Absolute Kaoss: The story of Mike and his Korg DS-10 (Part Two) August 20, 2008
Posted by Mike in Console, Games, Impressions.1 comment so far
Everyone occasionally feels that the world hates them. Such was the case today when I found out that my Dell desktop has a known problem with Line-In recording. As in: it’s claimed that Dell likes to disable it on many of its Vista machines due to some kind of piracy concerns, but actually I know it’s a conspiracy to screw me over, the one time I actually want to use the bloody thing.
So unfortunately, even though I have one tune ready to upload that is the zenith of analogue synth achievement (or a borderline C grade in GCSE music coursework, one or the other), it has to remain confined to my DS for now, repetitively going through its sixteen patterns, wondering when it’s finally going to make its bow in front of an audience.
When you left me at the end of my last piece, I was contemplating my wishes to make music, and the Korg DS-10’s possible shouts of “I am the Holy Grail” to this immortal quest. But the initial post on PSO was light on detail about how the program actually works, and since then I’ve at least partly got my head around it.
The first feeling when you make your way across the various screens in the DS-10 is one of mild horror, as you can see so many knobs that you think you must have accidentally found your way into a Paul Danan Fan Club convention. However, the way the program works is surprisingly simple – it’s just the intricacies of creating the sound you want from each synth that baffle, but also reward experimentation.
You can create sixteen separate musical “patterns” to make up a song. Each of these is made up of two analogue synth parts, plus four drum parts. Each pattern can be in a sequence of up to sixteen beats, and these are either laid down live in a virtual keyboard controlled by the stylus, or at your leisure on a matrix grid set up to represent the notes and the timings, or (where the drums are concerned) live on the four touch-sensitive drum pads. This is the easy end of the spectrum. Simply create a tune on Pattern 1, copy it to Pattern 2, and then change an element – for example, increase the drum frequency to make it sound like the track is starting to build up – and as you carry on throughout the sixteen patterns, you can make something that sounds coherent, but which probably isn’t very exciting.
This is where the other stuff comes into play. Finding out exactly which turn of which knob or slightly different setting will produce weird and wonderful sounds was part and parcel of the myth of the original MS-10 synth, and this is also very much the case with the DS-10. There really is something magical about finding a sound you had no idea existed, and then realising with a heavy heart that it’s so good you’re going to have to retcon it back through all the patterns you’ve already created.
But that’s nothing compared to the Kaoss pads.
Once a particular synth pattern has been laid down, it can be modified in real-time (and the recording updated, if you wish) on the virtual, touch-sensitive Kaoss pads. These are configurable to enable many different note-altering variables to be selected, and just one pattern is perfectly capable of being noodled with on the touch screen for absolutely ages. It’s easy improvisation – ridiculously enjoyable solo noodling – and a lovely extra that wasn’t on the original MS-10 synth. It’s one of the things that, when locked onto a particular pattern, can either turn a song to genius, or mess it up completely. I love it. Musical maths theorists out there can also adjust the Kaoss pads in whatever pre-set grid arrangement they wish in the advanced sections of the sequence controls.
This is the genius of the DS-10. It’s simple enough to enable the easy creation of a tune, yet the options available are very deep for a piece of software that’s much cheaper than a “real” synthesiser/sequencer. For example, remember how I said you can have two analogue synths plus four drums per pattern? Why not try sacrificing a drum track in order to load up another synth and treat it as a drum, configuring notes for it as you would for a synth, which enables a three-on-three combination? And how about ditching the pre-set song patterns, and using the patterns screen plus D-pad shortcuts to the various effects options to play your tunes live? The patterns screen allows you to mute various parts or play one single track on its own, meaning that instead of having to use three or four patterns to build up the beat of a track, you can play it live and build up a particular line yourself in just one, enabling you to free up more pattern memory for creativity.
In many ways the DS-10 reminds me of the SID chip on the Commodore 64, which is interesting because, just as with the programmers who worked on that computer, the trick to producing something potentially memorable is to improvise your way around the memory issues. The sixteen pattern memory per song really isn’t that much once you get going, but after you learn a few of the ways in which you can stretch this out using the tools available, you start to realise that, while the DS-10 is never going to be better than a $300 program on a PC, you are only ever going to be bound by your own ingenuity up to a certain point. And, for me, the challenge of learning to reach and then push that boundary is rather compelling.
Next time: More skirting around the issue of what the various knobs do. And, hopefully, a song link.
Gaming merchandise (why do we never get the good stuff?) August 19, 2008
Posted by Chris in Console, Merchandise.add a comment
Two pieces of gaming-related merchandise which caught my eye today. The first (pictured above) is a limited edition version of PSP strategy role-player Yggrda Union – a sort of Fire Emblem/Advance Wars on E-numbers which appeared on the GBA a while back and was busy, complex but really quite excellent. It’s available only from US store GameStop, and is reserved for those preordering the game. The soundtrack on the original game was really quite good, so that’s a neat little freebie for American gamers.
Meanwhile, Japan continues to get the best deal when it comes to gaming tat, with this set of RockMan/MegaMan magnets released to commemorate the helmeted one’s 20th Anniversary. Nice.
The odd ‘limited’ edition tin (which is usually more plentiful than vanilla boxed copies for most games) aside, why do we never get any quality gaming merchandise in the UK? I think we should be told.
I am the music man: The story of Mike and his KORG DS-10 (Part One) August 18, 2008
Posted by Mike in Impressions.add a comment
Ticking off the entries on my imaginary “Things To Do Before You Die” list a week ago, it was obvious to me that the one that said “create a musical masterpiece” would have to be passed over with regret. So I decided to do something about that by importing the Korg DS-10 for Nintendo DS from Japan.
I’ve always wanted to be a music maestro. I learnt the guitar for years. Classical, unfortunately. At the time I had no idea that I’d later want to be in a band, and learning how to play melodic, Spanish, sub-Gipsy Kings musak never quite made me confident enough of an effective transition to take the plunge. There’s a videogame to paper over that particular crack in my life and allow me to unleash my inner rock god, of course: Rock Band. I’ve always wanted to sing as well, and there’s a fine pretend-me-up for that too: Singstar.
But the only console games that allowed me to dab my hand at the third wheel – electronic musical composition – were the Music series from Codemasters on PS1 and PS2. And after the hilarious David Morales intro (“This is the M… T… V… music denerator 2… 2…” (and yes, that ‘d’ is intentional. Dig the game out of your collection if you have it, and relive the horror)), nothing I made could ever possibly live up to my dreams. Basic stuff was possible with Music, but as it was sample-based, pissing around with the sounds themselves led to diminishing returns. Stuff just sounded “wrong”. And it was all rather fiddly, despite being an impressive technical achievement at the time. I didn’t just want to pattern match. I wanted to create my own sounds.
Now there’s a new kid on the block: the Korg DS-10. But surely there’s some mistake here. A full-blown synthesiser on the DS? The Nintendo DS? The console that can come in shocking pink and has games with titles such as Horsez? Yes indeed. In Japan, you see, the DS is much more than just a games machine. There is a veritable banquet of non-gaming applications that we see neither hide nor hair of on our shores, and it was only a matter of time before a program like DS-10 became available. The homebrew scene has developed a few music offerings itself, but this is the first real attempt by a developer for retail, and in partnering with Korg, the developer of many synths over the years (the 70s classic MS-10 being the inspiration for the DS version), AQ Interactive clearly has high hopes to plug this apparent gap in the market.
Confession time: I had never used a synth before today. I had no idea what attack, decay, sustain and release actually meant in practise. Until today, I thought that Kaoss was a comical misspelling by someone in extreme need of remedial education. But having now whizzed and wooed my way around the various knobs, dials and stylus sensitive pads on the DS-10, I know what all of them mean and more. Okay, so actually, that’s a complete lie. I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, to be honest. At the moment I’m flailing around on the thing like Mikey from Big Brother facing a 90 mph bouncer from Andrew Flintoff.
But here’s the thing: I’m having loads of fun regardless. The squelchy analogue sounds I’m enticing out of this pocket-sized marvel are rather tremendous. And I want to learn how to do it properly. Sometime over the next few days, I’m going to make my first proper tune. I’ll upload it somewhere for you all to listen to and laugh at. And maybe then I’ll be able to tell you whether you should import the DS-10 yourselves.
My first impression is that you probably should, but, to be sure, stay tuned for the forthcoming Part Two of this musical odyssey, in which I’ll not only go into some of the features of the synth and exactly what kind of things you’re able to do with it, but also outline how friendly (or not) it is for people like me who’ve never used anything like it before.
The Korg DS-10 is now available for import from Play-Asia for £33.12 plus delivery charge, and will typically take around a week to get to the UK. While the manual is in Japanese, the program itself is in English. A US release is currently expected in October. No UK release has yet been confirmed.
We’re back! August 17, 2008
Posted by Chris in Miscellaneous, News.add a comment
Yes, after a rather extended hiatus punctuated by illness, apathy and too much ‘proper’ work, Press Start Online is risen, like a phoenix from the proverbial flames of oblivion - here once again to provide regular gaming related scribblings for your delectation and delight.
We’ll be updating regularly during the week, with the occasional weekend post chucked in for good measure. And that’s a promise this time. We won’t be your typical reviews/previews/gossip blog: instead we’ll be dissecting the news and bringing you our genuine opinion on the current state of the gaming nation. We’ll write thought-provoking features and interesting reviews that aren’t simply seven-page checklists of a game’s features with several paragraphs listing what each button does. And – if one of us can figure out how to set it all up – we may even bring you a PSO podcast in the not-too-distant. That’s the hope, anyway.
We’re currently still decked out in our faintly musty WordPress clobber, but we’re looking into purchasing some brand new duds so we’ll look a little smarter (and smell a little less funky) in the near future.
We hope you enjoy the new site, and feel free to bookmark us and tell your mates if you like what you read. After all, the more of you we see regularly on here, the more we’ll want to impress the hell out of you.
Enjoy!
The Press Start Online editorial team.
Sega Rally – a road to nowhere January 14, 2008
Posted by Rob in Console, Games, Reviews.add a comment
Imagine owning a car where all you had to do was hold down the accelerator and it would drive itself. It’s one of those ideas that sounds great in real life, but doesn’t translate very well to the world of video games – aside from beating the clock, the racing genre is marked by the challenge of navigating courses and mastering corners. A game in which your car turns for you doesn’t sound too appealing and whilst it’s over-exaggerating matters to suggest Sega Rally is that game, it’s far too close for its own good. (more…)
Press Start’s Top 5 Games of 2007 December 29, 2007
Posted by Chris in Uncategorized.5 comments
Here we go then. The five games we feel to be the very best that 2007 had to offer. Agree? Disagree? Feel fairly indifferent about the whole thing? We’d love to hear from you – so please feel free to use the comments box below, and let us know what we shamefully missed from our top twenty-one. (more…)
Press Start’s Top 20 Games Of The Year (part two) December 26, 2007
Posted by Chris in Articles, Games, Miscellaneous.add a comment
Seven more categories, seven more winners. Well, sort of – you’ll see. This marks the rest of the fifteen (again, sort of) that didn’t quite make our Top Five Of 2007 list. Soon, you’ll see which titles we loved the mostest over the last twelve months, and then you’ll finally get to express disgust at the lack of Uncharted, or The Darkness, or Link’s Crossbow Training. Maybe. (more…)
Press Start’s Top 20 Games Of The Year (part one) December 25, 2007
Posted by Chris in Articles, Games, Miscellaneous.add a comment
Game Of The Year lists. Let’s be honest, despite our carping about the impossibility or unfairness inherent in ranking games in a given order, we can’t get enough of them. Rather than just present a basic Top 20, we’ve decided to do things a little differently. Only a little, mind you. After an argument or three, one threat of fisticuffs, and a ludicrously lengthy discussion of whether we should include God Hand, given that the two of us who love it played it last year (answer: no, but we’ll be running a retrospective piece sometime soon) we came up with twenty games which we feel are worthy of recognition in some way. We’ve finally decided upon a top five which, in our eyes, represent the creme de la creme of this quite amazing year of videogaming – that will be announced at some point between now and the end of the year. And we’ve picked out fifteen awards for the rest, some of which will be revealed tonight, and some tomorrow. For now, read on for our thoughts on eight of the year’s very best – and please let us know in the comments section what you think of our choices. (more…)
Tonight, I’m a rock ‘n’ roll star December 23, 2007
Posted by Chris in Console, Games, Impressions.1 comment so far
A word of warning: if you play Rock Band, you’ll never want to go back to Guitar Hero. Up until now, Activision’s game has ruled the peripheral-dependent rhythm action roost. But no more; original GH devs Harmonix have upped the stakes so significantly that their old series is very definitely playing catch-up. (more…)
Heavy Rain – the uneducated verdict August 20, 2008
Posted by Chris in Comment, Console, Games.add a comment
David Cage (Fahrenheit) has been busy today, unveiling his forthcoming PS3 title, Heavy Rain. Already the subject of much hyperbole mainly thanks to a very short (but admittedly impressive) tech-demo-cum-trailer, the internet kicked into overdrive when the first real footage of the game was showcased today.
Essentially, you fall into one of two camps after you’ve watched the latest vid (actually, there’s a third, but for the sake of argument let’s pretend it doesn’t exist for the moment). You either think that it’s the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen, proclaim Quantic Dream to be the new Team ICO and fap yourself stupid over the realistic visuals and animation. Or you think it looks little more than Dragon’s Lair but with super-lifelike characters. The reality – as is always the case in these situations – is something in between.
The former group can be excused for now, as it really does look stunning. But the latter has a point about the controls – not a great one as it turns out, but a reasonable initial observation nonetheless. You see, interaction is slightly more limited than you might expect – your character Madison advances when you hold the R2 trigger, and turns her head with the left analogue stick. Meanwhile, button commands appear at context-sensitive spots. This has naturally led group 2 to yell “QTE!” with all the disgust of a Chinese reporter interviewing a bronze medal athlete – except the T in the acronym should give everyone a clue that this simply isn’t the case. You might have to make the odd snap decision (and in easily the worst control idea shown yet, you tilt your Sixaxis towards the right answer) but it’s not like you’re punished as such for making the ‘wrong’ choice. As Gamespot put it – “You could have killed the villain in various ways; you could have stayed hidden and called the police. Madison could also be killed, and the fascinating part is that the game would not be over.”
So essentially we’re talking about a fully-branching narrative, and presumably the option to play as one of the other characters should the protagonist pop her clogs. I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds bloody exciting. And it’s this we should be focussing on rather than complaining about unusual controls. I suppose the automatic reaction for some people to something different from the norm is to instantly dismiss it, while others are just as quick to hail it revolutionary.
I’m in group 3 – I’m intrigued to see exactly how it plays before I decide that it’s a genuine advancement in the way we interact with games. For now, I’m cautiously optimistic – mindful that Fahrenheit was a brave experiment that only partially paid off, but aware that this could finally be the closest thing we have to a genuine ‘interactive movie’. And while it might not turn out to be a perfect game, it certainly looks like one hell of an experience.