POCKET MUSIC PARA GAMEBOYADV EM COIMBRA-COIMBRA

* Pocket Music (criação de música) para Gameboy Advance. MUITO RARO! Make music on the move with Pocket Music, the music creation game. Create your own music from a selection of samples, drum beats, baselines, melodies, and other musical instruments. Play them back, save them to your cartridge, or swap them with a friend. Pocket Music has been around for little under a year now, but has suffered from both poor press coverage and a very limited release. It was always considered a bold project--while music creation packages have been a huge hit on both home computers and consoles, a handheld version was deemed incredibly ambitious. Two things struck me before I even opened the box: first, all the samples would have to be on the cart unlike other versions where they'd simply be pulled from the disk when needed, and secondly, I wondered whether there are many GameBoy owners who are at all interested in creative tools. Obviously the developers and publishers considered this too, but is it worth seeking out and should it be given a more widespread release? Read on and see what we thought, and heard. Pocket Music is divided into two very different sections - the Track Editor and the Riff Editor. The Track Editor is probably where most people should start, as it's far more forgiving and user friendly than the Riff Editor. Here, it's a simple task of laying down the various riffs (from the library or your own creations) in any one of the six tracks to create a song. ePlay It really is that simple, and once you've laid down your new track, a quick press of the shoulder button will play either the whole song or a section of it depending on where your cursor is. You can then alter it again by speeding up or slowing down the BPM (Beats Per Minute) at the base of the screen. This can have a remarkable effect on your comxxxxxxxxxposition and can actually change the whole style of the music, say from Garage to Reggae. The Riff Editor though, is the basis of everything you create, and if you're going to compose something entirely unique, you really need to have a sound knowledge of how to manipulate samples and create riffs. What this section allows you to do is take a sample and treat it in a number of different ways--lengthen it, shorten it, or add a whole range of distortions to change its sound completely. You may then want to join a collection of samples to produce a riff, which can be used later for your master comxxxxxxxxxposition. This section does take a lot of trial and error, because to be honest, it can take hours to get a pleasing-sounding riff just as you want it. Your music can then be saved in one of 10 slots to impress your friends or simply to store and work on at a later time. Finally, as with most Rage products, there's also a separate GBC version, and while it in no way compares with the more powerful audio available on the GBA, it's still the same product, and a great fun to play. Controls The controls are initially quite difficult, and to combat this steep learning curve you can try two things. Firstly, load the demo songs that come with the package to see how they are constructed in terms of riffs and samples. Then, read the manual (yes, I know you usually don't), and work through the 'quick start' sections in order to familiarize yourself with the various controls. A little perseverance will pay off and you'll be switching through the various editors in no time; remember that Pocket Music is in no way a 'pick-up-and-play' type of affair, so patience is required. Graphics Let's face it, we shouldn't be looking for exceptional visuals here, but rather a level of clarity so you can actually compose something with reasonable ease. That said, the developers have managed to incorporate a handful of different skins, available via the options menu, allowing you to change the look of your new handheld recording studio. Overall though it's more functional than anything, but considering the title's genre, that's no bad thing. Sound & Music Now if this wasn't the highlight of this title it really would be a complete waste of time purchasing it, or even creating it in the first place. In addition to the Pocket Music version of ‘My Name Is' by Eminem, you get over 600 samples, which are of incredible quality. Many of these have then been mixed into riffs, which again feature the same high audio standards. It may seem a little abstract at first, but loading up some of the demo songs really manages to illustrate exactly how good your creations can be once you've managed to get your head around the various studios. Headphones really are a must with this title, as you don't want any outside noise pollution hampering your creativity, and what's more they'll make your music sound an awful lot better. Final Comments Pocket Music demands time and effort, and if you're not prepared to give it, then this title is really not for you. You don't actually have to be musical though; placing a few random riffs in the sequencer will usually produce a quite pleasing tune (although possibly not during your first attempt). What Rage and developer Jester have produced here is both ambitious and remarkable, and while maybe limited in the types of 'songs' you can produce, you're only creatively constrained by your imagination. If you're sick and tired of all the movie/TV inspired titles that are flooding the GBA market, Pocket Music could be the one cart that brings your creative side back to life.