miniMusic™ Introduces BeatPad Software
for the Palm Computing® Platform
February 14, 2000
At Winter NAMM miniMusic™ introduced its new
BeatPad software for the Palm Computing® Platform and an upgrade of
miniMusic NotePad application at the NAMM 2000 International Music Market
being held at the LA Convention Center. Swivel Systems™ will also
appear at the miniMusic booth to show prototypes of a new MIDI (Musical
Instrument Digital Interface) tone module that clips onto the Palm™
handheld computers putting hundreds of musical instruments in your pocket.
These products make handheld computers a valuable tool for composers,
musicians, and music students.
BeatPad is the new pattern based sequencer from miniMusic. It provides
a simple interface for creating musical patterns of various instruments
or drum kits, layering these patterns, and performing them on any standard
MIDI hardware. Using the Palm Computing platform's large touch sensitive
screen, it is easy to see every aspect of a pattern at once and manipulate
it with the stylus. The upgrade of the NotePad application -- which lets
you compose, edit and playback songs with standard music notation -- improves
its performance on some of the newer Palm™ devices, and adds a few
new features like additional time signatures. Both BeatPad and the existing
NotePad software work perfectly with the new tone module from Swivel Systems,
giving users the option to take even more of their electronic studio with
them, wherever they go.
With the new software and the Swivel Systems hardware, miniMusic can
now offer users a portable music system.
NotePad provides portable notation for those who know, or need help learning
how to read and write music; music can be entered a number of ways: drawn
onto music staff, played on an on-screen piano keyboard, or written in
using Palm Computing's Graffiti™ handwriting recognition technology.
On the other hand, BeatPad uses a simple graphic interface to mold and
sculpt patterns and build up interesting textures and rhythms. You can
even make changes to the music as it plays.
Most users will want to use both applications for different projects,
or move back and forth between the two creating music in new ways. Helping
singers learn songs, composers write songs, and performers play songs,
miniMusic allows for an immediate musical experience anywhere.
Pricing, Availability, Distribution, and Support
The first demo version of miniMusic's new BeatPad will begin distribuition
on February 10th, 2000. The miniMusic NotePad 1.1 upgrade becomes available
for $29.95 U.S. on the same day. Swivel Systems will begin distributing
the tone module this Summer. At this time the software will only be available
on the internet, but will soon be available through other channels, including
retail. Free demos are available now for download from the miniMusic web
site and from other internet software distributors such as PalmGear, Smaller.com
and Handango.
About miniMusic
miniMusic is a division of The 5th Wall(TM), a publishing company co-founded
in 1991 by Chad Mealey, the designer of the miniMusic software. Now operating
in San Francisco, miniMusic's goal is to provide portable music tools
for composition, education, performance, and entertainment so that musical
ideas can be explored anywhere and anytime, giving individuals the freedom
of musical expression on their own terms. Chad Mealey studied music composition
at San Francisco State University and Mesa College in San Diego. His computer
background includes work at the Salk Institute, The Laurence Livermore
National Laboratory, and Biosphere 2 in Arizona.
About Swivel Systems
Swivel Systems was founded in 1999 by Simon Gatrall, the developer of
the new MIDI tone module. Based in San Francisco, Swivel Systems develops
electronic music products which combine the power of vintage analog user
interfaces with modern digital technology. Prior to founding Swivel Systems,
Simon Gatrall worked as a product engineering consultant for clients such
as Creative Labs, Interval Research, Kensington, Motorola, SGI, and Toshiba.
For more information please visit the miniMusic website at www.5thwall.com/minimusic.
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