My neighbors gonna hate me!
Years ago, when your skinny white boy was just a very young skinny skinny white boy, you had two camps… Musicians were either embracing new technology, crazy machines that made blips and bleeps, or you were in my camp… The long haired guys wearing cowboy boots that proudly proclaimed that their music was made without the help of “machines”. Yes I am talking eighties here and giving away my age!
But times change, and even a Skinny White Boy has to admit that there is something fun about those, now very antiquated machines, that cost 1000’s of dollars and could only make very limited sounds. Yes folks, I am talking about synthesizers that by today’s standards look ridiculous! But as we get older we seem to be longing, more and more, for those days of yore. There is something special about machines that were made years ago that can only do stuff that today’s pocket calculators can do better.
(DISCLAIMER: Yes this is a post about the Nintendo DS)
A while ago, I insisted that one of my buddies should buy a Nintendo DS. He was reluctant, thought that a DS was a toy for your 12 year old niece. But I was VERY insisting. VERY insisting! Told him about all the cool games, told him (His name is Dave by the way) about all the lunatics that wrote their own software for it and how there even was a VoIP client and a version of Linux for the DS.
Now Dave is a full-blown geek and a closet musician. Without much luck I try to be a closet geek and a full blown musician… So, when my buddy told me about the latest title he bought for his DS (Dammit I am supposed to be the king of DS nerdness) I was totally blown away! It turns out that someone ported a FAMOUS synth, the Korg MS-10 to work on the Nintendo DS. And they did a damn fine job!
Dave forgot to tell me that it came out in August of last year, but a few days ago he finally mentioned it and I directly went to Amazon and ordered it, sight unseen. My neighbors must be going crazy. It (aptly named: Korg DS-10) has been in my possession for several hours now and I have already been making blippy-goodness, enough to fill 3 CD’s! You have to see this to believe it! If you like analog synths of yore, you gonna love this.
After Jam Sessions this is the 2nd serious contender for “real musical instrument” alternatives coming from the commercial realm. WOW! That’s all I can say!
Blip, bleep, blip, blip, zoink!
Sorry neighbors!