The State of Mobile Music ...

[palms...@googlemail.com]

Following my post on the state of mobile music, please feel free to
share your views on the subject here.

[palms...@googlemail.com]

Sorry, here's a link to the post:

http://the-palm-sound.blogspot.com/2008/06/state-of-mobile-music.html

[impete]

Hi!

It think the most interesting development in years will be the arrival
of what I have dubbed "trans-platform" creativity tools.

These are tools that are not just cross-platform (within a category of
device), but cross-platform and cross-category! They allow creatives
largely to be device or platform agnostic, and productive either on
the move or back in the studio/office (subject of course to the
capabilities of the software...!).

Mixtikl is I think is the first announced trans-platform audio
creativity tool. We already have it working in the labs on:
- Windows desktop (standalone, VSTi)
- Mac desktop (standalone, VSTi, AU)
- Windows mobile (PPC)

We're aiming for a release date around October.

Other platforms to come including iPhone, Windows mobile (SP) etc.,
subject to demand and where the mood takes us!

Anyways - hoping this is of interest!

Pete

[palms...@googlemail.com]

Thanks Pete, that really helps and it ties up some thought that have
been knocking around in my head for a while. I'm just writing a new
post and I'm putting your 'trans-platform' comment in it too. What a
really cool phrase!

[impete]

> Thanks Pete, that really helps and it ties up some thought that have
> been knocking around in my head for a while. I'm just writing a new
> post and I'm putting your 'trans-platform' comment in it too. What a
> really cool phrase!

Glad you like it Ashely, I think the phrase really captures the spirit
very well of what we're trying to do.

Of course, we're being wildly ambitious in releasing this, and it is
certainly going to be interesting to see how people react. :)

With best wishes,

Pete

[impete]

Sorry I spelled your name wrong, Ashley! :)

Pete

[hs]

Sorry, I didn't read the original post so I'm not directly replying to
it, more or less stating how I HOPE it goes:

At the moment, much of electronic music in handheld devices is based
on the hardware+3rd party software concept. Meanwhile, so-called
'studio-worthy' devices are all standalone units with specialized
hardware dedicated to destroying your speakers (as I like to say).
The foray into handheld standalone devices has been quite...miss-miss.
There's a battery powered QY-100 which is light years behind pretty
much everything, a portable mpc that's battery powered and doesn't do
a whole lot, the Kaossilator which is gimmicky at best and that's
pretty much it. Meanwhile, PDA's and game systems have software
written on a non-specific platform that go way beyond any of these
dedicated devices, even extending into the realm of 'pro gear spec'.

Now, this is all good and dandy, but wouldn't it be nice to have a
piece of hardware that fits in your pocket like a pda or psp that was
designed from the ground up to be a serious music workstation? I
personally would pay extra for such a device so long as it had a
coherent and very usable interface, decent battery life (3 hours is
just fine) and generous built in effects, neglegable sample memory and
at least a 2 note polyphonic synth engine (if not more). See, the
ideal design, for me, would be something that works like a pda, but
with extra 'quick buttons/knobs' for that 'hardware feel' and ease of
use, 16 note polyphony, 2 multieffect busses (i.e. each effect can be
changed to whatever and bussed to whatever track), and a global
compressor/limiter. The 16 notes would be split it (ideally) between
10 sample parts and 6 synth parts, all monophonic (trying to be
realistic here!). All this with a nice touch screen editor for
sequencing and editing patches and filemanaging with a couple of nice
audio jacks (maybe even work that into the bus for external
effects!).

This could, given the advances in technology nowdays, be EASILY
conceivable. However, there's a huge drawback: Handheld music
creation is a tiny drop in a huge music-production bucket. It's very
sad, but very true. We represent a worthless piece of the corporate
dollar which would ultimately, if the 'dream unit' was produced, make
no money for the people involved and it's their job to turn a
profit.

I mean, really, a GOOD handheld device specifically designed to pump
out your music in the most flexible way possible...why is it always a
software solution where certain items have to be sacrificed since the
hardware wasn't geared toward that use? It's very naive to think that
software on 'general hardware' is the best choice for the end user
when I believe co-creation of hardware with the right software hand in
hand is the ultimate holy grail in this arena. Again, given the
advances in technology, a unit could happen down the line when it's
little risk, but right now, I think it's just now getting to the point
where a decent device could be made and thus is more of a risk to
produce...assuming anyone at korg, roland, alesis, etc. is even
considering such an item...

I guess I'm rambling now..haven't slept in 30 hours or so, guess I
should sleep...and dream of the Korg Handy-X or whatever it would be
called...

Peace.