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:

It’s easy enough to dismiss mobile music devices as toys, and I’d add, there’s really nothing wrong with toys. But the test – a personal one – is whether or not you can develop your musical ideas with them. Some of the deepest, most consistently satisfying tools for mobile devices are the ones that shrink down real production capabilities to a handheld size. Look closely at these apps, and you’ll see software that could easily have passed for “advanced” sequencers on computers fifteen years ago. (Indeed, I think arguably we’ve lost some usability with the complexity we’ve added since.)

While the iPhone phenomenon continues to grow, don’t write off Windows Mobile for music. Tony Stone sends a video showing off the piano roll-style sequencer in an app called AudioBox. It goes beautifully with the stylus – precision input that isn’t possible with your finger on the iPhone.

AudioBox Micro Composer is available at various online software stores. Here’s where Tony says he picked it up:

AudioBox Micro Composer @ ClickApps

AudioBox Product Page @ 4pockets [developer]

AudioBox has come up many times on Palm Sounds; see the interview with the developer

US$44.95, but for that you get the sequencer, an analog synth, a string pad synth, a samples, a drum machine, 16 channels of mixing, effects, editing capabilities, and “device automation” (not sure what that last one means). Part of the reason this is all possible is that developing for Windows Mobile is very much like developing for Windows – and unlike Google’s Android, you can write the apps in C/C++. If you’re not a developer, what that means it that you’re basically getting desktop-like apps.

Tony is worth checking out, too. He’s a Christian hip-hop artist, beatmaker and producer, and youth minister, and he’s promised some very interesting DIY projects coming soon. See his blog and MySpace page. We actually have a whole lot of readers making music in communities of faith, demonstrating that there’s a lot more diversity of musicians working with technology. It’s not at all limited to the view people have of the club or DJ scenes.

Side note: Microsoft should never have gotten rid of the Pocket PC moniker.

Don’t toss that Windows Mobile gadget yet. In fact, you might want to keep glued to Craig’s List for a used unit, if you like the idea of road warrior music production on the cheap, sans laptop.

Amidst all the hype around the iPhone and iPod Touch, Windows Mobile devices could actually win on power apps for on-the-go music making. Maybe that’s because of the similarity to developing Windows desktop apps, maybe it’s because of fewer restrictions compared to Apple’s SDK, or maybe some combination of that and fortune. Nonetheless, during this Summer of iPhone, the makers of powerful Windows Mobile sequencer/sampler studio Griff note on their new blog that Windows Mobile just got a new music app.

Yes, you read that right: a new app for Windows Mobile.

Wildly enough, MeTeoR is basically a pocket-able miniature DAW, boasting:

• 12 tracks of audio with stereo mixdown
• Audio waveform editing with cut, copy, paste, and processing (fade, normalize, reverse, etc.)
• Various effects (delay, chorus, reverb, phaser, filters, pitch shift, noise gate, graphic EQ, and more), with routable aux sends
• Metronome with live recording
• A mixer with full automation envelopes for each tracks (for the mixer lanes and effects)

The whole thing is basically reminiscent of an old version of Cakewalk for Windows, only running in your pocket. I could see it as fairly useful for doing some quick processing or pre-processing on a big project – load those extra files on the subway and keep working on that project, even if you’re up against a deadline.

Not only that, but because the system requirements are fairly flexible and used Windows Mobile devices are fairly worthless, you could easily rescue someone’s unused PDA and press it into service as a music device. They’ll thank you. The environment will thank you.

US$29.95, but unlike Apple’s iTunes store, you can download a demo version. (Imagine that.)

All of this is on paper (erm, pixels); no promises, as I haven’t used it yet. I have to brush off my Dell PDA and give this a try. I know there’s a charger here somewhere…

MeTeoR @ 4pockets.com [Demo download and purchase links, detailed features]

Being on the go is a terrible reason to have to give up your music creation tools. Syntrax is a popular solution, with a sequencer, a synth, and a sample editor in one software package for Windows Mobile (PocketPC) devices and Symbian smartphones from Nokia, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola. Now, this popular package is free.

I just discovered the other day that Syntrax one of the PocketPC/Smartphone sequencers has now been released as free. It only has a monophonic synth, but its quite customizable, and you can do pretty long and reasonable quality compositions on it… Moreover it’s free.. and a lot of people have pda’s/smartphones sitting round…

Indeed. And not only does this work nicely on your new fancy smartphone, it’s a great way to resurrect a retired model (ahem, broken contract), especially as that’s an opportunity to remove any nasty software installed by your carrier.

Could be quite useful as a sketchpad, or even for throwing in some extra tracks as a set.

Syntrax at finished.nl

And yes, this fits squarely in the category of things you can’t do with an iPhone. (What is it about technological progress that often leaves you with less?) Many of you are big fans of the not-free but well worth the $16-27 Chocopoolp Software for Palm/Treo, including the legendary Bhajis Loops. I do wonder what will happen to them when Palm OS goes away, in favor of Linux; maybe a mobile Linux port?

But certainly, if you have a Symbian, Windows, or Palm phone, you have lots of mobile music options. (Blackberry, iPhone, cheap phones … not so much, unless someone knows of a Blackberry sequencer.)