@Chicken Brutus

I'm glad you enjoy that one -- that guy, WassiJames, is absolutely incredible. I like to think of myself as a pretty inventive player and am extremely proud of some of my clips, but I'm not sure I can compete with that guy (and he's sent me some over WiFi that are not on his YouTube page). It takes a long time with the game to get even close to that good, but it can be done; the important part is not to give up at first when it seems like you can't get the game to obey you; keep toying with it and you slowly start to understand its logic. Really, a good ear is the most important thing when experimenting with the game. The Staff Clips from Nintendo also include some very impressive work here and there.

@ Chyckinn Brootiss

If you're into music creation, and haven't yet picked up a copy of the Korg DS-10 synthesizer, DO IT! Wii Music was a fun way to play around with other people's creations, but that's about it. Depth or no depth, I just didn't like the way it limited creativity. The DS-10 is a 6-channel synth, based on the somewhat-antiquated Korg MS-10 synth, originally used for vocoding and the like. It's 2 fully controllable channels, with 4 drum-computer channels that are almost as full-featured (no changing instrument settings mid-pattern, no KAOSS pad, and no Keyboard). I own 2 of them, one in the Lite and one in the DSi, and it's currently my favorite piece of musical software. Electroplankton and Wii Music are fun toys--DS-10 is a musical instrument.

@Swerd_Murd

I disagree; not that Korg's software isn't pretty impressive and surely serves a purpose, but I personally feel that the kind of music one can create with that type of synth (loop based electronica, more or less) is far, far more musically limited and limiting than Wii Music, just in a completely different way. But if you enjoy that sort of thing, it looks like a solid purchase; I just like to play with elements that aren't even possible in that format, like questions of musical arrangement and form that have no analogue in the world of synth-loops (pun unintended).

That kind of synth is too intimidating for me, even on a DS. So many buttons and dials and whatnot! Electronics can create some amazing sounds. Some of my friends can come up with sounds I would never imagine, but it's too foreign a concept for me to wrap my head around. Does the DS "game" explain how it works well?

Because it's a lame rip off of Rock Band, YEAH. Don't take that personally.

^ @subzerobf ^

I hope you mean "don't take that seriously."

I think that's what he meant.

If not I'd really like to know what Wii Music and Rock Band have in common. lol

So I bought it this afternoon and I'm slowly getting the hang of it. With the exception of jamming out on Daydream Believer I haven't done much to impress myself...

...but this game is awesome. After about 45 minutes with it, it really starts to click, and you realize how much potential it has. I've only just now managed to tear myself away. I'm even getting the hang of working "outside" the song's structure...but before I get into any serious creation, I'm going to try to unlock everything so that I've got it to work with.

This was a good purchase, methinks. Who wants to come over and jam?

@chicken Brutus
Go on ebay, they have video rippers. I own one. It can translate rca and svideo to usb and then it turns it into an mpeg. from there you just copy it into windows movie maker. (I found mine while searching for a tv tuner for my computer. (its also a tv tuner)) they cost anywhere from $60 to $100 but I bought mine for $25

@Chicken Brutus

Hooray, I'm always happy to hear that someone truly enjoys this game. It gets way too much negative press, and is, as you might have discerned, a personal favorite of mine.

Who wants to come over and jam?

I imagine you already know this, but the WiFi sharing feature allows you to send your videos back and forth, and not only to watch them, but you can also then load your friend's video back into the jam mode in order to continue to add more parts or change things up. So, you can sort of slowly build up by each adding one part until it's complete, or you can just share videos and occasionally take something done by your friend and remake it into something new. Pretty enjoyable.
My friend code: 8378 9716 1696 8633

Now, speaking of collaborations, there are a couple videos put up on Youtube by a guy called Alasted who, unlike me, has the necessary cables for recording his Wii in high quality -- he took two of my videos I'd shared with him, added his own drum part on top (this was before I finally bought a balance board and couldn't use the whole drum like he could -- if you don't have one, you're missing out on the drums, unfortunately), then uploaded them online. I'd love to put more of my own work up myself, but I need to get around to buying the cables / equipment to do so properly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2_enBPfK7k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtmV6vhWq88

Cool stuff warioswoods, that was a real eye-opener!

I'll definitely add your code tonight and maybe work on some more vids (and send some to folk I haven't previously like toddr, who I believe also has this).

Oh, and my code is: 2880-7835-6071-9266

Alright dudes!

My console # is this: 5805-4365-7484-5747

I'll add anyone who posts their console # here. Sean and Wario, if you want to add me in return, I've got some pretty decent jams I can share. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm very happy with the amount of freedom the game gives me to improvise within the songs. (I do wish you could set your own runtimes, though...the jammer in me would kill to put together an 11-minute epic with guitar duels and piano movements...)

So if anyone wants to see one of the two or three unique jams I've put together (as opposed to soloing over La Cucaracha or something) I'll be happy to share in exchange for feedback!

Sounds great, I look forward to hearing them. It gives me a bizarre kind of joy every time a new person, especially a musician, finds and appreciates Wii Music. So much negative press for such a cleverly conceived game.

EDIT: By the way, do you have a balance board? Wii Music was actually my prime motivation behind finally picking up Wii Fit a few months ago; while the rhythm instruments are already pretty open-ended in the game, unfortunately you can't truly utilize the full drum sets until you get a board.

No balance board currently, but I do intend to pick up WiiFit at some point...it's just that it's never in stock when I'm looking for it. I will get it, though.

Funnily enough, the drums are what I'm having the hardest time with! I'm not a drummer at all, and this game has taught me that I have serious problems establishing a beat for myself. I can play over a beat without any problem, but to lay one down myself...man. It's really tough for me. I'm not giving up, though, and I truly feel that this game can help me improve my sense of rhythm and timing if nothing else.

I WILL conquer the drums. That's a promise. But until then, I'm stuck with basic tick-tick-tick-tock beats.

Sorry to bump this again but I forgot to ask: are there any good websites / blogs out there about doing "unusual" things within Wii Music? All I can seem to find are reviews and the official site. Are there any experimenters out there who set up their own tutorials or findings?

Not that I know of, unfortunately. If I have enough time on my hands, I've often thought about starting to put together a central hub for Wii Music online, and maybe including a way to submit and vote on exceptional YouTube clips, trade friend codes, etc, but I don't know that I'll ever get around to it. There are brilliant people here and there doing great things with the game, but unfortunately there simply isn't any online community to speak of.

If only Nintendo had back-end infrastructure like Boom Blox Bash Party or BlastWorks for this game...CB I'll add you tonight. Great thing is that WiiMusic seems to know which of your Wii friends has WiiMusic and boldfaces their names. I've sent you some of my freshman and sophmore efforts warioswoods -- record registration time, only five or ten minutes!

Yes some sort of dedicated channel or open area for uploading / downloading / browsing videos would have been great, perhaps even with weekly contests like the Check Mii Out Channel (can you imagine the great contest themes they could do for Wii Music?).

I also sent you a few of my videos before leaving the house, and I saw that yours arrived, so I'll be watching them this evening; always feel free to change up or remix anything I send if you want to turn it into something new. Strange that, as you noted, the confirmation was extremely fast this time, but my confirmation for ChickenBrutus still hadn't gone through at all this morning, and that was many hours after adding him. I'd like to know the secret logic behind the system.

The secret logic in this case is that I didn't add you guys yet. Sorry. I'll try to do it tonight after work, honest injun.

Et tu, Brute?