Syntrax

Being on the go is a terrible reason to have to give up your music creation tools. Syntrax is a popular solution, with a sequencer, a synth, and a sample editor in one software package for Windows Mobile (PocketPC) devices and Symbian smartphones from Nokia, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola. Now, this popular package is free.

I just discovered the other day that Syntrax one of the PocketPC/Smartphone sequencers has now been released as free. It only has a monophonic synth, but its quite customizable, and you can do pretty long and reasonable quality compositions on it… Moreover it’s free.. and a lot of people have pda’s/smartphones sitting round…

Indeed. And not only does this work nicely on your new fancy smartphone, it’s a great way to resurrect a retired model (ahem, broken contract), especially as that’s an opportunity to remove any nasty software installed by your carrier.

Could be quite useful as a sketchpad, or even for throwing in some extra tracks as a set.

Syntrax at finished.nl

And yes, this fits squarely in the category of things you can’t do with an iPhone. (What is it about technological progress that often leaves you with less?) Many of you are big fans of the not-free but well worth the $16-27 Chocopoolp Software for Palm/Treo, including the legendary Bhajis Loops. I do wonder what will happen to them when Palm OS goes away, in favor of Linux; maybe a mobile Linux port?

But certainly, if you have a Symbian, Windows, or Palm phone, you have lots of mobile music options. (Blackberry, iPhone, cheap phones … not so much, unless someone knows of a Blackberry sequencer.)

Syntrax sequencers