It's tough to know how to approach Rytmik: it has no game elements whatsoever, only existing to allow you to create beautiful (and sometimes not-so beautiful) music. Although its complexity is initially off-putting, spend some time with it and you'll realise it's a very competent and enjoyable music studio.

One of the most striking aspects of Rytmik is the sheer amount of samples and styles crammed into the download. Running the gamut of styles from pop to drum and bass and trance to breakbeat, there's enough to appeal to almost any taste and allows plenty of variety in your creations. If you're starved of inspiration, there are sample songs for each genre pre-loaded for you to tweak or simply pass off as your own.

Beginning a song from scratch is straightforward: listen to the available samples and drag them to a timeline. You can have four samples playing at one time, and each sample has four channels, so you have a good number of layers to play with. Even slapping down samples almost hap-hazardly can result in some interesting ideas that compel you to edit them into something wonderful.

In fact, it's the editing tools that really are the star of the show. Rather than settling for preset samples in each style, you're completely free to edit every clip or even create your own using a straightforward editor. You can alter the pitch, voice and speed of your sample, and even add effects such as delay and panning. It's surprising how much power you have to create the sounds you want, from complete melodic control to getting just the right amount of delay on your snare.

All this means you can practically record any song you can think of, with the exception of vocals, and with 255 available save slots you'll have plenty of room for experimentation. There's regrettably no export or share function, but there's always the ability to plug your DSi into your computer and record that way. Already it's easy to envisage talented creators running amok with this package.

Dedication and a good ear will undoubtedly create some fantastic music, and even those who've never considered themselves musical will come up with something surprisingly melodic. It's a lot of fun and you need absolutely no formal musical knowledge to get on: the developers have done a superb job of making music creation accessible.


Rytmik is the Flipnote Studio of the musical world: accessible, versatile and a lot of fun, though sadly it lacks any built-in sharing feature. Such an addition would have turned this into an absolute must-have, but as it stands, there's still more than enough power in this pocket package to make it a worthy purchase for musicians and even those just curious about creating some big tunes.