SSEYO miniMIXA: Be A Pocket PC-Totin' DJ

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.sseyo.com/minimixa/' target='_blank'>http://www.sseyo.com/minimixa/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Whether you are looking for an easy way to create and record the coolest audio ringtones, be a mobile DJ, or even just to have loads of fun by your self or with friends, SSEYO miniMIXA is for you. Once you use it you won’t be satisfied with any other mobile music creativity app! Initially available for both Pocket PC &amp; SmartPhone Microsoft Windows Mobile-based platforms, SSEYO miniMIXA is a revolutionary integrated multi-channel mobile audio mixer and recording studio. It allows the easy mixing together of content in many audio and MIDI formats, including microphone recordings, plus application of wide-ranging sound effects for the on-device creation and recording of stunning grooves."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040817-miniMIXA.gif" /><br /><br />This solution looks pretty darn cool -- I'd like to play with it, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem like it's going to be available via retail. <i>"As a dedicated “out-of-the-box” solution for SmartPhone and Pocket PC Windows Mobile-based platforms, SSEYO miniMIXA can be immediately deployed by phone and PDA manufacturers."</i> That's kind of vague to me; does this mean that we'll have to wait for a "music creation Pocket PC" by a specific OEM?

[gregmills]

I read the press releases that they linked to and it certainly sounds like their intention is to sell it to hardware vendors to be pre-installed on new devices. That's an interesting approach. I think the market that would choose a smart phone or a pda based on software like this being pre-installed would be pretty slim.

I've tested few synth and sequencer applications for the pocket pc and the screen size really limits the usability of a program like that. It seems to me that you would pitch that product as cool toy for music hobbyists (which seems to be what they're going for when they talk about using it to create ringtones). Yet, they call it the "guitar of the future" and seem to think that professional DJs might use it in performance environments. Outside of their own promotionals stunts, I doubt it.

They've packed it with some impressive sounding technology. But if you have to buy a new phone or pda to try it out then who will ever now how well it works in practice? I guess I'll stick with PhoenixStudio for the time being.

[ctmagnus]

Too bad JVC didn't get their WM2003 offering to market last June. This would have suited it nicely.

[wocket]

Once you use it you won’t be satisfied with any other mobile music creativity app!

How are we supposed to compare it with other music creation apps when they seem to be only providing it to OEMS.

It's not really a world first anyway look at these Griff (http://www.planetgriff.com/), PhoenixStudio (http://www.meloditronic.com/phoenix.php),PocketJam (http://www.siliconmachines.com/pocketjam/) and Pocket Clanger Theremin (http://www.siliconmachines.com/clanger/index.htm)(you gotta install this and it's free it's like having your very own Theremin (http://www.thereminworld.com/learn.asp) in your Pocket). To find out what a Clanger is see this (http://www.clangers.co.uk/home.htm).


I bought them all and they all have good and bad points (Griff is very difficult to learn) but all a very powerful and allow you to produce some really great music and sounds.

As been said by Greg Mills screen size is a limiting factor as well maybe when we see some updates to existing sofware and support for VGA screens things will be even better (hint to Silicon Machines :wink: )

And remember not everyone wants to do dance :!:

[gregmills]

Hey, don't forget Z4Music (http://www.z4soft.com/z4music/). It doesn't have synths but it was one of the easier ones for me to add my own samples to. It seemed to be the easiest for me when I wanted to set up some quick accompaniment for my feeble attempts at playing acoustic guitar (since you mentioned the tendency towards dance type sounds in these apps).

Of those programs that you purchased which one do you think is the most versatile and which do you tend to go back to more often than the others?

[wocket]

Hey, don't forget Z4Music (http://www.z4soft.com/z4music/). It doesn't have synths but it was one of the easier ones for me to add my own samples to. It seemed to be the easiest for me when I wanted to set up some quick accompaniment for my feeble attempts at playing acoustic guitar (since you mentioned the tendency towards dance type sounds in these apps).

Of those programs that you purchased which one do you think is the most versatile and which do you tend to go back to more often than the others?

It's been a while since I looked at z4music at the time I thought it was a bit limited but nice drum machine.

I tend to use PocketJam the most as you can just pick it up experiment and get great results very quickly with lots of twiddly knobs (pots) etc. It's also got cool drums with a sampler so you can make your own Kit 8).

Phoenix Studio is also a bit more difficult to get to grips but nice drum machine again you can stick in you own drums.

Griff is very powerful but I found it quite difficult to get to grips with and it does have a guitar emulator plugin and a load of others.

They all have demos which is cool so you can give them all a whirl.

[gregmills]

A few months back I installed the trail versions of PocketJam and PhoenixStudio. Then a few weeks ago I tried Z4Music and still preferred PhoenixStudio. I think the only reason I haven't registered it yet is because in the demo you can't play with the sequencer. If it turns out that the sequencer is difficult to work with I'll wish I had registered one of the others instead.

I never tried Griff because from the screenshots alone it looked like a beast of an application to try to write anything in.

I think I'll get the Griff demo and give PocketJam another spin. I want something that is powerful enough for me to actually use as accompaniment but also simple enough that I would actually use it when I find myself with some free time. I like having synths available and being able to create dance/techno type music for fun but I also want more natural sounding instruments for acompaniment with live instruments.

I wish we could factor miniMixa into this discussion but without a demo there's really nothing to say about it.

[wocket]

I wish we could factor miniMixa into this discussion but without a demo there's really nothing to say about it.

Yeah it is a pity.

Good luck with Griff. I also ment to list Syntrax (http://www.klaar.com/) which used to be called Jaytrax and still available for the PC.

[joefuture]

Wow, I just checked out Syntrax (http://www.klaar.com) and it's absolutely amazing. I'll try z4Music too, but I plan to spend many hours twiddling around with Syntrax. Now if only there was a good PPC->MIDI device...

[gregmills]

I thought I'd update this thread because I just discovered that the Sseyo miniMIXA is now available as a stand alone product. There's even a trial version on their web site now.

http://www.sseyo.com/products/miniMIXA/index.html\

It's a sort of limited sequencer with effects. It's definently fun to play with but I wouldn't consider it to be a professional tool. It's obviously built for SmartPhone's. It has ringtone options for output and an interface seems to be designed for tiny displays.

It's pretty cool but not something I would pay money to own.