Sunmaster_XIV
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I'm pretty new to LSDJ and music production in general.  I discovered pretty quickly that modding Gameboys for chiptune production is far easier than actually using them to do so! lol  I've been doing LSDJ covers of videogame music to get the hang of navigating LSDJ and instrument creation.  I'm having the most trouble with creating percussion in the noise channel, or what to do with the noise channel in general. I'm tempted to just get another flash cart just so I can have a second wave channel for kits, as I usually use the wave channel for baselines.  Here's what I've come up with so far, input/constructive criticism is much appreciated!

https://soundcloud.com/sunmaster_xiv/ice-cap-zone-act-1

https://soundcloud.com/sunmaster_xiv/oc … udo-valley

https://soundcloud.com/sunmaster_xiv/theme  (I tried to make some pseudo-dubstep... haha)

Last edited by Sunmaster_XIV (Feb 22, 2014 1:00 am)

jmc1987
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Washington, PA

In learning LSDJ, the drum tracks were the hardest for me, because I felt like I needed to utilize the WAV channel for more than just kits. After a while, I've found I'm fond of using one pulse channel for bass, one pulse for melody, WAV for kits and noise for hi-hats/cymbals.

Honestly, there's not much you can do with the noise channel, because it pretty much lives up to its name: noise. I really tried to use the noise channel for drums in my first songs and later just discovered I prefer to lose the fun of the WAV channel (which I wasn't very good at to begin with) and just use kits. Since sometimes using both drum tracks is necessary, I found using the noise for cymbals helped open up possibilities for drums. Of course, depending on what kind of music you're trying to create, this might not be the best advice.

Now, on to your tracks, I think they sound good for a start. From the Tetris tune, I can tell you've already started experimenting with commands, but I'd do it more. Not sure if you've started playing with tables, but that's really the sweet spot for LSDJ. I kind of think some of your rhythms are just off slightly, but maybe that was intentional... I'm unfortunately not as big of a gamer as most, so other than Tetris, I don't have a reference point. But the Ice Cap Zone melody seems about a tick off.

Keep chipping!

Sunmaster_XIV
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Thanks for the advice on drums.  I've been playing around with some original compositions since I started this thread, and although they all sound more or less like garbage right now, I've figured out a couple of tricks with percussion.  Like you mentioned, cymbals have proven to be pretty useful.  I've also found the by pairing pulse kicks with noise kicks can free up a few ticks on the WAV channel, which is becoming more important to me as I learn how to manipulate synths to get some really cool sounds.  Mostly my Noise channel just sits there with empty phrases haha. 

You're right in guessing that I've already started playing with commands, and I've also started using tables for basic stuff like panning and envelope manipulation.  Since you mentioned them, I've started throwing commands and whatnot in tables, and I'm getting some pretty cool sounds from them.  So thanks for that bit of advice!

And you're definitely right about my some of the tunes being off by a tick or two.  I recorded each channel separately before rendering the song in Ableton.  Even though the waveforms are lined up, it seems like the gameboy's BPM fluctuates a bit.  Seems like re-recording while synced with an ArdounoBoy with my DAW set as master helps a bit with the fluctuation, but sometimes the tracks still don't line up quite right.  I'd record it all at once, but I wrote more parts than there are channels, so I can only record chunks at a time.  Thinking I'm going to need to get a second flashcart if I want things to work right.  Oh well

SketchMan3
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NC in the US of America

There seems to be a lot of not-gameboy stuff in there. Took me by surprise.

Last edited by SketchMan3 (Mar 12, 2014 1:31 am)