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FamiTracker
i notice that there are frequencies higher than D (~note B-7) in the pulse and triangle. frequency 1 on triangle is unsupported in famitracker and seemingly most emulators but exports to a pitch in nsfplay. is this intentional? i'm kind of interested in using it if so
pitches higher than 8 also seem to not play on pulse in famitracker or nsfplay. is this also by design? i'm interested in how these channels treat extremely high pitch differently
As far as I'm concerned the pulse channels are automatically silenced if they are given a period of less than 8. The triangle however just keeps going (and there's no way to reset its phase without the unused test pin) A couple games "silence" the triangle by writing a low period value to it (Megaman 1&2, Silver Surfer, etc.) but this causes a noticable pop.
Yeah the pulse channels are muted when using a pitch less than 8.
The triangle channel is never muted, but periods at that range results in inaudible waves anyway so in famitracker it's muted to save CPU usage. Some emulators might not do that.
[quote=za909]A couple games "silence" the triangle by writing a low period value to it (Megaman 1&2, Silver Surfer, etc.) but this causes a noticable pop.[/quote]One thing I noticed when listening to some Follin soundtracks through FCEUX's visual NSF player is that when a song ends a little square wave appears but I can't hear anything. I found that lowering the volume of the triangle channel causes this to disappear and reappear when I bring the volume back up. However, not all games have this little square wave present at the end of the song. Could this low period silence be the reason?
The pulse channels are muted by the hardware at period values less than 8, so they can't produce super-high frequencies, but the MMC5 and VRC6 pulses are exempt from this limitation if you want to try.
The triangle is not limited in this way, but since high frequency sound is generally not easy to simulate without aliasing, most emulators prefer to silence the triangle once the frequency is above audible. (On NSFPlay this is an option.)
On a real NES, you can't hear the ultrasonic frequencies of the high triangle (it is filtered away correctly by the analog circuitry and/or the physical mechanism of your ears) but you can make audible pops by halting and unhalting the triangle in this state (as you halt it on random parts of the waveform, essentially).
Oh actually... it would be a cool feature in NSFPlay to have an option to mute the triangle at period $7FF, since the Recca/Kickmaster/Zombie Nation, etc. sound engine "silences" the triangle with the highest possible period, which is honestly the worst way, introducing the quiet screech from the steps of the wave.
I'm not really a fan of changing the emulation to suit faulty programming, especially in a case like this where this was how the released game really sounded. Why not hack those NSFs to properly mute the triangle instead?
