[LAU] LittleGPTracker

M-.-n nostromo at arkaos.net
Thu Apr 17 04:56:26 EDT 2008



> Wow. That is a great set! Very much enjoyed it-- an enjoyable
> journey through several different styles and vibes.

Thanks Ken ! I always think my journey through various style is a reflection
of my inability to really control what I do in a consistent way :)

> Are the synth sounds generated by your tracker software, or does
> it play samples or trigger other synths? (Sorry for the dumb
> question; I've never used a tracker before).

Actually the 'tracker' nickname refers more to the way you interact to build
songs (vertical kind of quantised step tracks rather than piano roll type of
interface).. various trackers implement various sound engine (some of them
driving directly sound chip in old computers, others using sampling based
engine)

> What synths are generating those sounds? There are some really
> nice timbres in there, and some great drum sounds too.

All sound comes from the unit itself. Now, like most recent game consoles,
the GP2X doesn't have a synth engine. It's basically a linux machine with a
RealTek chip in it. So, internally the tracker is sample based and you can
import pretty much any type of sound you want (simple waveforms, piano
samples, phrases, drum loops etc.).

This tracker tho allows you to alter the 'base' sounds in pretty drastic
ways. For example the opening track (using the infamous pink floyd meddle
'ping') uses merely 10k of sample (apart from that ping of course): 8
waveforms, one BD, one SD & one Hat. All of the various 'timbres' are
generated from those.

The focus for me is to provide a flexible ultra portable sound machine that
has 'character' - I'm not too much into the clinic / perfect sound that
seems to be the rage in today's manufacturers mind - and basically allows
you to lay down consistent track anywere.

As I said in another thread, we are in the process of building little
demonstration videos to explain the way the software works and hopefully in
a month from now, I'll be more able to make understand how 'synthesis' works
in this little bugger.

hopes this answer your question,
Regards
Marc




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