I made this virtual shamisen for a computer science course I’m taking. It’s not perfect and you can only play certain notes, but I’m still pretty happy with how it turned out. Check it out and tell me what you think!
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Hah, I think it’s really great! These kind of recorded strikes need to be combined with playing midi songs.
Now I enjoy the old school graphics, but I would recommend hotting it up a bit if you want to attract a larger audience 
Hehe. Seems it needs more skills than the original instrument.
Reeeeally nice…
This is fun! Props for the “ha!/tsui!” on the page changes. 
Well done, Jamie! Once I got used to the finger positions, it gets a little addictive. I’ll show Kevin when he gets back from his journey.
What are your plans for it? Any thoughts about turning it into an app/game?
Haha that is > Reeeeally nice…
also I love the 80s graphics I mean Karl did make a good point but I love the 80s graphics . . . app yes that would be great I am finally also to make the transition to one of those fancy phones soon and will be on the lookout for shamisen and taxi apps . . . uh no I don’t mean taxi dispatch apps although they entered the market a while ago around here too . . .
Yeah, Karl, once I get me some real art skills, maybe then I can make this a little snazzier. I have always been a crappy artist, though, so I hope you find a way to put up with the Monkey Island color scheme. There’s also only so much one can do with Scratch, the program/language I was supposed to use for this assignment. Maybe in the future, though, when I learn some legit tools.
As for the app/game thing, I dunno. It’s pretty heavily keyboard based right now, and even then, it’s not the best simulation. Doesn’t have all the notes; no hajiki, uchi or the like; speed and input limitations. It probably wouldn’t be too complicated to turn it into a Guitar Hero type game (make a playable version of Grant Woolard’s Shamisen Hero?), but the controls would obviously have to be simplified a lot. Anything else would probably require more sophisticated programming tools (and skills I don’t have… yet) and a complete redesign of the controls.
I wanted to add a “record” button, but Scratch doesn’t have the capability. I was also thinking about using the leftover keys for prerecorded flourishes like the 3400 phrase, but then they’d be stuck at a certain tempo that in most cases wouldn’t match up with how the user was playing. I could also maybe putting up some tabs that people could play along with, which would be more simulation than Shamisen Hero. Maybe if I did that I could even include some min’you for people to play along with. Maybe if y’all wanna pay me for this… Haha.
This is truly glorious. One of the most awesome things ever!
It’s super addictive and fun! Haha! I’m a big fan of the art style as well. Perfectly executed!
Anyone else finding that their fingers aren’t nearly as rhythmic as they thought they were?
Great virtual shamisen!
Totally diggin’ it! Well done, sir.
Wow, cool stuff, Jamie! I would like it even more if the order of the string position (when showing on the upper left of the screen) is same as the actual strings. so ichi-no-ito on the bottom. When I tried to play, I got confused.
My most favorite of all is those yelling voice when turning to every page! So funny.
Robert, Shamisen game is funny too. I wonder - is there ever a Wii like this?
I would like it even more if the order of the string position (when showing on the upper left of the screen) is same as the actual strings. so ichi-no-ito on the bottom. When I tried to play, I got confused.
Yeah, I know. Sorry. You can move the string position labels around in the program itself (like when I was making it), but when you upload it everything gets reset to display alphabetically. I tried to find a way around this but I couldn’t. Sorry.
Oh, please don’t be sorry. It is just so amazing, impressive that you created this at the first place… with again nice touch, yelling voices. LOL. I love it.
I practice Fujimoto-ryu (mostly Minyo) with cho-zao Shamisen, so we don’t have much of yelling, but my Sensei goes, “Ha!! (はっっ！)” at certain transitions, and I always like it. Being a listener of yelling is also fun.
Thank you for sharing your invention with us!