Spirits are high at camp Gruso, following the arrival of a legendary piece of gaming and synthesizer history: a Roland MT-32. If you’re familiar with the MT-32, then you’re already nodding knowingly. If not, I’ll bring you up to speed with some edited excerpts from Wikipedia.
The Roland MT-32 Multi-Timbre Sound Module is a MIDI synthesizer module first released in 1987 by Roland Corporation. Along with its compatible modules, it established an early de-facto standard in computer music.
Shoulder buttons. Not a fan. Maybe it’s my creaky old hands, but shoulder buttons always seem to sit just outside comfort for me. In the case of the Xbox 360 controller, they’re an annoying upward reach for my index fingers which are busy gripping the triggers. It might be a dumb complaint, but it feels counter-intuitive in the heat of a game.
This minor annoyance got the better of me recently, when I bought CellFactor:PW from XBLA. It’s a first person arena shooter in which you’re armed with one weapon and three psychic powers. These functions are mapped to the triggers and shoulder buttons (aka bumpers), and if you don’t have a finger on each of these four buttons at all times, you don’t really have a chance. My options were to change my grip to suit the controls, or change the controls to suit my grip.
I’m stubborn, I have a Dremel, decision made.
[insert buckazoid] 