Korg DS-10 for Nintendo DS
July 30th, 2008Description
- World’s first music tool software created for the Nintendo DS
- Two patchable dual-oscillator analogue synthesizer simulators:
- Four-part drum machine that uses sounds created with the analogue synthesizer simulator
- Six-track (analogue synthesizer x 2, drum machine x 4) /16-step sequencer
- Delay, chorus, and flanger sound effects available from the mixing board
- Three note-entry modes: touch-control screen, keyboard screen, matrix screen
- Real-time sound control mode via touch-control screen
- Exchange sounds and songs and play multiple units simultaneously through a wireless communications link
Specifications
| Specifications | KORG?DS-10 |
|---|---|
| Release date | July 2008 |
| Price | 4,800 YEN (tax included) |
| Distributor | AQ Interactive, Inc. |
One of the most eagerly awaited pieces of music making software for the DS has finally hit the streets care of Amazon Japan. The Korg approved DS10 software offers a six channel sequencer for controlling two analogue modelled (dual oscillator) synthesizers, and four drum parts (also created with dual oscillator synthesizers). To do this the Korg DS-10 offers 6 squashed down versions of the famous Korg synthesizer the MS-10, popularised and used heavily within the music industry for years. Though it will not give the user an exact replica of the sounds from this classic synth, it does offer a very full and bass rich set of sounds, with possibilities for creative mashing of presets with the various control knobs and patch bay that will be familiar to regular users of analogue synthesizers such as the MS-10. To add to this there is a great sounding effects section with options for chorus, flanger or delay, but there is no option to mix these at the same time. The user must choose one effect and decide whether its to be routed to either an individual synth, both synthesizerss, to the drums or alternatively to all channels. This will definitely leave effects lovers at a loss and in need of some external effects. This causes problems though, as the DS only has one audio out, hence there’s no way of applying external effects to just one channel if you want to hear the other synth or drums at the same time… Oh well! There is however some solice to be found in a separate FX section solely for the drums, each channel can have one effect from the three on offer, with its own individual settings. That is indeed something useful! Worth mentioning is the fact that the filters on this are, as one would expect from Korg, very nice indeed, but more on that shortly!
The sequencer itself has all the things one would expect, up to 16 steps in each of the 16 banks per song so more than enough space to work with for most users. With each step you can control the volume, pan, gate, note value, and X and Y kaos pad settings, which is great because you can define the exact value for the x or y axes for each step. This brings me neatly to the inclusion of a Kaos pad feature in the DS-10. It feels and sounds great to use the Nintendo DS’ touch screen as a Kaos pad with x and y values being assignable to two of around thirty sound manipulating destinations for your pleasure, though beware, there are limitations to the routing matrix here. You can only send the data to certain destinations within one track and worse still you cannot use the Kaos pad feature to control drum sounds. This will no doubt be addressed by Korg in future versions, though for the moment i feel that all the major and most obvious places you’d want to route the controls to are in there so there is still huge scope for fun and creative variety. A further drawback of the Kaos pads routing matrix is that you can only do this with one of the presets, the other two kaos pad presets are locked to gate and note pitch, and volume and pan respectively, however this does not take away from the great fun that can be had with the feature, it is truly awesome and will have you playing for hours! Also included in the kaos pad settings is a record feature so any particularly interesting squiggles performed with the stylus can be saved along with the loop information, and edited later in one of the sequencer arrangement windows. Unfortunately this is not true of the drum section as i have mentioned, the koas pad cannot be used with any of these channels and that is indeed an unfortunate and real limitation of the software, why should drums go unprocessed?
Another negative is that there is no way to sync or slave the Korg DS-10 to any external midi equipment or sequencers you already have, though there may be a way to sync via audio to a program such as ableton, but i’m still looking into this myself. It is however possible to sync four other Nintendo DS’ if they have their own copy of the Korg DS-10 synthesizer, so this opens the door to more creative possibilities through having more channels to play with and more people to control the various sounds.
The song mode is adequate and easy to understand with a pattern mode that promotes quick and easy creation of new patterns by copy and pasting existing ones and twisting them either with the on screen keyboard or drum pads in a live fashion with the record button, or by editing the individual note data through various options screens. On the downside, being without a much needed undo/redo feature is annoying at first. Having worked on computers so often to make music, i expect this kind of feature as standard as we all make mistakes while experimenting and creating. Perhaps this will teach us to be more careful when working on the DS-10, but more than likely it’ll lead to frustration at lost moments of genius! Having said that, what worthy musicians career would be complete without times like that! If you can cope with this then the Korg DS-10 is a very worthwhile addition to any music set up if you have the time and inclination to use it to its fullest, which I in fact, do! Many however will not.
The Korg DS-10 is obviously not the kind of software for the beginner in music. All the strength of this software comes in its ability to tweak and change the sounds until you are happy with them, this is somewhat impossible for the average novice wanting to pick up a cheap way of producing good electronic music. For the more seasoned professional, fiddling through menu screens to get what you want from the software is only annoying in the very short term, you’ll quickly find yourself zooming from screen to screen at a speedy pace to perform your tweaks. In spite of its limitations the DS-10 is a fun toy to work through ideas whilst on the move, and its rich filters and effects mean it would make a mean lead or bass instrument if used as part of a bigger arsenal with say the zero8 mixing desk for even more FX fun. As far as treating it as an all in one sequencer, instrument and effects package to gig with on its own, it leaves a little to be desired UNLESS you plan on buying four DS’ and four copies of the game and starting a band with your friends, which could be advisable i suppose! I’d give the Korg DS-10 synthesizer a 4 out of 5, if it were to include wi-fi midi capabilities, kaos pads for all channels and a greater array of effects to be used simultaneously it’d score a 5, but that may be asking too much of what is essentially a hand held games console, not a music station.
