A rundown of the latest music related homebrew for Nintendo DS: Seno DS and TonesynthDS.
Starting with TonesynthDS, a work in progress showing a lot of potential. Using basic waveforms, volume and modulation options like AM and ring modulation it does create some very warm sounds very usable in everyday productions. Load these samples in Ableton’s sampler or just chop them up using the arrangement view and you’ll have some original sounds not found in today’s sample packs. The only downside is the lack of an option to save your work. But, that will be fixed in an upcoming update as it still a work in progress. (Looking forward to that update!!)
Get your copy and the latest updates on the development at: TonesynthDS
Seno DS aims to be a whole DAW in itself, offering the option to create riffs, mix the volume and change parameters like ADSR and monophony, polyphony and trigger settings, LFO and the ability to transpose sounds. It’s looks aren’t as slick as, for instance, Nitrotracker, but it gets the job done and feels very reminiscent to the Playstation classics, “Music” and “Music 2000″.
To be able to use my Nitrotracker sample-kits in Seno DS, they have to be converted to mono first… So, I decided to save you all the hassle. Check out my downloads for more information. (How to load them up in Seno DS will also be explained there.)
Get it at: Seno DS
Happy to hear that Nitrotracker (a homebrew sound-sequencing application for Nintendo DS) is still in development, AND is going open source!
Read more here, and vote for Nitrotracker while your at it: http://nitrotracker.tobw.net/index.php?cat_id=0
Another great attribute for learning Japanese is the Nintendo DS.
The best application available for learning Japanese is an official release called ‘My Japanese Coach’ by Ubisoft. In this learning tool you learn Japanese step by step in a playful way. The “games” used for learning the language don’t feel pointless, with the exception of “Hit-A-Word”. But so far, I haven’t encountered this mini-game anymore since lesson 6, where you get an introduction to Kana in the form of Hiragana.
What helped me learn Hiragana so fast (In a week! – Ed) is the homebrew application ‘Project JDS’. A simple yet usefull application based on tutoring the Kana. You can choose to learn Romaji to Katakana, Romaji to Hiragana and Katakana to Hiragana, and all of these in reverse order if one wishes to do so. Project JDS has some nice added features in the form of an audio preview and an animated preview on how to write the Kana, and what order to perform the strokes in.
There are more applications available like ‘Kanji Dictionary: Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten’ (Kanji Dictionary). But they seem a little to hardcore for me right now. And the above two cover the same ground. Though I must say, I have yet to complete ‘My Japanese Coach’, so I don’t know how far that “game” goes.
The second installment of the Nitrotracker Sample-Kit is done!
Only thing left to do now is to test the samples out on my nintendo DS, zip them up and put them on my website.
But you see, the thing is, i’m in Leeuwarden right now, a two hour trainride from the city of Utrecht. And that’s where my DS is..
So expect it to pop up sometime this weekend. No sooner.
I am, ofcourse, in Leeuwarden for my third year of college. And it’s gonna be an exciting year. Loads of tracks, ready for publishing. A (for now) secret, but very interesting, project. And hopefully loads of performances. I’ve been totally owning Traktor DJ the last week, so expect a demo to appear some time soon. Along with a maybe tip or trick for using the application.
If you’d like to listen to something nice, check out: Wisp. Dunno who he is, but he’s recently been signed to Rephlex. I like his style so give him a listen. And if you like what you hear, you can download all of his freely released music on kaen.org.
Nitrotracker 0.4
It has been out now for a couple of days, and i’m telling ya,..
It rocks! The new envelope editor and loop function really make the homebrew DS application shine. Making music on the go has evolved fromheavy laptop wielding to lightweight DS juggling. Nitrotracker has really grown from a great idea to well, a VERY great idea. Hats off to you, Tobias Weyand.
Itwas one of the most wished for features on the users wishlist,looping. The loops act like you would expect from a tracker application. The only nag i could find was; looped sounds won’t reactto the note-off trigger. My experience with trackers has been limitedup untill now, so that could be the reason. (Edit: Just a one time bug, Note-off works fine) I fixed this by using the other new feature:
The Volume envelope editor. ADSR was one of my personal wishes for the nextupdate of Nitrotracker. It’s now included as of 0.4. And, you can also draw the envelope using the stylus.
Now i hope drawing samples will be included in 0.5. And maybe, just maybe, A Modulation source/envelope. Maybe i’m asking for to much.. :)
To celebrate the 0.4 release of this cool application, i made a sample-pack as an addition to the packs already available on http://nitrotracker.tobw.net/.
- A noise (drum) kit
- A synth Drum kit
- and a Saw-tooth. (C0 to C5)
Get it HERE. Enjoy!!
EDIT : Tobias Weyand just replied to my email. The sample pack is now also available through the official Nitrotracker website! :)
Software & Hardware | Son of 8-Bits | 
14/01/2010 16:36 | 
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