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FamiTracker
After seeing so many 900 bpm songs, I came up with an idea for a contest. The rules are simple:
[li]It must be pleasing to hear.[/li]
[li]It must be original.[/li]
[li]It must not use arpeggio or hi/pitch envelopes to simulate more notes than would fit in one line (thanks to rushjet1 for the wording)[/li]
[li]It must be as slow as you can make it; 6 bpm would be ideal, but not required.[/li]
There will be a poll for the best one once a few people enter.
... What? 6 beats per minute?! That's 1 beat for every 2.5 seconds!
Have you even tried doing a tune at 6 BPM? Try making a tune that you can listen to with a speed of 18 & a tempo of 20; you'll see what I mean.
As far as I can tell, it's not possible to make a pleasing song that flows smoothly with 6 BPM; it's too slow. Now, if we're allowed to exceed your speed limit, then I'd probably join in.
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Technology: the one thing that's hated & cursed at by all engineers, technologists, scientists & technicians!
Famitracker has a Macro for the instruments, the limit of "6bpm" doesn't exist actually. With an arpeggio or volume envelope you can do anything you want. This contest doesn't make sense.
And though sense made, with 6bpm it's not possible to do anything, so this contest is not applicable anyhow.
That's exactly what I mean; 6 BPM isn't realistic to achieve a single good tune at all.
Wit all the limits imposed, it's impossible to do anything proper when it comes to making a tune. Now, FamiCompo Mini doesn't have any ridiculous restrictions like 6 BPM ideal tempo, or replacing arpeggios with note delays (which makes the matter of 6 BPM ideal tempo much worse).
And as Delek said, FamiTracker limits you to a minimum tempo that's much grater than 6 BPM (in the tempo settings, you can only use 20 BPM minimum at speed=6). In order to get a BPM of 6, you have to increase the speed to 18 while decreasing the tempo to 20. That, xolroc, is only a tiny bit faster than a snail. So, I'd completely ignore the idea of saying something like "6 BPM ideal speed."
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Technology: the one thing that's hated & cursed at by all engineers, technologists, scientists & technicians!
[quote=xolroc]It must be as slow as you can make it; 6 bpm would be ideal, but not required.
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I realize that 6 is a ridiculous goal.[/quote]
The lowest tempo indeed is 6.0BPM: Set tempo to 20, and use an F14 so that the speed can reach 20 instead of just 19.
Just look at the example, it is not really that ridiculous after all.
[quote=xolroc]It must not use arpeggios. If you need something off the beat, use Gxx.[/quote]
To be honest, arpeggiations are not even required. Given the song is short enough, I can simply set the tempo to 20 and the speed to 16, which is 7.5BPM i.e. 2 seconds per row, and then use instruments as patterns. Despite not being able to (or: Since I cannot) use the DPCM channel, I can have up to 64 distinct patterns in my song WITHOUT EVER the use of arpeggiations.
[quote=Delek]And though sense made, with 6bpm it's NOT POSSIBLE to do anything, so this contest is not applicable anyhow.[/quote]
If it is impossible then there is no way for FamiTracker and insanity to peacefully coexist.
But yes, there is no sense here. These are the real limits:
1) The use of instruments to directly create patterns
2) up to 64 distinct patterns for all channels
3) Inability to use DPCM samples (except those joke entries you might see in Famicompo Mini)
4) up to 128 frames per pattern (under 25Hz, however, it means 5.12 seconds)
5) Inability to use the VRC7 chip
6) Inability to change waveforms for the FDS channel
7) Inability to change the period of the sawtooth/FDS channel by a difference greater than 780 × (1 + 10) = 880
[size=15]NOW, GIVEN THAT WE HAVE A PERIOD TABLE FOR 2A03, MMC5, VRC6 AND FDS, WE CAN DEFINITELY MAKE SONGS AND EVEN PITCH PERFECT COVERS IN A STUNNING WAY. THERE IS NO REASON TO USE ARPEGGIO ENVELOPES --- THE HI-/PITCH ENVELOPES ARE ENOUGH.
Here is a pitch perfect example using no arpeggiatons, and is made obviously to break this rule. This is not an entry anyway. (Note: For convenience, the tempo here is 900 ÷ 96 = 9.375BPM) If you do not allow the use of hi-/pitch envelopes, this contest will be impossible, so the use of pitch envelopes is mandatory in this case.
Also there seems to be extra frames between rows; If you notice carefully, the first row is a few frame longer than the rest of the loop (that means the first row is not longer started from the second loop).
Man, your little nice song is not made in 9.375BPM, because you are hacking the speed using volume envelopes and pitch ups. I repeat, Famitracker has a Macro, the tempo and speed are anecdotal.
But if the contest its like "make a song in a complicated manner" the contest is good, but i will not participate.
"slow songs contest" isn't a bad idea, but there doesn't need to be any more stipulations than that. "slow" should be the perceptual measurement, not a technical one (ie. compose at speed 1 if you like, so long as you end up writing something that sounds slow.) and of course "slow" is subjective to a degree so you might wanna say something like "aim for somewhere around or below 80bpm."
as it stands it sounds more like proof of concept than a recipe for good songs. furthermore the "no arpeggio" rule is arbitrary and "pleasing to hear" is unquantifiable. just some thoughts. it's probably not the best time to be running a contest anyway, what with famicompo going on.
[quote=Delek]Man, your little nice song is not made in 9.375BPM...[/quote]
Tempo is 25 × 6 ÷ 16 = 9.375 BPM; Frames per row is 900 ÷ 9.375 = 96 despite some issues with the tracker itself.
However, if you really ask me the tempo, it must be 15E all the time where E is engine speed.
[quote=xolroc]I consider that cheating. The rules have been edited.[/quote]
Thus it is too reasonable for no sense to exist at all.
Also, what is the exact definition of 'slow' here?
[quote=xolroc]It must be as slow as you can make it;[/quote]
Now I have gone insane, the slowest I can do is 900BPM, isn't it?
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