The Null Device

glitchDS is a suite of (somewhat unconventional) homebrewed Nintendo DS music programs. They include CellsDS, a grid-based sequencer apparently modelled on the Tenori-On, only extensible using Lua scripts, as well as a gesture-based sample player named repeaterDS and the eponymous glitchDS, a music toy based on Conway's Game Of Life. Of course, you will need a homebrew card to use these, which may be illegal or otherwise difficult to acquire in some territories.

¶ nintendo ds homebrew tenori-on music computer music [no comments]

The creator of the Electroplankton game/generative music tool for the Nintendo DS, Toshio Iwai, has developed a new electronic musical instrument. Known as the Tenori-On, it's an electronic tablet containing a 16x16 grid of LED-illuminated pushbutton; it can be used as a loop-based sequencer, or played in more game-like modes:

Each of Tenori-On's LED buttons can either be lightly strummed, sort of like a harp, or alternatively pressed down, whereby each button lights up. Musical notes are triggered by a regular line of light that moves from left to right, much like the sweeping line in PSP game Lumines.

Perhaps most interesting are the more game-like modes, where you can set off Breakout or Pong-style music balls that 'bounce' around the grid, triggering new sets of dynamics sound. These can be layered on top of the more traditional music making modes, creating what Iwai called, "a real musical instrument for our digital age, just like the Theremin was for the 20th Century."

(via Boing Boing) ¶ toshio iwai tech art tenori-on electroplankton music [3 comments]