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Re: VST Host & Effects on PDA
At 2:06 PM +0200 7/4/06, Buzap Buzap wrote:
> > I remember seeing a blurb on a mini-Ableton clone in one
>> of my synth magazines last year.
>
>Actually, if there is a "mini-looper" for PocketPC - it would be
>really awesome!!
>Not for anything series for me, but I'd like to jam with myself or
>work on some ideas while travelling.
>
>So, is there a simple "pocket looper" you know of?
Well, I found the back issue to which I was referring (Dec. 2005
issue of Keyboard. I should have just done a search online for the
article in the first place:
http://www.keyboardmag.com/story.asp?sectioncode=30&storycode=12175 ).
The software is Bhajis Loops ( http://www.chocopoolp.com ).
Unfortunately, it's not as cool as I remember it (but then again,
what ever is?). It does seem to be an homage to Ableton Live, but on
Palm OS. There are two serious shortcomings, however. First and
foremost, it does not seem to accept live input. You have to either
record or input .WAV's separately before working with them. Second,
and contrary to my first impression, it will *not* act as a VST host.
However, it includes almost 20 native effects on its own, so you can
already do a lot with what's there. And of course it's pretty fully
functional otherwise, especially with the pattern and wave editors.
Otherwise, I spent a nice chunk of time looking around for something
on Win CE or Palm that would work with VST's. No luck yet. I did
find a few neat things for tweezing backing tracks (i.e. drum and
bass accompaniments). For instance, at the aforementioned Chocopoolp
site, there's a little widget called Microbe that allows you to
manipulate 8 drum tracks and 2 synths. There are quite a few
Trackers ported over to either Palm or Win CE too.
And if you are indeed interested in dropping your rhythm section in
your pocket, this would also be a good time to throw in a plug for
PSP Rhythm ( http://www.psprhythm.com ) and PSP Kick (
http://www.pspkick.com ) -- both for the Sony PSP. PSP Rhythm is
particularly nice, IMNSHO, because it attempts to model some of its
functions from the Elektron Machinedrum SPS-1. Both are pretty neat,
however, and the PSP platform is excellent for these sorts of
homebrew music apps. I'm waiting for someone to finally work out the
kinks for live input, then the PSP would really be a viable
alternative for music softs. Oh, and it's a really, really kewl game
and movie machine too, for when you're stuck in the bus/plane
travelling to the next gig. :D
--m.
--
_______
"Somewhere between anticipation and nostalgia we should have been happy."