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FamiTracker
I'm pretty new to writing music and using Famitracker and I was hoping you may have some tips or tutorials on getting the most out of your channels/instruments. I'm not looking for a specific sound just general advice on how to sculpt your instruments in more refined ways!
I feel like I'm not utilizing the pulse or the triangle channel to their full potential. I fall back onto the vibrato effect a lot, using it like a crutch to add a little more punch to a lot of my songs, I really do like the way it sounds I just wish I could use it a little more sparingly.
It would also be great to know a little bit more on utilizing the FDS module.
Examples of great/unique sounding instruments would be greatly appreciated!
I attached a song I'm working on at the moment, just to give an idea of where I'm at, instrument creating wise.
I get blown away by artists whose work sounds light years ahead of mine not just in terms of composition, but in the depth/range of sound and tones.
[b]tl;dr How do I get a better range of tones out of instruments[/b]
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Looking to make some friends in the chiptune community, hit me up if you want to hang out!
Hello there! Well personally I suggest tweaking the arpeggio and pitch macros, and combine them with either static duty cycles or macros. Often the difference is in giving the head of the note a different tone. So for example you can do an arpeggio like 12 0 and it will give a higher pitch blip at the start, but not going to mess up your song because it's an octave jump. This can even be used to make the individual bass notes on the triangle stand out more.
Or you can experiment with it, -1 0 or 1 0 will give you a more "squeaky" sound, and for lighter versions of it you can use the pitch macro, but remember that it's a relative macro, so the sum of your values should be 0 to avoid detuning the channel unintentionally, such as a pitch macro of 3 -2 -1
If you want to play arpeggio chords you can go with simple ones (going to use major triads) like | 0 4 7 but you can do it on multiple octave layers. Adding a layer should look like this for example, just add 12 to everything: | 0 12 4 16 7 19
But you can also slow down one layer to emphasize it more: | 0 0 12 4 4 16 7 7 19
And if you combine it with a slow duty macro it can give you a rich sound using a single channel.
I suppose you are new to music but considering that, this is not a bad attempt. Read up on some music theory, like scales and chord so you have a better understaning of "what goes well together" so you can expand on it! Definitely worth it, I myself had no musical training before I fell in love with chiptunes.
Thanks a lot, I was especially surprised by the arpeggio tips, I've wanted to try arpeggios for a little while now but I was struggling to make anything that sounded quite right.
I'll begin experimentation with all these cool tips immediately!
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https://soundcloud.com/neurotomy
Looking to make some friends in the chiptune community, hit me up if you want to hang out!
Here's my version of the explanation: Most of an instrument's timbre is defined by how its volume sequence starts.
You can generally group these into a few categories, like these two basics:
1 - 'Attack' type: Starts out low and increases to a high sustained volume (e.g: 3 6 9 12 15). Provides a soft strike or fade-in to each note.
2 - 'Decay' type: Starts high and decreases to a low (or zero) sustained volume (e.g: 15 12 9 6 3 0). The sharp initial strike works well with the Noise channel for percussion instruments, and on the Pulse channels provides a harp or bell like sound.
One of my personal favorites I call reverb, e.g: 15 6 12 9 6 3 0. Basically a standard decay curve except for dropping the second step out of sync with its neighbors. This provides a sort of double strike to the note, and yields a different overall sound from a plain decay curve.
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Where to find me:
YouTube: [url=http://youtube.com/user/stratelier]http://youtube.com/user/stratelier
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I've actually been playing around with attack and decay a lot, you're right it does effect the instrument quite a bit, I often forget to play around with volume because I'm so eager to just get some notes down when I get stuck into a new song.
I'll start focusing on instrument volume some more, I do notice that I'm never really balancing the volume levels right, everything seems too loud, and I'm a little wary of using the triangle channel because of how much it kicks up the volume because it can only be on or off.
_______________________
https://soundcloud.com/neurotomy
Looking to make some friends in the chiptune community, hit me up if you want to hang out!
Triangle's lack of volume control is what makes it ideally suited to bass parts (though you can still use it as a lead instrument if you want -- e.g. Legend of Zelda dungeon theme). One of my favorite tricks for the Triangle channel is to assign it a volume curve of 0 15. This inserts a row of silence at the start of each note, which helps if you want your bass track to strum the same note repeatedly (without having to manually cut the notes). It does however throw the perceived timing of the note off just a little, which can be noticeable if you don't have many other instruments to help cover up the gap it leaves.
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Where to find me:
YouTube: [url=http://youtube.com/user/stratelier]http://youtube.com/user/stratelier
DeviantArt: [url=http://stratadrake.deviantart.com/]http://stratadrake.deviantart.com/
I like using triangle as the a lead. Gotta have lots of vibratos and note cuts at the right points and it helps to add some grace notes sometimes to change things up, since it only has one voice and no volume control. You can also control volume with the DPCM channel's Zxx effect but it can add unwanted popping noises.
I'll attach an example of triangle as lead instrument.
Here are a few things to gander at with strict 2A03. No fancy instrument stuff, just wanted to show what you could do with a single blank instrument and some effects.
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"im going to continue making this crazy stuff then after a while my style will be so sick that you will be like damn suuun that shit is so sick i dont even get it. i will be like bro its ok.. you dont have to." -omgdonut
[quote=Rushjet1]I like using triangle as the a lead. Gotta have lots of vibratos and note cuts at the right points and it helps to add some grace notes sometimes to change things up, since it only has one voice and no volume control. You can also control volume with the DPCM channel's Zxx effect but it can add unwanted popping noises.[/quote]
I'll avoid the Zxx effect for now, that track is excellent, I just wish I could give the triangle a little more bite, I like to overlay it with VRC6's Sawtooth for that, but often it comes across too much, but if I made the triangle the lead it could work out great.
I'll work on my triangle game!
[quote=gyms_]Here are a few things to gander at with strict 2A03. No fancy instrument stuff, just wanted to show what you could do with a single blank instrument and some effects.[/quote]
I would have never thought they were all the same untouched instrument without getting to see it first hand. I've not done anything with portamento yet (mostly because I didn't quite get it) but after hearing it in action here I definitely have to have a go.
_______________________
https://soundcloud.com/neurotomy
Looking to make some friends in the chiptune community, hit me up if you want to hang out!
[quote=OtO]I've not done anything with portamento yet (mostly because I didn't quite get it) but after hearing it in action here I definitely have to have a go.[/quote]
Think of portamento as slurring between notes. The Q/R effects are similar in function but operate using somewhat different params. (A fun simple trick is to use the Q/R effect at the start of a note to give it a sort of upwards or downwards slide in. Unfortunately then you have to offset your stated note by the slide distance, but you sort of get used to that.)
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Where to find me:
YouTube: [url=http://youtube.com/user/stratelier]http://youtube.com/user/stratelier
DeviantArt: [url=http://stratadrake.deviantart.com/]http://stratadrake.deviantart.com/
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