Easy Piano title lets DS Lite users tickle the ivory

Posted Jul 31st 2009 9:07AM by Darren Murph

We know that DSi of yours is all the rage, but you did hang on to that DS / DS Lite, didn't you? Phew. Starting this November in Europe and other PAL regions, you'll have a remarkably good excuse to bust that unit back out, as this new peripheral looks to require that all-but-forgotten GBA slot. At any rate, the title (which goes by Easy Piano in case you glossed over the headline) will allow players to bang out masterpieces such as Bittersweet Symphony, Every Breath You Take and Pachelbel's Canon on the 8-note, full-octave keyboard accessory. All told, 40 songs will be made available, and there's even a "creation mode" that enables owners to record up to four 3-minute-long jams. Now, if only we had a North American price and release date to pencil in, we'd be all set.

[Via Joystiq]

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Tags: accessory, BANDAI, dsi, easy piano, EasyPiano, Game Life, GameLife, gaming, gaming handheld, GamingHandheld, keyboard, music, namco, namco BANDAI, NamcoBandai, nintendo, nintendo ds, NintendoDs, peripheral, piano

Vylen (Jul 31st 2009 9:14AM) - Neutral

What would be cool, would be a port to consoles that make use of fullsize usb piano keyboards...

cause there's no way you're going to properly learn fingering across the complete scale or remember key positions when moving from this to a proper piano...

(Unverified) (Jul 31st 2009 9:21PM) - Neutral

NAMCO ARE YOU SERIOUS? I mean, really what the f**k am I going to do with ONE octave? You can't even play "chop-sticks" (correct me if the name is wrong.) I have no problem with the peripheral. Rather, I have a problem with the peripheral's intended purpose of being a teaching tool.

When learning to play a keyboard-based instrument, the general conciseness is a minimum of THREE full octaves:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_minimum_number_of_octaves_a_keyboard_should_have_for_a_child_to_learn_on

@ charleslkocur: What is a "prehiperal" exactly? Sounds like an industry term for a product that flopped before making it's way to market, "Kazoo-Hero" perhaps?

... (yes, I proclaim the title, "Kazoo-Hero", and concept to be my intellectual property. Harmonix, you reading this? I want my damn royalties already!)

GnarShredd (Jul 31st 2009 9:17AM) - Neutral

These prehiperals kind of make it loose the 'portableness' of it all, isn't that the point of a handheld?

*On second thought, It'd be kind of fun to bust out some classical music while on the crapper.

Cyrs (Jul 31st 2009 1:16PM) - Neutral

If this was actually a rhythm game it would have been awesome, but Namco intends for this to be a serious portable piano instruction software, knowing that and how it supposedly works, makes it lame. Well, I'll keep the rest of my opinions to myself until I see some reviews, but as you can probably tell, I have low expectations already.

(Unverified) (Jul 31st 2009 11:53AM) - Neutral

Tickle. And I'm pretty sure your version would void the warranty {ew}.

But enough people agree with you that it warranted this:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070412101718AAfAszO

(Unverified) (Jul 31st 2009 9:22PM) - Neutral

I would kill to get this working on my Korg DS-10! Maybe, Korg will get the hint that the on-screen keyboard is way too small and finicky to use with a stylus and releases a tweaked version of the software bundled with a single-octave keyboard. While they're at it, they should take note of what the homebrew community managed to do: tie the GBA-slot's I/O interface to a serial-to-midi converter. I bet they could throw the midi I/O guts into the keyboard itself and price the whole bundle at less then $80.

Think of the all the added functionality Korg's product would gain with just a fraction of the development time it took to make the original:
1) the DS can be used as a portable touch-screen midi-controller and sequencer.
2) export/import saved instruments, songs and settings.
3) connect and daisy-chain external midi controllers, such as a full sized keyboard, sliders, rotary knobs, etc.
4) by-pass the DS's god-awful, analog audio-out.

It's unlikely Korg would ever let X-Seed introduce a redux version that caters to the needs of enthusiasts (the primary customers of the first release) most likely fearing, incorrectly, that the products they sell for thousands of dollars more would suddenly cease to be appealing.

Anyway, If hell freezes over and Korg (or any other company, for that matter) finally releases a DS-10v2-like product, someone let me know. I'll be the first one in-line to pre-order that bad boy =^_^=

vicdezen (Jul 31st 2009 11:32AM) - Neutral

It's really cute but I think the plastic colour-coded toy pianos that come with a music book (with more keys!) at the average toy store would be a better/cheaper way to see if piano playing is for you (or if it should be foisted upon your children :P).

Cyrs (Jul 31st 2009 12:57PM) - Neutral

First look at the picture, I thought, :) "is that a DS midi controller," but my smile quickly went away :( when I saw it was 'serious" piano learning software. Piano learning software with one physical octave (wth, really!?). If anyone actually uses this to guide their "first steps in the piano world" without an actual piano/keyboard on hand, they will develop numerous bad habits and wrong finger placement. Even if the program spans 3 full virtual octaves to match the normal grand scale, how the hell is anyone gonna play the original Pachelbel's Canon with one hand!? As a musician learning the piano, it would have been better if this a competent music theory/ear pitch/sight reading instruction software, rather this current nonsense.