If you aren't already, one of the best things you can do is record each channel individually into a new track on your DAW so that you have more control over them (EQ/plugins or whatever).

You can do that by muting all of the channels on the Gameboy whilst recording except the one you want to record at that point - off the top of my head I think you press Start + B whilst the cursor is on the relevant channel, then releasing B first. You'll see MUTE on the right hand side with the letter corresponding to the channel that isn't muted missing. That sounds confusing, but it'll make sense when you see it.

Afterwards, line the tracks up to be in synch. There's a few ways to do it. One is to get all channels to make a sort of short kick style sound at the very start of the song that you can easily pick out and use as a reference point to line them up (and later cut out). The way I've been doing it lately is to use an Arduinoboy, and LSDJ in MIDI sync mode so that you can trigger the Gameboy playing from the exact same point in the DAW for each channel.

p.s. Cool tracks! I'm a fan of the stereo panning.

JaffaCakeMexica wrote:

I heard that all of the pocket operator series have no sharps or flats...only diatonic...

can anyone confirm or deny?

Not sure about all of them, but previous models have been based primarily on that idea:

https://www.operator-1.com/index.php?p= … ment_10821

You can get flats/sharps by using effect parameters, but it feels like a bit of a pain to do so.

371

(4 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

Any bog standard LEDs will do. You wire one end to ground, and the other to a 5v point - there's loads of schematics around for backlights that will give you example locations. http://ledcalc.com/ will help you figure out the kind of resistor(s) you need for the number and kind of LEDs you get - as well as circuit examples.

SketchMan3 wrote:

Emulators mean you can practically use your thumbs, your fingertips, your feet, drumsticks, or whatever else you can think of that can send game control input to your computer.

Edit: Hardware is definitely the coolest thing, though. Can't beat that mojo. Especially if it's unmodded.

Just because you can doesn't mean that it's comfortable. Maybe if I had that much dexterity in my feet I might try though wink I personally don't like using the keyboard for much else apart from typing words; I was never a big PC gamer either, preferring consoles.

edit: Unless it was Worms or Civilisation or something similar. Then it'd be mouse/keyboard all the way!

On hardware. I spend all day on computers as part of my job, so it's nice to be able to close the laptop and pick up a wee box that is dedicated to making music. (or at least whilst the LSDJ cart is in it is).

I have used emulators in the past and then transferred the savs over, but there's always the risk that things can get corrupted that way. Even if that's low, I don't like using just my 'pointer' fingers when composing. Emulators mean you can't practically use your thumbs, and it isn't as tactile as the D-Pad/buttons. Sure, I could plug in a USB NES controller, but in that case why not just use the Gameboy?

TL;DR: Gameboy. It feels nicer.

herr_prof wrote:

I got a French one for super cheap on eBay!

Nice!

My American wife informs me that these models were pretty common in the US. We never used them in the UK (at least nobody I know claims to remember them), which explains why they are so much cheaper on the US eBay. They're running for like 15GBP+ at the mo, which isn't too terrible. The USB cable is the most expensive part.

Nimbus wrote:

midi out from LSDJ to a volca? May I ask how (and which volca)?

This is what I followed:

http://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/15978 … org-volca/

I've used both the Bass and the Sample.

Thanks!

I definitely shouldn't buy anything else this month, but the draw of making music on a calculator is just too strong...

This is amazing. Going to need to pick up one of the calculators on eBay and try it out. Nice work!

One thing... http://irrlichtproject.de/houston seems to be down (along with the docs D:). Is that just a temporary issue?

378

(12 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)

If I'm just playing it as a synth (via MIDI) would you recommend CynthCart over MSSIAH in any event? If so I could just get a replacement. (I only have MSSIAH atm).

379

(12 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)

akira^8GB wrote:

A bad SID can go out of tune. I had one that once had a few notes going awfully wrong.
The best way to check if shit is in tune is with a guitar tuner. As Mat says, maybe the MSSIAH freq tables are shit (wouldn't be surprised).

Did you try using other software like CYNTHCART or RETROSKOI???

I haven't. I'll investigate and give them a bash!

380

(12 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)

atomsmasha wrote:

does the tuning stabilize if you leave the c64 to sit for half an hour?

edit: on second thought that probably wouldn't do anything because DCOs

I'm prepared to give it a bash and see!

It is a bit weird that switching PAL/NTSC doesn't adjust the pitch table in Prophet, because there is a root frequency difference between playing in those regions so I'd have thought he'd have a different table for each.  However it's only about a semi-tone, not the 5 or so it looks like you require.

Yeah. It does change it very slightly, but not enough that it sounds in tune sad

I think the only way I could test if it's the cart would be to get a hold of another one, but that'd be an expensive test. Hmm.

381

(12 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)

I should mention that I've set the MSSIAHCart to PAL (as that's what my TV/C64 are), but with no discernible change.

382

(12 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)

After a bit of a fight, I've got my C64 set up with a MSSIAH cart, and it's outputting sound grand.

The other day I hooked up my Gameboy running LSDJ with an Arduinoboy to play the main melody line through the C64 and double it up in the recording. It wasn't till afterwards that I realised something was off with the C64's notes. I eventually got it to sound right by setting 'Transpose' in LSDJ to 05, but that doesn't solve the real problem.

Tonight I tried to play the C64 as more of a synth, over another song - but the tuning issues again got in the way. I got close by setting the 'detune' parameter to 09 on the C64 patch options, but still not perfect. No matter what key I played, I couldn't get any of them to match up with the

I never realised before now that analog synths could go out of tune.

* What causes the tune drift? Is it the SID or the board?
* How much does the 05 LSDJ transposition correspond to in notes/seminotes?
* Is there any way to tune the C64?

Any help welcome!

383

(2 replies, posted in Releases)

Had a listen on Bandcamp, and it sounds good! I'm a fan of the Volca/Gameboy combo as well.

Got it working by opening up the demo patches, which seemed to kickstart things fine!