Fans of the Nintendo DS may have been immune to the siren song of Nintendo’s tweaked DSi model. Unfortunately, I have a feeling a bunch of you are about to upgrade your handheld game system. Why? Because the folks at AQ Interactive are doing an upgraded version of the DS-10 software synth for the game platform, now on the DSi. Palm Sounds gets the scoop.

New in this version:

• Twice the analog synths (4 of them, instead of 2)
• Twice the drum machines (8 instead of 4)
• Twice the tracks (12 instead of 6)
• Expanded song mode: programmable track mute, realtime editing (that is, edit parameters inside the song mode

They’re also announcing distribution through retailers. The new features appear to be platform-specific — that is, all this doubling business appears to be thanks to the greater horsepower of the DSi. My guess – though this is unconfirmed – is that if you can get this for the pre-DSi DS, you won’t be able to switch to the “Dual Mode.” The other slight disappointment is that it doesn’t sound as though online features or collaborative features have been enhanced. On the other hand, AQ is promising that they’ll be in brick-and-mortar retailers, not the online-only distribution they had on the original. I’m hopeful that may also mean distribution outside the US — either for an online DSi purchase, perhaps, or for the cartridge. (The DSi still supports physical carts – hence the mention of retailers.)

The best part of all of this, though, is watching Nobuyoshi Sano – the composer/arranger behind Namco games like Ridge Racer and Tekken – do a Steve Jobs keynote impression.

Via Brandon at the best-game-blog Offworld, who notes that in US dollars this represents a $10 discount.

The Nintendo mobile is a solo instrument no more. Lovers of the Korg DS-10 cartridge for the Nintendo DS handheld are making their own ensembles. And one such trio is a selection of who’s who in Japanese game music.

The Korg DS Trio performed a celebrity concert after the Tokyo Game Show. GameSetWatch has an extensive interview with the three. Nobuyoshi Sano (composer, Ridge Racer series) and Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger) are two familiar names, joined by Michio Okamiya of Final Fantasy hard rock cover band The Black Mages. All three had input into the creation of the DS-10; two connected over drinks. (That’s one of my favorite places to have product meetings, coincidentally.) As a trio, they have the unique opportunity to cover their own music.

It’s interesting me, this aesthetic interest in miniaturizing and making the DS into this sort of musical device. It’s an interest that has been particularly strong traditionally in Japan, it seems. They have a lot to say about DS-10 and game music:

GameSetInterview: Korg DS Trio Talk App Creation, EXTRA Concert

Of course, part of the vision of DS-10 was to create a democratic tool for music creation, not just a toy for some of Japan’s leading game composers. (Hey, they do need to unwind, too!)

ThisIsNot shares his own DS-10 jam, this one a four-way jam in Melbourne, above. (Thanks for sending us the tip! You may have seen the jam blogged elsewhere, but I think some of the sites missed the video, which gives you some idea what they were up to.) He writes:

I was invited by Jed to join a korg ds-10 jam at More Bass recently as part of 13 years of IF records
there was Jed, Enclave, one others and myself playing. We didn’t sync the DS’s over wi-fi or anything and had no pre planned approach , so this was purely improvisation and jamming along.

4 way nintendo ds jam with korg ds-10 [Acid Box Blues]

Audio:

Lastly, our friends over at Boing Boing’s Offworld gaming blog have been all about the DS-10 lately. Receptors, aka 8-bit Operators curator Jeremy Colosine, has an exclusively DS-10 album. (Okay, the novelty is wearing off a bit after the all-Tenori-On and all-Kaossilator album and whatnot, but if it’s musically satisfying for the maker and the music’s good, I’m game!) It’s free for download from last.fm, so the music-per-dollar equation is off the charts.

If you haven’t yet seen it, you should definitely check out the DS-10-as-talkbox video demo, but the man who created it – Jetdaisuke – now puts together everything mobile we’ve been talking about for the last six months and plays, all at once, Bloom (iPhone / iPod touch), Mokugyo (with Cat) (iPhone / iPod touch), ElektroPlankton (DS, by Tenori-On creator Toshio Iwai), and Korg DS-10 (DS), plus a Korg Kaossilator. Impressive, but it is missing a Game Boy running Nanoloop and LSDJ, a PSP running PSPSEQ and PSP Rhythm, a Palm, a Windows Mobile device, a Nokia, rjdj, LPDJ, a SIDstation – the battle is on.

For those of you who are sick of mobile music, watch this video and see how high your blood pressure can go!

In fact, now, with the Game Developer Conference coming up, I think we need a DS Boys’ Choir with one hundred of these things playing at once, like a swarm of so many digital bees. Anyone know a good party to crash?

The music hacker is a different breed in a number of ways. It’s fairly safe, for instance, to say that the average Nintendo gamer does not consider the ability to patch modular synth parameters with their stylus a “killer app.” Yet the Korg DS-10, arguably the first entirely music production-focused cartridge for a major game system ever, has attracted just that kind of interest. And it’s also attracted a different kind of pirate. I know some of the folks who pirated the DS-10 ROM personally, and a lot of them did it after completely a pricey import order for the legit cartridge from Japan — seriously. Many are developers themselves, and they’re committed to supporting other developers, and to supporting the creation of new musical tools on every platform possible.

Further evidence: a competition last week to make tracks with that DS-10 cartridge offered the legit cart as the grand prize.

Now, we could ignore the fact that piracy exists, but instead I bring this out in the open because so many people I talk to feel strongly about it. We want the ability to run homebrew software, and we likewise feel it’s vitally important to support developers in the traditional distribution by paying for the software they make.

So, the word has gone out from the mobile music and homebrew communities: if you appreciate the tool, pay for a legitimate copy of Korg’s DS-10. It’s really a unique moment in soft synths. It’s a real, commercial music tool for a game platform. It’s not a music game (Guitar Hero), or an oddball add-on in a game (the synth in Mario Paint), or a fascinating piece of sound art (ElectroPlankton), or homebrew software requiring hacking. As a result, it does have some constraints — you can’t export files made in the tool, you’re limited to preset spaces on the cartridge itself, and you can’t use things like wireless MIDI available in the homebrew community. For those reasons, I still heavily recommend the homebrew tools, and we’ll talk about that more.

But, having played with this for the last week on an early cart from Japan, I can say this: you’ll want it, if you own a DS, even alongside homebrew tools. Watch for the CDM video review by early next week. And apparently, the buzz is out there, because the preorder has already risen to #3 among music games on Amazon, which is pretty unbelievable. I’m tracking any affiliate revenue we make from Amazon, and will use it to specifically support DS coverage and tutorials on CDM.

Korg DS-10 @ Amazon.com

Previously: Nintendo to Block Homebrew Game Hardware; Leaked DS-10 ROM Inspires DS Music

The embarrassment of riches that is music software for the Nintendo DS continues to grow. Alongside the homebrew entries, DS developer AQ Interactive has the one officially-distributed DS soft synth, a loving emulation of vintage Korg goodness in DS form. We’ve gotten word that the DS-10 makes its public debut this Saturday in London, as part of the London International Music Show (LIMS):

"KORG DS-10 night in London"
Date: Saturday, 14th June, 2008
Time: 22:30-26:00
Location: LIFE, 2-4 Old Street London EC1V 9AA
tel: 020 7250 3737 (http://www.life-oldst.com/)
Admission is FREE!
———————————-
We will have fine entertainment at the event, featuring smooth vibes from cool DJs and a special appearance by the producer of the DS-10, sanodg.  He will not be at LIMS but will be only at our event, so do not miss this only chance to see his performance with the DS-10!
Come one, come all and shuffle on down, and please receive a free drink by letting the reception know that you’ve received this invitation at the door!

I’m supremely jealous (London gets to have all the fun these days), so if anyone would like to cover the event for CDM so the rest of the world can enjoy, please get in touch! No word yet on whether you can trade your free drink ticket for a “free DS-10 cartridge ticket.” Guessing not, unfortunately.

Still no more word on pricing/availability for the rest of us on the DS-10, but I expect this means we’ll be hearing more soon. When I hear from AQ, you’ll hear from me.