chipmusic.org is an online community in respect and relation to chip music, art and its parallels.
You are not logged in. Please login or register.
ChipMusic.org / Forums / Nintendo Handhelds / GBA "Direct Sound" DAC -- Application for music making?
Hi y'all!
When recording LSDJ tracks I tend to grab a DMG. But more often than not, I write tunes using my ol' SP. This has lead me to wonder what sounds may be unique to the Game Boy Advance/SP hardware-- hardware LSDJ may not be able to tap into. Specifically, the GBA's "Dual 8-bit DAC"
Would this be valuable in a tracker? Are there ways to use this hardware with LSDJ? What differences do you notice between DMG/Pocket/Color/GBA/SP sound?
Hm, Game boy Advance was my first Nintendo back in 2001, but i was never used it so much, i remember i have had only one game Breath of Fire, which i nearly finished after 10 years haha. When i purchased DMG-01 with LSDJ i plugged that cartridge also to GBA and sound is nearly same as in DMG-01, so nothing extra. AFAIK normally games use something like multichannel mods (just like Amiga, SNES etc, xm, s3m, it...) and there is no interpolation (cubic etc) so samples are pretty raw. Practically we began to develop real time strategy for GBA, so i started composing s3m modules, but was released 5 years later as DSiWare, so i used s3m modules because coder have replayer source code for GBA and no synthesis.
Would this be valuable in a tracker? Are there ways to use this hardware with LSDJ?
Yeah, the GBA is really a great instrument, and a tracker for this handheld could be nice. And LSDJ used on a GBA can't ùa,ke anything else that classic DMG sounds.
I think the only software for writing music for the GBA is nanoloop 2. (there is also pocket music but it's really bad)
Last edited by Gala (Aug 28, 2019 3:26 pm)
Thank you both for your thought!
Martin, can I ask what you use to program s3m modules? Your post reminded me of "Rytmik"! I think my brother has a copy, I'll have to snag it from him.
Gala-- I'd be very curious about a GBA specific tracker. I didn't know there was a second nanoloop! The example tracks are bumpin' though! I'll have to give it a try :~)
I need to read up more on GBA hardware. I'm having a hard time imagining what a GBA specific tracker would look like. Research time!
Sorry, I forgot that a GBA tracker exist. I never tested it and I think the development has been stopped. You can find it here : https://woolyss.com/chipmusic-chiptrack … 4G+Tracker
Nanoloop for gba is really great.
There is also "nanoloop mono" that is really awesome, it's a cartridge for the DMG with some electronic components to transform it in a kind of hybrid/analog synth. I think it's my favorite version. If you want to create some kind of "new sounds" with a DMG it is worth a try.
Here's some info on differences between the Nintendo handhelds--hopefully it helps:
Thank you both for your thought!
Martin, can I ask what you use to program s3m modules? Your post reminded me of "Rytmik"! I think my brother has a copy, I'll have to snag it from him.Gala-- I'd be very curious about a GBA specific tracker. I didn't know there was a second nanoloop! The example tracks are bumpin' though! I'll have to give it a try :~)
I need to read up more on GBA hardware. I'm having a hard time imagining what a GBA specific tracker would look like. Research time!
Hello Dip, for s3m modules i used a little bit strange way, because i used MED Soundstudio (former OctaMED from Amiga times) and i converted to s3m these modules in Modplug tracker 
Of course i know Rytmik, because i know man who created it, but i dont use it (i have it on iPad and on New Nintendo 3DS XL), for me it is little big problem with user interface to accept it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB4_ZPbgytY
btw someone ripped whole soundtrack from that game, here it is.
But yes, nanoloop cartridge for GBA exists, probably you can find it on ebay for example.
Reaction to another posts: I have nanoloop mono, but afaik it is strongly recommended to use it on original DMG-01.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skpwifDP2RE
Here is also some of my sequences created on it, i LOVE nanoloop mono.
Last edited by martin_demsky (Aug 28, 2019 9:07 pm)
But yes, nanoloop cartridge for GBA exists, probably you can find it on ebay for example.
or.. on the nanoloop site 