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Inside a Gameboy

So ive been wanting to get into tunes smile
I recently got a flash cart and i got LSDJ among other games when i wanna relax.
My question is where can I go to get a good understanding of LSDJ?
I my main obsticle is how to construct a song.. How does one remember the chains and such and instruments.. do you keep track of them on a notebook or just good memory?
Sorry for noob questions ;o

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nɐ˙ɯoɔ˙ʎǝupʎs
MarkMorbidity wrote:

I my main obsticle is how to construct a song.. How does one remember the chains and such and instruments.. do you keep track of them on a notebook or just good memory?

Each to their own really... I usually just stack them in the correct order for playback and then have to weirdly look through them if I want to change something in the future. That seems to work fine. I think most people have workflow things they do for themselves like; having the same chain number in every song just be a kill command in a chain or silence, having the kick always be Instrument 1, etc... just random rules for themselves to be able to decipher their own stuff easily.

Places to help you get a better understanding of LSDJ:
http://littlesounddj.wikia.com/wiki/Little_Sound_Dj
http://littlesounddj.wikia.com/wiki/Beginner_Tutorials
http://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/latest … _3_1_7.pdf
http://store.kitsch-bent.com/product/ho … usic-vol-1

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Welcome.
I would like to suggest watching the three LSDJ tutorial videos Zef has on YouTube (I'm on my cell at break on work or I would link them for you.) They are excellent, very helpful and thorough.

You just have to keep hackin' away at it, you'll learn what chains and instruments are what unless you're the sort who starts lots of projects at once. Use those instrument labels and assign names smile

Finally, I hope you get into it for yourself. If you let other people decide for you what makes a good chiptune, it will take the fun out of it fairly quickly.

There are skilled people here to offer good technical advice when you need it. Get to it, let me hear something:)

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Toronto, Canada

LSDJguides on YouTube is a great place to start. When I began I followed their Sabrepulse Guide series, then later I started watching their instrument tutorials until I got a good feel of how to make them myself

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MarkMorbidity wrote:

just good memory?

Pretty much, but also just playing back different bits to refresh memory.

10k wrote:

having the same chain number in every song just be a kill command in a chain or silence

This too. I use pattern 00 + chain 00.

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For me personally, I normally create a melody and build the song in my head, or at least the first minute of it. Then I go to put it into software. It's taken years to really develop that memory, but the more you practice/use it, the better it will get. And you have this in your favor. In human biology, music memory is the strongest part of your brain's memory. So you almost have an unfair advantage already. smile   Just work it out like a muscle. Build a short little tune in your head. Sit down and focus. Think of a stream of 4 to 8 notes that sound good in your head. And then transcribe that to a Gameboy and build drums, bassline, from there.

What I started with for tracking years ago, was basically just playing around with the software. You could start with making a simple techno drum rhythm, throwing on a bassline of only note after every bass and snare drum.

Also, looking at other people's finished work and "dissecting" their own LSDJ tracks, might help a lot. If you hear a really interesting sound, go in deep and find out how they achieved that. Look at the instrument, effects, rhythm structure, etc. There are YouTube videos of gameboys playing LSDJ songs live, as well.

Read up on the manual for sure. It may help you to better understand channels, effects, and other concepts. Famitracker manual was helpful for me years ago.

Also, making a cover for songs you already know and enjoy, is a great way to learn how to track. Since the song is already made, you just try to transcribe it to a Gameboy. Lots of people do that.

Those are some of my techniques. I'm not an LSDJ artist, but I'm certain all the things I posted should be helpful based on my experience with other trackers and software for music production.

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Inside a Gameboy

Thank you guys so much for the good info!
I've been on this site for a while but been on and off lsdj sad always getting discouraged but I took the plunge to get a cart and get cracking!
Is it good to keep a little journal of patters or new sounds i make? smile

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Whateverville, California

Cheat sheets are always a good idea. If you think it's something you're likely to forget, write it down. I keep notes on my phone for table or waveform ideas that I think up when I'm at work or whatever. If I have the time I'll slap the idea into an emulated version of LSDJ and revisit it later when I need Inspiration. For instrument ideas, the LSDJ patchbook is a good place to start, as is the LSDJ and you series on Noichan. There's also a wealth of information on tracking techniques buried here in old threads, if you're willing to do some digging. For the most part just dig in and keep tracking. You'll develop a working system suprisingly fast.

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Tacoma, WA

The Roboctopus guides off of Noichan are clutch: http://www.noisechannel.org/category/protips/lsdj-you
Welcome to the community!

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Whateverville, California

Just for the public record, I read the title of this thread as "Hello Fellow Chipmutizens" in my head for some excellent reason.

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Inside a Gameboy

Hahaha well thats what i was going for smile
Glad someone liked that thing i did smile
It's like we are citizens on a chiptune planet :3
Where we all come together as fam lawlz

Imaginary wrote:

Just for the public record, I read the title of this thread as "Hello Fellow Chipmutizens" in my head for some excellent reason.