I tried to find the site for Swivel Systems to have a look on the offchance that they were making something new? Sadly the site is no longer there. I think they may have disappeared completely, which is a shame really.
The SG20 was the very first module I got. It fitten onto the base of my palm IIIx and was slightly smaller than a packet of cigarettes. It was a GM module that had a midi in/out box that you could attach to it, although I never used this.
The quality of the sounds was excellent, and I always enjoyed using it, but as with all these things you get to a point where you say, actually it is too big / cumbersome / too many bits of kit to lug about, and that's what happened. In a way I wish I'd kept it, but I know I wouldn't use it at all.
The SG20 tone module clips on to a Palm™ III type handheld computer or a Palm V or Vx with an adapter, creating a compact mobile music platform. Coupled with software from miniMusic™, it gave musicians portable real-time control over their music.
In addition to the SG20, Swivel Systems were working on a Springboard Module for Springboard compatible handhelds, such as the Handspring Visor handheld computer. Similar to the SG20, this module would have provided Visor handhelds with a General MIDI synthesizer for extremely portable music creation. Of course there was the beatplus module for Visor, but it was very hard to get hold of indeed.
Here's the original feature list for the SG20:
Features
stereo mini headphone jack for private use
volume control knob and bass boost switch
connector for detachable MIDI/Audio expander cable which provides full-size standard MIDI in and out ports in addition to left and right phono jacks to hook your SG20 into your studio
compatible with MIDI software from miniMusic including BeatPad and NotePad
import and play back standard MIDI files (SMF) using third party software
up to 24 simultaneous 16 bit 44.1 kHz CD quality wavetable voices (16 pitched instrument voices and 8 percussion voices)
choose from 128 different instrument sounds
140 different percussion sounds organized in 8 drum kits
built-in chorus and reverb
weeks of regular use on one pair of AAA batteries (included)
directly compatible with all Palm III and VII series handhelds (also works Palm V/Vx using a Palmdock V from Solvepoint Corporation), IBM Workpads, and HandEra's 330 and TRGpro
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It is a real shame thet they are no more. I like to think what it might have been like if they had made a new module for the T series PDAs, but I doubt that will ever happen.
If you ever had one or indeed still do, please let me know what you think of this very original piece of hardware.
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