Speculation: Will the Playdate make music?

We know that the analogue pocket will have a built in sequencer and synthesizer, but . . . What about the playdate?

With the playdate having a headphone out and an open source platform for making “games”, isn’t it only a matter of time before we get a sequencer for chip tune music programmed for the handheld?

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playdate is like ear 1. they hired teenage engineering to do the design. but for the rest it has nothing to do with operators or making music. playdate can barely release enough games. yes, its possible that eventually they will make a music sequencer, but by that time playdate will probably be outdated tech. just speculating.

It looks like the SDK is still private for now, but as soon as it’s public, looking through the audio section should make the answer obvious. :wink:

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Turned my attention to the music zone in Playmaker today. Works like a Kikkerland 15 music box but with instruments. Still much to do, but here’s a little tune for your timeline. 🎵🎈 (note: this is heavily used early Playdate dev hardware. 🙂) pic.twitter.com/E9DQYBmPRa

— Dustin Mierau (@dmierau) April 19, 2021
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Love it!

I’m 100% certain it will have some access to music making functionality, if nothing else through contributed software. Here’s a brief demo Devine Lin Luvega posted the other day of uxn (the small OS that 100rabbits makes which runs things like Orca sequencer ) running on a playdate device: Uxn - Playdate - YouTube

Between stuff like @flom posted above and this one I randomly came across the other day, I’m sure there are plenty of folks working on music trackers and stuff for playdate.

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If someone could create LSDJ for the Gameboy, then surely there will be music-making possibilities on the Playdate

yes, the playdate will make music.

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Some of us have our Playdates now … is there a musical instrument game in there someplace?

This modular synth emulator thing looks interesting. You can find some demos on the dev’s Instagram feed.

I have a Playdate on the way. I’ve been searching for musical games. All that I have found are very simple, some are just games, some let you create music. This is the list of what I’ve found so far (thanks for the link @duncmc another one to add to the list):

games that come with playdate:
boogie loops- making music with small dancing animals
echoic memory- music memory game

for purchase:
kicooya- mp3 and one bit video player- catalog
musicbox- virtual music box, create your own tunes- itch io
playmaker- synth, record, paint…- catalog
caged trainer- guitar learning app- itch io
cs-16- synth- itch io
direct drive- keep the lp spinning at a constant rate- catalog
tape looper- sampler- itch io
magic musicbox- little groovebox- itch io
modular play- itch io

edit to add that I am not recommending these games, I’ve never played them, it’s just a list.

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Hi - I’m the co-creator of Direct Drive, and FWIW - we just won (literally like yesterday) the tencent/Games without Borders Gameplay Innovation Award, so Idunno if that will spur anyone to buy it, but can’t hurt.

Also the Direct Drive soundtrack is awesome, non-chiptune and streamable everywhere

i’ve spent some time with it and can claim it does make music

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Given the Playdate’s headphone out and open-source game platform, speculation suggests a sequencer for chiptune music may emerge for the handheld. While it’s not confirmed, the combination of features hints at potential musical creativity on the device.

If you already have a PlayDate, fine. However if you don’t, consider the Woovebox instead. Similar size and a bit like a PO but CRAZY amounts of power :slight_smile:

there’s music apps already, sampling too

The Playdate API is public and has quite a rich audio section (not surprising given TE’s involvement, but unusual given the relative simplicity of the graphics API): Inside Playdate

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