194 Apr 15, 2011 10:59 am
Re: Chipmusic FAQ : New to Chipmusic? Read this! (83 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Pro Tracker for ZX Spectrum has nothing to do with Amiga's ProTracker. They just have the same name. The same is for Soundtracker.
195 Apr 15, 2011 6:48 am
Re: Chipmusic FAQ : New to Chipmusic? Read this! (83 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Chipmusic for classic computers on a classic computer - for ZX Spectrum:
Beeper - large list of old and some modern software is here. There are names only, but all this software is available at WorldOfSpectrum archive (enter names into search field).
AY - there are a lot of editors, but two main options are:
Soundtracker. It is old, works on 48K with AY interface, very limited in features, but if you have talent, this won't stop you.
Pro Tracker 3. It is the most recent and one of the most advanced AY trackers for ZX, but it requires 128K with TR-DOS. Latest version is here.
There are a lot of sample-based, MOD-like trackers for ZX too. They are different, require from 48 to 256K, play sound through AY (3 channels with low quality), Covox (3-4 channels), 4xCovox (4 channels with better quality), even through beeper and through a sound card. Sample Tracker is a good start, it works even on plain 48K with beeper.
196 Apr 15, 2011 6:38 am
Re: Want suggestions for starting to make my own chipmusic (66 replies, posted in General Discussion)
On-topic:
Sunvox and Psycle are both very nice, little-used options for creating whatever kind of digital music you want, if you find that you can work with modular synth trackers. Pyscle was what really opened my eyes to how much better trackers work with the way I think about music, and Sunvox really opened my eyes to the finer details of sound design/synthesis.
Hardware is fine and dandy, but fairly unimportant in the long run. You don't ever have to buy a single thing besides a computer and a nice pair of headphones to make music.
Psycle is really nice, although not ideal: it is a bit glitchy (don't forget to make backups of your songs!), not all VSTi's works with it, and 16 channels could be limiting sometimes, because tweak events are use note positions. Well, it is probably an overkill for a simple chip music, anyway.
I second about the hardware, it is not really important to have. It could be inspiring factor, though. I'm personally only use a computer, not even headphones, and I don't even have proper stereo.
197 Apr 13, 2011 10:56 am
Re: Will my SNES power supply work with my NES? (6 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
SNES uses AC-AC adapter (maybe not all the models, though), while NES AC-DC. So if you put NES adapter into SNES, it may work, but If you put SNES adapter into NES, you can damage the NES.
Generally, check if voltage and power and polarity are matches.
198 Apr 10, 2011 8:42 am
Re: A different kind of GameBoy music (12 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Green technology. Cool.
199 Mar 29, 2011 12:19 pm
Re: Noisetracker for Apple2GS in browser (2 replies, posted in Other Vintage Computers & Consoles)
Is there are some modules or sounds to load?
200 Mar 26, 2011 1:40 pm
Re: Tandy 1000 (9 replies, posted in Other Vintage Computers & Consoles)
The 3-voice sound is not just like BBC Micro or Master System, it is exactly the same (these systems has the same sound chip).
201 Feb 24, 2011 3:49 pm
Re: "Universal" Tracker (45 replies, posted in Software & Plug-ins)
Chip emulator runs in a thread, every N samples (44100/update rate) it calls a function which updates chip registers. You can't just communicate with an emulated chip like you can with a real one, because emulation is not real-time.
202 Feb 21, 2011 2:50 pm
Re: NES Audio Programming (33 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
BIN in FamiTracker's export does not include the music player, so you should both incbin the BIN and also include the player's source, and before calling the player you should tell it where the BIN located - don't know how, check the player's source.
Actually you can use NSF in your NES program, the problem is that you can't choose where the code will be located, and you'll not be able to play sound effects. It is acceptable for a simple intro or a music disc. I guess there could be problems with expansion chips, because banking could be used, for 'linear' memory model it is very simple:
lda #0 ;init music, call it once, A is song number
jsr $ac00
...
jsr $ac03 ;play music, call it every frame
...
.bank 1
.org $a2e2-$80
.incbin "music.nsf"203 Feb 18, 2011 5:51 pm
Re: "Multiple Classic Computer" hardware emulator in a box... (6 replies, posted in Other Vintage Computers & Consoles)
In the tech specs it's said the thing is FPGA-based, no CPU. VICE is software-based emulator. The only way to run it on such a system is to run a powerful CPU core in the FPGA, it would be a real waste.
204 Feb 16, 2011 10:33 am
Re: PR8 (39 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
Maybe it would be better to add built-in test in Pulsar and PR8, which will test if 32K save RAM is available and report if not? Or it is not possibe?
205 Feb 16, 2011 9:56 am
Re: a table with information about yamaha FM chips (8 replies, posted in Other Vintage Computers & Consoles)
Y8950 is basically OPL1+ADPCM in one chip.
YM2610 is 4 channels of FM, although you specified in notes that it is 6 channels. However, there is YM2610B (just one letter added), which actually has 6 channels of FM. SNK Neo Geo uses YM2610 without B.
206 Feb 5, 2011 5:20 pm
Re: music of NAMCO (9 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Music from Ace Combat 2 and Ridge Racer Type 4 was one I've liked most, even ripped it from the games on PC and listened for hours in a loop. Some music from Soul Blade/Edge (PSX version), Klonoa, and Tales of series was nice too, at least I recall it was, but I can't recall any song right now.
From earlier games, their Sega Genesis/Megadrive games had nice music, can recall Rolling Thunder 2-3, and maybe Splatterhouse 3.
207 Feb 4, 2011 10:48 pm
Re: Average time spent on creating a song- (56 replies, posted in General Discussion)
One day (few hours total, in few takes usually) to seven years, for a song 2-5 minutes long.
Some people really able to make good songs in short time, but usually short time leads to lower quality (less polished, less thought, etc). Anyone can make something in just few minutes and call it a song. On the other side, years don't mean that one works on a song all this time, every day, and songs that took that long aren't necessary the best ones.
There is important thing that you can't actually finish a song, you only can decide that it is finished and stop working on it. You can make draft version of a song and decide it is finished - this is fast. You can polish it a bit, it will take some time. You can continue to polish it, and at some point improvements turns into just changes, so they don't make the song better, but different. It could take forever.
208 Jan 28, 2011 7:39 am
Re: "Universal" Tracker (45 replies, posted in Software & Plug-ins)
I have similar idea for long time, even explained it somewhere on IRC recently. However, in my concept there is no MML, but VSTi-like modules instead. I.e., single UI program interface (allows to have different GUIs), and all the tracker logic related to sound generation, pattern data interpretation, instrument editing, is in external module(s). It is a lot of work even in simplest form (I've considered text mode based UI for start), so it is still plans for far future.