The death of a great product

Timmygyu · 2005-09-30T15:08:23

First off I would like to say that I am not being paid to post this, nor am I receiving any personal gain from spending my time typing this letter up. I am writing it specifically for the reason of telling the world of the death of a great product: The Madplayer. About a year ago my father bought this device for usage in a project he was working on, mostly because the Madplayer could record uncompressed audio, something he needed. I didn’t fool around with it much at that time, and he himself barely turned it on, since he didn’t need it yet. So it went into a drawer somewhere to collect dust for almost a year. Until a few weeks ago. My father is currently getting ready to do an internet podcast so he wanted to record it uncompressed. Out came the Madplayer. Unfortunately complicated circumstances rendered the Madplayer useless in this regard. Since it was out (and I was bored) I decided to give it a spin. That’s when I blew my own mind. What the Madplayer does is make music. Sure it can also play most audio formats (mp3, wma, wav, midi) but with no internal memory and support of smartmedia cards with a capacity of only 128 MB or lower, this is not it’s best utilization. It’s also a wee bit bigger than a Gameboy. So far this device really hasn’t sounded special or useful has it? Let’s get into that now. In fact I’ll start with a bold but true statement: While an iPod can hold thousands of songs, the Madplayer holds even more. To be specific the Madplayer comes preinstalled with an infinite number of songs. That’s right, an infinite number of songs. That’s not a typo. How does it contain an infinite number of songs? By creating them on the fly. You see, the Madplayer is what’s called a music synthesizer, though it the only portable one ever made. It creates a completely random song by following a loose set of rules and creating a set of completely random music patterns. Once these patterns are created the Madplayer assigns each to a position, such as drums, lead, bass, riff, etc., then maps a certain musical instrument onto the patterns, depending on the music style you pick. But I am explaining the mechanics, not how this device truly works. How do you go about telling the Madplayer to create its music? First turn it on. If you are using the preinstall 32 MB smartmedia card it will start to play a demo Madsong, with samples thrown in and re-recorded as a wma. Ignore this or listen to it. Now press the E-DJ button; the manual will show you where it is. The screen will display a list of music styles: HardRap, Bossa, Manga, R&B, Jungle(my fav), and many more. Pick one and press the play button. There’s your song. That’s right, no wait, the Madplayer composes instantly. You can listen to that song for as long as you like, the Madplayer will intro, build, climax, and end the song, according to its randomly generated length, anywhere from 1 minute to 10 minutes. When it ends, the Madplayer will instantly compose a new song in the same style. Or if you don’t like the first song, just press the Fast forward button and it creates a completely new song. Don’t like that one? Press that FF button until you hear something you like. Want to hear the song in the middle? Just hold the fast forward button to skip to wherever you want. Don’t like the style? Press the E-dJ button and pick a new one. Sound’s pretty good doesn’t it? But then again what the heck does this have to do with game development? Now for the best part. You see the creators of the Madplayer have been generous enough to let its users own the music their Madplayer creates. You only have to perform one task: press the save button. That’s it. Once you press the save button you own the song. From beginning to end, it’s all there, with a file size of about 4 to 6 KB, meaning even on the included and half filled 32 MB card you can save hundreds of songs and variations. You can export it using the software on the included CD, bring it into a midi program, one of which is also included on the CD. Once there you can save your song as a mp3, wav or one of the other supported formats. Then you can do anything with it. Rap over it, use the midi software to edit out and add in whole parts. Or don’t do anything with it, just put it on your iPod, put it in your album. Heck, if you want you can put it in your movie. And you don’t have to pay Madplayer a cent. Oh, and there’s one more medium where this music can be used. You all know where I’m going. Games. The kind of music the Madplayer creates is exactly the kind you hear in games, but with the added benefit of not needing to hire a composer. For the amateur game developer this device is absolutely priceless, since almost no skill is needed to use it. Heck, I’m only fourteen and I managed to make something that sounded better than what’s in a lot of the games I play. Imagine what someone with some actual skill could do. Even as it is I have barely scratched the surface of what the Madplayer can do. The onboard editing capabilities alone are simply mind-blowing. But now I come to the title. The Madplayer is dying. Its reviews were spectacular, its slightly asymmetrical, new age shape was both attractive and ergonomic, and the functionability and ease of use were simply unbelievable. It was first sold for $350.00 and worth every penny. At this moment the last of them are being sold for $59.00, probably half what it cost to produce the unit. Why did it die? Because no one could believe that it could truly create music, no one could consider the idea of ignoring the masses and buying a Madplayer instead of the white, comparatively ugly little maggot called the iPod. And so it has been forgotten, passed over by the consumers, much like it went into the drawer after my father bought it. But it’s coming out of the drawer now. I just bought one of my own and received it yesterday, and I’m am in the process of upgrading the firmware at this very moment. I’m absolutely hooked on it, and I am seriously considering using some of the music I have created in some of my future games. Yet I am taking the time to write this because it REALLY irritates me that this great, easy-to-use, incredibly innovative and powerful product is dying. Therefore I’m begging you, please, go to the web site ( www.madplayer.com ), listen to some of the sample music they have up there, or some of the user music they have uploaded. Then take a look at the Madplayer itself. Buy it. Use it. Fall in love with it. Then pull yourself away from it and email a simple message to the creators: WE WANT MADPLAYER 2!!! Please, I’m begging you. Very, very sincerely, Tim H.

Music and Sound FX Audio

Started by Timmygyu August 12, 2005 08:19 PM

37 comments, last by Timmygyu 19 years, 4 months ago

Kristafarii

172

August 16, 2005 12:16 AM

Reminds me of a program out about 10 - 12 years ago on PC called 'Jesus on E' - It generated a techno tune of unlimited length and a video to go with it using static images and a series of random special effects.

Certain genres of music (such as techno) are easily generated using algorithms and a handfull of preset patterns.

firewindshadow

112

August 16, 2005 11:40 AM

Interesting product...

A quick search on Froogle comes up with a website selling it for $45.

Please give a review of this product and post it here once you received it. It would be cool if Madplayer can be used as a portable grovebox.

Timmygyu

Author

180

August 16, 2005 12:04 PM

Hi,

Thanks for the rating++ Ravyne, I appreciate it. I also hope you find your madplayer useful, I sure did.

I would also like to add as a side note that the madplayer has a decent microphone on the headset, with which you can record samples. It also comes preloaded with some samples. With the firmware upgrade 1.29 (the latest) you can do a real time recording in which you can drop in samples wherever you want and save the madsong with the drop points intact. You can extend the maximum sample recording time to the space left on the included SM card, so you can basicly rap over your entire song with just the madplayer.

Also the firmware upgrade allows you to use manual composing too. With this on the madplayer generates all the music patterns(riff1, riff2, drum1, pad, back, lead1, ect.) and lets you trigger (or untrigger) them in whatever order you want, along with pitch, volume, and reverb modification. This effectively lets a hardcore user have almost compleate control over the entire song.

I hope this information is useful.

Bye,
Tim

P.S. I hope to post some of my own songs on the net at some point in the near future, if I do I will post a notice and web address for those who are interested.

"I have had to exist in a dream world my entire life. No ground I have stood upon has been real. All those I have loved, all those I have hated...figments of my mind.I yearn to be broken. I yearn to die. I yearn to stand on ground I know is real, if only for a second. I yearn...for reality."

Timmygyu

Author

180

August 16, 2005 12:22 PM

Hi,

Here's an update for firewindshadow:

I looked at the site that had it for $45 and dug up an interesting tidbit when I looked for a reveiw of the company on froogle. Below is a link to the one reveiw of the site, along with the reveiw itself below. I guess the reviewer could have just been a hoakster, but I wouldn't take my chances. Anyway, if you do order from that site, please post to let us know if you get your purchase

Bye,
Tim

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller8624.html

"They charged my account before they even knew if they had the software in stock. Later they left a message saying that some of the software was not available. They did not refund the difference they still charged for the unshipped software. I called them and they said they would look into the charge but never did. Finally contacted Credit card company and asked them to reverse charges. Bottom line- sleasy outfit avoid them."

stimarco

1,071

August 16, 2005 06:32 PM

Sounds like a hardware version of "Band In A Box", which is already well known in the music industry. This kind of music creation technology has been banging around for years, so I fail to understand why something like Madplayer is so earthshatteringly amazing.

--
Sean Timarco Baggaley

Sean Timarco Baggaley (Est. 1971.)Warning: May contain bollocks.

firewindshadow

112

August 17, 2005 12:16 PM

I'm fully aware of "Band In A Box" software. What makes Madplayer interesting to me is, just as you said, a light portable hardware; and the fact that I have to spend an hour and a half everyday commuting on subway to and back from work with nothing to do. Also, I’m in the market looking for a small portable recorder to be used in conjunction with Nintendo DS’s music generating games, so Madplayer looks to be a very temping purchase.