Commodore Kawasaki Rhythm Rocker

Just read the manual, if you can run your ole' 64 than you can glide right through this, you need to refer to it often though only because different keys offer different options and menus. My memory is not so good-I keep the manual nearby...Almost essential to find the sight and sound keyboard overlay for this, otherwise it's trying to play piano on a typewriter. If you find it then it's like playing on a little casio. Small keys, but manageable.

First off, the purpose of this program is more a toy than anything else, far away from the complexities of dr t's or the moog sequencer available on a c64. Random geometric patterns are drawn on the monitor while you play along with the music in the system. There's only a few tunes to play along with, but you can dub up yer own, I think up to 4 tracks. More importantly you can turn the background/preset music off and use the software as a synth. So of course there's no midi...It's like a mono synth with really weird sounds. There's three pages to choose through. A synth page, a percussion page and a bass page. Different sounds are available for different pages, some are pretty cool (I'm being serious here) while others are cheese. Check out some of the sounds on the percussion page. Really weird stuff. Very minor editing on this software, You can turn on and off different waveforms on the synth page (sawtooth or square). Other functions are a super pitch bender (Bends up only, several octaves) and a modulator/lfo (not adjustable). You are suposed to be able to save your programs to disk but I haven't bothered to do this

Nothing even slighty realistic sounding on this, but if your buying it for that...some sounds are really good, some are junk. Think pac man time video game sounds for the most part. Then again, there's some interesting stuff I've found on this machine. Sound quality is not very clean, even through a good amp. I record it low and then compress or at least eq it. But the novelty of it, and it's unique sound library make it happen

Only use this in the studio, 'course I've got an extra system...at the price anyone can afford it. So as long as you take care of the software. You're in business. Besides after 15 years, she's still running...

Any problems, buy a new computer or try to find the software again...of course it may be available on an emulator for all I know!

for what it is and it's place in time, you can't beat it. Not much to offer the modern musican, even SID programmers. but for fun and samples, it's great. Besides what other synth draws etch a sketch pictures and shoots little aliens around the screen in time to your music? Com'on already. What are you waiting for?