Nintendo DS music making apps

six_o_clock_crow · Post by **six_o_clock_crow** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:45 am

It's my birthday on Wednesday and my wife is getting me a DS with the Korg DS10 synth. Really looking forward to using it on the train to/from work!

I just wondered what other apps people would reccommend, and was thinking:

1. Is there a web resource for DS music apps?

2. Are there any products, other than the DS10, that just work with no extra gear?

3. How easy is it to get homebrew apps up and running on a DS?

4. Does anyone know where (ideally in the UK) you can get the bits required to run Nitrotracker?

Cheers!

gjm · Post by **gjm** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:48 am

Is that the new generation DSi released yesterday in Japan to replace the DS lite?

Better sound, thinner , and slightly bigger screen.

Looks very interesting.

madlab · Post by **madlab** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:23 am

There's an app called cells, which I've loaded on my daughter's R4 card but hadn't got a chance yet to try it. It's a 16 track sequencer with sounds and seems a lot of fun.

madlab · Post by **madlab** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:32 am

There's an app called cells, which I've loaded on my daughter's R4 card but hadn't got a chance yet to try it. It's a 16 track sequencer with sounds abnd seems a lot of fun.

8O · Post by 8O » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:35 am

Take a look at Electroplankton too - it's hard to describe, but an interesting experiment in interfaces to control music-making elements.

six_o_clock_crow · Post by **six_o_clock_crow** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 9:23 am

Cheers guys.

It's not the DSi - that isn't launched in Europe til Spring 2009. Also, they have done away with the GBA slot compatability on the DSi which I understand would affect using the extra bits you need for something like Nitrotracker?

The R4 card - how does that work? How do you load applications on to it?

Yeah, I saw Elektroplankton - will check that out.

swishniak · Post by **swishniak** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:24 am

some maybe helpful links:

http://dsmidiwifi.tobw.net/index.php?cat_id=1
http://remaincalm.org/index.php/ds-music-apps
http://createdigitalmusic.com/tag/ds/
http://createdigitalmotion.com/tag/ds/
http://www.glitchds.com/

six_o_clock_crow · Post by **six_o_clock_crow** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 12:40 pm

Wow - some of that stuff looks great! Think I need me a R4 card

Think I've worked out what you do as well - you download the homebrew apps onto the R4 card via PC. Should have guessed that really!

Obviously I can't judge the quality of these apps until I get the DS. But I am feeling hopeful. The kind of music I make, the sound quality doesn't have to be great and I just want glitchy/IDM/chiptune loops and tones to mix with my field recordings.

I am thinking that coming up with some stuff on the DS, then whacking it into Live to mess about with will be ideal!

swishniak · Post by **swishniak** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 5:03 pm

yeah - let me know how you get on.. i havent worked much with it yet (just collecting links!). planning to pick up one in the states when im there next - in preparation for a sound design job for that platform. any suggestions of other good games / sound concepts would be appreciated.

svivens · Post by **svivens** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:57 pm

this should interest you,DSMidiWifi

:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYDF313Ae7A
and,happy birthday!

six_o_clock_crow · Post by **six_o_clock_crow** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 9:01 pm

Yay! It's my birthday!!! All those links look great, so thanks for that. Will investigate.

Have been playing with the Korg DS10 all evening and it is great. It is limited, and it has a certain 80's/chiptune/lo-fi sound, but it is surprisingly good for the money I think.

Can see me coming up with some beats/tunes on the train to work each day and then recording them into Live for further messing around. Will be interesting to see if Korg release more DS synths, or if other manufacturers join in too.

littlepig · Post by **littlepig** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 8:31 am

I am becoming a DS addict. I bought one to run the Korg DS-10 then I thought oh I could get some games... so I bought a used copy of Sim City and now I keep playing that as well.

You are right about the DS-10 it is pretty good for such a small device.

sxezskoz · Post by **sxezskoz** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 2:28 pm

i imported the ds-10 from japan the day it was released and have been loving it quite much. i've also been playing electroplankton every now and then, it's better as a melody maker, but it's definitely more of a toy than the ds-10. there's several homebrew samplers for the ds that make use of the microphone, but they are very limited as well (albeit free).

if you'd like to check out a live set i did with ableton and my ds-10, here's a link:

http://gamegenius.thundergroundfilms.co ... 182008.mp3

it was my first time trying such a thing, i setup the korg ds-10 as one of the INs for an audio track and just switched from ableton based clips to the ds-10 during certain parts. the timing was hard (i was drunk) especially since there's no way to tempo sync the ds to the ableton set (and i was wearing a mask).

also, over at 1up.com i started a club for users of the ds-10, if you are part of the 1up.com user community i strongly urge you to join and post your comments, suggestions, and links to your work! you can find that at:

http://ds-10-club.1up.com

serge_a_storms · Post by **serge_a_storms** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 2:58 pm

I've just bought myself a DS. Going to get the DS 10 tomorrow.

Really looking forward to some doodling on the move!

six_o_clock_crow · Post by **six_o_clock_crow** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 12:00 pm

Will get myself over to that community at 1up.com. Liking that live set, by the way.

I am looking forward this weekend to recording some of my DS-10 experiments into the laptop, and bringing them into Live.

I am thinking I might record each element of each pattern seperately, playing with the DS-10 parameters and Kaoss Pads as I do so. That way I can get, say, an 8 bar loop that evolves and changes.

The demos you'll see on You Tube, and the demo songs on the DS-10 itself, suggest a certain style of music. But I have made some right clanging, dark and glitchy noises with it so far.