DigitalDjigit said:
I remember reading something along the lines of Grime producers making tunes on Gameboys (or was it Playstation?). Maybe I am confusing it with my friends fantasy to have a band where he would play some instrument that was
like a gameboy. Anyway, I thought it was a joke and then I found this:
http://www.nanoloop.de/
That is pretty nifty.
I have Nanoloop. For what it is, it IS pretty nifty. A simple step sequencer/synthesizer with a small memory bank.
Vienna's Hot Gameboy Music Club (
www.gameboymusicclub.org) has been doing this for a couple of years now in the shape of a club night where there's an informal introduction to the Nanoloop and LittleSoundDj (
www.littlesounddj.com) programs and then there's all-night solo or collective performances (the results are webcast live, or even broadcast late at night on the Austrian classical/art radio channel, Ö1). I was at an event last year where the Vienna bunch hooked up to jam with New York's 8 Bit Masters collective (site
here, with links to everywhere else). It looks slightly ridiculous to see people hunched over an old-skool grey GameBoys (which top any more advanced models, sound-wise) vigorously nodding their heads, but some people have reached incredible levels of skill with it. The HGMC have even put out an album on Plag Dich Nicht (who have also released Hans-Joachim Roedelius), and there are plenty of sites with self-penned compositions, improvisations and GameBoy versions of popular hits.
I sometimes run Nanoloop (which I got through nanoloop.de for about €70) through a Korg Kaoss Pad II to play with while I dj, otherwise I mix too much and the less I mix, the better, honestly.
