve got mine pre-ordered.
UPDATE: Delayed again!
KORG DS-10 Synthesizer America (Sep 30)
I’m so hyped for this, I think I’ll pre-order it.
Nintendo DS best games list
With the Korg DS-10 synthesizer being released for the Nintendo DS, I am now really tempted to buy a DS. However I have never really been that impressed with the games before, so I’m going back to take a 2nd look at the best games and see if it’s really worth my money.
-The World Ends With You Perhaps the most interesting DS game.
-Geometry Wars: Galaxies A bit casual, but interesting.
-Lunar Knights This is the kind of game I’ve enjoyed on GameBoy.
-Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow I love the GameBoy Castlevania games.
-Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
-Metroid Prime Hunters Not a huge Metroid fan, but it looks good enough.
-Sonic Rush I’ve been a Sonic fan since the old 16bit days, and Sonic is at his best in 2D.
-Mario Kart DS everyone loves it, and could be fun multi-player with friends.
-Kirby Canvas Curse I’ve heard this is a good use of the DS touch screen.
-Super Mario 64 DS I never had an N64, and this is a good game.
Also my GameBoy games will still be playable.
That about does it. I just went through the DS games list and picked all the well rated interesting games. It’s about the same number of PSP games I own. Worth my money? Maybe…
Great now I’m really going to have to buy a DS.. Apparently the Korg DS-10 synthesizer (I posted about before) is set for international release starting in July. [via Wired]
A user friendly free synthesizer: Crystal
Crystal is a semi-modular software synthesizer featuring both subtractive synthesis and frequency modulation (FM) synthesis. It offers abundant modulation control with over 90 parameters which may be modulated, multi-stage envelopes with graphical editors, extensive tempo sync of envelopes/lforates/delay times, built-in effects for chorus/flanging/comb filtering/echoes, and a band splitter for effects processing by frequency band. Not only that, Crystal has wave sequencing, granular synthesis, program morphing, MIDI learn, and imports soundfonts. The musical applications for Crystal are literally boundless.
Crystal is a plugin, which means it runs within a host, such as Cubase, Orion, Logic, Fruity Loops, etc.
Well, it’s still no toy but it looks like something I could learn. This also works with Garageband.
Free Mac Synthesizer: Automat
The Nintendo DS Synthesizer I posted about yesterday got me looking for Mac programs. I found one free one; it’s not too user friendly to install since it’s got almost no instructions, but I figured it out…
Once downloaded, you start by running the “Install.command” file by double clicking it. Then you put the “Automat1.component” file into /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/and you are done.
To use it you need one of the following programs: Logic GarageBand Live Numerology RAX Bidule Metro and some sort of MIDI input. I have Garageband; you’ll find Automat1 under the “Instrument Generator” section. You have to use the MIDI input to make some notes before you can synthesize them. There’s a steep learning curve to the synthesizer itself, but it looks fun.
