193 Reply by SketchMan3

(8 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

GBXSCC

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194 Reply by SketchMan3

(28 replies, posted in General Discussion)

One thing to note... sometimes you have to get creative in your usage of "chords". If you want to use fancy extended chords and stuff but don't have enough channels to include all the notes, you can drop some of the unimportant ones, like the 5th, the root, etc...

Nullatrum wrote:

Any other good classical + chip things?

http://rainwarrior.ca/music/classic_chips.html

https://soundcloud.com/ubiktune/an-age- … tary-pride (original fugue at the end)

"The Swan" homage

To answer your question directly... Yes, chords are perfectly ok with less than 5 channels if you can manage to find a way to make them work. I've been in chiptune compos where the theme was to "only use chords" in an NES composition, haha.  An important aspect of chiptune is trying to push the hardware to produce cool things through it's limitations. For example:

https://bitpuritans.bandcamp.com/track/dove-dome - This track uses piano samples imported into the NES's DPCM ("wave") channel (using no extensions) to get some nice piano chords into it.

But notes from two different channels can be held at the same time, right? So what if two or more channels are made to sound the exact same way (both the same square wave, for example, with same volume timbre/etc) can there then be chords based off of that aggregate?

Yes. If the platform you're using has the capability to do that, yes, there's nothing stopping you. 8-bit music can literally do whatever you want it to do if it has the capacity to do so.

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195 Reply by SketchMan3

(28 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Nullatrum wrote:

What do you mean with "wave" channels? isn't that a little redundant. Do you just mean any type of wave can be made there?

Yeah, basically. It means that the waveform is highly customizable, i.e. can actually be programmed to playback recorded sound samples (snare drum, vocal, etc).

I would invite you to explore chiptune from various hardware sources. sandneil's list is good.

Gameboy: check out artists like Trey Frey, roboctopus, nitro2k01, BitShifter, Danimal Cannon, e-s-c, Alberto "Joe McAlby" Gonzalez, this: https://cheapbeatsmusic.bandcamp.com/al … herent-fix for an idea of different approaches for using Gameboy

NES: classic video game soundtracks, Fearofdark's "Coffee Zone", 2a03 Puritans, the Famitracker forums, that one guy... uh what's his name.. Virt Kaufman? I'm sure there are plenty that I'm overlooking... but that's what comes to me off the top of my head.

C64: idk... Rob Hubbard, Tim Follin? Not really up on who is pouring their heart and soul into C64 sid music these days.

ZX Spectrum: Yerzmyey.
ZX Beeper: MR BEEP

Genesis: Jredd, classic video game soundtracks (Outrun, Sonic, etc)

Check out battleofthebits.org and listen to random stuff from there. They cover a ton of chiptune platforms

Also, NES can make use of expansion chips that increase the number of channels available beyond just 5. personal favorites of mine are the VRC6 chip and the MMC5 chip.

VRC6 adds 2 pulse channels with a wider range of width options, plus 1 saw wave channel, for a total number of 8 channels available to work with. MMC5 adds 3 pulse channels that sound identical to the stock channels, again expanding you to 8 channels of sound to work with.

Additionally, some artists utilizing the program LSDj to produce music on Gameboy, may choose to link 2 or more gameboys together.

The sky's the limit!

Edit: Also, your example video of that Bach 8-bit thing... sounds like a lazy "take a midi of a song, load it into GXSCC or some other '8-bit' soundfont, export audio" deal. I personally wouldn't trust any youtube video calling itself an "8-bit cover/remake/remix" as something to follow the example of...

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196 Reply by SketchMan3

(18 replies, posted in Software & Plug-ins)

marcb0t wrote:
Princedmorn wrote:

Thank you everyone for the responses! I'm just looking for the best way to get a sound similar to Nobuo Uemastu's Final Fantasy VI or Yasunori Mitsuda's Chrono Trigger. They are what influenced me to compose my own music, and I would like to incorporate that with this software.

Ah! Those are actually Super Nintendo games you mentioned. You have to use samples for that.

I recommend getting the actual sample set from those particular games, for starters.

Then using a program like Open MPT, use 8 channels ONLY, using the samples. This stays within the SNES limits.

Open up Super Nintendo game music file (in SPC format) with this utility: http://www.dwedit.org/dwedit_board/atta … p?item=348

Follow the instructions on the last post found on this thread: http://www.zophar.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8085

Don't forget to download OpenMPT: http://openmpt.org/

OpenMPT will allow you to design music for the SNES by opening up the IT file that is produced by the first utility I linked to you.

I'll be looking into how to convert that back to an SNES file afterwards.

You know what'd be cool? if people used their own samples to make tunes that they convert to spc, then reripped the samples back from SNES and then they'd be legit SNES samples big_smile

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197 Reply by SketchMan3

(13 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Fearofdark's "Motorway" Is pretty high quality stuff. Idk if it's what you're into, but it's great.

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198 Reply by SketchMan3

(4 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

I'm not looking to build and code one myself, but if that's the only option... it could be fun, i suppose... that'd be my last resort.

katsumbhong wrote:

I've been using a Retro-bit NES to USB adapter dongle for years without issues.

I've been looking at those. Sounds promising.

Thanks.

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199 Reply by SketchMan3

(18 replies, posted in Software & Plug-ins)

The NES music writing program Famitracker supports composing with the VRC6 expansion channels.

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200 Topic by SketchMan3

(4 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Looking to get myself a late christmas gift that i've had on the backburner for years now... Wanting to connect my NES controller to my PC. I've seen some mixed reviews for several NES to USB adapters on Amazon. Anybody got any tried and true suggestions?

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201 Reply by SketchMan3

(3 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Find low quality synthesized rock/metal drum and guitar power chord audio samples and sequence them = insta megaman x

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202 Reply by SketchMan3

(3 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Game Radio can record

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203 Reply by SketchMan3

(21 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

Pretty cool to see y'all in action composing on the fly with these things big_smile

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204 Reply by SketchMan3

(85 replies, posted in Collaborations)

Maybe I'll try and write something that sounds like thrash

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205 Reply by SketchMan3

(227 replies, posted in Other Vintage Computers & Consoles)

Can't wait to hear the music y'all create with this

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206 Reply by SketchMan3

(15 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Various Fearofdark tracks are very tastily guitar wanky

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207 Reply by SketchMan3

(28 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

for those whose noses are not in the know, what is this?

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208 Reply by SketchMan3

(24 replies, posted in General Discussion)

tearauth wrote:

Start by lurking on streets and park benches with a notepad, writing down what you notice. Then, lock yourself in a room and turn off the lights, and wait for your inner feelings to become so powerful.. they become a weapon. Use that weapon to get your message across. Shout that message from atop a mountain..

Dibs on Harribit the Spy as chiptune artist name

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