Good PPC Software for Musicians?

[maikii]

I am a musician and music teacher, and just got my first PPC (IPAQ 2210), so of course I am curious about what I can do with the thing musically, since it's so handy to carry anywhere.

Of course I've already discovered that it can play music, in WMA format with the included WMP, or in other formats with add-on software. In fact, last night, I tried it in my car, with a cassette adapter going into my car stereo, and it sounded great. As I have bought two large memory cards for it (a 512 GB CF, and a 256 GB SD), I might gradually put a large amount of music on the cards, and use the unit as my main car music player, other than the radio. (OT, but anyone know of a good car holder for PDAs, to attach it to the dashboard?)

Although the PPC doesn't seem to be able to play MIDI files as it comes (surprises me, that WMP 9 for PPC won't play MIDIs), I see there are downloadable MIDI players, such as Pocket MIDI. (I have downloaded that, but not yet tried it.) (Surprised that PPC 2003 doesn't come with a built-in software synthesizer, as normal Windows has had for a couple of years, but I guess these MIDI programs for PPC come with their own sounds.

But---what software is there for creating music, for music practice, etc.? WMP and other programs will play back audio, but what about editing it? I just saw another thread asking about that, and one program was mentioned, which I just downloaded. Any others? Can the mentioned software (or others) speed up or slow down a selection of audio, without changing key, or vice versa, change key without changing tempo?

And what about sequencers? Any good ones?

Any auto-accompaniment programs similar to "Band-In-A-Box"? ("Band-In-Your-Pocket"? ;-) ) That would be great, to be able to carry around-- a whole practice machine in your shirt pocket!

I wish the major music software companies such as Cakewalk and PG Music (BIAB) would make versions of their products for PPC. An increasing number of people are using PPCs, including musicians, and the availability of such software for it would greatly increase the use of PPCs by musicians.

I downloaded a freeware app that was supposed to turn the PPC into an instrument tuner. But when I tried it, it appears that it won't work with PPC 2003.

Is there a CF stereo microphone available, so that one could use the PPC as a portable music recorder (not just for monaural voice)? From reading this forum, I looked at a new product Core Sound is putting out on CF for music, but it appears not to have a microphone or microphone jack, just digital inputs. Anything else, preferably with a stereo mic built-in, but at least capable of plugging an external mini-mic into?

Any suggestions for apps of interest to musicians would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[maikii]

I am a musician and music teacher, and just got my first PPC (IPAQ 2210), so of course I am curious about what I can do with the thing musically, since it's so handy to carry anywhere.

Of course I've already discovered that it can play music, in WMA format with the included WMP, or in other formats with add-on software. In fact, last night, I tried it in my car, with a cassette adapter going into my car stereo, and it sounded great. As I have bought two large memory cards for it (a 512 GB CF, and a 256 GB SD), I might gradually put a large amount of music on the cards, and use the unit as my main car music player, other than the radio. (OT, but anyone know of a good car holder for PDAs, to attach it to the dashboard?)

Although the PPC doesn't seem to be able to play MIDI files as it comes (surprises me, that WMP 9 for PPC won't play MIDIs), I see there are downloadable MIDI players, such as Pocket MIDI. (I have downloaded that, but not yet tried it.) (Surprised that PPC 2003 doesn't come with a built-in software synthesizer, as normal Windows has had for a couple of years, but I guess these MIDI programs for PPC come with their own sounds.

But---what software is there for creating music, for music practice, etc.? WMP and other programs will play back audio, but what about editing it? I just saw another thread asking about that, and one program was mentioned, which I just downloaded. Any others? Can the mentioned software (or others) speed up or slow down a selection of audio, without changing key, or vice versa, change key without changing tempo?

And what about sequencers? Any good ones?

Any auto-accompaniment programs similar to "Band-In-A-Box"? ("Band-In-Your-Pocket"? ;-) ) That would be great, to be able to carry around-- a whole practice machine in your shirt pocket!

I wish the major music software companies such as Cakewalk and PG Music (BIAB) would make versions of their products for PPC. An increasing number of people are using PPCs, including musicians, and the availability of such software for it would greatly increase the use of PPCs by musicians.

I downloaded a freeware app that was supposed to turn the PPC into an instrument tuner. But when I tried it, it appears that it won't work with PPC 2003.

Is there a CF stereo microphone available, so that one could use the PPC as a portable music recorder (not just for monaural voice)? From reading this forum, I looked at a new product Core Sound is putting out on CF for music, but it appears not to have a microphone or microphone jack, just digital inputs. Anything else, preferably with a stereo mic built-in, but at least capable of plugging an external mini-mic into?

Any suggestions for apps of interest to musicians would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[spursdude]

Originally Posted by maikii

(a 512 GB CF, and a 256 GB SD)

Sorry to not answer your question, but I've just gotta point out... you mean 512 MB and 256 MB, right?

[maikii]

Originally Posted by spursdude

Sorry to not answer your question, but I've just gotta point out... you mean 512 MB and 256 MB, right?

Yes of course that's what I meant. Sorry for the typo.

Anyhow, I still would appreciate if anyone can help with the question.

[Kati Compton]

I haven't used it, but I've seen banner ads for PocketJam...

[spursdude]

You can also check out this thread for a suggestion.

[blip]

Regarding sequencers, the only one I know of that remotely works like a traditional sequencer i Griff - www.planetgriff.com. I'm fiddling around with it on my new shiny genio 550c and I have to say it's really nice to have somthing to jot down a few musical ideas on. It's got some effects to apply in realtime etc.

The only thing I miss when putting in notes (piano roll only btw) is a scrollbar. You make your music in patterns that can be of any size but due to the fatal misstake to put in a simple scrollbar (there is one in about every program ever made for gods sake...) you have to play the pattern in "follow" mode until it gets you to the spot where you want to put note in. You'll know what I mean if you try out the demo. I really hope I've made a fool of myself so that someone can tell me there is an oh so simple solution to this mess that I've forseen.

Anyway it's quite a nice music tool to carry around in your pocket.

[Skitals]

Originally Posted by blip

Regarding sequencers, the only one I know of that remotely works like a traditional sequencer i Griff - www.planetgriff.com. I'm fiddling around with it on my new shiny genio 550c and I have to say it's really nice to have somthing to jot down a few musical ideas on. It's got some effects to apply in realtime etc.

The only thing I miss when putting in notes (piano roll only btw) is a scrollbar. You make your music in patterns that can be of any size but due to the fatal misstake to put in a simple scrollbar (there is one in about every program ever made for gods sake...) you have to play the pattern in "follow" mode until it gets you to the spot where you want to put note in. You'll know what I mean if you try out the demo. I really hope I've made a fool of myself so that someone can tell me there is an oh so simple solution to this mess that I've forseen.

Anyway it's quite a nice music tool to carry around in your pocket.

Im pretty sure you can use the dpad to move around in the piano roll.

[blip]

Oooops... Ok, I saw a lot of trees but no forest I guess. Thanks a bunch! Must be due to the heat here in Japan right now. Haven't gotten used to it yet as a Swede and I probably won't before I go back home either...

Anyway I'd say Griff does its job quite well for a portable app although I too want to see the big names (steingberg, cakewalk, emagic - and why not propellerheads as they've already proven they're good at developing cpu efficient code - etc) try it out of course.

[maikii]

Originally Posted by blip

Anyway I'd say Griff does its job quite well for a portable app although I too want to see the big names (steingberg, cakewalk, emagic - and why not propellerheads as they've already proven they're good at developing cpu efficient code - etc) try it out of course.

Perhaps I didn't try Griff enough--from trying the demo a little, I wasn't very impressed by it.

Part of the problem is that the demos of these programs are so crippled, that you can't really do much in trying them out. Are you listening, software developers. Rather than just making a time limit on the evaluation version, or even preventing the saving of files, these crippled versions cripple so much, the product is hardly usable, even for a trial.

For instance, I wanted to import some pre-existing MIDI files into Griff and other such programs, and hear how they sound played back. They wouldn't let me do that, import a MIDI file, due to being the evaluation version.

Does Griff come with its own software synthesizer, or do you have to get another one?

Piano roll view isn't one I use much. Is that the only way to enter notes in Griff?

Yes, I sure wish we would have a Cakewalk version for PPC. Band-in-a-Box would be nice too.

[ipaq38vette]

I played around with programs from www.pdamusician.com . They were mediocre. There is a midi input device for ipaqs, type in 'pocket pc midi' in google. I would really like a Cakewalk Home Studio XL on my ipaq, but I doubt we will ever see a port until pocket pcs have more midi input capability. One great benefit of having potentially a Cakewalk on a ppc is being able to play back midi files and view the staff anywhere as opposed to sitting in front of a computer. I just want a simple program to view staff, change tempo and pitch, open .mid/.wrk, support audio and midi tracks at the same time. It would be great to touch up your midi files while away from your computer.