Nintendo DS Homebrew Music Apps Roundup


The fine folks at remaincalm.org, who brought you the wireless mcu controller dsmcu, have put together a list of 24 homebrew music apps for the Nintendo DS. We’ve mentioned programs like Protein[DS] before, but the list has others like this monome emulator. If you notice anything they’re missing, let them know and they’ll be sure to add it in.

[via Waxy]

Game Boy Foot Controller Demo

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQdqudTzyBs&hl=en&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999]
This is a video of [Joey Mariano] from animal style demoing his Game Boy pedal board. He added a D15 port to the back of the Game Boy, which is wired to each of the 8 buttons. The port is connected to a breakout box for 8 piano sustain pedals. The box also provides power to the Game Boy. The Game Boy is running the Nanoloop step sequencer. If you’re wondering about the guitar sound, he’s probably using an 8-Bit Fuzz pedal.

[via GetLoFi]

Nintendo DS Music Creation

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQCZnwNr0ms&hl=en]
Homebrew developer [yaarglafr] recently released this video of his Protein DScratch in action. You can download a demo version here. The program simulates DJ scratching on the DS with an intuitive interface much like the ones on the touchscreen turntables we discussed the other day. It works well with any of the major DS slot devices; just run a DLDI patch on it and you’re good to go.

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Nintendo DS Homebrew Guide


Running homebrew applications on the Nintendo DS is easier than ever these days, but if you didn’t get into the scene on the ground floor, knowing where to start can appear much more daunting than it actually is. The great thing is: you don’t need to crack open your DS and void the warranty. There are numerous peripheral options that handle this easily with no hardware mods required. DS Fanboy has served up a useful guide to the most popular peripherals and homebrew software. They explain the pros and cons of each peripheral along with the installation and uses of a few popular homebrew apps.

Already well versed in the homebrew arts? Then try some hacks we’ve featured previously, like building a serial interface or installing DSLinux and loading it with with software like this on-screen qwerty keyboard.

USB Transferer (AKA USB Gameboy Card Interface)


[Jose] sent in his efforts to build his USB Transferer. I’m pretty sure it’s a gameboy flash cartridge interface based on the Atmel AT90USB647 AVR microcontroller. Once the prototype board came in, he soldered the controller, gutted an old gameboy for the cartridge connector and had the device showing up on his PC by the end of the day. Oddly, the card he’s interfacing with is a USB device on it’s own. Until a few more details are published, I’d assume that the interface would be useful for connecting to more than just that particular card.

USB Gameboy Cartridge Project


[Jose] thinks that the Little Sound DJ is too expensive and hard to find. Now he’s trying to build an inexpensive USB programmable GameBoy cartridge. Currently he’s working with a LPC2148 development board. It’s not quite clear where he’s going with this. He certainly wants to add USB programming, but it seems that he’s trying to hack a mp3 decoder in there as well. [update: yes, I know how to spell cartridge!]

Back From Belize Extra


Yesterday, I was standing on a tropical island off the coast of Belize. Vacation rocked with lots of SCUBA diving, spearfishing and snorkeling. I’m back home, shaking off the jet lag and clearing up my inbox. Thanks to [fabienne] for filling in and letting me unplug for a while!

[Darkrom] has set a new standard for Hack-A-Day readers… I haven’t seen it in person, but that looks like a legit Hack-A-Day tattoo.

[null] sent in a new use for a frequency generator, a spare car amp, a sub-woofer and a plastic coffee can – brass cartridge polishing.

[LoopyMind] sent in this Game Boy Advanced Movie Player IDE hack. It’s pretty much a direct CF to laptop drive cable with an external battery supply.

[Dingolishious] sent in a POE UPS/remote power control solution. Could be handy if you’re using many POE devices, or if you’re having power issues. He added an inexpensive remote power monitor/switch solution behind his UPS. It senses power outages and kicks out an email – and allows remote power cycling of his POE devices. Of course, if you’ve got a linux box behind the UPS, it can monitor the output from the UPS and send notifications.

[William] added a preamp stage to his iKEY usb recorder. looks like an interesting toy – it’ll record audio directly to a USB flash key. The pre-amp allows him to record in more challenging environments.

[Andrew] noted a simple mod to increase the deadly fire power of the ubiquitous airsoft pellet gun. It’s just a matter of reducing some extra space in the spring compression area.

Last but not least, [VIPER] modded his projector to use a 12v halogen headlight bulb. Not a bad idea – at one point I was pondering a 550 watt source four halogen as a possible replacement.