Little Sound DJ, or LSDJ, is a
tracker program written for
the
Game Boy/
Game Boy Color platform by
Johan Kotlinski (aka
Role Model). LSDJ v.1.0 was released on
January 22, 2001 and has
been steadily updated by Kotlinski as users request more features and
as bug fixes are needed (at the
time of this
writing, the current version is 3.0.7). The
ROM image can be
purchased and then downloaded for $39 USD (once purchased, all
updates are free), and there is also a free demo version which lacks
a save feature.
The following text is reproduced here without permission of
the copyright holder. The original author is Johan Kotlinski and
this text was copied directly from www.littlesounddj.com:
CONCEPT
The basic idea is to transform a plain Game Boy/Game Boy Color
into a full-fledged music workstation.
Sequencer
The sequencer of Little Sound Dj has a very open structure. It was
designed to leave all the musical possibilities of the Gameboy in the hands of the user. The system can be said to be
both simple and complex; it has a slight learning curve, but when
learned, it is possible to transcribe a complete Bach piece to it on less than one hour.
Sound
The Gameboy sound chip offers four channels with 4-bit sound.
Custom waveforms can be created by free-hand drawing, or by using a
subtractive synthesizer with resonant filters. For extra
versatility, Little Sound Dj also contains a quite powerful
arpeggiator, which possibilities go far beyond the classic
C64-style chords.
Samples
Sample-wise, Little Sound Dj boasts a set of 59 phonems
for programmable speech. Besides that, it also features drum kits
sampled from machines TR-606, TR-707, TR-727, TR-808,
TR-909, CR-78, CR-8000, KR-55, DR-55, DR-110, DMX,
Drumulator, RhythmAce, TOM and LinnDrum.
Synchronization
It is possible to use a link cable to sync two Game Boys; great for
party fun or for added polyphony! If you want to, you can sync LSDJ
with Nanoloop. MIDI sync is possible too, if you are ready to
build your own LSDj Midi Interface.
The Interface
The workspace is divided into ten screens: song, chain, pattern,
instrument, table, groove, project, frame, synth, and word. You can
move through the different screens by holding select and pressing the
direction of the screen (a map in the bottom right corner shows the
current screen and its physical relationship to the others). The
song screen has one column for each of the four tracks in
which you enter chains. In the
chain screen, you can chain
together patterns, and in the
pattern screen you can activate
instruments with the desired note (
octaves 3 – 8) and also add
effects (
legato,
sweep,
pitch bend, and others). From the
instrument screen you can make an instrument that is either a
pulse, wave, noise, kit (sampled sounds), or speech (sampled
phonemes) instrument, and then set the various properties of the
instrument including
envelope,
sweep, and which, if any, table to
apply. The
table screen is four columns of 16 rows which
allow various commands to be applied to the instrument being played,
allowing you to create interesting effects such as
arpeggios. The
groove screen helps set your pace by letting you set how many
ticks (an abstract span of time about 1/60th of a second) each note
is to be played for. You can also set up
asynchronous amounts such
as 3 ticks for the first note, and 4 ticks for the second to get a
swinging rhythm. The
project screen has the master controls,
allowing you to do things like set the
tempo, save your song, purge
all memory, and synch your
Game Boy with another. The
frame
and
synth screens are used to generate waveforms to be used in
the wave channel. The
word screen is a hidden screen which
only appears when using the speech instrument, and it allows you to
chain together
phonemes to make words.
Getting a Cartridge
LSDJ
cartridges are very tough to get your hands on these days.
The
Game Boy Advance has shifted interest away from
Game
Boy/
Game Boy Color and so it has become increasingly difficult to
find the hardware needed to put the LSDJ
ROM image onto a
Game
Boy cartridge. What you need is a
transferrer, a 8
MB
cartridge (4
MB will do for any version earlier than 3.0)
that is compatible with your
transferrer, a copy of the LSDJ
ROM
image, and a PC with a
serial port (I believe all
transferrers
connect to
serial ports).
Of course, you can always use the LSDJ Demo
ROM image on your
computer with the
Game Boy emulator of your choice (most
emulators have a save feature which you can use to circumvent the
demo
ROM's lack of a save feature), but many argue the original
Game Boy hardware produces a sound that the
emulators just can’t
produce quite right. Also, one of the greatest things about using
the
Game Boy as a
tracker is the ability to carry it with you on
the
subway.
LSDJ Live
A feature definitely worth mentioning is the live mode. When in the
song screen, by holding the b button and pressing the direction pad,
live mode will be engaged. Typically when in the song screen,
pressing start will begin the song you have laid out, but while in
live mode, you can choose which tracks to play, and at which point.
This allows for some very interesting
improvisation. If you are in
New York City or nearby, make sure to come see
Joshua Davis (aka
Bit Shifter, www.bitshifter.cc) at his next show if you want a good
example of just how intense the LSDJ live mode can get. There also is a PC keyboard synchronization mode that allows for some more
interesting
improvisation techniques for live shows. I recently
saw
Jeremiah Johnson (aka
Nullsleep, nullsleep.8bitpeoples.com)
play a set with a standard PC keyboard strapped over his shoulder,
and it was one the greatest and geekiest things I’ve ever
experienced. These features are a terrific boon to LSDJ artists who
perform live.
Sources
http://www.littlesounddj.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lsdj