miniMusic Adds Support for Sony and Visor Handhelds with Enhanced Sound
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Palm m100 Running BeatPad
(Click for a close-up) |
June 17, 2002
miniMusic has released
upgrades of their BeatPad and NotePad applications. BeatPad, a
pattern-based music sequencer for the Palm OS Platform, now supports the
enhanced sound found in the new Sony Clie handhelds and the Beat Plus
Springboard module available for all Handspring Visor handhelds; users also
now have the option to change what instruments are used for BeatPad's
eleven drum tracks to better take advantage of the drum sounds built into
these recent handhelds. NotePad has supported these enhanced sound
capabilities for several months now, but the new release fixes volume
problems some users had on the Sony T-series and NR-series handhelds
Both the Beat Plus Springboard module (made by Hagiwara Sys-Com) and the
T-series and NR-series Clies (made by Sony) use the Yamaha LSI tone
generator, an FM sound chip. This chip includes both ADPCM playback
capabilities and a full FM set of General MIDI sounds (128 different
instrument sounds plus drums). This chip allows the handheld computer to
create multi-timbral and polyphonic music without plugging into an external
music instrument (like a keyboard, synthesizer, or sampler). With BeatPad,
this allows the user to interact live with layers of melodic and drum
patterns while listening to them play, making changes at any time to pitch,
volume, duration, tempo, loop length, instrument, accent, and soloing or
muting any track.
"The biggest advantage of making music on a handheld computer is it's
portability," says Chad Mealey, president of miniMusic. "It can always be
with you, in your pocket. Adding an external MIDI sound module can unleash
the full potential of our software, but until now it added size and weight
to the handheld. The Beat Plus Springboard module slides entirely inside
the Visor adding no size, and the sound chip in the new Sony handhelds is
built in! Nothing extra for the user to buy or attach. This guarantees
that users always have the best music tools with them where ever they go.
These are both great additions to the world of portable music and we are
happy to support them in our software."
Both of these software updates also include some work "under the hood" to
bring the applications up to date in preparation for the upcoming Palm OS 5
devices expected later this year. Although these applications have not yet
been tested on actual Palm OS 5 products, they are expected to be fully
compatible.
Pricing, Availability, Distribution, and Support
These upgrades will be freely available to owners of previous versions.
Since these updates primarily benefit owners of the Beat Plus Springboard
module or the Sony T-series or NR-series handhelds, they will not be
automatically sent out to all software users. Anyone who does use our
software on this hardware can contact miniMusic at support@minimusic.com to
get the free upgrade. New users can buy NotePad or BeatPad for $29.95 US
each, or can get both in the miniMusic Mobile Software Pack from the
minimusic website (minimusic.com) or distributed to music stores in North
America by ThinKware. The miniMusic on-line store also features special
discounts on tone modules, like the Beat Plus Springboard module, when
bundled with the Mobile Software Pack.
For more information, visit their web site at www.minimusic.com. |
