Kotaku: Midi

Abletonator, The Only Way To Compose The Classics

Mark Wilson — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:40:00 MDT

Lovers of 8-bit NES soundtracks already know about YCMK Magical 8-bit Plug-In, freeware that brings retro instrumentation to various sound editing programs. But during the process of making game music, wouldn't it be great if it felt like you were actually playing a video game? That's the philosophy behind the Abletonator, a Windows XP PC running Ableton Live 6 in arcade cabinet form. Featuring a 19-inch LCD, 2-octave MIDI keyboard, 8 tracks of joystick navigation and plenty of arcade-style buttons, feel free to inquire about scoring a unit of your own. But whatever they're asking is a small price to become a button-mashing Beethoven.

Abletonator [Abletonator via Create Digital Music]

Piano Hero Actually Helps You Learn To Play Music

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 17:20:13 MST

It may not have the rockstar appeal of playing a miniature plastic guitar, but Piano Hero might learn your ass a thing or two. The freeware open source project lets users with a MIDI-capable keyboard play any MIDI file as if it were a Guitar Hero-style track. Just like that MIDI sequenced version of The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker's "Ocean Music."

You can even practice left or right handed parts separately and slow down tracks to master difficult sections. So cool!

Make sure you download a copy now before the copyright lawyers neuter this one. Michael McWhertor

Piano Hero Official Site
Piano Hero SourceForge Page

Use Your DS As A MIDI Controller with DSMIDIWifi

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:20:40 MST

The video explains it best, but if you've ever wondered, "Can I control my MIDI enabled devices with a portable gaming system?" the answer is "Yes." Use your DS(es) as a keyboard, simulated Korg KAOSS effects pad, a MIDI synthesizer and—would you believe it?—so much more. Very cool stuff. Michael McWhertor

DSMIDIWifi

King of All Bots: Get Out of the Goddamned House for Once

egauger — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 15:20:05 MDT

In the interests of furthering the social lives of gamers in the San Diego area, I have decided to post about The King of All Bots: an event being touted as a badass, robocentric partay.

Prepare to receive "the deets":

The Morena Club (1319 Morena Blvd / San Diego, CA 92110) is holding an event, The King of All Bots, on Saturday, August 19. Beginning at 9 PM, it will be the first in a series attempting to infuse gamer pop culture into the club scene. What's on tap for this very first unfashionably fashionable sock hop? DJ Jive Alive will be spinning some records — hip-hop, down tempo, rock, and random SNES MIDIs, local artists Ty Hunter and Lena Low will build and destroy a robot made from assorted audio equipment, and "Johnny Robo" will be playing on the club's plasma screens.

A very important feature I discovered when peeping the poster was that there is no cover charge. Now you have no excuse. Eliza Gauger

Compose Your Own Hauntingly 8-bit Arias

egauger — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:40:40 MDT

This one was sent in by Peter, who was immediately sent his Kotaku Scout Starter Kit and "game music" merit badge. The YCMK Magical 8bit Plug is an apparently mind-blowing plugin for all sorts of programs that lets you rock out, NES power ballad style. Says Create Digital Music:

Totally free, totally cross-platform (Windows VST, Mac AU). Via Adrian Anders and the CDM forums, where we're trying to figure out why it's crashing someone's installation of Ableton Live. Not Universal: Note that this plug-in is not Intel-native (nor any of the other examples listed here, as far as I know), so you'll need to go elsewhere for 8-bit sounds on an Intel Mac, ironically enough. Also, as several readers note over on TUAW, GarageBand has its own Atari Sings patch, though I don't think it clips as realistically as this does for a true NES sound. (Makes sense that it doesn't, since those patches are built with Logic's synths.)

CDM is hosting an extensive tutorial on how to get the best beeps and bloops from this here doohicky, and I wish I could fondle it a little myself, but I'm on one of those newfangled Intel Macs. Give it a shot (it's free) and let me know how it goes. Ten points and an autographed headshot to whoever composes the rousing theme to "Captain Gauger's Flying Monkey Moshpit". Eliza gauger

Article and tutorials here [Create Digital Music]

Top 50 Game Ending Songs

egauger — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 15:40:06 MDT

I poked around on FlymingOmelette.com for a while but can't really determine the purpose of the site. It seems to be one of those old-fashioned "homepages", complete with circa-1996 neon-on-black colorscheme, flaming GIF text, and a vague feeling of claustrophobia.

This page seems to be for the Omelette fellow (I assume this person is male, but I have my doubts) to post his terrifying furry cartoons, the style of which seems to have remained exactly the same since he was ten years old. I am deeply mystified by this, as well as strangely compelled by his flowing, golden-brown mullet.

No matter. The reason I bring him up at all is that he's posted a big fat steaming pile of downloadable game music in the form of "Flying Omelette's Top 50 Favorite Game Ending Songs". Here's what he has to say about his #1 choice, the end theme from Final Fantasy 6 (after the jump).

It was a really difficult decision, but in the end, I just had to give the edge to Nobuo Uematsu's bombastic ending theme for Final Fantasy 6. I really love how it incorporates a lot of the game's songs, including every main character's theme in the first part, and Terra and Setzer's themes in the second part. I'll also remember thinking how awesome it was at the very moment I first heard the Final Fantasy Prologue kick in. The ending is the only place in Final Fantasy 6 where that song is heard. An epic masterpiece, this song really goes out with a bang.

The vast majority of his choices were 2D RPGs, so the selection is extremely limited. But it's all very well-organized, with mp3 and MIDI downloads of each theme.

...the longer I look at this site the more uncomfortable it seems. You let me know if this person shows up on any Have You Seen Me flyers in your mailbox, yeah? Spooky. Eliza Gauger

Top 50 Game Ending Songs [FlyingOmelette, via Digg]