Bhajis Loops- A DAW for your pocket?

v-un-v

My Brother, a professional guitarist and a bit of a Palm Organiser nut, introduced me to this little jewel of genius software programming a year or so ago.

Let me introduce Bhajis Loops by Chocopoolp software based in France. ( http://www.chocopoolp.com/forums.html )

As some of you know, I recently started a University degree- choosing to commute from Birmingham to Wolverhampton- mainly as an excuse to start riding my bicycle again- taking the train part way. Originally I was hoping to get a Gameboy to run Nanoloop2 ( www.nanoloop.de )- another cult pocket sequencer- although nowhere as complete and comprehensive as Bhajis- so I could make music while sitting on the train. But the Nintendo just didn't cook my goose- as the lure of a PDA offered so many extra goodies like a calendar, mp3 player and that wonderful hands-on touchscreen!

Bhajis loops is in a way, a bit like Steinberg's Cubase. No, in fact it's very, very much like Cubase- complete with an Arrange page, pattern editor, synth editor, a fully automated mixer complete with vst/ au-like plug-ins, microtuning, high and low pass filters and a very comprehensive sample editor plus so much, much more.

Bhajis Loops primarily is a sampler and uses tiny samples for the basis of all its sound sources- including the oscillators (I suppose because if you tried to make a virtual oscillator on a Palm it would use so much CPU juice- and therefore slow the cycles down so much that you couldn't use the rest of Bhajis Loops excellent features?- However you can 'draw' your own waveforms in the sample editor screen- creating some rather nice digital sounding textures- and these again can be filtered). You can make full use of your Palm's in-built microphone and recording facilities as well as being able to import samples both by PC and Mac OSX based sample editors.

This all sounds too good to be true?- Indeed- especially when you consider that it only costs $26!!! Here's a review in 'Keyboard Magazine' (It's a better read than my efforts Wink

);

http://www.keyboardmag.com/story.asp?sectioncode=30&storycode=12175

BTW, Originally I bought this Powerbook so I could make music away from home and my desk. It never really happened as a laptop is still a bulky item and needs further peripherals in order to make it do anything- after all, a computer's only real purpose is to read and write emails isn't it? Wink

Having Bhajis Loops- a complete music workstation for my pocket- has fueled my desire to make electronic music again- anywhere I wish to.

blue hell · Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:32 pm Post subject:

Sounds good, I like the idea, might want to have it :-)

What palm do you need for it Tom, I see three types of handhelds on the Palm site. z22, TX and tungsten , wildly differing in price. Any ideas about this ?

v-un-v · Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:53 pm Post subject:

Jan,

I'm using a PalmOne Zire 72, although a tungsten or treo may be better? I don't know about the Sony models- although it's supposed to work with most Palms that run OS 5 minimum and have an ARM processor.

Hope that helps.

v-un-v · Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:25 pm Post subject:

Jan,

Olivier- the creator of Bhajis Loops has just quite rightly pointed out that the Z22 won't work because it doesn't have an output jack (or an expansion slot for that matter!!)- so forget that one Smile

The Zire 31 is a better bet- because it is so cheap now (around 60-80 euros)

The best Palm for Bhajis Loops seems to be the old T3 if you can find one Smile

Tom

edit- PS Olivier requested me to put a direct link in to the forum, so you can all sample the delights via mp3 of his genius software;

http://www.bhajis-garden.org/forums.html

-hope that works. You will find many new links from there!!

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:44 pm Post subject:

I just got a T3. Shocked

v-un-v · Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:48 pm Post subject:

you lucky b*stard!!! I want it!!!!!

Well you know where to put your next 26 dollars Very Happy

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:57 pm Post subject:

This application is cool, but I doubt I will even consider using that nasty Palm device for making musc. Cool

seraph · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:13 am Post subject:

v-un-v · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:12 am Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:21 am Post subject:

Well, it doesn´t do much more than my old Newton .. Anyways, I am using it for the usual shit at the moment.
As for nasty.. the Palm desktop application is a sad thing. Apple could probably do this a whole lot better if someone could convince Jobs this is an insanely great idea.

v-un-v · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:34 am Post subject:

mosc · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:25 am Post subject:

Check this out, a very nice demo of Bhajis Loops. http://mao.adan.asso.fr/7.htm

v-un-v · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:07 pm Post subject:

Thanks Mosc! That is indeed a very fine demo of Bhajis- and all on a Zire 72s too! (my model u see :0) )

It was also really nice to hear the demo in French for once rather than in (US) English! (Although I wish I could understand what he's saying!)

I hope this helps bring some more attention to Olivier's dynamite software Cool

Tom

v-un-v · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:11 pm Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 5:12 am Post subject:

Nah.. well.. dunno.. why would I want to do that? Shocked

Is the Zire hotter than the T3?

v-un-v · Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 5:30 pm Post subject:

blue hell · Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 9:09 pm Post subject:

I've been looking into a number of these devices, palm only as the sony site was unbearble for both me and my browser. I noticed that all devices have very limited memory, just a few waves would make it full (except maybe for the current 4GB flagship model (expensive !!)). I had hoped to use the program for wave sculpturing, but that doesn;t reall y seem to be possible. I did hear some nice demos, but indeed those seemed to be made out of short samples mainly.

Another concern is batteries. All specs are vague about that issue, from the laptop world I know that to be a very bad sign.

Any comments on that ?

v-un-v · Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 2:59 am Post subject:

Well it's a funny thing but the applications for Palm OS are also so tiny in size- Bhajis loops for a start is only 852k big- that's less than a meg! It takes a while to get used to this (My Zire 72 is only 32mb RAM in size!!!!!)- It does take SD cards mind- and I have a 512mb size one in the slot. If you do go for a Palm Jan, get a fast card- because you can use this card to store all your samples and even applications.

I'm not to sure what the maximum sample hold time is. I know it's not that big- it quotes on the BL forum that the max that the Palm can handle is 64kb!! Shocked

But from experience this seems ample (well to me anyway)

This limit really isn't a problem for me because I'm one of those people who learnt to sample on an Akai S950- with only 2mb of RAM- and so you learnt how to get the most out of it.

You must remember that the Palm is a gadget that was never really intended to be a DAW- instead being purely a 'hmm- that looks interesting' type gadget/ organiser- hence everything not really being what it should be- ie they (Palm) can never seem to get it quite right. Sony dropped out of the market when the price of the US dollar dropped. A shame because the Sony palms had designers who seemed to have a better idea about what they were doing.

If you are wanting something that will create grand finished products with lots of long samples/ recordings, then look elsewhere- but if "you just want something which is more fun than having to go the full hog and take your clothes off" (as they say) you can't beat this tiny combination for it's fun factor!

Lastly, yes the batteries. Yes they are a bit measly- but I'm quite impressed with how long they will last if used carefully. I think most quotes are from people who absolutely insist on using their Palm's on full pelt all day- whereas is you use energy saving resources such as turning the screen off while listening to the built-in mp3 player, or getting it to go to sleep after 3 minutes, you soon get to conserve power. FWIW, I use my Palm everyday at work- listening to mp3's and jotting down things in the memo and calendar- as well as impressing myself with Bhajis Loops- and I still have battery power when I get home. (In fact I'll play mp3's while cycling home too- to add). I don't think I have a battery problem?

Have you tried secondhand too? A Tungsten T3 is a good buy. Try these sites too;

http://www.palminfocenter.com/index.asp

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/

http://www.handango.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti_%28Palm_OS%29

http://www.freewarepalm.com/

there- that should help whet you appetite!

ian-s · Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:15 am Post subject:

The Sony is very nice. Bit pricey though, must run both an ARM and a LEG processor Rolling Eyes

v-un-v · Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:15 am Post subject:

mtvic · Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 12:52 pm Post subject:

Just purchased a T3 from ebay for 170.00 US
Can't wait to get BhajisLoops.

mosc · Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 12:53 pm Post subject:

Hey, we could have a live streaming Bhajis Loops festival!

mtvic · Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 1:07 pm Post subject:

Now your talkin'
this could be advertised on the Bhajis Garden site.
and all the Gardeners could join in too

mosc · Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 1:30 pm Post subject:

Gardeners?

v-un-v · Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:21 pm Post subject:

This is quite an interesting Palm audio app too;

http://www.minimusic.com/soundpad.html

Interestingly enough, the original version of 'Supercollider' was so well written, it worked well even on the most basic of Macintosh computers.

It would be lovely if someone came up with a similar software for Palm. Then we Palm freaks would have a complete pocket electronic music solution Very Happy