Hey. I know a thing or two about copyright law (well, in truth, that's a bit of an understatement).

What Doctor Octoroc has said above is pretty spot on, and backed up with real world experience, so you should listen to them. Some specific thoughts from me:

a) 7 out of 10 tunes I want to cover are demoscene music, which in general is on public domain licence. I don't think I need any additional licences for these.

As Doctor Octoroc said, if you know for a fact that something is in the public domain, then you can do what you want. The chance of this actually being the case is rare though, unless the authors' have specifically released their material under something like the CC0. Just underlining this point.

b) because there's probably no way to acquire licences for retro games music (apart from contacting the authors themselves?),

There's a few misconceptions here. Firstly, an inability to get a license doesn't mean the material isn't protected by copyright (though this varies by jurisdiction). Secondly, the authors won't necessarily own the rights to the material anyway. It could well be that the companies that produced the games own the rights.


c) because - in the end - it's generally non-commercial. I know it may be not all that important to some people but I'm counting on some common sense of the original authors. wink

Again, a few things. Firstly, as soon as you put it on a streaming platform, that's a commercial use. It doesn't matter if Spotify will basically never pay you anything - it's the nature of the use that counts, not the end product. A failed business is still a business. Secondly, non-commercial use doesn't allow you to use material without permission by default. There are concepts of 'fair use' and 'fair dealing' which do take into account the nature of unauthorised use, but that wouldn't apply in this case, for a whole variety of reasons.

Also, there's other considerations here. Again, the authors may not own the rights to the material. The original development company (or their modern form) may. Secondly, lots of folk won't be happy or view things the same way you do in relation to common sense if you haven't spoken to them beforehand. Third, it is pretty trivial for them to have the release pulled from distribution if they are unhappy. Finally, you need to make a declaration to your distributor and/or the platforms you release on that you have the necessary rights to use the material. If you don't, and they find out, then many of these distributors don't give second chances, and you could lose your ability to upload other material in future (this is not going to be as strict on something like Bandcamp, but still).

I hope that helps! In this case, since you're talking about artists who are not in the major commercial leagues, I would reach out to them and explain your project. Explain why you love the music and want to make a tribute, offer to credit them etc, and gain their blessing. They might tell you they don't hold the rights to grant, they might tell you no, or they might tell you yes... but if you can't get some kind of confirmation from them, it would be unwise to go ahead and release the covers on a commercial platform. Litigation may be unlikely (unless Nintendo are involved!), but it's poor form if nothing else.

18

(5 replies, posted in General Discussion)

You don't need music theory to get started. It can help later, but is not necessary. What's important is that it sounds good to you. With trackers, learning to use the software will be far more helpful at the outset.

19

(1 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

I wonder if I could plug an old multiplayer adaptor link port thing in and send MIDI data to both DMGs at once that way. Hmm. I'll try it out and update this thread if I ever get it to work.

20

(1 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Been faffing about with my old 256 Monome again lately, and recorded a video that some of you might be interested in:

Monome 256 running boiing. MIDI out to two separate Arduinoboys. Channel 5 for polyphony on both. Some effects from OTO BAM, Boss RPS-10, etc. I'm wondering if I could make some kind of multi-link adaptor that would connect up to MIDI to save me running both of the arduinoboys. The difficulty is that they both connect differently (one is link port to MIDI DIN, the other is hard wired in from the link port to the arduinoboy).

21

(17 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

unexpectedbowtie wrote:
catskull wrote:

Just connect via usb, it doesn't work over DIN AFAIK. I've heard web midi on windows is a little tricky and doesn't work, one user reported having to use their android phone to do it. Not totally sure!

Oh, duh. I should have realised. I didn't realise it was both USB and DIN - I assumed it was one or the other. Thanks. I'll give it a bash!

Noting for anybody else that comes across this: I suspect the issue with it not being detected originally was that I had both DIN and USB connected at once. If I connect up just via USB it detects fine. Either way, got it working now!

22

(17 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

catskull wrote:

Just connect via usb, it doesn't work over DIN AFAIK. I've heard web midi on windows is a little tricky and doesn't work, one user reported having to use their android phone to do it. Not totally sure!

Oh, duh. I should have realised. I didn't realise it was both USB and DIN - I assumed it was one or the other. Thanks. I'll give it a bash!

23

(17 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

catskull wrote:

Web editor is compatible, the new version added DIN but still has USB MIDI smile

Ohhh that's awesome, thank you! What's the best config for that? I've tried it connected via different interfaces but it isn't detected (using Chrome).

24

(17 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

catskull wrote:

Sorry I missed this, but glad you got it figured out! I'm a bad person to ask but if you were to blindfold me, I would not be able to tell the difference between the AY or the YM. I'm sure purists out there that have spent a lot of time with the chips will tell me I'm wrong, which is fine!

Also trash80 designed and coded the whole thing, not me! Thanks to him! SID synths aren't as interesting to me, just because the chips are hard to come by. I guess now that there are implementations of it in FPGA and microcontrollers, maybe that would be worth checking out? For YM2612, I guess genMDM gets pretty far there, especially with Jamatar's genaJam that I'll be releasing soon.

Heya. I have another question... I presume the Web Editor isn't compatible with the new version, since it's MIDI DIN, rather than USB MIDI. Is that right?

25

(3 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

tenshun wrote:

I have seen this device!  how does it compare to LSDJ as far as navigation and composing?

the screen looks quite confusing with a lot more channels! I am sure I would get used to it if I messed with it for a bit.

If you can use LSDJ you'll definitely be able to pick the Tracker up really quickly, as even though there are obvious differences between them, the whole process is very similar. In many ways the Tracker is easier, as there are dedicated buttons for the pages/features, rather than having to have knowledge of where each page is and flip through them.

The one thing worth noting is that LSDJ's 'main' screen is the 'song' screen, whereas Tracker more naturally lives on the pattern screen. The song mode isn't as good as on LSDJ (it's not as well developed as the other parts).

26

(5 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

After some better searching (not sure why I failed in the first place), I have something of an answer.

27

(5 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Hiya.

I am interested in trying out the NES chips for musical purposes, as it's something I've never done before. I come to you, asking for advice on what the best implementation would be in a hardware sense.

I ask this because I have used the SID chip in a whole manner of different forms, from Eurorack to dedicated synth modules to the console itself via MSSIAH, and I know that the latter wasn't really the most practical option - so assume that the same may well be true with the NES. That said, I do not own a NES (and never have), but I am prepared to get one if that turns out to be the best way.

So... should I get a NES and a particular cart/mod? Is there a specific hardware synth that works really well? e.g. the Twisted Electrons thing? Open to all suggestions (except VSTs - they don't float my boat).

Thank you!

28

(3 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

My first track with the Tracker (work in progress)

29

(3 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

Hey friends,

Anybody else using a Polyend Tracker? I got one a month or so ago, and really like it a lot. There's a few bugs with the software, including the stem export which means it still needs improvement, but overall it's far better and more inspirational than the Digitakt was (for me at least).

Initially I was a bit unimpressed with the FX available - especially the glide, as it seemed to be pretty under-powered/counter-intuitive. However, one thing I found recently was the 'Roll' effect, which lets you do crazy things which I hadn't expected. I need to spend some more time digging into it. Let me know if you have any tips or features you've been making use of that are worth checking out.

I have like five tracks written on HT years ago that I've been sitting on, convinced that I'll one day have enough to put together an album. Maybe the virus will kill us all off before I get round to it.

31

(17 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

catskull wrote:

Sorry I missed this, but glad you got it figured out! I'm a bad person to ask but if you were to blindfold me, I would not be able to tell the difference between the AY or the YM. I'm sure purists out there that have spent a lot of time with the chips will tell me I'm wrong, which is fine!

Also trash80 designed and coded the whole thing, not me! Thanks to him! SID synths aren't as interesting to me, just because the chips are hard to come by. I guess now that there are implementations of it in FPGA and microcontrollers, maybe that would be worth checking out? For YM2612, I guess genMDM gets pretty far there, especially with Jamatar's genaJam that I'll be releasing soon.

I guess I could have just asked you directly hah. Thanks! I'll keep an eye out on the genaJam...

32

(17 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

Thanks! I went for the the YM in the end smile