Create Digital Music » pocket

Pocket Producers: Griff Demo, Walkthrough on Windows Mobile

Peter Kirn — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:13:24 +0000

Keeping to the theme of Tony’s video with his Windows Mobile device, here (via a reminder on comments from its creator) is Pocket Griff. There’s no gimmick here: this is all about taking your software studio / sequencer and putting it in your pocket so if inspiration strikes you on the go, you can actually make something. And because of the ready availability of powerful PDAs that run Windows Mobile – including some impressive refurb / used models and devices that aren’t also trying to be a phone – it’s not hard to find a gadget that can run this.

As seen in September on Palm Sounds, though worth repeating here.

Griff Promo Movie from Daniel Webb on Vimeo.

Promos are good, but actually learning how to use the tool is often the best way to judge it musically. It’s well worth going through the whole walkthrough, as that should give you an idea of whether or not this way of working is your style:

Griff Walkthrough from Daniel Webb on Vimeo.

Head to the official Griff site for more:

planetgriff.com

And you know, while we’ve seen some apps come close, we really haven’t seen an iPhone app quite this comprehensive.

More Windows Mobile Musician Software

Peter Kirn — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:51:08 +0000

If you liked the news that the powerful synth-sampler-sequencer-pocket music studio software Syntrax was free, here’s even more software for your Windows Mobile device. Download Squad’s Brad Linder has done a terrific round-up, complete with sound samples and screen grabs:

Making music with Windows Mobile – Mobile Minute

Some, like Pocket Stompbox and a Theremin, are more of a novelty. But the free Frequency Tuner looks handy. (Of course, Brad will also tempt you with productivity-killing Windows Mobile apps.)

For more of this kind of tiny music gear, don’t miss the Palm Sounds (that’s palm as in your hand, not Palm OS necessarily).

Tiny Instruments: Strange Pocket Soundmaker Toys from MiJam

Peter Kirn — Mon, 14 May 2007 22:09:23 +0000

Tiny MP3 players have become ubiquitous, but MiJam thinks you’ll want to use pocket-able toy-like music gadgets that make music. At about US$20 each (according to Technabob, these odd little devices purport to behave as musical instruments, down to what looks like either membrane or very slim buttons for keys:

miJamm Mini Lixx is supposed to be a guitar, with buttons for frets.

miniJamm Mini Drums has miniscule pads for drums.

Mini Keys is a faux-synth, with what looks like eight keys.

Mini Mixer pumps out a beat, digital effects of some kind, “scratch”, and whatever “voice” means, with tempo and volume controls.

miJam minis, via the handheld music making blog Palm Sounds

The idea with all of them is to plug your iPod through the devices, then jam along to tunes. For $20, it seems all they give you is headphone in and/or out and some sampled sounds. But I find myself strangely fascinated by how bizarre the whole concept is … and I wonder if it might be possible to create a device this small that actually was useful (albeit for more than $20).

All that’s missing: the world’s tiniest violin.

Stuff them in your pocket with last week’s pocketable device, the Pacemaker DJ MP3 player

This isn’t the first weird device idea to come from miJam. In December, they unveiled a $30 “scratch mixer” which also turned out to be just a device with some sampled sounds. iLounge reviewed the mixer, drum sticks, and “guitar.” Most were instruments in shape only, and the gizmos are intended as toys, but the ideas are still interesting. Of course, none is as surreal as the interactive iPod-compatible flower: