Nullatrum
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From how I've understood 8-bit music, there are 5(?) channels readily available to the composer however in each channel, as much as the voice may vary, two notes can not be held at the same time and thus arpeggios have been used for the illusion of chords, giving that nostalgic 8-bit effect.

But notes from two different channels can be held at the same time, right? So what if two or more channels are made to sound the exact same way (both the same square wave, for example, with same volume timbre/etc) can there then be chords based off of that aggregate?

An example would be this 8-bit remake of "air" by Bach https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ7bS1FYvEA

Does this follow the true 8-bit principle still since I can never hear more than 4 (at most) voices at the same time, even if two or three of them are the same sounding.

Also, how does the chipmusic community feel to 'new-age' 8-bit inspired chiptune, with the same kind of voices 8-bit music would use but without those limitations? Visionary? Or is it just bad?

Last edited by Nullatrum (Jan 7, 2016 3:05 pm)

Ampact
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A lot of people use chords in their songs using each note of the chord per channel. The amount of channels you have to work with depends on what console you're using.

herr_prof
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Many chip dudes also do fancy jazz chords, but leaving out parts: http://www.howmusicworks.org/707/Playin … sing-Notes

The ear fills in the rest if your arrangement is fresh enuff

Jellica
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Nullatrum wrote:

From how I've understood 8-bit music, there are 5(?) channels readily available to the composer however in each channel

it depends if you are trying to emulate a particular system really, the C64 only has 3 channels for example, but it has other features that give it a distinctive sound though really.

if you are using a modern computer i wouldn't worry so much about these kinda details/limitations, I don't think people really care that much if you are looking to create 8bit inspired music, just go crazy with them chords.

Last edited by Jellica (Jan 7, 2016 6:37 pm)

Nullatrum
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Oh so there's variance in amount of channels per console? Is there a resource to see which consoles offered which amount of channels?

herr_prof
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Why dont you just make daw music with chip type sounds then if you are worried so much about voicings? Most people target platforms they like sonically rather than ones that can voice their compositional aspirations.

sandneil
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not sure about a resource but off the top of my head

game boy: 4 (pulse, pulse, noise, wave)
NES: 5 (pulse, pulse, triangle, noise, wave)
C64: 3 (any combination of pulse/saw/triangle/noise)
spectrum 128k: 3 (any combination of square/noise)
atari st: 3 (any combination of square/noise)
pc w/ opl2: 9 (2op fm x9)
pc w/ opl3: 18 (2op fm x18 or 4op fm x9 iirc)
amiga: 4 (4x wave)
"pc tracker music": lots (wave)
piggy tracker: 8 (wave)
genesis/megadrive: 7 (6x 4op fm + wave) ((is this right?? someone correct me))

it's fine to not use arps and stuff, of course. i know a lot of people say it's about the "limitations" but personally i think most of us just like the sounds and like playing around to get them

4 channels of pure sine waves will sound a lot less "chiptunes" than 8channels of pulse and noise and stuff, i guess (but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it!)

Nullatrum
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sandneil wrote:

not sure about a resource but off the top of my head

game boy: 4 (pulse, pulse, noise, wave)
NES: 5 (pulse, pulse, triangle, noise, wave)
C64: 3 (any combination of pulse/saw/triangle/noise)
spectrum 128k: 3 (any combination of square/noise)
atari st: 3 (any combination of square/noise)
pc w/ opl2: 9 (2op fm x9)
pc w/ opl3: 18 (2op fm x18 or 4op fm x9 iirc)
amiga: 4 (4x wave)
"pc tracker music": lots (wave)
piggy tracker: 8 (wave)
genesis/megadrive: 7 (6x 4op fm + wave) ((is this right?? someone correct me))

it's fine to not use arps and stuff, of course. i know a lot of people say it's about the "limitations" but personally i think most of us just like the sounds and like playing around to get them

4 channels of pure sine waves will sound a lot less "chiptunes" than 8channels of pulse and noise and stuff, i guess (but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it!)

What do you mean with "wave" channels? isn't that a little redundant. Do you just mean any type of wave can be made there?

nanode
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Nullatrum wrote:

What do you mean with "wave" channels? isn't that a little redundant. Do you just mean any type of wave can be made there?

Wave channels aren't limited like with pulse channels. Pulse channels can only produce 3 variants of square waves, while as a wave channel has enough processing power to take on more complicated waveforms.

Nullatrum
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nanode wrote:
Nullatrum wrote:

What do you mean with "wave" channels? isn't that a little redundant. Do you just mean any type of wave can be made there?

Wave channels aren't limited like with pulse channels. Pulse channels can only produce 3 variants of square waves, while as a wave channel has enough processing power to take on more complicated waveforms.

oh, ok, so I'd imagine then the range of waveforms it takes on varies console to console?

PROTODOME
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Nullatrum wrote:
nanode wrote:

Wave channels aren't limited like with pulse channels. Pulse channels can only produce 3 variants of square waves, while as a wave channel has enough processing power to take on more complicated waveforms.

oh, ok, so I'd imagine then the range of waveforms it takes on varies console to console?

They'll usually play pcm audio, so theoretically infinite channels 4 u.

SketchMan3
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Nullatrum wrote:

What do you mean with "wave" channels? isn't that a little redundant. Do you just mean any type of wave can be made there?

Yeah, basically. It means that the waveform is highly customizable, i.e. can actually be programmed to playback recorded sound samples (snare drum, vocal, etc).

I would invite you to explore chiptune from various hardware sources. sandneil's list is good.

Gameboy: check out artists like Trey Frey, roboctopus, nitro2k01, BitShifter, Danimal Cannon, e-s-c, Alberto "Joe McAlby" Gonzalez, this: https://cheapbeatsmusic.bandcamp.com/al … herent-fix for an idea of different approaches for using Gameboy

NES: classic video game soundtracks, Fearofdark's "Coffee Zone", 2a03 Puritans, the Famitracker forums, that one guy... uh what's his name.. Virt Kaufman? I'm sure there are plenty that I'm overlooking... but that's what comes to me off the top of my head.

C64: idk... Rob Hubbard, Tim Follin? Not really up on who is pouring their heart and soul into C64 sid music these days.

ZX Spectrum: Yerzmyey.
ZX Beeper: MR BEEP

Genesis: Jredd, classic video game soundtracks (Outrun, Sonic, etc)

Check out battleofthebits.org and listen to random stuff from there. They cover a ton of chiptune platforms

Also, NES can make use of expansion chips that increase the number of channels available beyond just 5. personal favorites of mine are the VRC6 chip and the MMC5 chip.

VRC6 adds 2 pulse channels with a wider range of width options, plus 1 saw wave channel, for a total number of 8 channels available to work with. MMC5 adds 3 pulse channels that sound identical to the stock channels, again expanding you to 8 channels of sound to work with.

Additionally, some artists utilizing the program LSDj to produce music on Gameboy, may choose to link 2 or more gameboys together.

The sky's the limit!

Edit: Also, your example video of that Bach 8-bit thing... sounds like a lazy "take a midi of a song, load it into GXSCC or some other '8-bit' soundfont, export audio" deal. I personally wouldn't trust any youtube video calling itself an "8-bit cover/remake/remix" as something to follow the example of...

Last edited by SketchMan3 (Jan 7, 2016 8:36 pm)

Nullatrum
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SketchMan3 wrote:

Edit: Also, your example video of that Bach 8-bit thing... sounds like a lazy "take a midi of a song, load it into GXSCC or some other '8-bit' soundfont, export audio" deal. I personally wouldn't trust any youtube video calling itself an "8-bit cover/remake/remix" as something to follow the example of...

Oh yeah definitely it's just what I happened to be listening to at the moment based on youtube's auto play... I think that could actually be a cool idea if done well, taking baroque/classical music and making chip our it. I remember I used to have some album with a very good remix of the first movement of moonlight sonata. Is there more stuff like that?

herr_prof
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Nullatrum
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herr_prof wrote:

gonna be honest here found this piece not very alluring personally. Any other good classical + chip things?

herr_prof
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Nope