Here is an early Hidden Village video of Cloud Sparrow and I (before I was playing solo shows as little-scale). This would have been perhaps our second chip show.
1,057 Jan 23, 2010 1:28 am
Re: What was your first chip gig like? (100 replies, posted in General Discussion)
1,058 Jan 23, 2010 1:24 am
Re: What was your first chip gig like? (100 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Bubbles FTW Michelle!
1,059 Jan 23, 2010 1:23 am
Re: (free) webspace (36 replies, posted in General Discussion)
No worries 
Glad to be of use somehow.
1,061 Jan 21, 2010 7:54 pm
Re: 1-Minute Songs Compilation - now available (52 replies, posted in Collaborations)
Thanks! Your answer is very clear
1,062 Jan 21, 2010 6:50 pm
Re: 1-Minute Songs Compilation - now available (52 replies, posted in Collaborations)
Indeed
1,063 Jan 21, 2010 6:35 pm
Re: What was your first chip gig like? (100 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Classic photo right there, Seth!
1,064 Jan 21, 2010 11:26 am
Re: Lazerscale2010 (33 replies, posted in Collaborations)
I think we've all been there...
1,065 Jan 21, 2010 8:15 am
Topic: [SEGA MASTER SYSTEM] YM2413 Extended Instrumentation (0 replies, posted in Sega)
The YM2413, which is present in the Japanese variant of the SEGA Master System (and can be installed in consoles from other regions) has some interesting 'cost-cutting' characteristics. It has nine pitched voices of FM sound (or six pitched and five percussive when in percussion mode).
In terms of instrument settings, each pitched voice can be set to one of sixteen preset settings, labeled internally from zero to fifteen. Setting zero is the only instrument preset whereby the programmer / music composer has control over the sound that is produced - all of the other settings are hard presets, as follows:
0. (custom voice)
1. violin
2. guitar
3. piano
4. flute
5. clarinet
6. oboe
7. trumpet
8. organ
9. horn
10. synthesizer
11. harpsichord
12. vibraphone
13. synthesizer bass
14. acoustic bass
15. electric guitar
As stated, only instrument zero can be customised in terms of sound. However, more than one voice might be set to instrument zero, in which case both voices will sound identical, even when the settings of instrument zero are changed. This scenario can seem a little limiting.
However, it is possible to extend the preset instruments in at least two ways.
Instrument Change Envelope
The idea with an instrument change envelope is that each note-on event automatically also triggers an instrument change event shortly after. Two predefined instruments are chosen - A and B. Instrument setting A is before the instrument setting change (and directly at the attack of the initial note-on event), and instrument B is after the instrument setting change (and is after the initial note-on event).
By changing the settings whilst the chip is currently synthesising sound for a given voice, it seems that it is possible to produce notes that are not strictly of a predetermined instrument setting (or at least, it has this effect).
The time between a note-on and the instrument change is approximately 10 ms.
Sound examples of using the instrument change envelope:
- instrument 4 (dry): http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/download … 4%20nm.mp3
- instrument 4 --> instrument 8: http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/download … %20s-8.mp3
- instrument 6 (dry): http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/download … 6%20nm.mp3
- instrument 6 --> instrument 3: http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/download … %20s-3.mp3
Instrument Change Modulation
It is also possible to modulate the instrument setting of a given voice. This involves the following process. When a note-on event is received, a software-based control oscillator is activated, which is then used to modulate between two instrument settings, creating more complex sounds than using the presets individually.
Typically frequencies for the control oscillator range from 1 KHz down to 20 Hz, so I guess we might call this a low to mid frequency oscillator.
At times, this sounds similar to a standard amplitude modulation, however, this is definite timbral merit in pursuing techniques such as these, as it pushes the limits of what the chip is capable of, and what sorts of sounds can be extracted from a limited sonic framework.
Sound examples of using the instrument change modulation:
- instruments 10 and 14 forming the modulation points: http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/download … d%2014.mp3
- instruments 11 and 13 forming the modulation points: http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/download … d%2013.mp3
- instruments 12 and 8 forming the modulation points: http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/download … od%208.mp3
- instruments 2 and 3 forming the modulation points: http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/download … od%203.mp3
1,066 Jan 21, 2010 8:11 am
Topic: [SEGA Master System] YM2413 Data-based reverberation (1 replies, posted in Sega)
The idea of data-based echo in chipmusic is very common, of course, whether this is via a single channel (voice) or two or more voices. In all cases, data is copied and repeated at a later time (often a rhythmically relevant length longer than around 80 ms), creating a richer sound for a given section, track, phrase or instrument.
An extension of this idea is the creation of artificial, data-based reverberation. Naturally, this process uses up more resources, both in terms of computing power (more musical events must be synchronised and timed correctly) but also in terms of voicing and channels (the more channels, the fuller and more realistic the reverberation may sound).
The YM2413 chip is the perfect candidate for experimentation with artificial, data-driven reverberation, as it has quite a number of channels (9 x FM channels) for a chip of the era.
The way that this reverberation is created is very straightforward. The same line is repeated across all nine channels. For each subsequent channel, a short delay is added (in this case 35ms per channel) and a certain amount of volume is subtracted (in this case, each subsequent channel has a volume data byte that was 1/16th lower than the previous).
The outcome is relatively convincing, considering that it is only a data-driven application of reverberation. Listen below.
YM2413 - simple example of a virtual space - no space (dry)
YM2413 - simple example of a virtual space - space (wet)
I've made a simple Max/MSP patch that allows the user to simply pass MIDI data to it in the form of a monophonic, single channel note stream, which then copies the data to multiple channels with a predefined amplitude multiplier and cascaded delay. The result is easy data-based reverberation for the YM2413.
1,067 Jan 21, 2010 8:08 am
Re: [SEGA Master System] SMSM (SEGA MASTER SYSTEM MIDI INTERFACE) (1 replies, posted in Sega)
The other day, I added a number of features to the Sega Master System MIDI Interface (SMSM).
For the YM2413 FM chip, the interface now has:
• More accurate pitch calculation
• Support for tunings other than 12-TET, from 4-TET to about 18-TET
• Support for different tunings of concert A, from 377Hz to 504Hz (in intervals of 2 - 4 Hz).
• Support for user-defined pitch bend ranges, from +/- 1 semitones to +/- 12 semitones
• Support for user-defined transposition
1,068 Jan 21, 2010 8:08 am
Topic: [SEGA Master System] SMSM (SEGA MASTER SYSTEM MIDI INTERFACE) (1 replies, posted in Sega)
I've been working on a SEGA Master System MIDI Interface (SMSM).
If this sounds like something you might be interested in, please feel free to join the SMSM Google Announcement Group here:
http://groups.google.com/group/smsm-announcements
Please don't ask for a release date for this project - don't worry, it's in the pipeline.
1,069 Jan 21, 2010 8:00 am
Re: Lazerscale2010 (33 replies, posted in Collaborations)
Hopefully, we will be doing something like this at some stage soon.
1,070 Jan 20, 2010 11:18 pm
Re: 1-Minute Songs Compilation - now available (52 replies, posted in Collaborations)
Submitted.
Question @ forest world: You say that
a) Songs that are submitted earlier get preference over songs submitted later (I assume you mean in both cases before the deadline)
b) Only the best 25 songs will be selected.
How are you planning on reconciling these two points? Who chooses which tracks are the best 25 tracks, and how do earlier submissions receive preference?
1,071 Jan 20, 2010 6:28 pm
Re: DJ TR!P, Neil Voss & Ro-Bear [US] - [1/22/2010] All Ages (14 replies, posted in Past Events)
Can you guys please say hi to DJ Tr!ip for me?
1,072 Jan 20, 2010 6:36 am
Re: Upcoming features: Uploads and stuff (163 replies, posted in Rules & Announcements)
Sure. I can very much appreciate how much work you are putting into this, thanks so much for all of the sweat, blood and tears that you have poured into this
