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Music Media Handhelds Entertainment Games Hardware

Nanoloop: GameBoy Advance Hard Disk Recording 122

Posted by timothy from the creative-misapplication dept.
parasew writes "Nanoloop 2.0 for GameBoy Advance is Out! The GBA-Cartridge features a 8-voice Synthesizer an 8-Track Sequencer, a Song Editor and a HD-Recording Option, rendering the GBA one of the most cool digital gadgets for musicians that travel a lot. Extra-gear is a GameBoy-MIDI-Adapter and a Lowpass Filter Cable. Some Reviews of Nanoloop are available in the Web from samplepoolz, HarmonyCentral, nanoloop.de and a German one from Parasew. Demo sounds in MP3 format can be downloaded from the site."
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Nanoloop: GameBoy Advance Hard Disk Recording More

Nanoloop: GameBoy Advance Hard Disk Recording

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  • Thug Passion (Score:4, Funny)

    by clinko ( 232501 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:02PM (#10844022) Journal
    "rendering the GBA one of the most cool digital gadgets for musicians that travel a lot. "

    Nothing says Rock Star or Street Thug like a GameBoy.

    • Re:Thug Passion (Score:2, Insightful)

      by prescot6 ( 731593 )

      > "rendering the GBA one of the most cool digital gadgets for musicians that travel a lot. "
      > Nothing says Rock Star or Street Thug like a GameBoy.

      I'm failing to make the connection between "cool digital gadgets for musicians that travel a lot" with rock star and street thug.

    • "rendering the GBA one of the most cool digital gadgets for musicians that travel a lot. "

      Sure, you could get out rough ideas with it, but could you really do anything serious with it?
      • I believe the answer to this is obvious... No. Considering you can't really get anything "serious" out of most PCs without spending a good deal of money on better equipment for signal conversion, audio interface, etc., I doubt you could create anything worth listening to on the GBA...

        However, just like PC recording the equipment you use to create the music will have a much greater impact on the quality of the recording than the sequencer or medium will.

        • I believe the answer to this is obvious... No. Considering you can't really get anything "serious" out of most PCs without spending a good deal of money on better equipment for signal conversion, audio interface, etc., I doubt you could create anything worth listening to on the GBA...

          I can't believe somebody would post something like this. Sure 8bit may not sound good, and it is probably noisy as fuck, but who cares? Good music doesn't always take the best instrument or recording medium to make it so.

          Loo

          • I don't believe the intent of the parent was to figure out whether or not this machine would allow a pro musician to record their music. Obviously if it's a HD recorder you can record music. The parent was asking whether or not the QUALITY of the recording would be good. Your post didn't do anything to answer that question. The fact is that a noisy recording is only desirable to those that are creating artistic music for a limited audience. If you're looking to create something with wide appeal (i.e. someth
      • Truthfully, no. But I saw Beck play this song he'd written using a GameBoy Color at Coachella '04, and it was pretty cool. Nothing too extravagant, but (like most of the tweaks and hacks on Slashdot) he did it mostly because he could.
    • (assuming sarcasm) Well of course "Gameboy" doesn't sound street, unless you say it right:

      [vanillaice]Game-boyYYY-eee![/vanillaice]

      GTRacer
      - escaping GT and LT too tiring

  • Yes!!! 8-tracks!!! (Score:3, Funny)

    by bgarcia ( 33222 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:03PM (#10844025) Homepage Journal
    The GBA-Cartridge features a 8-voice Synthesizer an 8-Track Sequencer
    Cool! I'm going to dig all the 8-tracks out of my mom's attic!

  • I knew it! (Score:2, Funny)

    by thedarb ( 181754 )
    I just knew 8-track would make a come back!

    *TheDarb

  • Things of the past (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Lobishomen ( 810898 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:03PM (#10844030)
    You know.. I remember when cell phones were used to make calls, and video game systems were used to play games. Is branching development truely that advantageous?

    • Re:Things of the past (Score:2, Interesting)

      by MORB ( 793798 )
      ...And USB was used as a data port.
    • development truely that advantageous?

      You need your web browser to branch it's development and get a spell checker.

      • You need your web browser to branch it's development and get a spell checker.

        You need your -- forget it.

      • Maybe you need to rely a bit less on a spell-checker and rely more on knowing the funamentals of the English language. You should be using "its" instead of "it's." Remember, if the sentence does not make sense when you substitute a contration with the words in that contraction, then you are doing something wrong.

        "You need your web browser to branch it is development and get a spell checker."
      • Maybe he should get this [sourceforge.net].
    • Eventually what will happen is all cell phones will become video games, and all video games will become cell phones, life will be grand. However, we can exepct at least 30-40 more hybrids untill this happens.
    • Everything will turn into a megadevice so expensive that only the government will be able to afford it. One will be given to each baby at birth. Unfortunately a large portion of the population will eat their device before they know better. This will be the new lower class.

      I just hurt myself.
    • I remember when my carphone was a 24x12x6 in. box, videogames were played in arcades and to use an 8-track recorder you actually had to have an 8-track recorder, so I'd say it's got a few advantages.

    • What? Your digital camera can't make phonecalls yet?
    • I dunno. I don't think this has much in common with the cell phone feature explosion. While games/PDA features/etc on cell phones are intended for mass consumption, this is primarily a niche product for musician-types who want a new to express themselves. I think it's pretty cool.

    • I remember when typewriters were used for writing text documents, and paper-tape calculators were used for arithmetic, and turntables were used for listening to music... and today the desktop computer is a single device that does all those things for me.

      The same convergence is now happening in pocket-sized devices, and I consider this a Good Thing. The gestalt of general-purpose computing is greater than its parts.
    • Yeah... and it was really great when I had to carry around my digital camera, cell phone, portable game device, mini tape recorder, and PDA instead of 1 device that handles all of the above. Specialization in one thing is fine, because usually the specialized devices do the task a lot better, but putting everything into one device is still useful to some... like for those without a lot of pockets.
    • Funny, I remember when a Commodore 64 video game system was used to run an accounting package by my dentist. That was, oh, twenty years ago.
    • I couldnt agree more....

      Its hard to get a mobile phone these days that DOESNT come with a camera, music player and radio.

      I already have a digital camera, radio and mp3 player that are all far better quaility than one that could be built into a phone.

      I just want to get a decent phone that is good for making phone calls. Is that too much to ask?
      • convergence is such a horrible thing... that you have to post a link to a prog that is a great Game AND a Great Utility. Not that I think it isn't. I have no idea what it is, but your post WAS ironic.
      • > I just want to get a decent phone that is good for making phone calls. Is that
        > too much to ask

        Nokia 6230 is such a phone. It also has a camera, radio, bluetooth support, decent (java) games etc. You don't have to use the extra features, and your phone call quality certainly doesn't suffer because of it. Every single time there's a story on Slashdot about phones someone posts with a comment like `all i want to do is make phone calls on my phone`. Well, you're in the minority, so stick with old pho
    • God forbid we use a CPU to process things other than what the box says it should.

  • Out/Out of Stock (Score:4, Interesting)

    by xanderwilson ( 662093 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:05PM (#10844052) Homepage
    Did the site say it was "out of stock until mid-November" (as it does now) when his article went up, or did they sell out that quickly? I for one would like to see some photos of what it looks like, because my first thought is that it might be bigger than your average cartridge.

    Alex.

  • Real Ultimate Power GBA workstation (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Mulletproof ( 513805 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:08PM (#10844081) Homepage Journal
    "rendering the GBA one of the most cool digital gadgets for musicians that travel a lot.

    Unless you own a powerbook or some other laptop. And don't want to look like a fool in the process. And don't have time to load linux onto your toaster. And pardon me while I load my GBA emulator onto my alienware laptop.
    • Honestly, musicians that travel are normally professionals... and like the parent said, we do our work on laptops.

      I've got my laptop setup to be a complete portable studio. Sure, this little guy would be fun to play around with, but it's a toy, it's not something that a musician would WORK with.
      • "I've got my laptop setup to be a complete portable studio. Sure, this little guy would be fun to play around with, but it's a toy, it's not something that a musician would WORK with."

        I agree, but then, it depends on the musician. I would like to hear the 4-bit crap that comes out of this thing, into a MoogerFooger LPF, for instance. The sort of folks who use circuit-bent [audible-ism.com] instruments might make use of this toy.

        Anti-Musicians [vermilion-sands.com] are always looking for something different.

        I've been building a synth base

      • Gameboyzz Orchestra (Score:3, Informative)

        by Incadenza ( 560402 )

        Sure, this little guy would be fun to play around with, but it's a toy, it's not something that a musician would WORK with

        Well, these guys do. This Sunday, November 21st, 20.30 h, Utrechtsedwarsstraat 134, Amsterdam (from the STEIM website [steim.org]):

        Gameboyzz Orchestra
        The Gameboyzz Orchestra Project is an experimental sound and visual project, based on the use of GameBoy console as a music instrument.
        From a musician's point of view the GameBoy device is a kind of simple analogue synthesizer, with a raw and at

      • Bud Melvin uses one onstage. Well, actually he uses a regular GB with Nanoloop, but same idea.

        It's kitsch. If you only need a little bit, and want the retro sound, why not?
      • You sure [treewave.com] about that?

        (that site includes info about a band that makes music with such 'instruments' as a "1977 Atari 2600 game console, a 1986 portable 286 PC, a 1983 Commodore 64 computer, and a 1985 Epson dot matrix printer." good music, too. I've seen them live in my hometown and they're amazing. /. the mp3s.)

    • rendering the GBA one of the most cool digital gadgets for musicians that travel a lot...

      ...unless you own a powerbook or some other laptop...

      ...or any of the Yamaha QY [soundonsound.com] products.

    • Toaster? A second ago, we were talking about GameBoys.

  • Modem? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Tyrdium ( 670229 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:09PM (#10844091) Homepage
    Besides normal line-recording, nanoloop also allows to transfer song data digitally through the audio port by playing a chain of rectangular pulses which represent song data bytes stored in the cart memory. These pulses can be decoded by a PC client software and then stored in the same format as on the cart.
    Sounds like a modem to me... Granted, the line noise is probably less than that of a telephone, but what kind of bit rate are they expecting to get with this? Wouldn't it be better to just stick a USB port on the thing? Also, I assume this means that the hard drive function is Windows-only? :-/
    • It is a modem. Modulate (encode song data into PCM) and demodulate (inverse process).

      A lot easier than doing USB, honestly. And it isn't Windows-only - the data format ought to be very easy to reverse engineer, and all you technically *need* to decode it is an audio file recorder and some C code.
    • Also, I assume this means that the hard drive function is Windows-only?

      Wow, talk about a case of finish RingTFA: It currently runs under Windows but since it is a simple console application, there should be Mac- and Linux versions soon.
    • Its probably digital MIDI data, not analog audio. Bands, get yourself a portable minidisc recorder and a stereo microphone, there you have a nice way to record song ideas.

  • Hmm, that is awesome, but (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mcc ( 14761 ) <amcclure@purdue.edu> on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:10PM (#10844105) Homepage
    What made the first Nanoloop so incredibly awesome was its aphexy 8-bit glitch aesthetic. The new one looks like a great piece of software for music creation, but will it be able to have the same degree of crazy bleepy soul?
    • Man, I feel like I missed out. "8-bit glitch aesthetic" just about describes the sound I'm looking for, but this is the first I've heard of nanoloop, and it looks like nanoloop 1.2 is no longer available but will be later in ROM form.

      Anybody looking to sell one? =)
    • i agree with you, but there's some perks to the GBA version, mainly the quality of the sound you can produce. as far as a synth goes, for the capability/portability/price/coolness, it's tough to beat (no pun intended). get yourself 2 GBA's, 2 carts and a mixer, and you can throw a party! :-P

  • Nintendo DS (Score:5, Interesting)

    by lxt ( 724570 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:10PM (#10844108) Journal
    Cool as it is, I'm wondering why they chose to release this product so soon to the DS being released...although the DS will probably be able to use the cartridge with no problems, the two screens and networking features the DS offers might have been quite useful...
  • So I guess its only a matter of time before some incriminating evidence is recorded in a GBA. This also makes the GBA a privacy threat, LOL. So you think little bobby is harmless playing games on "bring your kid to work day" ...right...

    • Re:Hah. (Score:2)

      by mcc ( 14761 )
      Nanoloop is a synth/sequencer. You can't record sound to it.

      The Nintendo DS, however, will have a microphone built in... I can't wait to see what the Nanoloop people eventually release for it ^_^
  • To get the sound out of a standard GBA all you need to do is plug it into your stereo using a standard stereo mini-jack to RCA type cable, but what about the GBA SP? I've seen custom headphones that you can buy that will plug into the SP's custom port, but where would you get something to convert that to a stereo line out? I haven't seen any of those anywhere.

    --
    Sounds like a scam, but it works. [wired.com]
    Free Flat Screens [freeflatscreens.com] | Free iPod Photo [freephotoipods.com] |

  • A Gameboy musician (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:25PM (#10844257)
    There's actually a Finnish musician called Huoratron (roughly translated Whoretron) who uses Gameboys for making music. I saw him live once and the show kicked ass. He makes a sort of rough electro.

    He has also a web site http://www.huoratron.com/ [huoratron.com]

  • Harmony Central has some great reviews there (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lisandro ( 799651 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:42PM (#10844446)
    Price Paid: US $140 used

    Ease of Use: 7
    my bandmates and i call it "anal lube" if you have used one you know why. shave and a haircut, 4 bits. toggling thru the menus can be annoying but you get used to it, moving linear just like playing legend of zelda.

    Yep! Priceless!

  • Out? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by ezthrust ( 564219 )
    I don't see it available for download as a ROM or to buy anywhere there. How is this considered "out"?

    I am really disappointed that they don't offer the original Nanoloop for GameBoy unadvanced as a cart. There have been tests shown that the first GameBoy model had much better sound circuits that had little to no noise, while each newer model added static and buzz.

    Would there not be a market for both?

    If anyone out there could point me in the direction of the cheapest flash cartridge set-up for ROMs th

  • Sounds Like A Suped Up Pocket Music (Score:3, Insightful)

    by szyzyg ( 7313 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:47PM (#10844510)
    I've been a long term user of Pocket Music advance, I had to get my family to send me a copy since for some reason it was never released in the US. (which says a lot about the US gameboy market). I've used it to come up with structural outlines for tracks, not the best sound quality, but a lot more compact than say Reason on my iBook.

    But this looks like a huge step up, especially if the output can be fed into other applications in a meanigful way.

    Now all I need is an mp3 player with seamless pitch shift (The archos does pitch shifting but it glitces when you change it) and multichannel output/Mixing so I can DJ from a pocket size box.

  • Doesn't sound like a hard disk recorder to me... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dominic_Mazzoni ( 125164 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:55PM (#10844610) Homepage
    The title is misleading. I read the specs page, and it doesn't sound like it's a hard disk recorder to me. It sounds like it's a basic MIDI sequencing program, of the type that could be used to create "classic" videogame soundtracks. The "hard disk recording" option is just a protocol that allows digital transfer of the raw sequencer data, and then a client program that turns it into a clean WAV file. This means that you can get a clean, noise-free recording of your cheezy retro music sequence, that's all.

    Not saying you couldn't have a lot of fun with one of those - heck, composing music is a lot more creative than playing a sidescroller, but this is NOT a tool for pro musicians to use to record jam sessions, which is what was implied.

  • Dr. Sample? (Score:3, Informative)

    by 192939495969798999 ( 58312 ) <info AT devinmoore DOT com> on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @02:06PM (#10844710) Homepage Journal
    It seems to me that anyone willing to shell out for this would probably be better off with a used Boss Dr. Sample, the Dr.S being the de facto industry standard for cheesy little loops,etc. It'd certainly hold more respect in the biz than showing up on stage with a gameboy advance, which will be difficult to use under the (no)/lights, etc.
  • This isn't bad for a bit of fun, but for real recording and music production, there are a lot of much better choices out there for not that much more money. Such as Qy-100 [samash.com] , (which you could pick up on ebay for about the price of a DS), or the Roland SP-505. You might want to have this as a sound source, otherwise i would just find it a pain in the ass. *shrugs*.
  • The review of Nanoloop on HarmonyCentral is of nanoloop 1.x for the original game boy - the article didn't really make that clear.
  • It's not quite the same as the topic at hand, but Wired ran an article about a group that uses the original eight-big Game Boys to make music. The article is here [wired.com]. This is more advanced, but the basic idea is similar: the Game Boy becomes a tool for making music that's unique.

    Does this mean that Nintendo has the monopoly on game consoles used as intruments?

  • Seems like a simplified port of a MOD editor minus the sound samples and replaced with waveform generators. It looks similar to some (very simple) tracking software I've used in the past.

    Anyone had a chance to use this software yet that has done MOD or other tracking before? How does it compare?
  • Although Nanoloop 2 doesn't do what most people consider to be "hard disk recording", it's a cool sequencer, and the original Nanoloop for the old Gameboy was cool too. Here are some other related links:

    LSDJ, a powerful Gameboy tracker:
    http://www.littlesounddj.com/ [littlesounddj.com]

    A NES Midi cartridge:
    http://www.wayfar.net/0xf00000_overview.php [wayfar.net]

    My own Atari 2600 Sequencer Kit:
    http://qotile.net/sequencer.html [qotile.net]

    Prophet 64, a C64 sequencer/drum machine prog:
    http://www.prophet64.com/ [prophet64.com]

    8BitPeoples, musicians in
  • i actually bought nano 2.0 and was one of the lucky ones to get the first batch. it's fun to use. i am an oldschool tracker as well and i can say that it's not really anything like a mod sequencer. what it's designed for is creating loops and performing live. the hard disk recording feature will be cool but creating serious music with this would be difficult. while its true that it does not have a sample set like lsdj, it has fm synthesis and some high/lowpass filtering, so you can get some interesting soun
  • but i doubt anybody is gonna rush out and buy a gba to use this thing

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