• Chiptune Thread: v. F#-3 00 B
    5 replies, posted
Hello everyone, my name is wauterboi and I have an interest in chiptune music. Well, not just me, but tons of people! I figured I should introduce the world and discussion of chiptune to Facepunch's very own Musician's Gig Room. [b]What is "chiptune"?[/b] Chiptune/Chipmusic (or Micromusic for the picky) is a genre or method of creating music, usually utilizing outdated hardware, such as old games consoles. Although most of the time when you hear "chiptune" you may think of Anamanaguchi, or what most people think is chiptune, which is mostly just Gameboy EDM, however Chiptune covers a massive spectrum of music. Anything from the modern-classical music heard in games like Castlevania, to the 90's slap bass music of the alter megaman games is all under the wide umbrella known as chiptune. A brief history would start with the introduction of home computers, such as the C64, ZX Spectrum and the BBC Micro, tracking programs on the commodore inspired PC trackers on Amiga, many of which would be used for "scene" releases, as well as used in cracktros. Even recent computers can create chip, utilizing the OPL3 sounds of various soundblaster cards. If we were to look at console chiptune, we would look at the sick-nasty (but out of tune) tones made by the Atari 2600, then the notorious 2A03 chip found in the NES, as well as the introduction of FL Synthesis in the Megadrive/Genesis. Portable consoles have also had their fair share of memorable soundchips, most notable the Z80 chip used in the Nintendo Gameboy (DMG for short) [b]How do I make chiptune?[/b] It depends on how devoted and crazy you are for authenticity. If you're like some of my friends, you can use a special program on flashcartridges (imagine R4s for gameboy) specially made for DJ'ing, old-school tracking, or straight-up MIDI. An example of what one of my friends use is for the gameboy, titled "Little Sound DJ", and can be found here: [url]http://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/[/url] LSDJ is one of the most widely used pieces of chiptune software out there, although it has a steep learning curve (from a DAW or in some cases, nothing) it is a very rewarding program to use, and a vital bit of kit in any chiptune artists' repertoire. [img]http://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/shots/phrase.gif[/img] If you're looking for something a little more "oldskool" there are a plethora of options for tracking on the C64, SIDwizard is a popular choice, the ever glorious ant1 has written a [url=http://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/8104/c64-music-for-dummies-c64-tutorial/]very in-depth guide[/url] on getting started with it. Any program used to write natively on a console can be used almost as effectively in an emulator, as of today, BGB is the most accurate Gameboy emulator out there, designed for programmers to write, without having to test on an actual gameboy. [b]HOWEVER[/b] IF you're more of a PC based person, or are just someone who feels more comfortable typing, rather than entering values by hand, then there are even more options available to you. The infamous FamiTracker (Alpine/absolalone111's tracker of choice) is a program used to write NES music and are responsible for such crazy creations as this: [video=youtube;K8C8vGRlxZM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8C8vGRlxZM[/video] The amazingly adorable [url=http://chibitech.bandcamp.com/album/moe-moe-kyunstep]chibi-tech[/url] manages to push the NES/famicom to it's limits with every song, each more insane than the last. Famitracker is the most accurate emulation of the NES, outside of using one yourself. Anything you write in famitracker will be re-playable on your NES/Famicom using the correct kit. IF you're using a non-standard expansion chip, things might get harder for you. It also contains several helpful features, rendering to an NES rom, rendering to an NSF for playback on an NES, or for certain players, and obviously .WAV exporting. Famitracker is damn good at doing what it does, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who in interested in tracking and getting into chiptune, it is by far the easiest bit of software for even an amateur to learn and use. There are other PC options, if you're into writing tracker modules, the kind used in cracktros and demoscene releases (artists such as dubmood and skaven) then you'll want something like OpenMPT (-dsck-/Weirdness' tracker of choice) a very diverse tracker that lets you create .xm .it .s3x .mod and it's own format, so you can find the one that works best for you. It has a very similar interface, but different note input methods from famitracker, as well as different shortkeys, meaning that switching between them can be a bit of a pain at first, but isn't to hard. I'm all about emulation in the form of plugins. I like using VSTi's and Soundfonts in my DAW of choice (which, hilariously enough, is a modular tracker for Windows 98 but unrelated to chiptune). VSTi's like famisynth and magic8bitplug can produce sounds like this in any program that sports VST's: [video=youtube;x__imaLNYRo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x__imaLNYRo&noredirect=1[/video] The cool thing about VSTi's is you can change the sound dynamically, whereas Soundfonts are simply recordings with only ADSR. [b]Resources[/b] Hardware-related utilities: [url=http://www.soniktech.com/chipmaestro/]Information regarding "Chip Maestro", an NES cartridge that turns your NES into a MIDI-controlled instrument[/url] [url=www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/]Little Sound Dj: A program that allows you to produce and DJ using the Game Boy and Game Boy Color[/url] Free Programs: [url=http://famitracker.com/]FamiTracker: Program that allows you to emulate the Ricoh sound chip from the NES (as well as expansion chips) and produce chiptune[/url] [url=http://openmpt.org/]OpenMPT: Tracker for PC module files such as .it .xm and .mod[/url] Free VSTs [url=http://www.tweakbench.com/]Tweakbench suite: Various NES synths (not very dynamic, they basically just play NES samples but are good), various degradation effects, and various weird unrelated plugins[/url] [url=http://www.ymck.net/en/download/magical8bitplug/]Magic 8-Bit Plug: Very basic NES synth that does the job well. You can go a long way with this one![/url] [url=http://www.geocities.jp/mu_station/]FamiSynth: NES goodness with a little more configuration than Magic 8-Bit Plug While this is all in Japanese, the latest version of Famisynth is hosted here. I use the old version like a weirdo. I've gotta get with the times.[/url] [url=http://www.preromanbritain.com/ymvst/]ymVST: Atari! Has proven to be a little bit unstable in the past (at least in my use), but is good[/url] [url=http://www.geocities.jp/sam_kb/VOPM/]VOPM: It's a Genesis VSTi that's weird to use but, with persistent learning, can be used to play ripped synths from actual Genesis ROMS! I will post a tutorial in the future.[/url] [url=http://delamanchavst.wordpress.com/instruments/]basic64/basic65: A Commodore 64 [i]inspired[/i] VSTi that does a pretty swell job. Lots of arpy goodness.[/url] [url=http://tonebytes.com/bleep/]Bleep: Another Commodore 64 [i]inspired[/i] VST.[/url] [url=http://chips.site90.com/]Dream64: This is more along the lines of genuine emulation as opposed to mere inspiration of the Commodore 64. (as far as I can tell at least)[/url] Stuff to blow money on: [url=http://www.plogue.com/products/chipsounds/]Chipsounds: ”The most authentic emulation of C64, Nes, Vic20, Gameboy, and Atari 2600 sound chips I’ve ever heard!” (used by the musician behind the Portal 2 soundtrack)[/url] [b]Conclusion[/b] I will update this first post with cleanliness, more info, and possibly some of your own work! Please contribute your awesomeness whether it's knowledge, experience, discussion, or your own music.
Ah man, I've always wanted to make things like desert planets tracks. It's a finnish bit-pop duo [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz-ejmkw7fc[/media] It's not proper chiptune I know dont go crazy elitists but its awesome. Maybe I'll try my hands at famitracker dunno
I was using MilkyTracker for a while before I switch to OpenMPT. They're both free, opensource chiptrackers. Milkytracker is 8/16 bit only and is rather limited technically, whereas OpenMPT has much more potential. Also, Milkytracker uses .xm and OpenMPT uses .it. There's not too much difference from what i've noticed except you have much more control over an instrument's volume (you have 2 sliders instead of just one, unless you want to personally set every single note volume to what you want). OpenMPT also supports .xm and a bunch others. I'm also currently composing for an indie dev...
Hey, my name's Alpine and I make music primarily in famitracker, although I have been known to use other pieces of software such as OpenMPT. Here's my most recently released track, although I have some non famitracker shizz in the works atm. [media]http://soundcloud.com/alp1ne/foxconn[/media] I also [url=http://horobox.co.uk/u/Alpine_1400665656.txt]re-wrote some bits of the OP[/url] to give more info on stuff I know about, I haven't added anything about 1-bit trackers, and I've missed out some key shit (LGPT mainly) but some other trackers and systems you can track on, as well as the up and coming nerdsynth. I have a basic knowledge of a lot of things, but an in-depth knowledge of very few, I'll be hanging around and answering questions on a daily basis.
Who was the guy who had that title that said something like "2gb of chiptunes".
that'd be [url=http://www.facepunch.com/members/90100-Natrox]Natrox[/url], you mghit want to get xmplay if you're planning on downloading the archive.
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