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The clever musical gems for the Nintendo DS just keep coming. Nintendo’s handheld game console, in my mind, wins hands-down among mobile platforms in terms of sheer choice, even though the homebrew development is entirely unsanctioned by Nintendo.
The latest entry: glitchDS, a clever sequencer that uses a cellular automaton (a simple, grid-based model of the evolution of cellular structures). CA, particularly John Conway’s Game of Life rendition from the 70s, has been applied to music before; there’s a powerful version in the Newscool preset in Reaktor 5. But this happens to be particularly well-suited to a touchscreen, and to having something you can stick in your bag and fiddle with on the go.
Features:
And the price is free. There’s even a series of free soundpacks to go with it.
The only catch is, of course, that whole “unsanctioned” bit: the preferred means of loading this is an R4DS card, though DSLinker, DSTT, CycloDS Evolution, Acekard 2, EDGE, and some others work. Be sure to check the documentation.
The design is really clever, potentially inspiring for other projects even if you don’t have a DS. One especially unique twist: “strum” mode lets you strum a sequence like a guitar, something I haven’t seen before. Thanks to Ronnie of the awesome rekkerd.org for sending this in.
Want more cellular automata? It just happens that a video synth using CA, coupled with a patch bay and optical sensors and packed in a lovely case with an LCD, also happened into my inbox this week for Create Digital Motion:
Circuit-Bent Cellular Automata Video Synth Toy with Patch Bay
Apple has made its Mac OS X 10.5.3 update available. Among the bug fixes:
“Addresses an issue with stuttering video and audio playback in certain USB devices.”
Also interesting, given that some issues may have been related to wireless issues: “Improves 802.1X behavior and reliability.”
About the Mac OS X 10.5.3 Update [Knowledge Base HT1141 at Apple Support]
This would appear to address at least some of the audio performance complaints with 10.5.2. Those of you who have been having issues who were unable to downgrade, let us know as you test if it seems to make your problems go away.
Because operating systems are complex, however, it was unclear whether this was the only issue with 10.5.x and audio, so we’ll also be watching for more comprehensive testing feedback from CDM readers and music and audio product makers.