The killer application for PalmOS handhelds could well be Bhajis Loops. It's a multi-track sample-based audio sequencer, somewhere between module trackers and Ableton Live, which runs entirely on ARM-based PalmOS handhelds (i.e., Zire and Tungsten units). You get multiple channels of audio, effects plug-ins, filters and envelopes, as well as a library of sounds (including Roland TR-x0x drum samples, SID waveforms, and a General MIDI library that sounds considerably less crap than the Steinberg Universal Sound Module VSTi; not that that's hard to do, mind you, but it does fit in an order of magnitude less space as well). Not only that, but if your handheld has an internal microphone, you can sample sounds around you and incorporate them into your compositions. The fact that you can do this sort of thing on a pocket-sized personal organiser is, in itself, somewhat mind-blowing.

I bought and registered a copy a few weeks ago, and have been spending my commutes working on music. Here is my first attempt at a track made using Bhajis Loops. Most of this track was composed on the Tube, and some of the sounds (including vocal fragments and the snare sound towards the end) were sampled whilst travelling.

Anyway, if you have a recent Palm, check it out. It's well doovy.

Posted by: gjw | http://the-fix.org | Tue Mar 15 00:53:14 2005

Excellent idea. I've been wishing for a dedicated hardware version of the same thing for a while; mic input, line in/out, MIDI in, sample editing software and some kind of tracker software (or scaled down FruityLoops) would be ideal. I've been having portable music-making fun on an old P120 laptop running Linux and Cheesetracker for a while, and having it all on a PDA would be brilliant.

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org/ | Tue Mar 15 01:11:13 2005

Well, there's no MIDI in. However, other than that, it runs rings around my old Roland PMA-5 (and fits in a pocket too).

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