kineticturtle
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Matthew Joseph Payne

It is pretty common to go into a guitar store saying you want to get started, and being told to get either a strat and an amp, or a basic acoustic guitar. Why? Because they are somewhat universal, cheap but generally okay in quality and readily available, and what you learn on either will be easy to transfer to other gear as your ability and preferences mature and develop.

I too prefer the telecaster sound, but I have developed that preference over years of experience, just as most who work with a particular interface to work in chip have developed their preferences over time.

Although what one will learn in LSDJ is not necessarily as universal to other interfaces as learning on one type of guitar is to other guitars, it is easy to get and well supported, and will teach you how to work with limitations in terms of sound, interface, channel count, etc etc.

Besides, gameboy music is probably his best bet based on budget and available gear.

George
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Cambridge UK

Not all "chipmusic" is made via trackers.

Frostbyte
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Yeah but stuff made in FL studio or whatever is fakebit and not really using a sound chip.

This is unimportant, where most people start is either Famitracker or LSDJ, so there's nothing wrong with recommending these things.

kineticturtle
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Matthew Joseph Payne

You know what I mean. Learning one type of chip interface is always helpful in learning another. Mostly you're learning about how older, limited audio platforms work, which is essential to the genre, even if you're not working on actual older hardware platforms. It teaches you the history of the style.

I'm not saying everyone should start on LSDJ, I'm just saying that it's an entirely defensible suggestion to a beginner who doesn't know what they want to do.

infradead
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Tacoma WA

i really like nanovoice personally. but we are kind of going off topic.


wills316 wrote:

Hi, I'm new here (sorry if this is the wrong section to post this in, move it if it is). I thought I'd begin by introducing myself: I'm wills316 (or Will in real life) and I got into chipmusic maybe September 2010 when I heard the Chipmusic artists Mark DeNardo, Covox and ComputeHer on the internet. [/qoute]

awesome!

[qoute]I'd like to ask if anyone has suggestions for starting to make my own chipmusic. What would be the best type of Gameboy to get for a beginner? I already have two Gameboy Advances (not the SP versions) but I want something different like a Gameboy Colour or an original 1989 one. What one might be better for a total beginner?

go with whatever you can find on the cheap.  if you decide you are into then waste... .... .....   er spend money on prosounding and backlights.

I can afford to spend maybe £60 on new stuff (or about 100 dollars for you USA dwellers out there). Also which program should I buy? I've been looking into getting the ROM for LSDJ flashed onto a GB cartridge but I don't know much about how to do this. Basically all I'm asking for is a little help with getting started. I appreciate it smile

so what is your musical background if any?
how do you feel about learning hex?  (personally a deal breaker for me, but then i like nanoloop so its fine)

maybe you'd prefer using your currant DAW and adding plogue chipsounds to your VST arsenal.  a program made by a really really well respect developer who researched the living hell out of old consoles and chips to make it

4mat
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Frostbyte wrote:

Yeah but stuff made in FL studio or whatever is fakebit and not really using a sound chip.

This is unimportant, where most people start is either Famitracker or LSDJ, so there's nothing wrong with recommending these things.

Not to derail the thread but can you refrain from using the term "fakebit"?  It's often bandied about more as a detrimental term and nobody really has a specific technical description for it.    Calling some guy's work "fakebit" because they do it a different way to yourself is just ridiculous, especially as most chip music is distributed purely as audio rather than source files these days.  In that context what tools they use are completely irrelevant.

George
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Cambridge UK

Don't listen to 4mat, he's fakebit.

herr_prof
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Unsubscribe

FAHEYBIT FOREVER

wills316
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Dorset, UK
infradead wrote:

so what is your musical background if any?
how do you feel about learning hex?  (personally a deal breaker for me, but then i like nanoloop so its fine)

Well I can play the trombone but I'm not convinced that's really related to chipmusic! I'm also semi-familiar with hex so that may help if I need to know that for using LSDJ or whatever.
Oh yeah, and what does fakebit mean? I'm new to all this.

Last edited by wills316 (Apr 10, 2011 10:44 pm)

George
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Cambridge UK
kineticturtle wrote:

You know what I mean. Learning one type of chip interface is always helpful in learning another. Mostly you're learning about how older, limited audio platforms work, which is essential to the genre, even if you're not working on actual older hardware platforms. It teaches you the history of the style.

I'm not saying everyone should start on LSDJ, I'm just saying that it's an entirely defensible suggestion to a beginner who doesn't know what they want to do.

How does that teach you "history of the style"?

Learning Latin doesn't teach you linguistics.
Knowing how to code in 6502 assembly doesn't give you a Ph D. in computer history.

George
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Cambridge UK

Oh and "fakebit" means that the person using the term is talking out of his ass.

Saskrotch
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Chicago IL

why are you doing this

4mat
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wills316 wrote:

Oh yeah, and what does fakebit mean? I'm new to all this.

Traditionally chipmusic (when talking about the tracks from videogames and demos) is made using soundchips within computers or consoles.  For example the 2A03 in the NES, the SID out of the c64 and so on.   But there are many other ways of generating simple waveforms, as an example the Amiga has a 4-channel digital sampling chip called Paula.  While it doesn't have dedicated oscillators for generating waves you can still use tiny sample waveforms and modulate those to create the chip aesthetic, same with the chip in the PC Engine and many others.   The Gameboy soundchip itself shares some similarities in it's waveform channel, something that is entirely missed by a good portion of the people yelling "fakebit".

So then, "what is fakebit"?  It's commonly described as using either a software or sampling method to create the chip aesthetic , rather than a dedicated soundchip.  That's the technical term.   However it's used mostly in the chipscene by people who think using sampling trackers, VSTs or other tools is somehow "cheating".  That because you're not slaving over LSDJ or SDI the process of writing music is easier.  That because you have more than 4 channels you're "not doing it right".  Stupidly it's even been used to describe 8-bit tools in emulators, where writing a song on Nanoloop in an emulator makes it fakebit, rather than using a real DMG to write it.

Apart from anything else terms like Fakebit stop people experimenting and we have to have progress in this scene always.   Look at the scene in 2011, for the most part people are releasing albums as streamable files now and they're adding post-production and other instrumentation.  Does this stop it being authentic?  Of course not.

Theta_Frost
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Milwaukee, WI

I'd say George hit on one of the biggest points.  Listen to LOADS of chipmusic before you start writing any.  Once your digging that specific sound buy just one console/computer/machine and focus COMPLETELY on that one avenue.  I can't tell you how much crap I've spent because I've been indecisive and bought different things while not focusing enough on my music.  i.e. If you like STu, go find yourself an Atari ST and use it to its full potential before adding other things to your setup.  You'll spend money on the right gear that is directly applicable to how you're writing music, and how you WANT to be doing it.

P.S.  Having some knowledge in music theory will help tremendously.  I've been studying it for about a year and personally my music has come out much better and more to how I want it to sound.

Last edited by Theta_Frost (Apr 11, 2011 12:05 am)

Frostbyte
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George wrote:

Oh and "fakebit" means that the person using the term is talking out of his ass.

Thanks buddy...actually, it means that someone made it in modern software using the same waves that a console would use. There's nothing wrong with this, it's just a different medium than actually making it on a console. It's not me talking out of my ass.

For example, if I used a synth in FL studio and set it only to triangle waves and wrote my bass in there, then another instrument on square waves and wrote my melody in there, that would be fakebit. It sounds like 8 bit and what not, just not written on an NES or a gameboy.

George
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Cambridge UK

My definition is more accurate because it is more accurate.