I am currently in the midst of an awesome toys storm! This week has seen the arrival of a Macbook, Crumpler Backpack and I just picked up my M3 DS Simply from the post office. With a Numark AVM02 arriving tomorrow, I’m worried that I’ll become paralysed by the sheer weight of cool techy stuff. Hence: Pocket Review!

Peter put the DS Lite and DS-Xtreme in his Digital Musician Holiday Wish List. I picked up a DS a couple of weeks ago, but thought the DS-Xtreme looked a little pricey and wanted something which would use SD or MicroSD media, as they’re the formats used by my still camera and phone.

Et volia. The Nintendo DS M3 Simply. A choice echoed by a comment made on CDM 3 days ago. AU$61 (US$48) delivered from Bamboo Gaming, it arrived in 9 days, and includes a “thumbdrive” form factor MicroSD reader, driver CD, and a cute little holder to attach to your keyring or mobile phone lanyard or nose ring or whatever it is the cool kids are doing on my lawn.

That’s all interesting, but there are loads of reviews online which could tell you what you’ll get in the box if you buy one of these things. What they don’t really get across is how simple this thing is. Following these instructions it took me less than ten minutes to go from this:

To this! Nitrotracker. DSMidiWifi baybee!

Modding my XBox to run Media Center was complicated enough that I enlisted another geek to do it for me. Getting homebrew running on the DS took less time than copying and resizing the above images.

Nintendo DS M3 Simply: Recommended! [tags]nintendo, DS, homebrew, trackers, gaming, midi, hacks, hardware, mobile, software, wireless[/tags]

Updated: I had to patch NitroTracker with DLDI for R4DS using the instructions here to get NitroTracker accessing the filesystem and saving correctly.

A portable computer on the back, a DS in the holster, the roaming visualist is ready to spin live eye candy in any situation, with only an S-Video port and four drink tickets to the bar.

Yes, if you happened to catch the wireless MIDI controller here on CDMo before it hit the rest of the blogosphere, I have good news: the download for DSMIDIWiFi is available today. You can now transmit MIDI from your DS to control your computer with no hardware other than a flash cart for running homebrew apps.

And, since Collin and Tob released their source into the wild, programmers out there have a great foundation for creating other apps. That means, not only is the DS Lite a tax write-off for the working VJ, it could be a student’s digital media thesis project, too. (Heck, one piece of software provides both the project AND procrastination options, all in one, compact device …)

File this next to the ndsvisuals project, which transmits via TCP and UDP, and is specially configured for visuals, including clip triggering and ordering, live scratching, and extra visual feedback on the DS screen. Unlike DSMIDIWiFi, ndsvisuals still isn’t ready for download, but you can bet we’ll let you know when it is. And developers / hobbyist programmers, it’s worth visiting the ndsvisuals page for additional ideas and resources — the WiFi communications component was already out there and enabled both projects, for instance.

Via MIDI or UDP, it would be possible to hook up the DS to software like Processing (both MIDI and UDP) or Flash (MIDI with some work, probably better off with UDP) in addition to the traditional VJ apps. Processing + Nintendo DS sounds like an especially tasty option to me.

Lastly, if you’re looking for an easy solution for running all this homebrew goodness, the DS-X shows lots of promise. All you need now is a game to suck up the rest of your time, but I’m guessing you can figure that part out for yourself. (I suggest Mario Kart, naturally.)

Now get that stylus finger twitching:

DSMIDIWiFi Free Download: Turn Your Nintendo DS into a Wireless Synth and Controller (Now Available!) [Create Digital Music]

Nintendo DS as VJ Controller, with vvvv and Homebrew Developer Tools

DSMIDIWiFi project page

ndsvisuals project page

DS-X and Homebrew Apps (probably the most plug-and-play solution) [Create Digital Music]

Wireless control has major appeal for VJs and live visualists: control visuals in different locations wirelessly, move about while performing, and, erm, grab a cocktail during your set. (Well, at least I occasionally want to do that last one. All without performing my dynamic performance, mind you.) There are commercial options like M-Audio’s wireless adapter, but here’s one better: use your Nintendo DS. Tob, developer of NitroTracker, has collaborated with TheRain, developer of DSMidi, on a new MIDI-over-WiFi solution.

A homebrew Nintendo DS + the free software is all you’ll need to turn your DS into a wireless controller for any visual software. Here, they use Quartz Composer, the free Apple developer tool, but any MIDI-receiving software will work — and I honestly kind of like the idea of using the stylus-controlled keyboard. Naturally, this is only the first of what might eventually be possible. We’ll have information on downloading and setting up this software soon on Create Digital Music, as well as the musical applications, but visual control will also be high on my list.

Updated:

The software has been released as a free, open source download; check out the full story at Create Digital Music or go straight for the project page.

The Wi-Fi link on the Nintendo DS makes it possible to harnass the game unit as a software controller, made more appealing by the DS’ two screens and touchscreen/stylus. In one very cool student project at the University Of Applied Science Hagenberg, a three-person team (Matthias Zauner, Ralph Windischhofer, and Martina Karan) has developed a homebrew app enabling the DS to function as a VJ controller:

ndsvisuals Project Page (with movies, screenshots, and all the technical resources used)

Via the Create Digital Noise forums and the vvvv user gallery, which has too many cool projects to ever cover — enjoy!

An open wi-fi library lets the DS transmit via TCP and UDP, which enables the use of multimedia software on your computer; this could be easily applied to Processing, Flash, Max/MSP/Jitter and Pd/GEM, or various other options that can handle the data. In this case, the creators chose the superb, free interactive visual package for Windows, vvvv. That enables many features, like:

1. Showing an overview of footage on the DS screens, arrangable in sequences via drag-and-drop with the stylus
2. Color, opacity, blends, and blend modes
3. Stylus scratching!
4. 2D cross-fader controlled by stylus
5. Plug-in support for your own vvvv patches (very cool, for custom control)
6. Use of vvvv patches and video files