About Chiptune / 8 Bits music

[Jakos]

Lately I've been thinking about this type of music... I have been reading about it, doing some research and learning how it was made, and I saw that nowadays this music can't be made without "cheating" as long as you know "The Rules" (or limitations) they had those days and you are willing to obbey them.

So... I've been thinking how Kinuyo Yamashita, Nobuo Uematsu, Yuzo Koshiro or Koji Kondo compose those day and how can you do it nowadays?

I know, probably trackers are the answer, but I think the trackers we use now WEREN'T like those trackers. If you have ever used one (FamiTracker, MilkyTracker or FastTracker 2) you know you have a lot of options, like editing the samples, evelope volumen and various effect includded (like the famous arpeggio) and I think they didn't have those options.

So the question is: How do you compose nowadays like they did those days? or at least, the most aproximated way without "cheating", like some kind of VST that restrict you from use more that in that time you could maybe, I don't know .

Also, if anyone knows some documentary about this subject I will be pleased to learn more about it .

[Jakos]

Well, if anyone is interested (I think I'm alone) HERE is a good link I've found that explains some things, like they basically needed to learn to program.

Still I have the question, if you want to replicate the same sounds..? You need to fake them probably using a synthesizer and I think is like "cheating" some way

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Lately I've been thinking about this type of music... I have been reading about it, doing some research and learning how it was made, and I saw that nowadays this music can't be made without "cheating" as long as you know "The Rules" (or limitations) they had those days and you are willing to obbey them.

So... I've been thinking how Kinuyo Yamashita, Nobuo Uematsu, Yuzo Koshiro or Koji Kondo compose those day and how can you do it nowadays?

I know, probably trackers are the answer, but I think the trackers we use now WEREN'T like those trackers. If you have ever used one (FamiTracker, MilkyTracker or FastTracker 2) you know you have a lot of options, like editing the samples, evelope volumen and various effect includded (like the famous arpeggio) and I think they didn't have those options.

So the question is: How do you compose nowadays like they did those days? or at least, the most aproximated way without "cheating", like some kind of VST that restrict you from use more that in that time you could maybe, I don't know .

Also, if anyone knows some documentary about this subject I will be pleased to learn more about it .

Back in the 1980s and 90s, they most often used proprietary sounds built into the gaming console or whatever's sound chip and the composers just created MIDI data that triggered the sounds.

For example, I made this using samples from Capcom's old CPS2 arcade board.

Once CDs became the main storage format for games and they supported Redbook audio, the composers just used whatever sample libraries and synths they owned at the time. Really, not much has changed aside from the sounds themselves. If you want to sound like those retro games, you have to know what software or hardware was used and either obtain or emulate it.

As I understand it, the NES only had a few basic monophonic synth channels meaning an individual channel couldn't play a chord so you'd have to write more polyphonic music. Use white noise for percussion etc. Basically, just try to emulate those sounds and compose with those limitations in mind I guess.

Edited January 5, 2015 by AngelCityOutlaw

[lazygecko]

Trackers was mainly a European thing. Some who used custom-made sound drivers had it made as a tracker interface, but not everyone. The way most made music worldwide was closer to raw programming.

[theshaggyfreak]

My go to machine for chip stuff is a Commodore 64 with a MSSIAH cartridge. While I have a couple VST that I can use to emulate this sort of thing, it's definitely a fun challenge using the C64 itself.

[Eino Keskitalo]

Well, if anyone is interested (I think I'm alone) HERE is a good link I've found that explains some things, like they basically needed to learn to program.

Still I have the question, if you want to replicate the same sounds..? You need to fake them probably using a synthesizer and I think is like "cheating" some way

Wow, that's a really cool post & information (Alberto Gonzales writing his own tracker-style tool.. on ZX Spectrum.. for 8-bit Nintendo music..)

If you want to make NES-sounding music, you know that FamiTracker is built on NES emulation so that's fairly authentic. The music can be run on actual NES or Famicom hardware (see some renders here).

[Jakos]

My go to machine for chip stuff is a Commodore 64 with a MSSIAH cartridge. While I have a couple VST that I can use to emulate this sort of thing, it's definitely a fun challenge using the C64 itself.

Will you be so pleased to tell me what VST do you use to do that?

Wow, that's a really cool post & information (Alberto Gonzales writing his own tracker-style tool.. on ZX Spectrum.. for 8-bit Nintendo music..)

If you want to make NES-sounding music, you know that FamiTracker is built on NES emulation so that's fairly authentic. The music can be run on actual NES or Famicom hardware (see some renders here).

Yeah, I thought the same when I saw it the first time. And yes, FamiTracker is the most easy way to compose "NESish" music without breaking "the rules" (being limitated) like I said in the first post. It's very insteresting that can run on NES the song you made.

The other trackers let you load 1MB samples or even bigger if you want and... that wasn't possible in that time.

Trackers was mainly a European thing. Some who used custom-made sound drivers had it made as a tracker interface, but not everyone. The way most made music worldwide was closer to raw programming.

Yeah, It's true, but I still find the asians composers of that time the kings of the videogames music (at least on that time), which gives them more merit they had to learn to code too.

As I understand it, the NES only had a few basic monophonic synth channels meaning an individual channel couldn't play a chord so you'd have to write more polyphonic music. Use white noise for percussion etc. Basically, just try to emulate those sounds and compose with those limitations in mind I guess.

I think they had 2 monophonic pulse waves, one monophonic triangle wave channel and one noise channel.

And yes, using white noise for percussion is one of the ways to emulate that sound following the limitations they had for example, but I don't know how. (Probably using a software like Audacity, making the white noise sound and export the sound into a sampler VST, I don't know... I'm still learning)

Thanks for the answers all of you.