16 bit music how to make

12 Best 8-Bit and 16-Bit Music Makers (Chiptune Music)

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Are you looking to create 8 and 16-bit music? Are you looking for the best 8 and 16-bit chiptune music makers?

Well, read on because in this article we will discuss and review the best chiptune music maker VSTs, sites, and apps.

8 or 16-bit music is famous because of the flavor it gave video games back in the day. Later mobile manufacturers started using them as ringtones. Some smartphones also have 8 and 16-bit ringtones.

Luckily there are many 8 and 16 music maker sites and VSTs available today.

You can load them on your browser, use them as a VST on your DAW. Or download their apps so that you can make amazing instrumental synths at the comfort of your phone.

Online 8 and 16 bit music makers

BeepBox – Free chiptune maker

Beepbox is a great online site to make 8 and 16-bit instrumentals. Once your song is ready you can share it by copying the URL link to your song.

This site is available for free and gives you ownership of all the songs you create.

Beepbox is easy to use. You create instrumentals by clicking the grey notes.

If you want more information on how to use BeepBox, visit their site.

There is an online version of BeatBox that you can download and use when you don’t have access to the internet.

BeepBox gives you access to a library for instruments and up to 20 tracks to make your melodies.

Scratch 8-Bit Maker

Another great 8-bit sequencer is the Scratch 8 bit maker. Imagine making nostalgic sounds like those from a Nintendo console. Well, Scratch allows you to make such melodies.

Apart from sequencing music with scratch, you can make animation, games, and interactive stories as well.

This site is a great way to challenge and improve your creative skills. It allows you to create projects with various settings. Although it was initially created for kids, people of different ages can use scratch.

However, scratch has two downsides.

Online Sequencer

Just like its name suggests, Online Sequencer is an online music sequencing site. Unlike Scratch 8-bit maker which is fairly small, the Online Sequencer has a huge visible interface.

Online Sequencer feels more like a DAW. So if you enjoy the DAW look, then this might be the sequencer for you.

The best thing about Online Sequencer is that it allows you to save your production and export them in various formats including Mp3, Ogg, and MIDI formats.

Online Sequencer has an intuitive interface. Plus, it’s easy to use compared to other 8-bit music makers like BeepBox.

Music Lab – My favorite online sequencer

MusicLab is my favorite online sequencer. This is because it’s easy to use and intriguing to look at.

Placing notes in MusicLab is a walk in the park.

Move your mouse around the boxes and press the notes you like and then press play to listen if you like the notes.

If you don’t like a note, press undo. Also, drag the bpm knob to adjust the bpm.

MusicLab was primarily built for kids. But adults use it as well. If you’re looking for free and high-quality music and experience visit MusicLab.

Best 8 bit and 16 bit chiptune VSTs

Chiptune music was originally created for gaming systems. Therefore, to emulate and recreate chiptune sounds you need chiptune VSTs.

Luckily, there are many 8 and 16bit chiptune maker VSTs available today. You can use them with your favorite analog DAW.

SAC – Compatible with Kontakt players

SAC in full means Super Audio Cart is a VST that comes packed with many classic video game samples and over 1000 additional sounds.

SAC emulates retro sounds from 15 old classic gaming systems and old school computers from the 70s and 90s.

This is my go-to chiptune music maker VST when I am looking to create an accurate chiptune melody. SAC is unparalleled inaccuracy.

SAC is intuitive and powerful. It gives you the freedom to create unlimited synths, sounds, and chiptunes. SAC is compatible with Kontakt players.

Magical 8 bit Plug

Another great chiptune VST plugin is the Magical 8 bit Plug. Magical 8bit Plug is compatible with Windows and Mac and you can download it on your PC. This plugin is free, unlike SAC which is quite expensive.

This plugin was made to emulate the chiptune sound from 8-bit chip sounds. You can achieve a certain sound by manipulating waveforms.

The waveforms included with this plugin are square, pulse triangle, and low-resolution noise. This plugin is a great choice if you adore primitive sounds like the sounds from old 8-bit game consoles.

But it doesn’t have a friendly user interface. Although, you get used to it with time.

It’s compatible with most DAWS like Logic, Garageband, Digital Performer, and Cubase. This plugin also comes with volume envelopes, a frequency sweep function and it allows pitch bending,

Chipsounds – Best to use with DAWs

Chipsounds is a software synth that you can use to turn your VST into a classic video game console, the 70s or 80 computer, or arcade.

This plugin was built to emulate over 15 vintage 8-bit chiptunes. Chipsounds is compatible with both Windows and Mac and it works with Daws like FL Studio, Logic, and Pro Tools.

This plugin is intuitive and easy to use. It’s a great tool for producers who like to explore sound and love the old-school chiptunes with a modern sound.

The reason why I like using Chipsounds is that it’s well built and it barely crashes. The only downside to this plugin is few presets to choose from.

If you’re looking for a smooth unique vintage retro chip sound, try Chipsounds.

TAL Noise Maker – Analog virtual chip sound

Another great chiptune plugin is TAL Noise Maker. TAL NoiseMaker is a great plugin if you’re looking for analog virtual chip sound.

Unlike chipsounds, which have limited presets, this plugin comes with over 128 factory presets to choose from.

This plugin is compatible with macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Tal Noisemaker comes with amazing features like 3 oscillators, tune, transpose, filter, and ADSR. Also, inbuilt effects like reverb, delay, and filer and drive.

This plugin is intuitive and easy to use and it’s free.

Synth1 – Free chiptune music maker

Synth1 software is a synthesizer software by Daichi lab. This is the most downloaded synthesizer of all time. Being so famous, there are many tutorials on how to use analog software.

There is information regarding this plugin online. Therefore, you shouldn’t worry if you’re a beginner getting into synth 1.

This plugin is easy to use and intuitive and you can customize how it looks using different skins.

Synth1 is easy to manipulate if you want to achieve a specific 8 or 16bit chip sound. It comes with great and numerous features like automation, oscillators, filer, and arpeggiator.

This amazing software is free and is modeled from the famous Clavia Nord Lead 2.

Best chiptune phone apps

Thanks to new technology, today there are numerous chiptune apps to download on your phone. With Chiptune apps you create music on the go.

Nanoloop

Starting off in this section is the outstanding Nanoloop mobile app. Nanoloop offers you a complete sequencer and synthesizer on your phone. This app is also a sampler packer that is optimized fully for mobile use.

The Nanoloop interface is user-friendly and is optimized to fit any phone screen resolution. The best part is that you can adjust the fonts and colors to your liking. It’s compatible with iOS and Android.

This app is also great if you like to chop samples on your phone. The synth has a flexible modulator and comes with great sounds and effects.

This sequencer is great for creating both melody and rhythm. It’s easy to use and to create patterns.

TonePad

Another great chiptune music maker app is TonePad. Tonepad is a cool and easy-to-use app. When you touch your phone screen on TonePad, notes light up. Cool right?

The good thing about TonePad is that it shows scales like the major and minor scales.

What’s more, this app allows you to adjust audio. For example, you can adjust the song bpm and effects like delay, feedback, and reverb.

The only downside to this app is that you’re unable to make longer songs.

Download it on your iPad iPhone and Mac.

This app is great for beginners who don’t know about music theory but still want to experiment, enjoy and be able to create music. It’s intuitive and easy to use.

8 Bit Music Maker

8 bit Music Maker is a great app to create 8-bit music at the comfort of your phone. This app gives you two octaves and unlimited tracks to work with and it supports notes size from full to 16th. This fills a tact.

With 8 bit Music Maker you can save and revisit your previous projects anytime you feel like it. What’s more, it allows you to export your music so you can share it with your fans.

Conclusion

Retro vintage 8 and 16bit computer music is nostalgic that’s why it has lived for so long.

Using the amazing apps discussed above, you can emulate your favorite game consoles and achieve an amazing chip sound.

They are all great. Feel free to try each. But here are our top three recommendations.

The best online 8 and 16bit music maker we recommend is the Online Sequencer. It is intuitive and has a great DAW like look.

When it comes to VST chiptunes, we recommend TAL NoiseMaker because it’s free and it comes with a ton of factory presets, features, and effects.

Lastly, the best chiptune app we recommend is Nanoloop. It’s great for sequencing, synthesizing, and sampling.

16 bit music how to make

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I have ableton but i do believe there is commonly used software to create authentic retro style music like impulse tracker.

My goal is to make music that sounds like these, not as far back as 8-bit chip tune, but just that nice middle area like the sonic era:

a project similar to mine:

I am under alot of pressure for time so dont want to spend a lot of time learning how to use software to make something like this, is there any more user friendly alternate to something like impulse tracker?

Is it relatively easy to make a simple 16-bit sounding (?!) track in impulse tracker?

perhaps there is a nice downloadable synth for ableton i could use?

also note i must make the theme for commercial use so i need mostly royalty free samples/instruments!

Thanks in advance,
Hugh.

EDIT: should have paid more attention and checked the videos first, it seems like you’re going more towards SNES-like sounds than FM-like sounds (that you mentioned Sonic and a Neo Geo game didn’t help). In that case yeah, all that matters is pretty much the instruments and the style (mainly genre) of the music, not much else. Actually trackers like Impulse Tracker are pretty good at that kind of stuff.

EDIT 2: I should reread more carefully, you want something that is not like Impulse Tracker. Well, pretty much anything that lets you use your own instruments and is score-based (e.g. tracker, MIDI, etc.) rather than waveform based (e.g. Audacity, etc.). Really it’s more of a thing of the instruments and the melody itself than anything else.

Is it relatively easy to make a simple 16-bit sounding (?!) track in impulse tracker?[/quote]

Its not the synth, it’s the samples. SNES-style music was characterized by extremely small wavetable samples. An entire orchestra for a song (say 6-10 instruments) had to fit in the equivalent of less than 200k bytes. Yes «kilobytes» (not megabytes or gigabytes).
So instrument samples barely played their attack, and then went right into a very short loop, and were usually sampled at between 11kHz and 24kHz.

There are a few other things to get the «SNES» sound, which have been covered in other threads if you look..

Good luck! it’s kind of a lost art..

GameSoundCon 2016:September 27-28, Los Angeles, CA

Music Composition & Sound Design

Audio Technology Consultant

SNES-style music was characterized by extremely small wavetable samples. An entire orchestra for a song (say 6-10 instruments) had to fit in the equivalent of less than 200k bytes. Yes «kilobytes» (not megabytes or gigabytes).

Then again, the music in those two videos he showed don’t have that limitation at all, so that really isn’t what he’s looking for. Honestly it seems like he’s just going for the music style and nothing else.

Ok, so you have provided me with a bit of clarity in terms of what i am looking for. I guess the software in which i assemble the music only matters so much as to how simple and intuitive it is to use, i was just saying that impulse tracker looks dated and unintuative compared with modern composing software. I suppose i could use ableton as long as i have the right sounding instruments.

The more important issue is trying to find sounds, samples and instruments which sound like the videos a posted above. I believe the sound is characterized by a sort of cheesiness in the sound of the synths which try to sound like peices of an orchestra, sometimes mixed with some more electronic sounds. Think old zelda games? i want this cheesiness because i think its gives the music more charm.

Maybe some of these software packages like impulse tracker have decent default libraries to work with, i dont mind, i would be happy to work with a limited set of sounds as long as i can do it on the cheap! Are there not a selection of sounds that are simply freeware at this stage due to how common they are in those types of games, like theres only so many variations of a cheesy string instrument you will hear in the music for these games!

I am trying my best to convey what i want, but i am somewhat limited by my musical knowledge, i am good at putting sounds and instruments together but when it comes to the technical details of those sounds i genuinely dont have a clue!

16 bit music how to make

Response to How to make 8/16 bit music? 2015-02-05 14:35:23

At 2/5/15 01:31 PM, MagicMidget1892 wrote: I have seen a lot of 8 bit/16 bit songs on the site and was just wondering what people use to create them, and whether they make them from scratch or convert a song (i know very little about this kind of thing). If people could reply that would be great. 🙂

The 8-bit Cat Returns

Made this with Goattracker. It was a pain in the ass.

Response to How to make 8/16 bit music? 2015-02-05 14:42:17

You can make 8 bit music with this plugin: Ploge Chipsounds
16 bit music: I think that you can make it with soundfonts (.sf2) of a SNES game like Chrono Trigger..

Response to How to make 8/16 bit music? 2015-02-05 14:46:45

At 2/5/15 02:42 PM, Frozenith wrote: You can make 8 bit music with this plugin: Ploge Chipsounds
16 bit music: I think that you can make it with soundfonts (.sf2) of a SNES game like Chrono Trigger..

Thanks for answering 🙂

Response to How to make 8/16 bit music? 2015-02-05 14:47:25

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/605893
Made this with Goattracker. It was a pain in the ass.

Available at http://covertbitops.c64.org/ (Tools page.)

Response to How to make 8/16 bit music? 2015-02-05 16:32:12

It’s a sine, triangle, pulse and white noise all in one free plugin! I would try using this before buying anything. But if you want to upgrade, I recommend Plogue Chipsounds. Magical 8-bit is kind of limited, but it’s great for a free plugin.

Check out my pages!

Response to How to make 8/16 bit music? 2015-02-05 16:46:25

At 2/5/15 01:31 PM, MagicMidget1892 wrote: I have seen a lot of 8 bit/16 bit songs on the site and was just wondering what people use to create them, and whether they make them from scratch or convert a song (i know very little about this kind of thing). If people could reply that would be great. 🙂

For ’16 bit’ stuff go try using FM synths only using 4 sine waves.

Response to How to make 8/16 bit music? 2015-02-05 17:06:14

At 2/5/15 04:46 PM, TheBetterAudioPortal wrote:

At 2/5/15 01:31 PM, MagicMidget1892 wrote: I have seen a lot of 8 bit/16 bit songs on the site and was just wondering what people use to create them, and whether they make them from scratch or convert a song (i know very little about this kind of thing). If people could reply that would be great. 🙂

For ’16 bit’ stuff go try using FM synths only using 4 sine waves.

Retro Development

Posted by Alyssa Keil · February 16, 2019

Few things can impact the mood and feel of a game like music and SFX. Changing the sound of a weapon can transform it from an intimidating implement to a silly gag, and adding music to a scene can enhance emotional content or heighten dramatic effects. Considering the limited space on retro cartridges, music and SFX are a powerful tool for game developers to make their titles have the feel and appeal they need.

Greetings everyone, Mitch, here again, an audio engineer at Mega Cat Studios. I’m going to give you a crash course for creating music for the Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive. Note that this guide is primarily for composers who are trying to get their music working on real Sega hardware.

Gear Up

The Yamaha 2612 sound chip came standard on Sega 16-bit consoles. This particular sound chip is based upon FM(frequency modulation) synthesis, and it is very capable and powerful.

VGM Music Maker by Shiru will be our tracker of choice. It’s a windows application that emulates the Sega sound chip. The tracker includes 6 FM stereo channels and 4 PSG mono channels.

Let’s take a look at some of the different capabilities offered through the VGM Music Maker.

Pattern View

If you’re unfamiliar with music trackers, this can look overwhelming, but I assure it is quite simple. Basically, you’ll be inputting the note, octave, volume, and effects on the grid. The music scrolls vertically when played.

Instrument View

The instrument view is where you’ll be designing all instruments for your music.

Here are what the notations on the knobs above mean:

Envelope shows you visually how the knobs are shaping the sound. Press the Z key while shaping the sound. Experiment and have fun! You can make an endless amount of instruments without taking up space.

Creating Instruments

I won’t go into too much detail explaining how to create instruments, because that is for a different guide. But know that any instrument you create will convert fine to real Sega hardware, so get creative and check the VGM Music Maker’s help manual for more info!

You can also rip template instruments from Sega games of the past!

Samples View

I’ve implemented a 16-bit tom and bass drum in this vgm file. Reducing total bank size will reduce the quality but will save space on the cartridge.

If you choose to use samples, you’ll want to limit the length of the track. I wouldn’t recommend using samples for your first project. The FM synth can make percussive elements easily, and it saves a bunch of space.

Make sure the uploaded audio samples are 16-bit mono and keep them as short as possible. Samples can only be implemented on channel 6 using the effect column. Use S00 for the first sample, S01 for the second, etc.

Preferences

This tab allows you to modify the pattern page so that you can monitor changes or analyze your tracks. Above are the settings I use for the preference view.

Using these settings, your music should look something like this:

I don’t usually use the PSG channels, I simply prefer the FM synth and feel like there are enough channels for polyphony.

Effects Column

Here is a handy guide to what each effect code is:

Useful Tips for Songs and Music :

Creating SFX

I like to have all the SFX be purely sampled based. It’s fun to design these 16-bit sounds for the Sega. I recommend getting a Field Recorder like the Tascam Dr-40 and hit everything on planet earth with a twig. Record everything! Birds, cats, footsteps, enemy deaths, coffee bags, epic one-liners, etc.

Once recorded, these sounds can be edited in a DAW like Ableton Live. The key component for designing sound on any DAW is layering. The size of WAV files is mostly determined by the length of said file, which means you really want each SFX to be as short as possible. Keeping them no longer than a second is effective. Once they have been mixed and layered, convert the WAVs into 16000 Hz Mono using Audacity.

The SFX files do not need to be implemented into vgm music maker. After they’ve been downsampled to 16-bit they’re ready to be implemented in-game. For Mega Cat, I average designing roughly 30 SFX per Sega game. You’ll run out of space quickly, so be mindful of length and try to think of ways that you can make one SFX used for multiple instances. For example, the same explosion sound can be used for a grenade, rocket launcher, destroying obstacles, etc. After your SFX and themes are complete, you’ll be ready to test on real hardware!

Editing Samples in Audacity

A digital audio workstation (DAW) like Audacity can help you edit samples in various ways. For example, you can convert it to 16 bit PCM, convert to MONO, shorten, add effects, changing the volume, etc. It is a versatile and easy-to-use tool.

Drag and drop the sample of your choice into Audacity. HIt Shift+M to bring up sample menu, then click ‘split stereo to mono.’ On the bottom left is the project rate expressed in Hz. Select the option 16000 Hz (16-bit). Make your sample is short and don’t leave too long of a tail or unnecessary data, as this will take up useless space. Export sample as Wav signed 16-bit PCM

The Final Note

You should now be fully equipped to make authentic Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive music! The best thing you can do now is jump in and make some songs yourself! 16-bit masterpieces continue to resonate with fans and find new players because of their emotional appeal and satisfying game feel, provided in part by music and SFX. Go forth and start the next wave of retro titles with your own genuine Sega Genesis and Mega-Drive music!

Retro Development

Posted by Alyssa Keil · January 23, 2019

There are many elements that make 16-bit video games so memorable. This console generation featured gorgeous new graphics styles that are still replicated today, so much so that 16-bit pixel art is synonymous with video games. The stories from these games, especially the era’s beloved RPGs, are still touching the hearts and minds of new fans, almost 30 years later.

For many, though, the most engaging thing about these games is the music.

Its Mitch again, here to give you a brief overview on using the SNES GSS music tracker. It is important to note that this guide is aimed at making music on original Super Nintendo hardware.

Get Equipped

The Super Nintendo’s SPC700 sound-chip was an innovative initiative back in 1991, given that it is a purely sample-based sound-chip! It involves uploading self-picked 16-bit WAV files and using them as instruments in the music. I’ll show you how to do this after we go over the interface of SNES GSS. Go ahead and download the links below and let’s get started.

Make sure you have the most updated version of GSS on Shiru’s website, as improvements are being made fairly consistently. I was using an older version and was causing crazy static sound when we tested on real hardware. It took a while to figure out the problem and turns out, it was just the outdated GSS software.

Diving in with the SNES GSS

The interface is separated into several tabs. Each tab will allow you to edit and organize your songs and instruments.

Song Tab [F1]

This is where you will actually compose songs and tracks. The sequences of letters, numbers, and other characters represent different information about each musical element, as described above.

Here’s the chromatic scale on the keyboard:

Although the interface looks a little bland, GSS is a very capable tracker, especially for SNES.

There are some other options for making SNES music, such as SNESmod using openMPT tracker, but GSS is my personal choice.

There’s no scroll following the music. which is only mildly inconvenient, especially if you’re used to using other trackers. Use the ‘play at cursor’ button, which will make it easier to navigate through the theme. You can also use a mouse-scroll to follow along manually.

Some helpful tips and quick keys:

When your GSS file is complete, export and save, and now you’re ready to test on real hardware!

Song List Tab [F2]

This shows the songs and SFX you have composed. Click the Sound effect box if you’re designing an SFX (which will designate the track in the song list with an asterisk). If you forget to click the SFX box and export, GSS will think its a song, and it will not work as intended.

Notice in the list that entries 1-8 are themes, and 9-29 are all SFX. The number in parentheses represents how many bytes the song or SFX is taking up.

Here’s an example of an SFX:

The 3 lines on the last row (12) represent rests. Make sure to put rests at the end of each SFX you create. You’ll be designing SFX in a more midi-based fashion using the uploaded instruments.

Note: The “SP” column represents the speed/tempo of the track.

Instruments Tab [F3]

This tab allows you to edit your instruments even further, with envelope, EQ, and loop options. Hovering your mouse over these settings will give you more information on their effect.

A useful tool to save more space is the downsampling option in the center. For certain samples, I like to downsample to twice the amount. This basically just doubles the speed of the sample, so that it uses half as much space.

Info Tab [F4]

Editing Samples in Audacity

A digital audio workstation (DAW) like Audacity can help you edit samples in various ways that GSS cannot. For example, you can convert it to 16 bit PCM, convert to MONO, shorten, add effects, changing the volume, etc. It is a versatile and easy-to-use tool.

Drag and drop the sample of your choice into Audacity. HIt Shift+M to bring up sample menu, then click ‘split stereo to mono.’ On the bottom left is the project rate expressed in Hz. Select the option 16000 Hz (16-bit). Make your sample is short and don’t leave too long of a tail or unnecessary data, as this will take up useless space. Export sample as Wav signed 16-bit PCM.

All of the imported samples should be C-note so that they are congruent with the correct notation on GSS. If you’re using preloaded instruments from example songs, you’ll need to set the notes to B (+21 cents.) The reason for this is when the sound is implemented onto real hardware, it will sound +70 cents sharper. Just make sure nothing sounds out of tune when creating the music.

The Final Note

Although not comprehensive, this guide is enough to get you started making authentic 16-bit music for the Super Nintendo. The best thing to do now is to try making some songs yourself! There are even some sample songs in the GSS download, so you can experiment with and get a feel for the various setting and functions.

16-bit chiptune music has a special place in the hearts of many gamers. Now you can help that legacy live on by adding to it with your own genuine SNES music.

How to make 8-bit Music

Do you love 8-bit music and want to know how to make your own tunes? You have come to the right place 🙂

Introduction

This is a guide on how to make 8-bit/chiptune music. The guide will be focused on covering these topics:

This is mostly a technical guide, and I will be talking mainly about the Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom in Japan) as I base most of my own music (which you can find here on the site) on the NES’s sound chip and its properties.

If you like this guide and find it useful, please concider making a donation. I truly appreciate your support, and every little bit makes a huge difference! ❤

The Basics of Chip Music

So, first things first, what exactly is «8-bit music»? Why is it called «8-bit music» «chiptune», «chip music» and so on? Well. In old video game consoles, the processors could send and receive 8 bits of information at a time, called a «word» which were 8 bits in length, so they were reffered to as «8-bit consoles», and the music featured in the games for the consoles thus came to be known as «8-bit music». The processors in these consoles were custom-built for their purpose, because that was cheaper at the time than the general purpose processors used in today’s consoles and computers. They also had a chip actually generating the sounds (called a synthesizer), rather than a sound card that simply processes sound-files, as memory was very limited and synthesizing sounds take up less memory than storing and processing sound files; hence the term «chip music», because the sound chip generated the sounds on the fly.

A basic element of «true» chiptune music is simple waveforms, such as Pulse, Sine, Triangle, Sawtooth and Noise.
If you want to make music based on a specific chip, you should know about, and stick to, the properties, features and limitations of that specific chip, and the waveforms it can generate, as well as in what way they can be modified on that chip, or you won’t get a genuine sound. after all, authentic chiptunes were played on real consoles so there were no way around the limitations, which is why it’s best to pich a system, learn the specifications of that sound-chip, and then stick to it if you want your music to sound truly genuine and true to the nature of the system you have chosen.

To achieve the limitations without having to do a bunch of tedious work, it might be good to use a tracker or other software specifically designed to emulate the chip you want your music to be based on.

There are trackers you can use directly on the hardware, meaning that the music you create will be generated with the actual sound chip of the hardware you are using. The most prominent examples I can think of are Little Sound Dj and Nanoloop. Both used for the Nintendo Game Boy on an actual cartridge.

If you don’t have access to or don’t want to use the real hardware, there are trackers that emulate sound chips very close to the original sound. The most prominent example I can think of for that is Famitracker, wich has the exact same sound types and channels supported by a Famicom/NES sound chip (and all of its expansion chips). You can even export NSF-files which can be loaded onto NES-catrriges and played on an actual NES! So if you want to make chip music and be sure to succeed, use Famitracker. Even if what you produce won’t sound good, it will at least be playable on an actual NES, and by definition, be chip music.

As Famitracker has excellent documentation and very well written tutorials (found through a search engine near you) I won’t be going into detail on how the program works, but It’s pretty easy. I made my album «8-bit Empire» in about a month and had never played around in Famitracker before that, si ur’s very easy to get started and just let your creativity do the rest.

If you want to hear some examples of what you can do with Famitracker, you can check out these albums that I made using it:
8-bit Empire
Cor Metallicum
8-bit Run ‘n Pun
Dunes at Night
Friendship Adventure
Crystal Caves HD Original Soundtrack

If you don’t want to use software made to emulate a specific chip, but still make your work sound like chip music, keep reading and you’ll find the specifications and capabilities of the most common systems that are associated with 8-bit music.

Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom

The NES sound chip is called Ricoh 2A03 (NTSC 60Hz) or Ricoh 2A07 (PAL 50Hz). It has five mono-channels. Two of them feature pulse wave channels with a variable duty cycle of 12.5, 25, 50 and 75%. The volume for these channels can be set to 16 different levels. Hardware pitch bending is possible and the frequencies used range from 54Hz to 28kHz.

There is a fixed volume (on or off) triangle wave channel with pitch bending. Frequencies on that channel range fron 27Hz to 56kHz.

There is also a white noise channel with 16 volume levels and 16 pre-set noise frequencies. The frequencies that can be produced ranges from 29.3Hz to 447kHz, and aside from the pre-sets, frequency sweep is also possible. Additionally there is a 7-bit differential pulse-code modulation-channel (DPCM) capable of playing any sound up to a sanple rate of 33143.9Hz, Though you should keep in mind that the size limit för each sample is a maximum of 16384 bytes, so if you want your music to sound genuine, stay within that limit.

Famicom Expansion Audio

The NES did not support exatra audio chips but the Famicom did, so if you feel that the native sound of The 2A03/2A07 is not enough to satisfy your needs you can always add the sound from the expansion chips the Famicom supported, and still be compliant. Below is a description of the supported chips and their audio-characteristics, admittedly, some of them would be very hard to imitate without using an actual emulator to make sure you stay true to the specifications, but all of them are supported in Famitracker so you’ll always have a «last resort» if you feel things get out of hand.

Nintendo MMC5

The Nintendo MMC5 adds 2 more pulse channels, which function identically to the ones that the 2A03/2A07 except that they don’t support hardware sweep, but everything else is the same. There is also a third channel which plays 8-bit raw PCM-samples, though this is not supported in Famitracker.

Nintendo FDS

The Nintendo FDS was the chip used in the Famicom Disk System. It adds a 64-step customizable waveform. with 64 steps in each direction, so 64 steps in both «height» and «width», the waveforms pitch can slso be modulared in 4096 steps.

Konami VRC6

The Konami VRC6 adds 3 extra channels. There are 2 square wave channels with 8 duty cycle settings: 6.25%, 12.5%, 18.75%, 25%, 31.25%, 37.5%, 43.75%, and 50%. There’s also a sawtooth channel, The usable volume range for all 3 channels are the same as on the 2A03/2A07. The sawtooth channel technically has 5 bits for volume control, but the sounf will be distorted if you go above 15, so in practice its usable range is 0-15.

Konami VRC7

The Konami VRC7 uses a custom version of the Yamaha YM2413 OPLL with a fixed patch set, so it would be exceptionally hard to mimic acurately if you’re not using Famitracker or other software that can emulate the chip accurately, There are 6 channels and 16 instruments, of which 15 are hard coded and can not be changed, the instruments are: Buzzy Bell, Guitar, Wurly, Flute, Clarinet, Synth, Trumpet, Organ, Bells, Vibes, Vibraphone, Tutti, Fretless, Synth Bass, and Sweep. The custom channel supports a sine wave as well as a half-wave rectified sine wave with controls for ADSR. As far as effects go, there’s a fixed vibrato at 6.4hz and tremolo at a fixed 3.7hz, The chip does not use mixing for output, but rather the channels are time shared via serial output. This occurs at a high enough frequency that there should be no audible difference. I strongly encourage you to check out the FamiTracker implementation, as the complexity of the chip makes it very difficult to reproduce the correct sound without an emulator that makes sure you stay within spec.

Namco 163

The Namco 163 adds up to 8 extra wave channels with a custom lengrh for the waveform, though FamiTracker and other trackers and emulators currently supports a maximum length of 32 steps. the amplitude of the wave can be set to 16 different levels, like the VRC7, output mixing is not used, but rather, the DAC is shared by all channels so using more than 6 channels will produce unpleasant switching noice, most games only used 4 of the channels, alsp, because the DAC is ahared between the channels, the maximum frequency range will be reduced the more channels you use. This is another one of those chips that would be hard to mimic, so once again it’s best to use Famitracker if you want to get the accurate sound.

Commodore 64

The SID-chip of the Commodore 64 is perhaps what first comes to mind for many people when we talk about «chip music», and rightfully so, as it was thanks to the polyphony of the SID-chip that it was possible to make advanced music on a computer for the first time, and the demoscene was started.

The SID-chip has three channels which supports pulse (with full control over the duty cycle), sawtooth, triangle and noise waveforms, with frequencies ranging from 16-4000Hz. Each channel also has a ring modulator which makes it possible to essentially mix different waveforms, which creates the characteristic «SID-sound», as well as an attack/decay/sustain/release volume control. There’s also a multi-mode filter with low-pass, high-pass and band-pass. It is possible to combine the different filter effects to create additional effects.

Amiga 500

The sound chip of the Amiga 500, the most popular computer of its time when it came to producing MOD-music, is called Paula and has 4 channels with 8-bit PCM and a frequency of a maximum of 28kHz. The volume and sample rate can be modified individually for each channel. Two channels are mixed for output to the right channel, and two are mixed to the left channel. The MOD-files are built up of sample sounds and as such, unlike the NES-sound chip, the sound chip of the Amiga 500 cannot generate sound on its own. Although the sound is based on samples, and in theory you can stuff in whatever you like as long as the memory limitation will allow it, it is more common to use a looped sample that consists of one cycle of the wave-forms described below, because conserving memory was very much a concern «back in the day». So doing it that way will give you the old-school sound you’re looking for.

There is no way to make «true» chip music on the Amiga 500, as, like I said, the sound chip itself does not generate any sound on its own, but a simple to use, yet flexible program I can recommend if you want to make MOD-music is Milkytracker. If you want some examples of what you can do with it, you can check out these albums I made where I use it for some of the tracks:
Lesser than Three
Nackskott

Nintendo Game Boy

The Nintendo Game Boy is quite similar to the NES in that is has 2 Pulse Channels and a noise channel, but there are also differences. First off, only the first pulse channels has frequency sweep, and there is also not a Triangle channel. Instead, there is a «freeform» wave channel that can play any sound, based on 32 4-bit programmable samples. Additionally, the channels are in Stereo so you can get an additional dimension to your sound here. The «master level» Of the left and right channel outputs can also be individually controlled.The frequenzy range for the pulse and freeform wave channels is 64Hz-131072Hz. And 2Hz-1048576Hz for the noise channel. Therse was no dedicated audio chip on the Game Boy, instead, Sharp LR35902 handles both audio, video, and most other things related to the operation of the system.

SEGA Master System and Game Gear

The SEGA master system and Game Gear uses the Texas Instruments SN76489 to produce sound. It is in a way simpler then the NES’s Ricoh 2A03, but also quite similar, the chip supports 4 square wave channels with a fixed duty cycle of 50%, 16 volume levels with a frequency range of 109Hz to 18643Hz, and a noise channel that can either produce white noise, or periodic noise in 3 levels, low, mid and high frequencies, and the volume can be adjusted in 4 different levels. For the Master System, only mono is supported But with the Game Gear you can get limited stereo support in that the channels can be played in either the left or right channel. Gradual panning is not supported. The effects that can be used are pretty much the same as for the NES, except they apply to 3 square wave channels instead of 2, and the triangle channel is absemt. If you are familiar with Famitracker, I recommend checking out SnevenTracker. It’s a fork of Famitracker with adaptations to follow the limitations of the SN76489 instead of the Ricoh 2A03, so it’ll be super easy to get started making SEGA Master System music if you are comfortable with the user interface of Famitracker.

Now you might understand why it is easier to use software dedicated to the task rather than trying to simulate the sound, but if you’re dead set on not using a tracker which by design abides by the limitations of a specific chip, now you know what limits you need to follow to get authentic-ish sounding tunes.

Chip Music Waveforms

OK, so now you know the basics, and some common systems you can use as a point of refference. Now it’s time to look at the actual part that gives chiptune it’s distinguised sound and feel; Thw waveforms.

Waveforms can be thought of as the smallest possible unit of sound. Sound is vibration, and a waveform is the «shape» of that vibration. Different shapes give different types of sound, and below you will find the ones most commonly used when making 8-bit music.

Pulse

This is a very interesting waveform as it is possible to adjust the duty cycle of the sound wave in order to produce different flavors of the sound. The closer to 50% (half the time on, half the time off) you go, the more hollow it will sound. If you set a very high or very low duty cycle you will get more of a creaking, almost raspy sound. This waveform is mostly used for the melodious part of the song as the two channels on the NES can be used to create neat chorus, but it is also in my opinion well suited as bass, depending on what sound environment you want to achieve.

Sawtooth

Sounds very «sharp» and can be used both for melodies and bass. Its clear, crisp sound makes it especially suitable for arpeggios. This waveform can not be used natively on the NES (Though it is commonly used on it’s sibling, the Famicom Disk System, which does support it), and a lot of Amiga music composers use this wave form frequently.

Triangle

At low frequencies this waveform is commonly used as bass in NES compositions. At high frequencies it produces a «flute-like» sound. It can also be used as tom-tom drums by sliding from high to low frequencies rapidly. Keep in mind that this channel has a fixed volume on an NES, meaning it is either on or off.

Is the waveform that most resembles that of an acoustic guitar. The sound is even and soft. It is best used at higher frequencies where it sounds a bit like whistling. At low frequencies it can be hard to hear the difference between notes.
This waveform does not exist natively on a NES unless manually shaped on the DCPM-channel.

Noise

This «waveform» is commonly used for drums, as, if shaped correctly, noise can sound quite similar to drums. High frequencies are best suited for hi-hat/ride, mid frequencies for snare, and low frequencies for bass drum or kick.

It can be difficult before you learn how to shape the noise correctly. I would suggest using a quick linear fadeout as the baseline and then tweak it until you’re happy with how it sounds.

Effects

When working with trackers, you are not going to be able to make very fun music if you don’t know your way around the effects you can use to modify the sound. I will add more with time, and focus especially on the ones that I think are significant to chiptune music.

Arpeggio

If you want to comply to the limitations of a specific sound chip, you are usually limited to just a few sound channels, as I was describing earlier. A problem you might be facing is that making full chords would use up a lot of channels and also prevent you from playing any other sounds on those channels as the chord is playing, so doing it in the intuitive way isn’t the optimal way to do it. To get around this «limitation» there is the arpeggio effect. What it does is it rapidly loops through several different notes after one another on the same channel, thus achieving a «chord». This is known as an arpeggio in musical terminology. In most trackers, it is represented by effect 0, and supports 2 notes after the base note. To make a chord, you simply set the number of semitones after the note you pressed. So, if you want to make a regular major chord, you will put «047» in the effect column after the note. Be aware that the effect continues to affect subsequent notes until you set a different effect or no effect. This is standard behavior for most trackers. The result you get is very characteristic to 8-bit music, as the effect is very commonly used.

Slide up/down

The slide effect slides the pitch of the note up or down at a set speed. The effect is probably more used in a sound effects context, but can also be useful when making music. For example, adding a slide effect at the end of notes can make them sound more lively and interesting. You can also use slide to create a transition effect between notes, though I personally prefer the automatic portamento effect for that. Effect number varies by tracker. In Famitracker and Milkytracker it’s 1xx for slide up and 2xx for slide down, where xx is the speed you want the note to slide at. If you stop the effect by setting 00 for speed, the pitch will remain at whatever it was at when the effect was activated for the remaining duration of the note.

Portamento

The Portamento-effect is similar to the slide effects, except it always slides to the pitch of the next note, so it’s a neat way to create smooth transitions without having to do manual calculations to make the transition seamless. Usually, the effect is 3xx where 3 is the effect number and xx is the number of steps in pitch units for every tick, so a higher number slides to the next note faster, and a lower number slides to the next note slower.

Vibrato

To add vibrato to a note (pitch up and down), effect 4 is used in most trackers, including Famitracker and Milkytracker. The first number sets the speed, and the second sets the depth of the vibrato. For example. «425» results in a vibrato with a speed of 2 and a depth of 5. The effect is persistent until it is stopped. To stop the effect, set the speed to 0. Vibrato can be very useful if you want to add more vibrance and variation to an instrument. If used with finesse, some really cool-sounding stuff can be made!

Tremolo

The tremolo effect is basically «vibrato for the volume», meaning that rather than the pitch, it is the volume that is affected, but in the same manner. The effect number in Famitracker and Milkytracker is 7, and the first number sets speed, the second number sets depth. For example. «725» results in tremolo with a speed of 2 and a depth of 5. And the fact that it can be a very useful effect to add more vibrance to your notes also holds true for tremolo.

Finding inspiration

If you need some inspiration to get started I suggest listening to my playlist «8-bit, chiptune, bitpop» on Spotify, embedded here. It has my own chiptune music, as well as a wide variety of different artists and styles within the genre, and I update it on a regular basis. Hopefully you can find something you like, and feel free to share it with others if you do 🙂

Final advice

As a last tip: A lot of the beauty of chip music lies in making rich compositions from seemingly scarce resources. Try to get the most out of every channel. You can make any styke of music you want, as chiptune is really more of a «sound profile» rather than a genre, so even though it’s best to stick to the limitations of a specific chip to get an authentic sound, you have endless freedom when it comes to styles. Just like with any music, you will develop your own style when you have experimented for aehile. And again, if you want inspiration to get you started I encourage you to check out the playlist I mentioned above. Good luck! 🙂

Sources and Resources

Below you will find the sources used for the information on this page, as well as useful recources for when you are ready to start making your own chiptunes.

How to Make Great 8-Bit Music (Chiptune) Using Your DAW

Whether you just love the music style and would love to learn how it’s done, or if you are a composer that has been given the task of making this style of music, you will hopefully find this resource helpful.

Before we begin, we need to know what exactly makes a great 8-Bit music track. These steps are what you are going to take in this post.

Table of Contents

Also, after reading this post, you will be aware of some pitfalls and avoid making the same mistakes as I once did.

Regardless of which DAW you use, this post will hopefully be a helpful recipe over things you need to do on in order to make great 8-Bit music.

So, are you ready to level-up your 8-Bit music skills?

Step 1: Know how 8-Bit Music originally was made

In order to produce this music style as truthful as possible, you should first understand its roots. Because it has some pretty interesting facts!

The Sound Chip

Originally, in the 1980s, video game music was not recorded and inserted into video games such as the standard ‘record and import’ we know today.

Remember the good old games consoles Atari and Commodore? They had 8-Bit sound processors, in which the sounds weren’t too complex.

This music was, as you probably know, not made by real instruments. It was actually made by using the chips in the 8-Bit sound processors.

But the computer chip was not anywhere close to having the realistic, full-sound of a real instrument.

The sound chips did not have an infinite number of voices. Each sound chip from that time was highly limited and most ofte n only able to produce one sound.

So, as you probably already have put together now – 8-Bit music is named after these sound processors: Chiptune.

If you want to create 8-Bit music as authentic as possible, you must know the real thing’s limitations:

For example, a limited amount of sounds could play at once:

Step 2: Find and Install Some Great 8-Bit VSTs

The 80s were a long time ago. It does not have to be done the old way anymore, using the sound chips and all that.

Today, you can create 8-Bit-Music, or Chiptune by either:

Above you’ll see an infographic that I’ve put together. It shows how the creati on of Chiptune music has changed over the decades.

(Can you guess what my favorite video game was by looking at the 1990s one?)

Today, we have fantastic VST plugins and equally awesome synths sounds that we can easily load up into Logic Pro, Cubase, or whatever Digital Audio Workstation your prefer.

In case you are brand new to music production:

A VST is a plugin you use with your DAW. Reverb, delay and other effects are called VST Effect plugins. The cello sample you can load up in GarageBand, Logic Pro or Cubase is called VST Instrument. You can read more about this in this helpful article I have written.

Using VSTs is not exactly the truly authentic way to create 8-Bit Music. But it is a simpler, efficient way of emulating the sound.

Here is a list of suggested 8-Bit VSTs for you to try out:

(remember to open the links in another tab. We are not done yet!)

Today there are two popular ways of creating 8-Bit Music. Using your DAW is one of them, but you can also use a music tracker s oftware.

Tracker

This post is mainly about getting great 8-Bit Tracks using your Cubase, Ableton, Logic, etc.

However, I feel that it is worth mentioning that, if you really want to test your music production skills, you can try using a tracker as well. Some of them are even fully useable DAWs too.

What’s a tracker, you say?

Just like the DAW y ou have, a tracker is a music sequencer. It is able to record music, but the way it is done is way different than what you would do in Logic or Cubase.

Even though some trackers can be a fully-fledged DAW, they are not exactly the same.

With a tracker, you work with numbers, notes, samples, tracks, patterns, and orders. The music in the grid is not moving from left to right, but from top to bottom.

A music tracker’s interface is not as user-friendly as most DAWs. So, if you are a complete beginner and just want to learn the basics of 8-Bit music theory, I’d recommend that you use a regular DAW in the beginning.

So, this is not like making music in the DAWs most people use. If you really want to get into the feel of being a programmer, this is for you.

The tracker had its breakthrough in the late 80s (Amiga Commodore) and this is the music sequencer that made the iconic music for Game Boy, Nintendo, DOS and more in the 90s.

Check out these trackers if you want to try it out:

You can watch this video for more information about trackers:

Step 3: Identify the Typical Traits of 8-Bit Music

Now that you know a little about how 8-Bit originated, and hopefully have gotten yourself one or two nice 8-Bit VSTs, you have laid the foundation for creating a great track in y our DAW.

But really…what’s a great track?

Here are some typical traits of a great, retro 8-Bit track, which you could implement in your music:

Tempo

8-Bit music tends to be quite fast. It often operates within the 120 BPM area. This is not so surprising, considering the arcade game era the 8-Bit music hails from.

Think of your favorite 8-Bit soundtracks.

My guess is that they are pretty upbeat, right? The most famous 8-Bit songs are usually written in Major Key, which is looked at as the ‘happy-sounding key’.

Most often, 8-Bit music back in the day was in C Major.

They often draw inspiration from classical music

Listen to video game songs by the legendary Japanese composers, and you will soon discover that the music is actually rooted deeply in classical music, as well as ragtime and other music genres.

Make it Easy to Sing Along With

Again, because of the restrictions of the sound chips, the composers were forced to come up with pretty creative solutions.

The solution was to create easy, simple melodies, that was nearly impossible to not sing along with. And impossible to forget.

Even if you can sing or not – try to sing your song while you create your 8-Bit track and see how easy it is to sing along to.

Step 4: Keep it Simple

This is the part where you are going to learn from my mistakes.

In order to produce an 8-Bit track that sounds as authentic as possible – keep it simple.

In 2016, I tried to create an 8-bit song for the first time ever. It was supposed to be an authentic 8-Bit version of the Andyax Soundtrack, and it was eventually featured in a scene in the short film “The Camera Hack”.

Ah, I will just load up some synths that sound sort of like an 8-bit sound and compose music the way I usually do, right? With several instruments playing different melody parts simultaneously?

I should have done my research first. And this is why:

The result? A way too complex, extremely annoying and not authentic track that I was too embarrassed to feature in the full soundtrack when I released it.

You will actually be much more likely to create something that sounds really good and authentic if you are keeping it simple.

Composers had limitations when using the sound chips back in the day. Historically, it is the simplicity that defines the sound of a real Chiptune.

“Well, that’s too bad, but Super Mario Bros is way more complex!”, you say.

Well, even though legendary 8-Bit tracks like Super Mario Bros indeed can be quite complex pieces (you have probably heard an orchestra arrangement of it): try to really listen to how many notes are actually being played simultaneously.

It is not that many notes playing simultaneously!

It is actually very, very easy to sing along with Super Mario Bros. Its melody is quite simple!

And that is because the programmers and the composers had to think like that. To be creative, despite the limitations of the sound.

(I have made plenty of other mistakes during my time as a composer. Check out this post where I spill the beans on the worst ones. It is definitely worth a read.)

Step 5: Study Other 8-Bit Composers

Just because we can easily load up a massive library of 8-Bit samples and export it out in a short amount of time, and getting our track to sound exactly like the retro, iconic video game music…

…does that mean that the music automatically is going to be just as awesome as the Super Mario Bros theme? Or Ocarina of Time from Zelda?

Legendary NES composers like Konji Kondo are fantastic sources if you want to learn a thing or two about how to make awesome 8-Bit songs.

Other recommended composers are Hiroshige Tonomura, Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, and my personal faovrite Junichi Masuda (for his work on the Pokémon Red and Blue games when I was a kid)

You can really tell how wonderfully intricate the seemingly simple melodies are constructed when you listen to an orchestra version or a piano cover of songs by these composers on YouTube.

Now you Know

In this post, you have hopefully gotten some new knowledge and found yourself some new, free tools for your music production.

These key takeaways are what you should take action on:

And even though some might say that nothing beats the way this music is really supposed to be made, by utilizing these points, you can make great-sounding ‘Chiptunes’ using free VST sounds in your DAW as well.

How to Make Music Using a Computer

This article was co-authored by Timothy Linetsky. Timothy Linetsky is a DJ, producer, and music educator that has been making music for over 15 years. He is a certified Ableton trainer and creates educational YouTube videos focused on producing electronic music. He has over 90,000 YouTube subscribers.

There are 18 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 100% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status.

This article has been viewed 664,473 times.

In the past, making studio-quality music required lots of money and years of training in composition and instrumentation. Now, however, you can create beautiful songs at home with nothing more than a computer, some audio software, and a little bit of practice.

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\u00a9 2022 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is not licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.
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Retro Development

Posted by Alyssa Keil · December 27, 2018

The music from retro games has a way of staying in your ear long after you set the controller down. Some themes capture the feeling of the gameplay perfectly and create a memorable emotional experience. Others have super-catchy, hummable melodies. Either way, many a gamer has been inspired to try their hand at creating an authentic retro chiptune.

I’m Mitch, an audio engineer at Mega Cat Studios, and t his blog will give you guys a quick guide on how to create music and sound effects for genuine NES games. That’s right, the original Nintendo! It will cover Famitone limitations and what’s needed to successfully get your music working on real Nintendo hardware, as well as how to format your work for Nintendo programmers and developers.

Go ahead and download Famitracker in the link below and let’s get started!

On the Famitracker site, download Famitone2 as well.

So for those of you who don’t know, FamiTracker is a Windows application that emulates the 2A03 sound-chip, the standard sound processor on NES consoles. It creates those sexy 8-bit sounds we love so much! Famitracker is only built for Windows OS, so mac/linux users will need to use a windows emulator.

The Basics

This program enables y ou to input notes on a grid while the music scrolls vertically. There are only 5 channels (the five columns) to work with: 2 Pulse channels, triangle, the noisy channel, and DPCM used for imported audio samples.

Here is an overview of the interface:

Z on the keyboard is middle C-note, and the chromatic scale quick keys look like this:

Here are some useful key commands for w hen a note is selected on the grid:

Creating Musical Effects

Since we’re not able to use all the effect columns simultaneously, you’ll want to create certain effects using the instrument editor, such as vibrato. Here is an example of a setting I’ve used in countless NES games:

On the left, Volume, Pitch, and Duty effects are checked. On the right is the Volume sequence editor, each individual block represents a volume change on the instrument. Under the sequence editor is the size, which is basically the length of the note (it adds more blocks).

Under instrument settings, click on Pitch. As you can see, I added a slight change to the pitch (one semitone up) at the very end then had it loop. This adds a variation in pitch that gives it the vibrato effect we’re looking for.

Another effect you’ll want to utilize is the Arp (arpeggio). This particular effect on the 2A03 sound-chip has a very iconic sound, and can dramatically improve the music.

Requirements for Hardware

To get your music implemented onto NES hardware, you’ll need to follow these requirements:

Use this as a reference if you are still unsure about the limitations. Your music should look something like this:

Notice all the notes are within range (octave 1-6) and it doesn’t use volume or effect column.

Samples

You can use DPCM samples, but there are limitations too, and I wouldn’t recommend using them for your first project.

Other guidelines for samples:

Sound Effects

In addition to music, your game will need some sweet SFX. To create sound effects for the NES, p ut each sound effect into a separate sub song using the multi-song feature. Unlike music, you can use most of the FamiTracker effects, except sweep. Every effect should end with silence, by putting a C00 command.

There is a major limitation: one effect can’t be larger than 255 bytes. Keep them short, and limit the number of effects and channels used.

Formatting SFX

Once the SFX are finalized, you’ll want to check to see if there will be any issues implementing them into Famitone2. This is the most important step because if your file won’t work in Famitone2 then it will be incompatible for the developers. Their time can be better spent on other things rather than dealing with a C-7 note you accidentally put in a song.

This can be a bit tricky for those who have never used the command line before, but it’s better to solve these issues yourself than to send incompatible ftm files to programmers.

It’s easier than it sounds. Just follow these steps:

Here’s what the command line should look like:

It shows that there are 23 sound effects in the file, and shows an error for Effect 0. In this case, the effect is too long and needs to be shortened.

You’ll need to export to an NSF-file (NES sound format) to get your Famitracker music working on real hardware. I prefer sending developers the FTM, NSF, and MP3s in a compressed folder.

The final step is listening to your music and SFX in-game! The mix will sound different after its converted. There will be less bass, and the high frequencies will sound sharper.

The Final Note

Now you should know the basics of creating music and SFX for authentic NES games, and how to format those groovy tunes properly so that they can live forever on hardware. Want more? Get involved in the community with the Battle of the Bits!

If you have any more questions, feel free to email me:

Beat Making 101: How to Make a Beat

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Most beginner producers learn to make music by creating simple beats. And in the world of music production, beat-making can be an entire career in itself (and a lucrative one at that). For the inexperienced producer, however, even a simple beat can seem a bit abstract. Beginning to make original beats can, therefore, be more intimidating than it needs to be.

In this article, we’ll discuss what makes a good beat, and I’ll even show you how to make a beat from start to finish that ends up sounding like this:

Finished Beat

But first, let’s cover what tools you’ll need to get started.

In this piece you’ll learn:

Looking for a little extra inspiration?

Experiment with beat making using the plug-ins in this article that are included in Music Production Suite 5 or with a free trial of a Music Production Suite Pro membership.

What tools do you need to make a beat?

To begin on your beat making journey, you’ll only need a handful of tools to get started. Some of the tools I’ve listed below are optional, but I’m including them because they can speed up the creation process and/or really help bring your beats to the next level.

Sample library

A deep sample library is the most helpful tool when first learning how to craft killer beats. Inevitably, the samples available to you will affect your composition decisions. Recording your own samples can be pretty tedious, so consider using a sample database like Splice or Sounds.com will provide quick and broad access to tons of sonic possibilities.

If you really want to get into making your own samples, watch the video below to see how TOKiMONSTA uses RX to create her own samples for her beat-making arsenal.

A DAW (digital audio workstation) is software you can use to record, edit, and produce your beats. There are many DAWs on the market, so you’ll need to do a bit of research to find which is the best for you. But, this software is what will allow you to stack multiple instrument tracks on top of each other to craft your unique beat.

Beat sequencer

Some DAWs come with their own beat sequencer built in, but for the step-by-step tutorial below, I used BreakTweaker to help build my beat. BreakTweaker allows you to arrange your samples on a grid and loop it over several bars. This saves a ton of time manually copying, pasting, clicking, and dragging all your samples around in your DAW. Plus, BreakTweaker comes with some pretty cool additional features that allow you to shred, splice, and alter each individual note you place in the grid.

MIDI controller

Whereas you can certainly set up a drum groove by clicking MIDI notes into your DAW, being able to play the drum groove really helps to internalize the process of creating rhythms. The more you feel the rhythm, rather than simply conceptualize it visually, the easier it will be to create beats that resonate with people. That’s why I recommend using a dedicated MIDI controller that you can plug into your computer and use to trigger your samples.

Mixing and mastering software

Mixing and mastering software will really help bring that extra level of professional polish to your beats. In the beat below, I used Neutron to help glue all the elements together into one, cohesive sounding beat. Then, I used Tonal Balance Control to check my mix and Ozone to master the final beat. Note that you can get access to all three of these plugins with free trial of a Music Production Suite Pro membership or by purchasing Music Production Suite 5 Universal Edition.

What makes a good beat?

Good beat making, in general, is finding the balance between variation and repetition. Without any variation, the listener can get bored (and will likely skip to the next song). Without any repetition, the listener doesn’t really have anything to latch onto, which can cause the music to feel unstructured. It’s the producer’s job to find the right compromise between variation and repetition to create something that’s interesting but still relatively accessible to a non-musical listener. In the world of beat-making, where repetition is so prevalent that it can become overwhelming, finding this compromise is especially important.

The majority of modern beats can be broken down into only a few standard elements: a kick, a snare, some high-frequency percussion sounds, a bass, and at least one melodic element. When crafting my own beats, I prefer to begin with the bass line. Then, I’ll add my kicks, snares, and high-frequency percussion. Lastly, I’ll add in some melodic elements and foley sound effects to fill in the gaps. Keep in mind, though, that these elements can be added in any order you like. The only requirement is that all elements work together rhythmically.

How to make a beat

I’ll walk you through the basic steps for how to make a beat using one of my current works-in-progress: “I Like it Raw.” Although this song leans more EDM, these concepts are applicable across any genre that involves programming beats, including rap, hip hop, and more. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Define your vibe

Before you sit down to make a beat, it helps to first think about the vibe you’re going for as this will help you with your sound selection and in determining the right tempo for your project. The tempo of a track can totally change the feel of a beat, so make sure you select a tempo that is appropriate for the genre and style you’re going for. For my track, I’ve set my tempo to 130 BPM.

Step 2: Create a bass line

One reason I like starting with the bass line is because it not only helps set up the rhythm of the beat, a bass will help to provide some tonality and outline the chord progression within the beat. Your choice of bass sound will vary depending on the genre, but for mine, I’ve layered a clean sub bass with a gritty synth sample. Check it out: