65 Reply by Fearofdark

(256 replies, posted in General Discussion)

hiya big_smile How is everything going?

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66 Reply by Fearofdark

(26 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

5 days left to enter!

Still time to make one or two entries, for those who are brave enough >:D

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67 Reply by Fearofdark

(256 replies, posted in General Discussion)

sandneil wrote:

do you like DOS games

Hell yeah!

The Commander Keen series (mainly 1 and 4) are among my favorites! I like a bit of Captain Comic from time to time too, even if the design of the game is linear

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68 Reply by Fearofdark

(61 replies, posted in Past Events)

wailord wrote:

i think only a .sho file is allowed this time so you would have to use a mario paint file and not xmsnes to make a .spc

sho. is required for the SNES Mario Paint category, but for the SNES/Super Famicom category you can submit .spc

@Alpine: Yes; we've had quite a few entries like that in previous compos

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69 Reply by Fearofdark

(61 replies, posted in Past Events)

Boddrick wrote:

Hey guys, I'm a chipnub, but I notice there's a SNES/Super Famicom category there. Does this mean there's a way to make music with SNES hardware? Because I've gotta tell you, that would make several of my dreams come true.

Not that I know of. However, you can make an 8-channel .it file (using MPT or whatever you wish), and then use SNESMOD to convert it to .spc which is accepted smile Just make sure that the file-size and your samples are small enough and that you don't use any invalid commands.

You can also make an 8-channel .xm and convert that to .spc using XMSNES. Haven't tried this method myself but I imagine similar restrictions apply.

You can also use MML but I know next to nothing about that..

Since that question is edging towards off-topic, here's an on-topic question: how loose is that Wild Chip category? Could I make a song exclusively in a mainstream DAW as long as I'm using simple waveforms that, as you said , "sound chippy"? If so, I might have a go smile

YES! As long as it's remotely chip-sounding/influenced, then it's fine. Use whatever you wish

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70 Reply by Fearofdark

(18 replies, posted in Releases)

Release of the year!

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71 Reply by Fearofdark

(24 replies, posted in Releases)

Hey this is amazing. Happy, light-hearted chiptune goodness smile heart

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72 Reply by Fearofdark

(14 replies, posted in Past Events)

SketchMan3 wrote:
kfaraday wrote:

smile i hope you'll join! i like your music

(not long left to go!)

shoot. I forgot about it again! XD

I think it'd be really nice if they added a AHX/HVL category. Gonna have to request that for next time...

Botb actually does have AHX registered as a format smile If there's one compo that does feature it, I'd be willing to bet that it'll turn up in something like Summer Chip if there's a demand for it.

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73 Reply by Fearofdark

(26 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Word has it that this'll be the last Famicompo ever .. or at least the last one hosted by K->

There's no reason not to enter this one

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74 Reply by Fearofdark

(51 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Anything I wrote before 2009 I consider pretty awkward to listen to nowadays Though before 2009, almost all of the music I tracked was non-chip, and is unreleased. I've realised my tracked music gradually switches from "real" to "chip+instruments" to "entirely chip" over time, because I now write almost no instrumental tracker music anymore. Even stuff I made in 2010 I now think is becoming a little dated and dodgy.

However, every now and then I look back on them, and discover techniques or odd things that I admire. I don't remember exactly when I started tracking but the earliest tracker songs from me I can find on my computer are from 2004, and man do they suck (they don't even sound like they were even written by me tongue ). But they still evoke a sense of nostalgia.

All that awful music we write when we start composing helps shape our compositional identity for years to come smile

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75 Reply by Fearofdark

(5 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Yeah, what Saskrotch said. 300 will disable the portamento (or switching to a different pitch-centred command like 0xx), although it shouldn't usually reset after changing patterns in famitracker? What version are you using?

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76 Reply by Fearofdark

(26 replies, posted in General Discussion)

..also, you've managed to make the TIA sound surprisingly melodic yikes

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77 Reply by Fearofdark

(26 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Haha, the SMS one made me laugh, mainly due to the underwhelming amount of bass.. all that build up for.. well.. almost nothing. Really underlines the lack of range it has especially compared to the AY one before hand, and the pokey afterwards.

And yes, the beeper one.. oh god

Great video, very educational indeed big_smile

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78 Reply by Fearofdark

(39 replies, posted in Tutorials, Mods & How-To's)

n00bstar wrote:

for what it's worth, here's my constructamative criticithing: explore outside the gameboy

Couldn't agree more:  I really hope this show/podcast doesn't only explore GB music. To me that actually seems fairly limited; chiptune has an incredibly diverse set of tools, artists and types of music than most people realise. I think it'd be great to explore other systems, like the NES, Pokey, tracker formats etc etc etc. I also think it'd be great to explore a few of the differences in limitations, capabilities etc. between different sound chips.

Good podcast for beginners and analysis though, and a great idea smile Really could be helpful to a few people

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79 Reply by Fearofdark

(48 replies, posted in General Discussion)

chunter wrote:

There is an article or blog entry that calls root-3rd-7th the NES jazz chord because of how frequently it appeared there. Andy Summers liked that shape on guitar in The Police, also...

There's nothing stopping anyone from raising topics on voicings and such.

Ah yes, I think I remember hearing about the "NES Jazz chord" come up in a chipmusic lecture on limitations, which I saw online somewhere.

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80 Reply by Fearofdark

(48 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Ahh, the freebird progression.

My best understanding is that this is an example of referencing parallel key signatures. The G major and C major chords imply G major, but the flattened 3rd (the Bb major chord) is borrowed from the natural/melodic minor key of G. I've seen this progression with D major tagged on the end too; the dominant chord from the G major scale. So.. yeah, G major with a borrowed chord from that parallel minor seems to be an answer.

I guess you could also be writing in C major, but the Bb major chord is again borrowed from the minor of C. (as chunter mentioned above)

There are a number of options for what scale to write the melody in. Alternating between the mixolydian on G (G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G) and the dorian on G (G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F-G) can work. Basically, all you're doing is changing the identity of the 3rd.

There's probably a better explanation that I've missed, to be honest.

n00bstar wrote:

Also.... and this is where I started to mentally masturbate too much with this... I was assuming I was in G Major with a borrowed chord. So for my middle eight I went to the relative minor, Em, and now I can't make it resolve back to a G, it wants to resolve on the Em every damn time no matter what twisted fucked up path I take through the chords.

ARGH.

Try and set yourself up for some kind of cadence (eg. end a progression on D major or C major/minor or something so that you can head on back to G.... Be as interesting as you want)

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