older news from

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January 29th, 2010
Development is finally back on track. The 2nd half of 2009 (after the Pianofly release) really got bogged down, although late in the year we did get some face time with some Apple engineers to solve a couple mysteries. We've held off on major products for the past couple months to see how the iPad would effect our development path, and now we know. Currently our plan is to support the iPhone, iPod and iPad with each product rather than create any iPad only products. We will release "Universal" apps meaning if you buy a miniMusic app, it can be installed on both your iPhone and iPad and support each screen resolution correctly. We might offer ways to do things faster on the iPad (fewer taps to get to a feature or less scrolling required) but no unique features for the iPad only. Click here for Chad's thoughts on the iPad.

July 3rd, 2009
The Pianofly 1.1 upgrade is available now in the App Store. This upgrade fixes all known issues: a bug where the instrument icons aren't displayed at launch, a bug where the lowest few keys don't play while scrolling, and the inability to select a new sound icon while playing notes. The main new feature is a revert function to undo all changes made to a sound since launching Pianofly.

We are trying to complete a new music app by the end of July, and then will release a 1.2 upgrade for Pianofly with recording/sequencing sometime in August. We've been playing with some simple ways to layer tracks or loops to allow a more performance oriented form of sequencing.

All indications suggest that all of our Palm OS software should be able to run in the Classic simulator on the Pre, but we have not yet had a chance to test this. If you have a Pre with Classic installed, we'd love for you to try out our free Palm OS demos and let us know how well they work.

June 5th, 2009
Pianofly has been chosen as a "New and Noteworthy" application by Apple. As a result it has climbed to the #4 spot in the North American App Store's list of top paid music apps. For all of our new users: Thank you for trying out Pianofly! We'd be happy to hear your questions and comments; send us an email.

We are finishing up the 1.1 upgrade for Pianofly. This will add the most requested feature, a way to revert an instrument sound after changing it, and fix the known issue where the instrument bank will sometimes appear empty when you launch Pianofly (until you scroll). We expect it to be available for download in a couple weeks.

May 3rd, 2009
Pianofly is now available from the App Store. This is our first music application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Pianofly is a powerful synthesizer allowing you to create new sounds and play them with a revolutionary scrolling keyboard. Visit the updated Pianofly page for all the details, videos, documentation and more.

April 26th, 2009
We're finishing up the beta testing for our new iPhone product, Pianofly. We are hoping to see it available on the App Store before the end of the month. We've already got some other products in development, so we will hopefully have something new to release in or around July. Look for more announcements soon.

October 29th, 2008
Due to a family emergency, we shut down development for all of September. Things are moving forward again and we've gotten some useful help from Apple in the last week. Pianofly will be out in November (along with an update of No.2) and we hope to release a 2nd music product in December.

July 30th, 2008
We've decided to delay the release of Pianofly slightly to improve the design of our sound editing interface; our original design did not live up to our standards. Also, our non-music product, No.2, is doing rather well and we decided to push out a small upgrade for that sooner (before the Pianofly release, instead of after). Our goal is still to release about 5 more products this year; we'll announce some details on a couple of them when Pianofly launches.

July 9th, 2008
Things are getting interesting as several of our new iPhone projects progress. We will not have a music product in the App Store when it launches this Friday, but we believe our drawing software "No.2" will be available on Friday under our Lint Labs brand. Our first music application, Pianofly, will be released in July, and we will try to release a new app every month for the rest of 2008 (since we have 5 projects in development). All but one of these are music related, and only two of them have Palm counterparts...

June 9th, 2008
Not many posts lately as we've been preparing several projects for the iPhone and iPod Touch. We will not be doing direct ports of our Palm software to the iPhone; basic differences in the platforms prevent this. Also, this gives us a chance to redesign the software from scratch and to take advantage of iPhone specific features. We plan to have at least one music application ready for the iPhone 2.0 launch event, and will also be releasing a couple of non-music products under our Lint Labs brand. We will of course continue to support all of our Palm OS products and have a few updates to release this year.

February 26th, 2007
We have begun beta testing MixPad. If you haven't signed as a tester up yet, contact us quickly (at our support address) to try it out. This new version features Krikit Synth playback on most modern handhelds; we've completely retooled our synth for extremely high quality timing (no latency) and after the release of MixPad we will be moving the new synth into NotePad and BeatPad for more accurate playback.

January 18th, 2007
We have isolated the bug on the Treo 680 and found a work-around. All of our software has been updated to work correctly on the Treo 680. We have posted new demos of all of our products. If you already own miniMusic software and have upgraded to the Treo 680, please contact us to get the new versions. These upgrades are not needed for any other handheld or phone.

December 11th, 2006
There is a known issue with most of our software running on the new Treo 680. The 680 is not running the Krikit Synth properly which can cause the device to freeze or crash when quitting. We are working on the issue now and hope to have a fix out by the end of the week. This behavior is not seen on any other Palm OS handheld or phone.

November 20th, 2006
AxisPad is now available, check out the new free demo. New features include custom guidelines, color settings, full MIDI and sound card support, and much more. For a limited time we are including AxisPad for free when you buy the Handheld Music Suite or Pro Music Suite. We will be moving immediately to work on MixPad which is closer than ever.

November 8th, 2006
We have posted a second preview of AxisPad. Preveiw 2 can now run on any Palm OS 3.0 device or higher, but some features still require OS 5. Performance is vastly improved to eliminate clicking when changing the volume of a sound. Also, we have sent out the majority of the free BugBand upgrades. If you own BugBand but have not received the upgrade please contact us.

October 31st, 2006
Happy Halloween! We are celebrating with spooky sounds and creepy crawlies. We've released a free preview of our upcoming AxisPad application which lets you create sounds similar to a Theremin, the instrument used to make eerie sounds for many famous films. Also today, we've released a new version of BugBand. This free upgrade adds new instruments (violin and trombone), our Krikit synth for rich audio, and a new "boring mode" that uses standard notation instead of colorful bugs.

June 15th, 2006
The new 1.4 version of NotePad is now available. We will be sending out upgrades over the next couple days; if you have not received your upgrade by the beginning of next week please contact us and make sure we have your correct e-mail address.

March 27th, 2006
We've spent the early part of the year solving some conflicts with SoundPad on the Tungsten TX. That is finally solved! For our next trick, we've decided by popular request to add some features to NotePad. The new 1.4 version of NotePad should be available within the next month. Here is a sneak peek showing the new overview screen (20 measures at once!) and new scroll bar! Much more coming soon!

November 4th, 2005
The new BeatPad 1.1 is now available. This is the largest upgrade BeatPad has ever seen with the Krikit Audio Engine now built in, a library screen to organize multiple pattern banks, MIDI file exporting, pattern chaining, and much more. We have also released the new "Pro Music Suite" that includes NotePad, BeatPad and SoundPad. Now sounds designed with SoundPad can be used in both NotePad and BeatPad!

October 14th, 2005
We've finally overcome some hurdles with BeatPad and expect to release the next upgrade by the end of October. The new version fully integrates our Krikit Audio Engine so that you can use any sounds designed in SoundPad to play BeatPad patterns. We will also be releasing a new "Pro Music Suite" that includes NotePad, BeatPad and SoundPad.

May 27th, 2005
SoundPad has been released, letting you design sounds for the Krikit Audio Engine. We used SoundPad to design all of the sounds now available in NotePad 1.3 and now you can edit those sounds or add new ones. Try out the new free demo (only saves one sound). SoundPad requires a handheld running Palm OS 5 (Palm OS Garnet) with a headphone jack.

May 24th, 2005
We found one minor bug in the last stages of testing SoundPad (a problem with re-naming sounds). We believe it is now fixed but want to do a final day of testing before releasing it. We may begin shipping pre-orders tonight, but otherwise the full version should be available in the next day or two.

May 18th, 2005
NotePad 1.3 has been released. This is the first miniMusic product powered by our new Krikit Audio Engine. If you purchased NotePad 1.2 or later (in the past year and a half) you will get the upgrade for free. We are asking those who purchased earlier versions to pay a small upgrade fee to help us pay for the development of this new technology. The next Krikit powered product, SoundPad, will be released on May 24th, in one week. SoundPad will let you design your own Krikit Synth sounds for use in NotePad and other Krikit powered software.

April 27th, 2005
We lost almost a month fixing some thread synchronization problems in our new software synthesizer. This is our first multi-threaded software project and the problem was completely unexpected (and tricky to even explain, so you'll just have to trust us). It has been completely resolved and our new synth is running great. We are on track to release both NotePad 1.3 and SoundPad 1.0 in May. The new synthesizer will be known as the "krikit synth" or "krikit audio engine"!

February 7th, 2005
We are making excellent progress on the next generation of our soft synth. The earliest version of the synth appeared about a year ago in NotePad allowing for 4-note polyphony. A second version is used in SoundPad to create complex instrument timbres. The new version being developed is currently running 16 oscillators, each with its own amplitude envelope at 16-bit sample depth on a Tungsten T (144mhz), faster processors can do even more. We are still testing various schemes to produce drum sounds but are hoping to premier this new synth in NotePad within the next month. This will enable polyphonic, multi-timbral playback (that means different instrument sounds playing different pitches simultaneously)!

January 27th, 2005
The new version of BugBand has been released. This is a huge update adding new instruments (trumpet, tuba, left handed guitar), new bugs (butterfly!), new color and high resolution graphics, and new functionality (notes are highlighted on the staff when you play the instrument, but only when the game is stopped or in practice mode). And there is now a high score screen making it easier to track your performance and for several users or students to share one handheld.

December 12th, 2004
NoteDemo, the free version of our NotePad music notation software, is featured in a new PalmOne commercial airing nationwide in the US. You can download NoteDemo for free and see our other products by visiting our software page.

November 30th, 2004
Unfortunately we have had to move which has eaten up most of the past month. We are getting settled in our new place now and should be able to proceed with the BugBand release in the next week. We'll try to get back on track, but might be running behind through the end of the year. The coming week will be especially slow as we transfer our internet connection to the new location. More soon!

October 12th, 2004
Cleaned up a few parts of the website, including an update to our development calendar. We are going to try to get a new version of BugBand out quickly while we fine tune our improved soft synth (as seen in SoundPad) for inclusion in future upgrades of NotePad, MixPad and BeatPad.

October 4th, 2004
The miniMusic office is closed for the week (October 4th-8th). You can place orders but they will not be shipped until the weekend or the beginning of next week. We might be able to reply to some e-mail but this is not guaranteed. New versions of BugBand and BeatPad are coming soon along with the final beta for MixPad.

September 30th, 2004
We have posted a free preview of our new SoundPad application. You will need a handheld running OS 5 or later with support for sound streaming (if you have a headphone jack you should be ready to go). We will release a full 1.0 version of SoundPad by the end of the year.

August 18th, 2004
Look for something new next month! Especially if you have an OS 5 handheld with a headphone jack!

May 27th, 2004
NotePad 1.2.1 and BeatPad 1.0.7 have both been released. These updates will not be automatically sent to all of our users as these updates primarily add support for the Tapwave Zodiac handheld which is not needed unless you have that model. NotePad 1.2.1 also fixes a problem where notes were not drawn correctly on some OS 5 handhelds when certain "Color Themes" were used. In addition to Zodiac support, BeatPad 1.0.7 adds some high resolution color graphics and an option for very slow tempos (4-24 bpm). If you are a current user and have a TapWave Zodiac, have had the problem with color themes, or want the new BeatPad features please contact us and we'll be happy to e-mail you the upgrades. Zodiac users need the free 1.1 ROM upgrade to use their sound card.

May 20th, 2004
We've taken a short break from MixPad and SoundPad (our new sound design application) to add Tapwave Zodiac support to our entire line of software. The Zodiac is the only handheld currently being sold with a sound card built in, so not only can it use our software synthesizer it also has a full set of Yamaha General MIDI sounds (128 instrument timbres plus drums) with 16 note polyphony. We will release NotePad and BeatPad patches next week for those who want them, and include support for the Zodiac's sound chip in all future releases.

April 22nd, 2004
Happy Earth Day. It looks like the website is in serious need of an update, so we'll be working on that over the next week. Since the last posting we've done about a dozen trade shows and conventions including the PalmSource developers convention where we got to start working with Cobalt (Palm OS 6). We've been improving our soft synth technology and should soon have a much improved audio engine to spin into all of our applications offering greater polyphony and possibly multiple instrument timbres in the next upgrades we release. We've moved from the 8-bit synthesis found in NotePad 1.2 to a new 16-bit engine that runs faster after much optimization. With this almost nailed down you can expect many updates this Summer... possibly our entire line (including SpinPad and MixPad).

We have solved the conflict NotePad 1.2 has with color themes and a 'fast bug' problem BugBand has on some OS 5 handhelds; patches should be available soon for each. And finally, TapWave has finally released their 1.1 upgrade for the Zodiac and we should soon be able to support the sound chip built into that handheld.

December 7th, 2003
The majority of the free NotePad 1.2 upgrades have been sent out to current NotePad owners, but we will send out a few more this week. If you have not received your upgrade it could because you bought the software on CD and didn't register it, or because the e-mail address we have for you is no longer valid. Please contact us if you are expecting an upgrade but haven't received it yet. We will try to get everything straight by the end of this week (by Dec. 12th). The only known problem with the 1.2 upgrade at this time is incompatibility with some "color themes"; you may need to set your theme to "basic" to fix any problems.

December 4th, 2003
NotePad 1.2 is now available (you can buy it at our store on CD or as a download at Handango or PalmGear). This new version includes our ground breaking software synthesizer built-in and high resolution graphics on supported handheld models. See the NotePad page for more details, screen shots and audio samples.

November 19th, 2003
We are on schedule to release the next NotePad upgrade on December 3rd. We have added a preview page where you can find out more about NotePad 1.2 and pre-order it on CD. We have also added a new "Software Suite" bundle to our on-line store for a discount when ordering our full line of music applications on CD.

November 10th, 2003
We made a small breakthrough in our research department and have shuffled our development calendar as appropriate. We have moved up the release of the next NotePad upgrade and pushed back the release of MixPad. This upcoming version 1.2 of NotePad will be able to playback all four voices on OS 5 handhelds using a new software synthesizer we've developed that runs natively on the ARM processors! Also expect HiRes graphics throughout! We still plan to get MixPad out shortly, but NotePad might be upgraded first to meet the higher demand.

October 9th, 2003
We have a new educational bundle available offering both EarTrain and BugBand for just $19.95 (roughly 20% off). Testing has gone well with MixPad and we plan to release a final, full-featured Beta Test before the public release. Development slowed a bit as we've been trying to support the audio capabilities in the new TapWave Zodiac and the new Treo 600. After some effort it looks like that support will not make it into the first release of MixPad.

July 30th, 2003
Development on MixPad is proceeding at a good pace! We are playing MIDI files directly from SD cards to external MIDI hardware and from Memory Sticks to Sony Clie sound chips. We are ready to consider users for the first round of beta testing. Testers must meet certain requirements for this round, but the next beta should be open to a wider group. The first beta will be sent out in about a week, and the second should be available within a month. The MixPad player should be available to buy in September and the Pro version (with editing and recording) should be out before the end of the year.

July 11th, 2003
We have released EarTrain, our new educational software for ear training. Also out this week is an upgrade for BugBand adding full support for Palm OS 5 and the enhanced sound capabilities found in many Sony Clies and the Beat Plus Springboard module. Getting these two titles out the door will free up our development calendar so that we can put more time and energy into upcoming releases like MixPad, BeatPad 1.1 and SpinPad.

March 12th, 2003
Sorry for the lack of updates to the website recently. If you really want to hear about all of our excuses, click here, otherwise just accept that there were problems and they have been dealt with. While we were missing we have been hard at work: all customers that we have valid e-mail addresses for should have received the NotePad 1.1.2 and BeatPad 1.0.6 upgrades by now. If you haven't, please contact us and we will make sure you get the software as soon as possible. Also, we are only days away (weeks?) from releasing EarTrain, our new educational software for ear training. With that project done we can give far more attention to other delayed titles like MixPad, SpinPad and new features for NotePad and BeatPad. Look for more news soon!

December 12th, 2002
The BeatPad upgarde is now available (along with a new free demo) adding full compatibility with Palm OS 5 and support of all the latest Sony Clies with enhanced sound. The NotePad update should be out tomorrow. The NotePad and BeatPad upgrades will be sent out free to current users over the next week. We are now shipping individual applications on CD-ROM from our on-line store (perfect gifts if the Mobile Software Pack is too much) and last year's Christmas song made with miniMusic software (and some other things) is downloadable from our gallery!

November 18th, 2002
All of the upgrades are getting very close. Any day now EarTrain will be available, and OS 5 compatible versions of NotePad and BeatPad are in beta testing now (if you own either we'll be happy to e-mail you the betas for free; they seem to be very stable). The big news of the day is a free preview of our SynthPad project (formerly code named "The Wave"). Thus dawns the age of digital audio editing on the Palm (Palm OS 5 handhelds ONLY)!

October 8th, 2002
We are now shipping to over 30 countries world wide. You can order any of our products on-line with a credit card (or bank account in some cases) and simply add the appropriate shipping cost found at the bottom of our on-line store. In addition we've lowered the prices of the Tsunamidi and Beat Plus tone modules... so for our international customers it's almost like you're not paying any extra shipping at all!

September 18th, 2002
Plenty going on, but the biggest developments are that we've posted the SpinPad preview for download, and we've put up a new page about EarTrain which will be the next application out the door (hopefully in the next month). At least that's what our development calendar says, and it's always right!

August 22nd, 2002
We have solved the problem delaying the SpinPad preview release and should now be able to get it out in the next few days. Work on EarTrain and MixPad have continued despite the delay. David Talento dropped us a line to let us know about live BeatPad performances at the 2002 Fringe Festival, check out our Gallery page for a little more info.

August 6th, 2002
The release of the SpinPad preview is imminent, hopefully to be followed shortly by EarTrain. We are just cleaning up the loose ends. We have a new FAQ page that is growing quickly to help answer your questions and solve some problems. Hopefully this will lower the volume of support questions that we answer every day and let us focus more on software development. We've gotten NotePad and BeatPad working with the speaker on the NR70 (instead of only the headphones) and should have a patch available soon. We also hear that Sony has a great deal on refurbished T415 Clies (with enhanced sound).

July 17th, 2002
We do have the Tsunamidi back in stock, but this is probably the last shipment we'll get since Shinei has discontinued production. Also, we want to give notice that we are completely dropping support for Palm OS 2.0 from now on. All new miniMusic software will require at least 3.0, and some new titles and features will require more recent versions. If you are still using a Palm Pilot Pro with 2.0, you might want to consider upgrading to something more recent... like a Palm III? (or you might still be able to find the OS 3.0 upgrade for the Palm Pro)

June 21st, 2002
We've just made a huge $20 price cut on the Beat Plus Springboard module at our on-line store. Now that both NotePad and BeatPad support this sound module it is a better value than ever! Save another $20 when you buy it along with our Mobile Software Pack in the "Beat Plus Bundle". If you are interested in music and have any Handspring Visor this is the deal for you. Keep an eye out in the next couple months for several new products from miniMusic. Check out our new development calendar for the latest info.

June 4th, 2002
We have released the BeatPad 1.0.5 update and the NotePad 1.1.1 update. NotePad is a minor update that fixes a few things internally in preparation for Palm OS 5 compatibility. Most users wouldn't even notice, except that we've improved support for the enhanced sound of the Sony T-series and NR-series Clies (this update checks for a problem some Clies have with volume levels). Any Clie users that want this upgrade right away can request it, otherwise it might be a week or two before we get the upgrades sent out to everyone. The BeatPad upgrade adds support for the enhanced sound of the Beat Plus Springboard and Sony T-series and NR-series for the first time. Because a couple of our default drum sounds are a little weak on those devices we have added the ability to change the drums used for each pattern. This upgrade is also primarily of interest to owners of the Beat Plus or the supported Clie handhelds, so the free upgrade will only be sent if requested by current BeatPad owners. (unless we get too many requests, then we'll just blast it out to everyone)

May 18th, 2002
We've now tested NotePad on the new Sony Clie NR70 and found NotePad will not playback on the unit's speaker when using the 'enhanced sound'. You can use the built-in sound chip to hear chords and different instrument sounds, BUT you can only hear them when using headphones on the NR70 and NR70v. You can use NotePad in monophonic mode (without the sound chip) on either the speaker or headphones. Hopefully we can release a software update soon to avoid the problem. Also, we have finally eliminated the final bug preventing the release of the BeatPad update. The new version will add full support for the Beat Plus springboard and the Sony T and NR series handhelds with enhanced sound. The free upgrade should be available within the next week.

April 12th, 2002
Today we open the miniMusic store! Handango has been helping us take orders for a while now, but they've decided not to handle any more physical products like our Mobile Software Pack. We will now handle orders directly (credit card processing powered by PayPal, at least for now...) and have added some new products making miniMusic your one-stop shop for handheld music. Check out all of our products and special deals at our store. If you own a Palm V, Palm Vx or IBM Workpad C3 be sure and check out the special low prices we have for the Tsunamidi Sound Module!!!

April 2nd, 2002
We will be out of the office for a few days to speak at a Music Education conference in Texas and have added a new Education page to our website. Visit the new page for links and resources related to using our software in the classroom and articles about the schools that already do! Also check out the Gallery page for a live BeatPad performance this Friday (April 5th) in Iowa City.

March 12th, 2002
We are finally ready to recommend a new serial cable for connecting Visors to MIDI hardware. Please see our Visor page for details about how to connect your Visor to any MIDI keyboard, sound module, or sampler and where to get the new cable. Our BeatPad update to add support for the Beat Plus springboard module and the new Sony T-series devices has been slowed down by a volume issue on some of the Sony handhelds... it only affects some units and CAN be resolved on those units, but we are working with people at Sony to see if the problem can be avoided all together. Hopefully we can get the update out in the next week or two.

January 11th, 2002
Happy New Year! We will be out of the office all this week for the NAMM trade show in Anaheim which brings together just about everyone who makes a music product. At NAMM we will be showing a new version of BeatPad that supports the enhanced sound capabilities of the Beat Plus springboard module and the new Sony handhelds. We will also show a prototype of our new MixPad application playing real MIDI files (downloaded from the internet) on the Palm! We hope both of these will be ready for release next month. Sorry if our e-mail support is slow this week!

Decemer 10th, 2001
There's still plenty of time to order the miniMusic Mobile Software Pack in time for Christmas! To celebrate we've posted a Christmas mp3 for you to download created in part with miniMusic software. Many small changes have been made to our website including info about the new Sony Clie t415 which has enhanced sound support built in! This new Sony uses the same sound technology found in the Beat Plus Springboard module and is already supported by NotePad 1.1 (BeatPad support is on the way). We have also added a recommendation for a new Visor MIDI interface we've been testing, and be sure to check out the December issue of Electronic Musician which offers a review of many Palm music products including some of our's.

October 22nd, 2001
We will be demonstrating our software along with hardware by Shinei and Hagiwara at Sync-Fest in San Jose, CA on Saturday, October 27th. Also at the show we are sponsoring the world premier performance of Bandheld, the all Palm band. Come to the show to see the performance, check out all of our products, and get special deals on hardware and software. Visit the Sync-Fest website for other exhibitors and events!

October 15th, 2001
Several schools are teaching music this semester with our software! We are thrilled to be a part of the educational process and help more people become involved with music. Please contact us for more information about educational pricing and site licenses so that you can use miniMusic products in your classroom.

August 16th, 2001
All NotePad 1.1 upgrades have now been sent out. If you are an owner of a previous version of NotePad, or have purchased the Mobile Software Pack, you are entitled to this upgrade. If you have not received it yet, please contact us so we can send it to you. Several customers in our database do not have valid e-mail addresses, so this is one reason you might not have received the upgrade yet. You must register the Mobile Software Pack (by mail or on-line) to receive the upgrade.

August 15th, 2001
NotePad 1.1 is now ready for realease. This new version has many small improvements as well as several major new features like chords (within each "voice"), IR beaming, MIDI input, and support for the new Beat Plus Springboard Module! It may take us some time to get all of the pages on our website updated and the new files out to all of our distributors, so we appreciate your patience. The new demo (no longer broken into three demos!) is available now. If you are already a NotePad owner you can expect to receive your free upgrade by e-mail sometime in the next day.

August 13th, 2001
We are now counting the hours until the NotePad 1.1 release. Just a little longer while we coordinate everything to make sure everyone gets the upgrade, and the new conduits and miniAlarm utility are ready to support the new features. But, just so you know, the new Beat Plus Springboard tone module is now available, so all you Visor owners might want to order it now so it'll already be in the mail when you receive your NotePad upgrade!

July 10th, 2001
We have delayed the NotePad 1.1 release so that we could add support for a new Springboard sound module from Hagiwara Sys-Com. The 1.1 upgrade is now in its final round of testing and should be ready for public release in about two weeks. You can see more about the new Beat Plus sound module on our hardware page. The Beat Plus should be released by the end of July.

June 14th, 2001
We have now tested the MIDI capabilities of the new m500 and m505 from Palm. Even though they support USB (like the Visor) we were able to get both our interface and a direct serial interface to work with MIDI hardware. The direct serial connection allowed both MIDI in and out. We tested with the m500 Serial Cradle (the serial cable still seems to be hard to get) and a Yamaha sound module. While we've found that the direct serial support on MIDI hardware varies, the success with our Palm-to-MIDI interface seems to indicate full MIDI compatability.

May 28th, 2001
We have not had a chance to test the MIDI capabilities of the new m500 and m505 from Palm, but since they support USB, there is a chance that they will have the same problem connecting directly to MIDI hardware as the Visor. Of course our software (including desktop conduit) will work on these devices, but maybe not our Palm-to-MIDI interface. We are also looking for a few new Beta Testers (or some of our old ones who've vanished!). We are especially interested in testers who have access to more than one Palm device (to test IR beaming), color devices, and are set up with in/out connections to MIDI hardware. If you're interested please visit our Beta Tester page.

May 5th, 2001
NotePad 1.1 is in beta testing now and we hope to make the free upgrade public by the end of June; get your copy of NotePad now to be first in line for the new upgrade. We have also made a number of additions and corrections to our website, especially to our web resources page and to our customer support area. We are also starting pilot programs with several schools to use our software in the classroom; please contact us if you'd like help getting miniMusic into your school.

February 23th, 2001
We have just tested a HotSync serial cable that will allow a Visor to control some MIDI hardware (we are doing further testing to try to compile a complete list of compatable products, we've had good results with several Yamaha devices but less luck with Roland and Korg hardware). Other Palm handhelds have been doing this all along with their serial HotSync cradles and cables, but because of the Visor's USB port it hasn't been possible until now. We have updated our Visor page and MIDI page with the new information about using this cable.

February 16th, 2001
The Windows Conduit for NotePad is now available for free download. The conduit will automatically export songs you've written in NotePad to your desktop computer where they can be openned or played by almost any desktop music software you may own. The Mac conduit is also still available for free. These conduits will only work with the full application and not with the demo versions. We are already working on upgrades to our conduits to let you import music into NotePad and conduits for BeatPad as well.

February 1st, 2001
The miniMusic Mobile Software Pack is now available in stores across the country. Click here for a list of store locations. More stores will be added in the next couple months. The Windows Conduit for exporting songs from NotePad has been completed and should be available for free download within the next week. And finally, our friends at Swivel Systems have begun taking pre-orders for the SG20 clip-on tone module. We are working out with them now a special price for those of you who already own our software.

November 21st, 2000
The miniMusic Mobile Software Pack can now be ordered on-line with a credit card from our friends at Handango. They can also take orders by phone. We have also acquired "minimusic.com" and will shortly be moving all of the miniMusic pages off of the 5thwall.com server. Please move any links or bookmarks you have to the pages at www.minimusic.com

October 26th, 2000
We are in testing now of the NotePad Conduit for Windows (Mac conduit is already available). We will also be discussing miniMusic software on Sunday, October 29th, from 6 to 7 pm on Talk640 out of Toronto. You can also access Talk640 via the internet at www.talk640.com. AND, we are sponsering a concert next week in San Diego that will include two pieces using our BeatPad software in the performance. The "Touch Me Hear" concert will be November 1st at San Diego Mesa College, Room C-119 at 12noon and last about an hour.

October 18th, 2000
The miniMusic Mobile Software Pack is now available. This retail bundle combines the best music software (NotePad, BeatPad, Theremini, and more!) with our brand new Palm-to-MIDI interface. Expect to see it soon in music and computer stores near you, or order it from us today!

September 27th, 2000
Today we have released the full 1.0 version of BugBand, and a new BugBand demo. The full version now includes both treble and bass clefs, sharps and flats, and both piano AND guitar! With MIDI enabled you can use a full size MIDI keyboard to enter notes into BugBand. Please support music and education on the Palm and buy BugBand for only $11.95 (but only if you like it!)

September 4th, 2000
So many things to do! We will be releasing the full version of BugBand next week, and a new demo. You can now practice reading music on treble or bass clef for piano or guitar! The new version includes more bugs, more music, sharps & flats, and full MIDI support. Also coming very soon are the NotePad Conduit for Windows, and the NotePad 1.1 upgrade. We also hear that Swivel Systems is very close to offering the first batch of SG20s to those on their beta list!

July 28th, 2000
We are officially releasing the NotePad conduit for the Macintosh. This desktop utility works with Palm's HotSync Manager to automatically export songs from NotePad to your desktop computer as standard MIDI files. This version has been tested on a number of Macintosh systems, and the exported files have been used with many different desktop music applications. Follow this link for complete details about the Conduit and how to use it. The conduit is free for all owners of NotePad.

July 11th, 2000
You can now try the public beta version of the NotePad conduit for the Macintosh. The conduit will automatically create Standard MIDI Files of your songs whenever you HotSync your Palm. You must already have NotePad on your Palm for this to work, and this is only for Mac OS desktop computers at this time (the PC version should be available shortly). Check out our Beta Conduit Page for full instructions on installing and using the conduit.

July 5th, 2000
We will be releasing the Beta version of the MIDI export conduit for testing next week. The Mac OS version will be available first followed by the Windows conduit. We are now successfully exporting songs from the Palm to a desktop computer, and openning the files in other music software. This conduit will be free for all owners of our software. Also in the news: we will be providing opening music for the Silicon Valley Palm User Group meeting on Thursday July 6th. See their website for details of the event.

May 15th, 2000
BeatPad is now available for purchase. We have also posted a full featured demo for you to try before buying the software. It may show up at our distributors at different times over the course of the day, so please be patient. BeatPad is a very powerful little program, but to get the most out of it you will want to connect it to some MIDI hardware (like a keyboard, synthesizer, or sound module). Check out our new MIDI page for more details.

May 12th, 2000
The full version of BeatPad is complete, but we have decided to continue testing over the weekend to make sure all the bugs are gone. BeatPad will be available for purchase on Monday, May 15th. The full version allows you to save patterns, tie notes, swap patterns in real time as they play, and includes aditional control over MIDI output including beat clock for syncronizing all your MIDI gear. Come back Monday to take a look!

March 30th, 2000
Get the free miniAlarm utility and create Palm system alarms out of any NotePad song. Compose your own alarms! This utility was made with the code developed for the upcoming MIDI conduit that will allow you to export standard MIDI files to your desktop computer (the system alarms are MIDI files as well). Only for Palm OS 3.0 or higher.

February 28th, 2000
We have now posted the BugBand demo for you to download. This is a public beta, meaning that the only payment we ask for is some feedback about what features you'd like to see, and if you find it useful software (why or why not?). The NotePad conduit is still in progress, but we will be releasing some of the code soon as an "Alarm export utility" allowing you to compose new Palm alarm sounds with NotePad. The other big news for the day is that our friends at SwivelSystems have got their website up and running. Go take a look!

February 10th, 2000
The response at the NAMM International Music Trade Show last week was incredible. For four days we had a constant stream of people visiting the miniMusic booth and trying out our software on several demo Palm units. "Now I've got a reason to buy a Palm" was often overheard. We've posted the free BeatPad demo for you to download and try out. We expect the full version to be available in March, allowing you to save and play multipul patterns, work on longer patterns, and change MIDI instruments and drum kits.

January 30th, 2000
We will be out of the office this week to attend the NAMM 2000 International Music Market trade show, where we will be debuting NotePad 1.1 and our new BeatPad software. We have also invited Swivel Systems to appear at our booth with prototypes of their new MIDI tone module for the Palm platform (it clips onto the bottom just like the Palm modem!). We will give you more information on these new products as soon as we get back from Los Angeles. The software page has been updated with some BeatPad screen shots.

January 17th, 2000
Version 0.5 of the miniPiano demo is now available. Now you can try out all the features of the NotePad Piano View for free. The full application integrates all three demos, lets you save a library of songs and includes additional features like 3/4 time, triplets, and 4-voice writing!

January 9th, 2000
Development continues on the MIDI conduit and two new software titles. We hope to have all ready to show at our booth at the NAMM show in Los Angeles, February 3-6. Anyone planning to be at the show is invited to stop by booth 7754 in Kentia Hall. Version 0.5 of the miniPiano demo will be out in about a week.

December 16th
We've posted a free replacement database of Christmas Carols for anyone to use with the miniMusic NotePad software. If you have already written your own songs, we've included instructions for temporarily replacing your song database with this one, so that you can restore your own songs after the holidays. The staff here will be on vacation for the next week or so, but will try to continue responding to e-mail in our usual timely fashion.

December 7th
Many new things are in the works; stay tuned for free holiday song librarys, a minor upgrade of the miniMusic NotePad application, and an update of the free miniPiano demo. Some of our registered users have dead e-mail accounts. If you own miniMusic, but haven't received the 1.0 upgrade from us, please contact us so we can keep you up to date with the latest releases.

November 29th
Version 0.5 of the miniScore demo is released. Now includes several newer features of the miniMusic NotePad application, allows unlimited song length, and saves your song when you quit. This is just one of the views available in the full application. Find it on our Download page.

November 18th
Tonight is the night of the miniMusic Demonstration at the San Francisco Palm User Group at 7pm, Club-I, 850 Folsom Street, San Francisco. See miniMusic in full action with MIDI and all of the new features in the recent version 1.0 release.

November 12th
Version 1.0 is released! Now with all the features you've dreamed of in a portable music tool. Write in 4-voices, scrolling playback in every view, triplets, 3/4 time, and much much more. Upgrades are on the way to all current users, or you can buy it now. A Palm handheld and miniMusic make the perfect gift for the musically inclined.

November 7th
There will be a public demonstration of miniMusic at the next meeting of the San Francisco Palm/Pilot User Group on Thursday, November 18th at Club-I, 850 Folsom Street in San Francisco. Please consult their website if you are interested in attending (Membership is always free!). An excellent opportunity to come and try all the MIDI features that you haven't been able to use; decide if you should buy the software or additional hardware.

November 5th
Last weekend I witnessed a grand piano being played by miniMusic (with the help of a Macintosh MIDI adapter)! Also, miniMusic got plenty of attention at PalmSource 99, including a mention in one of the keynotes. Testing is going well and Friday, November 12 has been chosen for the release of miniMusic Notepad 1.0, including 4 voices, triplets, and a dozen other things you need.

October 14th
The Gallery has undergone some expansion as we begin preparing for the release of the upgrade to version 1.0 of miniMusic NotePad! Definite features include four voice writing, 3/4 time signature, scrolling playback in all views, and more. Public release expected in the first week of November, but we hope to get the free upgrade to all current miniMusic users earlier (last week of October?). Stay tuned, you portable composer you.

October 8th
Version 0.9 of the miniMusic NotePad has been released. All known bugs have been fixed, and the software now features scrolling playback and our new FatFlags technology. You can see the full documentation on-line to better understand the capabilities of the software. If you own version 0.8 and have not received the upgrade by e-mail, please contact us.

September 22nd
The miniGrid upgrade (version 0.5) is now available. Finally you can try all of the features available in the Grid view of miniMusic in this free demo including: editing, playback, and Graffiti. Try it today! and experience a small taste of what miniMusic can do.

September 13th
The new Gallery section is added to the website. In the future this will include music written by miniMusic users around the world that you can download and play. Upgrades of the free demos will be released giving a more accurate glimpse of all the features available in the miniMusic application. The first will be miniGrid 0.5 available in the next few days. Work on the conduit continues.

August 13th
Several people reported problems installing miniMusic NotePad today. We believe that there was some MacBinary information added to the zip file by mistake. We applogize profusely and please contact us for a new zip file if you've experienced this problem.

August 12th
miniMusic NotePad is now available! Now you can use the fully integrated Score, Piano and Grid Views to compose and listen to music anywhere you go. And the new Library View will let you save an almost unlimited number of songs and store them in custom catagories for easy access. Purchase includes a free upgrade and a conduit for your desktop computer (to ship in a few weeks). Order now, and you could be writing music today, where ever you are.

August 2nd
The Full Application is nearly ready for release. The release date has been moved back to the 12th to allow for a few extra days of testing. Features include: unlimited number and length of songs, song catagories to organize your music, cut and paste between songs, and more!

July 18th
miniPiano is released! All of the editing capabilities of the Score view, plus an on-screen piano for easy note entry. All of these demos will be integrated into the final application so you can enter and edit music however you prefer. Absolutely free demo!

July 16th
miniScore version 0.3 is now available. Upgrade includes an edit and play menu, key signatures, and many bugs have been fixed. Now you can get a sense of what the full application will be capable of. Absolutely free demo!

July 13th
We now have a partnership with PilotGear to take on-line registration for the software demos. Please go to our Registration Page and click on their icon.

July 11th
Version 0.2 of miniMusic Prelude is in testing, and should be available in a couple days. Includes key changes, and editing (cut, copy, paste, and even retrograde). A true taste of what miniMusic will be able to do!

July 8th
Concert went well last Saturday, including the ten hour long piece! A new version of the Score demo will be out in a couple days with Key Changes, and expanded editing. Check back soon.

June 16 - July 7 MISSING NEWS

June 15th
Score Demo now available: write and edit a melody on your Palm Computing connected organizer. Compatable with OS 2.0 and later and should function on Palm Pro, Palm III, Palm IIIx, Palm V, and Palm VII devices. Features include: rests, dotted notes, tempo setting, and accidentals. Can be registered for additional features.

June 6th
Update of development version: MIDI play now implimented. Debugging of Score Demo almost complete.

May 31st
Update of development version: now has a selection tool so that any note can be chosen and moved up&down, dotted, undotted, or deleted. Routines added for OS 2.0 compatability, but they are untested. Overhaul for final demo release continues.

May 29th
The website appears! The first demo version of the miniMusic software will be available within a week for free downloading. The 5th Wall (makers of miniMusic) is seeking investors, and development has begun on the final release of the application, due out in August. Beta testers will soon be needed.