11-07-2011, 01:54 PM
I read a little of the text above due to being at work (I can't read it all, sadly), but the topic is so interesting I think I could add a little.
I make NSF chiptunes since 3~4 years ago, so in this time, I figured some techniques that can be useful to anyone interested in making NES chiptune.
First of all, I'll be talking about square waves since they're the principal sound channels. Basically, the two square channels have four 'duty cycles' which changes the way the note sounds. They're as follows:
0- an 'open' sound. See Metroid's Brinstar for this type of sound.
1- a more suave sound, reminescent of a piano. Later Konami games used this duty cycle regularly. See Gradius II/Contra music for this type of sound.
2- the classic square wave sound. This one was extensively used in older games. See Metroid's 'Kraid's Lair', SMB's 'Overworld' or Kid Icarus' 'Underworld' for this type of wave.
3- it's virtually the same as 1.
The composers (principally the late ones) varied a lot between those sounds to make the song richer in detail. Usually, they used the duties as TheouAegis said, but in addition to that, they also:
*made echoes in the lead instrument, by writing the lead in the channel 1 and rewriting the same notes, although delayed some seconds, and with lower volume. The effect is greater if the lead is set at duty 1/3 and the echo, at 2, and even more if the echo is slighty detuned with fine-pitching.
*didn't use note cut, favouring sudden volume drops instead (e.g playing a note at volume 100, then suddenly dropping it to 5). This way, they emulated echoes with only one channel, leaving the channel 2 free.
*made more convincing instruments by using more than one duty at a time. For example, you can make good overdrive guitars by making an instrument that plays duty 1 for a split second then goes to duty 0.
*Nothing says that you can't use square waves as bass. You might get some nice swing if you use squares for bassline, as they're more versatile and flexible than the triangle wave. The main melody will suffer a little, though. See Kirby's Adventure music.
*Better bass can be obtained with triangle wave if you set it to play one octave higher for a split second. It gives it more 'punch' to it.
*latin-style music claves can be obtained with triangles if you play a very high note in a split second.
*It can be used as lead and harmony to duty 2 square leads. See Kirby's Adventure music for examples.
*Triangle, despite having fixed volume, can have volume changes if DPCM is played. Using this right, you could even make nice echo-y effects with it (although with some audible pops).
*noise snares will sound better if you set it a certain pitch slide to it. Konami did this in its games. In Famitracker strings, that would be 0 8 6 4 2 -1 1 0.
*better snares are achieved by playing a DPCM sample and noise snare together.
*You can also get nice crash cymbals if you use the same pitch described above, with an even longer volume fadeout. If you insert a small fadein before the down slope, it'll sound even more convincing.
*DPCM is hard to use because its 16kb limit and low-quality sampling kills triangle and noise's volume. It's necessary to reduce it and tilt the wave nearer to 0 to avoid pops.
*DPCM is capable of producing bass sounds. See Sunsoft's Batman or Gremlin. Though, it sacrifices sampled percussion.
*Orchestra hits are also possible (see Recca/Super C), though a square wave with arpeggio set to 12 0 and fade out volume in famitracker produces satisfatory results.
*Voice is also prefectly possible in NSF. Check The Adventures of Bayou Billy or S.C.A.T.
*make sure the samples are audible. They tend to get lost when a lot of instruments play.
*theorically, you could get past the 16kb limit of the NSF by 'converting all the space inside the cartridge into sample space'. Famitracker allows this in a bug, and homebrew people already inserted high-quality samples in a real unmodified NES cartridge, though the sample was so big there was not enough space for actual gaming.
I make NSF chiptunes since 3~4 years ago, so in this time, I figured some techniques that can be useful to anyone interested in making NES chiptune.
First of all, I'll be talking about square waves since they're the principal sound channels. Basically, the two square channels have four 'duty cycles' which changes the way the note sounds. They're as follows:
0- an 'open' sound. See Metroid's Brinstar for this type of sound.
1- a more suave sound, reminescent of a piano. Later Konami games used this duty cycle regularly. See Gradius II/Contra music for this type of sound.
2- the classic square wave sound. This one was extensively used in older games. See Metroid's 'Kraid's Lair', SMB's 'Overworld' or Kid Icarus' 'Underworld' for this type of wave.
3- it's virtually the same as 1.
The composers (principally the late ones) varied a lot between those sounds to make the song richer in detail. Usually, they used the duties as TheouAegis said, but in addition to that, they also:
*made echoes in the lead instrument, by writing the lead in the channel 1 and rewriting the same notes, although delayed some seconds, and with lower volume. The effect is greater if the lead is set at duty 1/3 and the echo, at 2, and even more if the echo is slighty detuned with fine-pitching.
*didn't use note cut, favouring sudden volume drops instead (e.g playing a note at volume 100, then suddenly dropping it to 5). This way, they emulated echoes with only one channel, leaving the channel 2 free.
*made more convincing instruments by using more than one duty at a time. For example, you can make good overdrive guitars by making an instrument that plays duty 1 for a split second then goes to duty 0.
*Nothing says that you can't use square waves as bass. You might get some nice swing if you use squares for bassline, as they're more versatile and flexible than the triangle wave. The main melody will suffer a little, though. See Kirby's Adventure music.
*Better bass can be obtained with triangle wave if you set it to play one octave higher for a split second. It gives it more 'punch' to it.
*latin-style music claves can be obtained with triangles if you play a very high note in a split second.
*It can be used as lead and harmony to duty 2 square leads. See Kirby's Adventure music for examples.
*Triangle, despite having fixed volume, can have volume changes if DPCM is played. Using this right, you could even make nice echo-y effects with it (although with some audible pops).
*noise snares will sound better if you set it a certain pitch slide to it. Konami did this in its games. In Famitracker strings, that would be 0 8 6 4 2 -1 1 0.
*better snares are achieved by playing a DPCM sample and noise snare together.
*You can also get nice crash cymbals if you use the same pitch described above, with an even longer volume fadeout. If you insert a small fadein before the down slope, it'll sound even more convincing.
*DPCM is hard to use because its 16kb limit and low-quality sampling kills triangle and noise's volume. It's necessary to reduce it and tilt the wave nearer to 0 to avoid pops.
*DPCM is capable of producing bass sounds. See Sunsoft's Batman or Gremlin. Though, it sacrifices sampled percussion.
*Orchestra hits are also possible (see Recca/Super C), though a square wave with arpeggio set to 12 0 and fade out volume in famitracker produces satisfatory results.
*Voice is also prefectly possible in NSF. Check The Adventures of Bayou Billy or S.C.A.T.
*make sure the samples are audible. They tend to get lost when a lot of instruments play.
*theorically, you could get past the 16kb limit of the NSF by 'converting all the space inside the cartridge into sample space'. Famitracker allows this in a bug, and homebrew people already inserted high-quality samples in a real unmodified NES cartridge, though the sample was so big there was not enough space for actual gaming.
![[Image: deT1vCJ.png]](http://i.imgur.com/deT1vCJ.png)