inkBot
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I did a search and didn't find a thread on this specific topic, so I'm making a thead about it. Still a possibility of me missing one, but anyway.

I've been using the YM2612 vst by Landon Podbielski found here http://www.ym2612.wonthelp.info/

I've also been looking at the FMDrive vst by Aly James, not a stranger to these forums from what I could see while searching.

They do very similar things and I'd like to know, from people that have used both, which one they prefer, what they think of each, etc. YM2612 sounds good when in use, but FMDrive seems more well thought out when it comes to presets and all that. (From what I can gather YM2612 was made by Podbielski for personal use and then distributed it, which could explain some things about the UI). There's no demo version of FMDrive to my knowledge, so I can't just poke at it to judge for myself before spending money on it.

Thanks.

Last edited by inkBot (Jun 25, 2015 8:08 pm)

my.Explosion
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Finland

Yeah FMDrive is more geared towards "real" emulation. There's a ton of stuff in there you can change if you know what the heck it does. I don't. I'm not great at programming that damn chip. Also, it's like 15 bucks? that's pocket change compared to some other VSTs out there. Spend it if you can, Aly James rules. smile

I've only checked out YM2612 briefly. But as far as emulating the YM2612 chip, I think FMDrive is the fullest around likely.

gotoandplay
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Not used either, but FMdrive seems to advertise itself as having vgm export capability, whereas im not sure the other one does. Depends if youre all that interested on the idea of it being playable on a megadrive?

RatShack
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Philly

Landon wrote an improved one that incorporates PSG called Genny.  http://www.wonthelp.info/GENNY_beta_2.zip

It works pretty well, I like it, though the PCM/drum channel mapping is weird.  I emailed him asking if there was any way I could remap it to standard GM mapping and got no response.  It does have VGM file logging though, here's a track I made with it: http://battleofthebits.org/arena/Entry/ … ine/16731/ I didn't spend any time fine tuning the mixing because there was about 2 hours left in the compo.  I confused a LOT of people submitting a legit VGM file created purely with FL and a VST. 

Apparently he also got drunk one night and ported MAME/Gens' YM2612 and PSG emulation from C++ to C#/XNA 4.0/Monogame and made a VGM player.  It works pretty well and I plan on using it if I ever manage to get something on Xbox Live Indie Games on the 360.  I asked his opinion on how difficult it would be to port MAME's YM2413 core into it but surprise, no response.

I'm pretty much done trying to interact with him directly since I might as well be interacting with a brick wall.  At least I did get a steam key to beta test Duck Game.  Still have a spare one if anyone wants it, but you need a modern style controller or at least a genesis 6 button.

Last edited by RatShack (Jun 27, 2015 1:12 am)

herr_prof
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Unsubscribe

I havent tried it but have you tried editing drummap.txt? It has note numbers so maybe you can just remap it to a GM default?

radian
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Brighton

Try twitter instead of email ?

RatShack
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Philly
herr_prof wrote:

I havent tried it but have you tried editing drummap.txt? It has note numbers so maybe you can just remap it to a GM default?

Yeah it didn't do anything.  I think it's just a reference or wasn't implemented.

NoyzBotChip
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Atlanta, GA

If you want to get to Aly, hit him up on facebook. dude checks that page like nobody's business.

Vaina Moinen
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FMDrive is fantastic, one of the best VST's around, and as previously mentioned, cheaper than pizza.

I've tried using YM2612 in the past, and it crashed every time I opened it. Could be some problem on my end, but it's not even worth the effort to try to make it work when FMDrive is already there.

Vaina Moinen
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Double post.

Last edited by Vaina Moinen (Jun 28, 2015 6:34 pm)

n00bstar
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Montreal, Canada

I find DAWs to be an awful interface for chipmusic. MIDI feels too loose and lacks the surgical precision of a dedicated chip tracker. You end up falling a "patch" mindset where you work a sound up in a VST and then just trigger it with little modification, as opposed to manipulating basic oscillators on a per-tick level like you do in a tracker.

But that being said, I do use Cubase a whole lot, just not for chiptunes. I tried FMDrive back when it came out, it was a stellar piece of software. Aly James is definitely involved in his work and his stuff is rock fucking solid. The interface is infinitely more friendly than YM2612, and for ten euros, you can't really regret the purchase. All of his stuff is top notch.

cyberic
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n00bstar wrote:

The interface is infinitely more friendly than YM2612

I don't really like the interface. It tries to look like a genesis, with sonic stuff, big buttons and such, but I find it is confusing.
Some functions are hard to find because you don' t even know if it is a drawing or a clickable zone...
but it is powerful, yes, and allows to tweak everything

n00bstar
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Montreal, Canada

Yeah the interface is way too graphical for me too, but it's leagues above the page of pixel sliders with abbreviated names of the other one.

PULSELOOPER
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São Paulo, Brazil
gotoandplay wrote:

Not used either, but FMdrive seems to advertise itself as having vgm export capability, whereas im not sure the other one does. Depends if youre all that interested on the idea of it being playable on a megadrive?

I asked Aly a while about the .vgm export, he said it's still on the plans. But yeah, I agree he should advertise this as a work in progress thing.

From the official page: "Every registers are automatable in your DAW of choice via MIDI for awesome results and the output can be converted later into a .VGM file."

inkBot
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Thanks for the replies. Been interesting reading the various opinions on the matter.

I decided to put the money down and get FMDrive. Might be my imagination, but I feel I can hear a difference between it and Genny/YM2612. As for Genny vs YM2612. Genny has a bigger UI, and that feels pretty much it. It seems much the same otherwise, aside from the PSG side of things.

I haven't messed around with FMDrive too much yet, just got it, so I'm not 100% sure about using it for drums. There's a ton of tfi's to go through, so there might be something there to work with, but there's so much and it's not really labeled outside of what game the instruments came from originally (though, considering the sheer bulk of it, I can understand that it's not feasible to label everything for what is, afaik, a one-man operation). Genny had some ok sounding drums in it, so for now I'll be using Genny for that and FMDrive for stuff like bass and guitars.