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October 20, 2005
Introducing: My Nanoloop 2.0!
After a little over a month of waiting, I finally have, in my possession, the Nanoloop 2.0! (Here’s a photo of me waiting — well, sort of.) It took so long because (a) it was initially out of stock, and (b) it took all of ten days for it to ship here from Germany (where it’s made). Without going into too much detail (you can get more information on the website), the Nanoloop basically turns a Nintendo Game Boy into an eight-channel synthesizer/step-sequencer.
The Nanoloop has been out for a while now (since 1997, I think). The first version was made for the original Game Boy and it didn’t offer too much in the way of advanced synthesis or sequencing. Now, with the advent of the Game Boy Advance, the Game Boy Advance SP, and the Game Boy Micro, a whole lot more can be done (hence, the “2.0” at the end of the name).
It’s hard to describe what the Nanoloop sounds like — think 8-bit FM-/faux-analog-synthesis (sort of). For those of you who aren’t too technical, it’s basically what most of the synth parts on The Postal Service‘s “Give Up“ album sound like (which some people might find annoying, but I sure don’t). It also makes sounds similar to those heard at the beginning of Beck‘s latest single, “Girl” (listen here – 303k MP3 If you’d like to hear some songs actually made with the Nanoloop 2.0 first-hand, there are all sorts of people posting their compositions here.
Maybe now I’ll be inspired to come out with some new music? (I’m sure there’s a good reason why that’s questionable.)
Nevertheless, I stayed up late last night learning how to make sounds and sequences and how to save everything to the cartridge. It’s not totally intuitive, but once you get the gist, it get fairly easy to get around. I made a pretty cool fat sounding bass synth and some good drum sounds and assembled it all into a four-measure sequence. Not much, but it’s a start.
When I complete something I’m proud of, I’ll post it for all of you to listen to.
Posted at 10:36 am
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