Chipmusic FAQ : New to Chipmusic? Read this! (Page 1 of 6)

› Preamble, "Is using a modern solution "fakebit""?

‹ Preamble, "Is using a modern solution "fakebit""?

Lets slay that dragon now, fakebit is a poorly defined term which seems to get thrown around when elitists feel chipmusic is lacking authenticity or occasionally as a joke term. I have created a simple flow chart to help you deal with the term when you hear it.

Fakebit flowchat

"I heard someone using the term fakebit and they weren't joking" -------> Make a mental note that are probably an idiot, Ignore them and go about making your music.

Moving on,

› How do I make Chip music for modern PCs with a modern DAW?

‹ How do I make Chip music for modern PCs with a modern DAW?

If you are using modern composition software such as Ableton, FL Studio, Sonar, etc using a VST is a pretty good way to begin. The most comprehensive is almost certainly Chipsounds by David Plogue.

› How do I make chip music on a modern PC with a modern tracker?

‹ How do I make chip music on a modern PC with a modern tracker?

There are a several modern trackers in development:

Renoise (Win/Mac/Linux)
Incredibly full featured and has a free demo and is in very active development.

OpenMPT (Win only)
Not quite as full featured as Renoise but a very good tracker with VST support

› How do I make music on a modern PC with a retro style tracker?

‹ How do I make music on a modern PC with a retro style tracker?

There are some good choices here too:

Sunvox (Free - Win/Mac/Linux/PalmOS) (Paid - iOS)
Flexible modular tracker with numerous synths & effects

Klystrack (Win/Mac/Linux)
Old school, AHX inspired tracker.

Milkytracker (Win/Mac/Linux)
Modern sample based tracker designed to be compatible with the classic DOS based Fast Tracker 2.

For retro Trackers on modern PCs emulating classic consoles, see the next section.

› How do make music on my PC for NES/Famicom?

‹ How do make music on my PC for NES/Famicom?

You lucky person, provided you are using Windows Famitracker has you covered, it exports to NSF, supports several expansion chips and has a very helpful community

› How do make music on my PC for c64?

‹ How do make music on my PC for c64?

While it might not be quite so beginner friendly, Goattracker is  a powerful tracker for windows for the c64 SID chips. Here is a tutorial to get you started.

› How do I make music on my PC for Sega Megadrive/Genesis, Neo Geo?

‹ How do I make music on my PC for Sega Megadrive/Genesis, Neo Geo?

Another windows only tracker, VGM Maker covers MD/Genesis tracking very well. As does Daleks Deflemask.

› How do I make music on my PC for ZX Spectrum?

‹ How do I make music on my PC for ZX Spectrum?

Try Vortex Tracker and take a look at Ant1's tutorial. Or, if you like your music ultra lo-tec try this Beepola for 1k chip music.

› How do I make chip music on a NES?

‹ How do I make chip music on a NES?

You need a NES from ebay, a Powerpack and one of Neil Baldwin's creations, NTRQ, Pulsar or PR8 which you can download here.

Please note you can try any of the programs in the emulator Nintendulator before you buy any hardware to see if you like them.

› How do I make Chipmusic on a Gameboy?

‹ How do I make Chipmusic on a Gameboy?

You need to buy a gameboy from Ebay, you need to buy a flashcart, for which I recommend Kitsch's Store, then you need a copy of LSDJ. Check Kitsch's FAQ for information on getting LSDJ onto the cartridge. Another option for buying LSDJ would be Nonfinite's Shop, he also has a nice clear FAQ on getting LSDJ onto your cart. Also condsider Nanoloop 1.5

Please note, you can use a DMG Classic (DMG), GB pocket, GB Color, GBA, GBA SP for LSDJ and Nanoloop. You do not need to Prosound your DMG to use either program, prosounding your gameboy will have a fairly small effect on the sound quality of your DMG and no effect at all on your talent as a musician.

Again, to avoid spending cash you don't need to, both Nanoloop and LSDJ have demo versions available on their respective home-pages which you can try with an emulator.

› How do I make music on Atari ST?

‹ How do I make music on Atari ST?

You use MaxYMizer of course!

› How do I make music on Amiga?

‹ How do I make music on Amiga?

Well first you should read this thread from Akira, then you might like to try Octamed after reading this tutorial