Fun groovin’ track! (you use the M8 with mad skill )

Fun groovin’ track! (you use the M8 with mad skill :) )

One of my favorite things about the m8 is how it's such a good replacement for an actual NES.
So keep it up - I'm glad I found this one (I generally search for m8tracker tag).

One of my favorite things about the m8 is how it's such a good replacement for an actual NES. So keep it up - I'm glad I found this one (I generally search for m8tracker tag).

I've just recently started aiming for chiptune on the M8 and it makes me notice all sorts of things.  The tones you get here are so authentic and pleasant and clear.  I guess that might be the pseudo-PWM from the wave swapping?  I need to try that.

Curious what you meant about maxing out the DPCM channel.  In M8 terms, is that using a single channel with a sampler?

I've just recently started aiming for chiptune on the M8 and it makes me notice all sorts of things. The tones you get here are so authentic and pleasant and [i]clear[/i]. I guess that might be the pseudo-PWM from the wave swapping? I need to try that. Curious what you meant about maxing out the DPCM channel. In M8 terms, is that using a single channel with a sampler?

Aww! Thanks! :-)

Thanks, and good tip! I'll ditch the space in the future.

Yeah, by "maxing it out" I meant every Step of the Phrases of the single Track I'm using for samples has something in it.

How to best do samples on the M8 to summon those NES feels, though, can be a little tricky. In my inexpert opinion the options are:

• Don't use samples. Most games didn't (or only used them for SFX) so this sounds pretty authentic. The problem is, the noise channel is really only good for hats and you need to use the tri channel for convincing kicks, so for drum-heavy tracks this might be a non-starter.

• Just play samples. The NES could actually play 7bit 33.1kHz PCM, so with down sampling and bit crushing you can get pretty close to that sound. This took a lot of CPU to do, though, so it wasn't used often in games where anything was happening on the screen. So to me, this sounds very "chiptunes" but not necessarily "video game"

• Finally, use DPCM files. These could be streamed by the NES very cheaply, so when you hear samples in a game, this was usually the format. And because it’s a "delta" format, it actually sounds different than standard bitcrushing. But it’s an obscure format, so hard to edit/process. I use a tool like MakeDPCM to make DMCs, play those back in an emulator and capture the output as a wav, then finally copy that over to the M8. There has to be a better way, though.

[quote=RajaTheResidentAlien]Fun groovin’ track! (you use the M8 with mad skill :) )[/quote] Aww! Thanks! :-) [quote=noggin]One of my favorite things about the m8 is how it's such a good replacement for an actual NES. So keep it up - I'm glad I found this one (I generally search for m8tracker tag).[/quote] Thanks, and good tip! I'll ditch the space in the future. [quote=ineff]Curious what you meant about maxing out the DPCM channel. In M8 terms, is that using a single channel with a sampler?[/quote] Yeah, by "maxing it out" I meant every Step of the Phrases of the single Track I'm using for samples has something in it. How to best do samples on the M8 to summon those NES feels, though, can be a little tricky. In my inexpert opinion the options are: • Don't use samples. Most games didn't (or only used them for SFX) so this sounds pretty authentic. The problem is, the noise channel is really only good for hats and you need to use the tri channel for convincing kicks, so for drum-heavy tracks this might be a non-starter. • Just play samples. The NES could actually play 7bit 33.1kHz PCM, so with down sampling and bit crushing you can get pretty close to that sound. This took a lot of CPU to do, though, so it wasn't used often in games where anything was happening on the screen. So to me, this sounds very "chiptunes" but not necessarily "video game" • Finally, use DPCM files. These could be streamed by the NES very cheaply, so when you hear samples in a game, this was usually the format. And because it’s a "delta" format, it actually sounds different than standard bitcrushing. But it’s an obscure format, so hard to edit/process. I use a tool like MakeDPCM to make DMCs, play those back in an emulator and capture the output as a wav, then finally copy that over to the M8. There has to be a better way, though.