I would throw down so hard for Genesis or SNES.

I'd stay with the 3DS. At least you can be confident that your software won't be pirated.

^What they said (SNES).

snes

or genesis

I vote for SNES as well

I'd be down for SNES.

The greater PSP family would be a great choice I think, EVERYBODY has one.

And I'm with Jazz, I would flip for an SNES version as well.

How about a windows "composer" program that has all the features and a handful of console "performer" programs that use the same save file but only have the options needed for live performance? Then you could spread the love to psp, Xds, etc without such a huge investment.

EDIT: I retract my vote for Genesis/Megadrive and vote for SNES. I will even offer my services for a physical release. Since it too is sample based, it should be a no brainer.

if not ios then definitely 3ds/psp/vita (or a bunch of them)

Nintendo helped killed atari too . I dont plan on owning any of the gaming handhelds you mention so ill just bow out then.

First choice: Linux
Second choice: Android

herr_prof: as an old Atari guy, I can't bring myself to support Apple. Sorry.
jefftheworld: Thanks! I'm glad you are enjoying the Rhythm Core Alpha programs! I want to hear your songs done with it! I am actually considering doing something with the Propeller chip from Parallax. It has eight 20MHz cores and a ton of IO pins, and I can program it in C, so it seems perfect for doing a synth thing on. But I think I should still do a console program. I'm just having trouble deciding which one. They all have good and bad points, and starting over is hard to do, so I want to make the right choice!

I'm a huge fan of  Rhythm Core Alpha and  Rhythm Core Alpha 2 and for what it's worth I'd support any of those options (okay, I'm not going to be buying a PS4 or Xbox One any time soon but all other platforms I own and use).

If you're looking to go the hardware route you it might make sense to turn it into a shield for the Arduino, Raspberry Pi or Beaglebone. That way you can keep costs far lower and take advantage of the massive maker communities behind them. Even if you aim to sell production models in music shops, it gives you the flexibility of selling kits as well.

I just said that because ios is the best audio ecosystem for music imo, and you can still use the rca touch interface without too many tweaks. Audiobus support would be suweeet