The appeal of newer music apps for phones, current-generation mobile game systems, and PDAs is portability first. But for the Game Boy music scene, it’s as much about a distinctive sound, and acquiring Game Boys as a kind of unique synthesizer. Our friend and mobile game musician Peter Swimm points us to the new documentary Reformat the Planet. It’s available for a week free on pitchfork.tv, with screenings to follow. It’s a pretty nice survey of the New York corner of the scene, at least. I’m personally getting increasingly interested in tools like PSPSEQ, which have a distinctive sound all their own — think string modeling rather than vintage game glitches — but that puts this in additional perspective.

Reformat the Planet [available this week only, pitchfork.tv]

Cinematographer Asid Siddiky writes:

Suffice to say, we at CDM discourage pirating music. I should hasten to add, though, that we’re also generally opposed to terrorism, illegal firearms, and narcotics — just in case there’s any doubt. According to a training film produced by the National District Attorneys Association and Recording Industry Association of America, and leaked on the Interwebs (doh!), these things typically go hand in hand.

In the course of the film, the producers do stumble upon an interesting solution to the issue of sagging sales of physical CDs:

“There are some sayings in certain parts of the jurisdiction when you buy a CD, ‘would you like it with or without’,” Walters adds. “The ‘with’ is a CD enclosing a piece of crack or whatever the case may be. We, continually, in working with law enforcement, find that these locations have everything from handguns to large quantities of narcotics.”

For many of us, few movies can inspire sound design quite like Star Wars. From the clash of lightsabers to the screech of TIE Fighters to … well, seriously, the whole set of movies sounds damn fine, even if you skipped the whole film and put the sound effects on loop. On its 30th anniversary, I’d love to hear any stories you particularly appreciate about the sound of the films.

In the meantime, a quick roundup:
Lightsabers recreated with Wii remotes and granular synthesis … and reflections on the more organic, non-digital process that created the original.

Why sound designer Ben Burtt is our hero.

Why Vader makes a great DJ.

Updated: 10 Greatest Sounds from Star Wars, via the wonderful Unidentified Sound Object

(Agree? Disagree?)

Let’s not stop there, though. Let’s help Star Wars celebrate its big three-oh in style. Additions?