Gameboy Color or DMG (Page 3 of 6)

Wizwars, I acknowledge your experiences with the GBC and I agree that you can get the sound to be more DMG like with proper processing / EQing etc. I also undertand that the GBC will handle crowded tables at higher speeds better due to its faster/more stable processor.

However what you are not taking into account (or at least not talking about) is that the sound is not only less bassy which can be remedied through EQing but the characteristic of the waveforms is also changed. If you look at the examples and know anything about how different looking waveforms affect the spectrum and if you've listened to the DMG and GBC side by side, you will find that the GBC adds some even harmonics to the square waves, pushing their sound characteristic more towards saw (in this case inverse sawtooth). This may or may not be desired, but it's certainly a difference that no reasonable amount of processing can really undo... and a difference that at least I personally care about.

truth is, I never ever noticed or cared about these things in the slightest. these cons seems SO extremely minute (to me at least) but if it matters, then it matters i guess.

Well in the end what counts most is not if your waves are square or if your tables and patterns are crazy complex, but if you can actually make a decent piece of music... so I guess the entire argument is moot anyway. After all you don't compliment a good cook for his pots and pans either, right?

Honestly though , if every guitarist used a les paul through a JCM800, things would get pretty samey quite quickly. Difference is nice.

This isn't something I've ever really thought about because it's just not that big of a deal to me, and I doubt it really is to many others. I've played most of the songs I wrote on a DMG on my GBC at some point, and they sounded perfectly fine. If there were any huge differences within the squarewaves, I never noticed them, and I've got a pretty goddamn good ear. I don't care to sit down and inspect waveforms. My thing, as someone who EXCLUSIVELY uses Game Boy Colors live and has for a while, is to educate people who operate under the assumption based on some article written years ago that the Game Boy Color is not a useful tool for creating chipmusic (for the record, I am so damn stubborn about this subject because I used to be one of the people arguing that the GBC was a piece of shit...and then I actually used one!).

I've always said, it comes down to personal preference. If you have a GBC and you dig it, rock out. If you want to try something different, get a DMG. But using the ancient Herbert Weixelbaum article to determine which Game Boy you should use is like trying to become proficient at LSDJ by using Nullsleep's tutorial on his website. It's not 2008 anymore.

You act like your priorities are the same as everyone else's

I actually really do care about waveforms.

Still. I can and do use both a DMG and a color (and an SP). I use whatever fits the situation best.

I agree that the color is a viable option, but it is what it actually is and nothing more and nothing less. It is the same gameboy color that existed in 2008 and hopefully the same gameboy color that will exist in the year 3000. Plus 2008 was not that long ago at all.

In my amateur openion, the DMG has the bestest, warmest, deepest sound. But i think the color sounds just fine, I have no problem using it.

Edited: for typos. I am on my phone doing this, sorry

Last edited by Jake Allison (Nov 2, 2012 5:08 pm)

Values Dissonance ftw

Nutshell: Some people care. Some people don't. Don't knock it 'til you try it. If you don't have any problem with the sound of the GBC and don't mind hearing wonky wave forms for power and speed, don't let peer pressure pressure you into settling for a DMG.

(I suppose the GBC would be a slick well-setup Squier Tele and the DMG a Gibson Les Paul with the action too high and sticky residue on the neck),