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Electroplankton: Coolest DS Package Yet!

Crankenstein said:
Some questions: Can you choose the key? Is it microtonal? Are chords feasible? Can you modulate the sounds a la distortion, chorus, flanger, etc? Can I play Purple Haze on it?
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Watching the GDC demo, I got the impression that you couldn't choose the key of the notes. Everything the guy played was in the same key, in fact, it sounded like arpeggiated notes of a chord. Which makes me wonder about the freedom you have to really compose complex melodies with dissonance, etc.
 
chespace said:
Watching the GDC demo, I got the impression that you couldn't choose the key of the notes. Everything the guy played was in the same key, in fact, it sounded like arpeggiated notes of a chord. Which makes me wonder about the freedom you have to really compose complex melodies with dissonance, etc.
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Thx. It sounds like I would want more sophistication out of the "game" than it has. I would definetly be interested in a DS "synthesizer" with the stylus or soft buttons as input.

Uhhh Reggie? Are you listening? How about hooking up with Bob Moog? Roger Linn?
 
Crankenstein said:
I would definetly be interested in a DS "synthesizer" with the stylus or soft buttons as input.
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daigassoubandbrothers.jpg


look no further.
 
brandonnn said:
look no further.
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Thx. Very cool. Is it a US release yet?

Just read a review. It is a game that you play songs. The games sounds interesting, but what I would LURV would be a "real" synthesizer engine or emulator. The whole sha-bang with envelopes, filters, waveforms, detune, ring modulation, chorus, the "works". I'm pretty sure you could emulate a CZ101, DX7, and/or D50 without a hitch on the DS.
 
I just went out to lunch w/ a co-worker and we were talking about this game, when a friend of mine happens to stop by the same place for lunch with his DS and Electroplankton in it!

It's amazingly fun, simply awesome. Way cooler than I even thought it would be, but I only had 15 mins with it. I can't wait to get it for myself.
 
slightly related.

I went to see Australian band "Art of Fighting" last night, the members of which my friend knows well.

I got talking to the singer and asked if the band name was a nod to the game. Not only was it a nod to the game and not only was he a big gamer, but up until 2 weeks ago, he was working at melbourne house.

Had a chat about Transformers and draw distances.

Crazy stuff.
 
Played T-Frog's Plankton for an hour today... hmm... I can't help but feel that I "suck" at it like I would any other instrument I've just picked up for the first time. But I definitely walked away feeling a bit underwhelmed. Problem is, none of the modes here are really conducive to a live "jamming" environment, especially in the context of a real band with real song structures (even if everybody was following the DS). There's still quite a bit you can do with the game if you sampled loops from it, but I was hoping it'd be a more potent and complimentary "live" instrument. Then again, I'm hoping that with practice, my opinion about Plankton will change.

I'll spend more time with it when my copy arrives.
 
chespace said:
But I definitely walked away feeling a bit underwhelmed. Problem is, none of the modes here are really conducive to a live "jamming" environment, especially in the context of a real band with real song structures (even if everybody was following the DS). There's still quite a bit you can do with the game if you sampled loops from it, but I was hoping it'd be a more potent and complimentary "live" instrument. Then again, I'm hoping that with practice, my opinion about Plankton will change.

I'll spend more time with it when my copy arrives.
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I predict a che-flop in 4 days!

I must say, I have gone from quite excited about EP, to lukewarm, to don't-give-a-shit myself in the course of the last few days. You can't save anything, is that right?
 
MarkMacD said:
I predict a che-flop in 4 days!

I must say, I have gone from quite excited about EP, to lukewarm, to don't-give-a-shit myself in the course of the last few days. You can't save anything, is that right?
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Yeah, but you can't save your guitar solos on that wanky ol' Ibanez you have either!

And I pretty much said as much in my post above that it was just an hour with the game. I'm HOPING AGAINST HOPE to be proven wrong. :D
 
Got my Electroplankton yesterday but forgot it to the office :-(

will pick up today and post impressions. Package was damn cool as indicated in the thread title.
 
Bebpo said:
Do you consider Photoshop a game? If so then Electroplankton is one too. If not, then Electroplankton is not.
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Bad analogy but I guess you went with choice 1. Thanks for responding to my questions though, even if you were the only one, heh heh.
 
chespace said:
What's Nanoloop?
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http://www.nanoloop.de/
Nanoloop is a synthesizer / sequencer for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance (TM). Stored on a normal game cartridge, it allows to produce nice electronic music without further hardware, using either headphones or an external amplifier (home stereo, active speakers, etc) as sound output.
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SEQ.GIF


A legitimate tool as opposed to software aimed at entertainment (ie: a game).

EDIT: DRATS, BEATEN! But I have a pretty picture and an official quote! ;)
 
Let me chime in as someone who was hugely anticipating Eletroplankton, has played for a couple of days (mostly forced after the first hour) and have come away very disappointed.

It's not particulary artistic, beautiful, innovative, or even interesting.

It's 10 mini games; about three of them are fun for around five mins each, the others all suck.

Don't bother. Get Kirby instead - best game for DS bar none.
 
Vibri said:
Let me chime in as someone who was hugely anticipating Eletroplankton, has played for a couple of days (mostly forced after the first hour) and have come away very disappointed.

It's not particulary artistic, beautiful, innovative, or even interesting.

It's 10 mini games; about three of them are fun for around five mins each, the others all suck.

Don't bother. Get Kirby instead - best game for DS bar none.
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Which of the three did you like? I got my hands on it yesterday and none of them really did much for me either, but I was constantly evaluating them as live instruments to use in a performance or a jam. They all seemed too random for any sort of consistent reproduction.
 
I don't think any of them are designed for any kind of coherent musical composition, they're just glorified wind chimes.

That said, I liked the one with the hopping frog/plant leaves, the spinning black donuts, and the the one featuring the plankton on the cover.
 
Vibri said:
Not in my opinion it isn't. The designs are drab/uninspired to the extreme.
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I don't say this often, but your opinion = wrong. The game is basically a collection of art pieces that have been in museums throughout the world. It is the epitome of art.
 
Vibri said:
Not in my opinion it isn't. The designs are drab/uninspired to the extreme.
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Saying something like this is not Art is like telling someone that Yellow is not a color.

everyone has an opinion on what art is and what its not so yours is welcomed :)
Still some of us are just over the top art critics who find fault in even the best of things
not saying that is your goal but Electroplankton does achieve the Art definition.

So I can't agree with you about Electroplankton, anything can be seen as drab and uninspired depends on the person looking at it and the mood but it does not make it fact.

Some can say the color Yellow is the best color for them a favorite color for others it may be Blue, others may hate the color blue and feel alive being around the color Red... All these opinions can be applied to Art.

Best thing to do is to try to approach Art with a clear mind you may not always love a piece but respect it for what it is
 
yeah i think alot of people went into this thinking it was some sort of toy...and its not.
 
1up.com Impressions

Though the impressions are mostly neutral, Electroplankton itself is pretty damned boring and disappointing. The only modes I really like are the leaf-shooter, the spinning donuts, and and the arrow-spinning sun plankton. The arrow-spinner is the closest the game comes to actual music.
 
Not sure why people are being so hard on Electroplankton. I mean, Nintendo wasn't hyping the hell out of it...it was everyone here. I don't think Electroplankton was intended to be anymore than something you might pick up every once in a while to relax.

It is *not* a game. You don't pick it up and play it for 2-3 hours. It's music and art. You don't stare at a painting for hours and you don't listen to the same 10 songs for hours.

I haven't seen any impressions from anyone approaching the experience from a non-game standpoint. People have been talking about sitting down with Electroplankton for an hour or more. I'd recommend anyone picking this up who hasn't already burnt themselves out only play for 15-20 minutes at a time and not to do it when you feel like gaming, but to play when you feel like relaxing or creating.

If you want to criticize it for the pricing, that's fine, the price is a bit steep. But I can see myself playing this for months to come in the way I described above.
 
I only played it for hours because I was very curious about what I could discover in it since I can't read the manual but I do agree with fugimax 15-20 mins of play is the best ideal way to enjoy this
 
vitaflo said:
I don't say this often, but your opinion = wrong. The game is basically a collection of art pieces that have been in museums throughout the world. It is the epitome of art.
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So because it's been in a museum it's art? Have you been to many museums? I'm an Art History major and if you really want to get into this, we can.

I advise against it because it doesn't look like your point is terribly well thought out.

Once again, I see nothing in this game which I would consider to be especially worthy of being called art. It's a collection of cute mini games with music elements.
 
Vibri said:
So because it's been in a museum it's art? Have you been to many museums? I'm an Art History major and if you really want to get into this, we can.

I advise against it because it doesn't look like your point is terribly well thought out.

Once again, I see nothing in this game which I would consider to be especially worthy of being called art. It's a collection of cute mini games with music elements.
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as an art history major you'd advise having a definition on art? hopefully it's just as loose as your idea of "mini-game" but i doubt that it is.
 
I kinda wish that REAL impressions of the game would have come sooner than on page 4 on a week old thread.

John Tv, you have failed me for the last time. Oh well the game will be here monday :(
 
Naked Shuriken said:
I kinda wish that REAL impressions of the game would have come sooner than on page 4 on a week old thread.

John Tv, you have failed me for the last time. Oh well the game will be here monday :(
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Um, what?

Which part of "if you like tinkering around with sound, then you'll probably enjoy it. I'm not sure if it's worth the price of admission ($45 seems a bit steep to me)" did you not understand? :)
 
Vibri said:
So because it's been in a museum it's art? Have you been to many museums? I'm an Art History major and if you really want to get into this, we can.
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Have I been to many museums?! Dude, I work at one of the largest contemporary art museums in the country, the Walker Art Center, in the New Media dept. So yeah, if you wanna school me with your Art History major, go right ahead.
 
GAF is amazing this game is now critized/reviewed by Art experts?

:lol

Even Art History professors can fail to understand some forms of Art.
Historian does not mean LIVING IT. But historians should have a higher degree of respect.
Some are flawed with stubborn elitism that blinds them.

As a painter I personally hate Art Historians sometimes... sorry :D They just crack me up.
When they judge Art based on past established standards and set rules that must not be broken.

You may have forgotten something important this game falls under "New Media"
 
By my own personal standards, Electroplankton is a little disappointing because it's unwieldy as a real instrument. But that doesn't mean I won't experiment with it.
 
i mean if PUTS can sample a live nes game, i'm sure you can think of a way to use this in whatever you ra doing.
 
chespace Yeah there is too much Toshio Iwai in Electroplankton for it to be a 100% true instrument... He has in place a set of controls in each area to limit what you can do

If it was a real instrument I don't think what I have been doing would sound good at all
Electroplankton allows you to interact with it without giving you total control for this reason alone I call it Toshio Iwai's creation no matter what sound I create it is still Toshio Iwai's little interactive painting.

I really wanted my Plankton to play Joe Hisaishi's "Mad Summer" :(

I may still try it with Rec-Rec
 
chespace --

try making some samples with some of the cool rhythms you create. Just hook it up to your line-in port and just record a 15minute play-session or so. Then you can go back through and pull out some cool sequences you may have made and use them in Logic or whatever.
 
fugimax said:
chespace --

try making some samples with some of the cool rhythms you create. Just hook it up to your line-in port and just record a 15minute play-session or so. Then you can go back through and pull out some cool sequences you may have made and use them in Logic or whatever.
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I know I can sample the shit out of it, but that wasn't the source of my disappointment. Yes, Electroplankton produces some very soothing ambient sounds -- all the more reason why I'm bummed that it can't be used/controlled as a viable LIVE INSTRUMENT in a tight collaborative environment. That's all. It's not a total loss, but a bummer nonetheless.
 
chespace said:
They all seemed too random for any sort of consistent reproduction.
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I would say they're anything but random, but I agree it's not great as an instrument in itself. It's more like an arpeggiator. I have most fun with this when I have a totally clear mind, and just fool around with it. Treat it like a canvas. Some of the stuff Iwai showed in his performance yesterday was interesting - in Rec-Rec, try rubbing your finger over the mic, and it sounds like you're scratching vinyl. You can control speed in a few of them with the d-pad too.
 
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