Having done a one hour workshop at Blip Festival years ago, and a 30 minute battle demonstration at 8static, I thought I already had this thing in the bag.  This workshop, however, differed in one major way – it was interactive; all participants had a machine and headphones to follow along.  Instead of doing a presentation I was going to be instructing.  Plus, there were two sessions at 3 hours a piece all starting at some time in the morning I’m not at all used to.  :D

So, I figured I’d make some kind of handout.  I put all the famitracker effects commands on there, and info about the different voices and their instrument settings.  I also included a “musical keyboard to computer keyboard” graphic like so -

I have a hard time believing that no one has made one of these online, but I couldn’t find one.  The way that the notes map to the keyboard tends to be a huge learning curve for seasoned musicians.  After a decade of tracking, it becomes second nature.  I can play on it better than a piano.  :D

I started the class with a 20 minute crash course in sound chip history. I talked about Atari’s TIA and Pokey chips, Commodore’s VIC and SID chips, Nintendo’s 2A03, how the Gameboy’s Motorolla CPU builds the sound, and a few examples of FM chips; playing back examples from Battle of the Bits as I went.  I did my best to describe their differences and advances, making special notes about which chips could attain correct pitches and which ones were dedicated solely for audio.  Really, I would have rather had everyone watch the following video -

…but the workshop wasn’t meant to be a history lesson on chip music.  Today is another day!  Let us create in the now!

I went into this whole thing thinking it would be cake.  My other workshops were cake. But this, as I stated previously, was an interactive workshop, not a lecture or demonstration.

So, after this workshop’s history lesson, we jumped into Famitracker.  I broke down the interface, we built instruments for each of the channels, I made a pattern, and then I set them loose, pacing around, ready to answer questions.  And many questions I answered.  Next, we made a second pattern, and I showed them how multiple patterns build together into a song.  Then I set them loose again for 40 minutes or so with more pacing on my part, answering questions as they came.

For the first of the two workshop sessions, I had library staff member, Matt, and one elementary student.  It felt kind of like a practice run.  There was good dialog, trivia swapping, we didn’t get too off track. …or maybe I just didn’t feel that much pressure.

The second group contained Matt, my girlfriend, two friends from the bar, and three younger folk.  During the final hour with this group, I realized my “let ‘em loose” strategy for leading the workshop was naive.  Of the three younger folk; one was paralyzed after playing with and deleting the patterns we made together, one made a bunch of wild noises and then logged into newgrounds, and one was already familiar with Milky Tracker and felt she wasted her time.  Everyone else seemed to have a good time and entertained themselves.

I used the last 30 minutes to show everyone how to convert their song to an .mp3 by exporting to .wav and using a free online conversion service.  Then I talked about various websites they could meet other chiptune artists and/or share their music.  I was pretty exhausted after that.  :D

Milky Tracker girl left the following track on her desktop -
Download audio file (whoareyou.mp3)

When I get to do this again I’ll be a little wiser about it.  Demonstration is key.  I didn’t talk about music theory, I didn’t talk about song structure, about hard and soft changes, about holding a solid groove and layering on top, about playing in the pocket, or anything that really had anything to do with the music itself.  I only demonstrated the software itself as if everyone was already a musician ready to compose for a five piece band.  Slight error or epic fail?  I’ll know for next time.

I’d like to thank Matt Dubay for setting this event up and inviting me.  I’d also like to thank Eli Neiburger for networking Matt and I together, and a thanks to Kip DeGraaf for setting an entire Mac lab to run Famitracker on VMware.

famitracker workshop handout PDF download

Speaking of simple, why should anyone have to compose in a full digital audio workstation with mastering later in mind?  That’s just silly!  But that’s what I have been doing for the past five years or so, ever since I was introduced to software like T-Racks and Ozone.

I want to introduce a new friend of mine —

The TLs 4032 Pocket Limiter.  Remember I said something about simple?

Up to ca 6db you kan get very transparent results (if you got some dynamics to spare that is..) where you don´t need to add too much knee. The harder you push equals more knee if you want to avoid heavy distortion. Simple operation with superb results straight out of the “pocket” !

. . . is what the readme.txt file says.  The key word is ‘limiter’, though, with the gain pushed up much at all, it’s also an awesome compressor.  Now, while trying to get a mix balanced, I have learned a gate on individual channels will typically help more than a compressor.  So I put this pocket bugger at the very end of the audio’s chain. And doing so seems to replace my need for that extra mastering step where I would normally achieve “Final Quintessential Volume”.  Mastering software shouldn’t be a fix-all for polishing a turd.  If you need stereo widening, apply it to instruments individually instead of a whole frequency band.  Make it all round and shiny from the get go!

Download Pocket Limiter from Tin Brooke Tales Software VST archive or here or google it. :P

I’d like to introduce to you Ensonique’s SQ-80 —

Yeah, it has both a disk drive and a card reader.  It also has a nice range of sounds utilizing a hybrid of analog and digital circuitry.  From breathy pads to strings to moog / commodore 64 growls to percussion, this guy has very unique, fat and warm timbres of tonality.  But, instead of finding recorded samples (check out a John Carpenter movie soundtrack from the early 90′s), I found a soft synth that emulates it.  =)

Download SQ8L Soft Synth VSTi here.  The page also explains the ongoing process of recreating the synth’s famous sound.  It’s suggested that a proper emulation of the filter chips is what sets this VSTi apart from Moog and Roland synth clone software.

Listen to some examples if you don’t believe me —

Download audio file (sq8l-exmaples.mp3)

Mostly, I’m playing Dmin with the various stock patches. Download and remix.  I dare you! . . .or your money back!

But reserving a pulse channel for the kick can be restrictive to your harmonies.  Sure, you can fit notes between the kicks but sometimes that just won’t do. Let’s explore some more!

The wave channel features built-in sample banks known as ‘kits’.  You can use two kits simultaneously and they come out software mixed. For the most part, the samples have shite quality and I prefer to use this channel for a growly synth bass. For kicks, try doubling the 808 kick and the 909 or Linndrum kicks. Having the bass line play in between the kicks can make for funky syncopations!

Download audio file (lsdj-kit-n-synth-groove.mp3)
lsdj kit n synth groove.mp3

Googling the net, I stumbled upon an old 8bc thread where Ikuma explained his method for synthesizing a kick drum (pictured below). Personally, I had a hard time getting it loud enough and keeping it bassy. If you want to use this method you should compensate the volume in the rest of your instruments.  I tried triggering this with all the octaves and C-8 seemed to have the most punch.

Last, but not least, the noise channel.  I played around a lot with this but I’m thinking there might be a better way (either that or the NES’s 2A03 is superior in my ears).  C-3 seems to be the best pitch but, again, the kick sounds rather flat, kind of quiet and lacking punch.  If you try out C-5 with this same instrument LSDJ plays back a textured snare-like sound which, incidentally, is a bit louder.  So I tried layering the noise and wave kicks and it seemed to work for volume compensation. With this particular ‘combination method’ we have freed up our two pulse channels but used up the two remaining.

Download audio file (lsdj-kick-samples.mp3)
lsdj kick samples.mp3

Pulse bent bass drum kick wins out in my book but that won’t keep me from trying new things!