More MSX soundchips deserve revival!!!

msx guru (3867)

12-07-2005, 09:16

There is a vivid retrotunes scene, many people are creating PSG music again. I feel like there are more MSX soundchips which deserve a revival! The Dutch scene had a massive period creating the greatest tunes for MSX-MUSIC/MSX-AUDIO in the early 90s with Soundtracker and Moonblaster. They should come back! I really would like to hear Impact like tunes again. Or Zodiac like arrangements of popular tunes

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (9956)

12-07-2005, 10:00

PSG has a coolness-factor because it's limited, Moonsound has a coolness-factor because you're very free in what you want and you can archieve semi-pro sounding results. One of the scene-issues with the FM-Pac was that our trackers were kinda limited.. nothing really close to what Microcabin could do in their days. (haven't seen StudioFM tho) For me the FM-Pac fun is gone when there's the awareness that more can be done (in combi with the PSG) but you're not able to do so because your software doesn't allow it. Raising the creative bar while the software isn't ready for it..
Musid Moculde ... It was nice in combination with the FM-Pac in the MB-years .. but I'm not really a big fan of it on its own. Even in combination wit the FM-Pac now seems a bit outdated to me, compared to the Moonsound. Naturally I speak for myself, I kinda abandonded the FM-Pac/Musmod anyway.

By shaiwa

Champion (385)

12-07-2005, 10:10

Latok, time will tell ... just like the psg revival it will come when time is right...
think an awsome tracker that can be used on multiple systems can help a lot.
(those tunes your talking about aren't they KSS'ed yet ?)

By BiFi

Enlighted (4348)

12-07-2005, 10:31

they most likely aren't but those aren't that hard to KSS since there are conversion tools for them.

By meits

Scribe (6499)

12-07-2005, 11:03

Hmmm... Funny...
Wolf_'s reasons for not doing anything with the combo of the both mentioned chips are all based on facts... If all tune tuners thought like that, the both chips would be abandoned by everybody... Luckily not all tune tuners think like that though

I (a misserable example, i know) am not too experienced with editing samples for moonsound and there's a high tresshold for me to begin and master it. Because I don't want to use too much of the internal moonsound ROM anymore, cuz all tends to souns the same then, I'm not too active on moonsound anymore... (/me guesses /me needs a steamcourse in Soundforge)

To satisfy låtøk's needs for retreau, check here (for as long as i host it there)...

Ghe... Forgot to mention this hillarious little thingy... bgm3 is being used by a brit (which is no MSXer) as ringtone :D

By Latok

msx guru (3867)

12-07-2005, 12:45

Cheers Meits! And I feel EXACTLY the same as you about Moonsound! The ROM sounds are a bit boring and I also don't quite know how to work with samples. I once bought a CDROM off Wolf with great samples, but well......dunno......I don't have proper software to convert them to Moonsound standards. Also don't quite know how to do it..../me needs a course as well

By snout

Ascended (15187)

12-07-2005, 12:51

Although I'm very impressed by the things Wolf_ and other composers are pulling off with the Moonsound, I prefer to compose for SCC, MSX-MUSIC, MSX-AUDIO and/or PSG (although I'm not really that good in the latter) myself. Why? Because of all of these chips have their own, characteristic, unique, recognizable sounds. They also have their limitations which sometimes makes it quite a nice challenge to make a song sound like you want it to.

As Meits stated: if you look at specs and capabilities, the Moonsound would be the only logical choice. But if you look at specs and capabilities, why did you end up composing for MSX in the first place? ^_^.

By meits

Scribe (6499)

12-07-2005, 13:05

I started in 1992... What choices did I have

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (9956)

12-07-2005, 14:27

latok: try to find any freeware audio editor, and using those waves is a piece o' cake. I kept the original samples full-quality, so that everyone can decide how to downgrade them ... 44/8 .. 22/16 .. 22/8 .. 11/8 (11/16 isn't really relevant in most cases) .

try to find these functions in that audio editor: "sample rate converter" "bit depth converter". Also remember that sample-sizes are usually always a power of 2.. handy for selecting/cutting.

If you need more info on how to use those functions, bug me @ irc ..

I still use the technique which I used to process those samples (to get the 'inaudible' loop) today.. so technically the whole lib is very up2date still

Oh, and someone should bug MSD ^_^ He made a wav2tone converter .. he only needs to support a few user-choices, like "halve samplerate", "quarter-samplerate" and "bitdepth-reducing", as well as "mix stereo to mono" (if required).

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (9956)

12-07-2005, 14:34

Note that halving or quartering (does this word excist? ) the samplerate is best done on pads, not on small sounds with a tiny loop at the end, like a bass-sound. If the looplength is an odd number than half that number has a rounding error, hence you get a detuned loop. Doubling the loop-size doesn't always help as you migh hear an extra lower octave in the sound.

By Low_Profile

Champion (425)

12-07-2005, 14:40

KSS has some bugs by the way... some AM instruments get cut-off for some reason, while they don't do that on a real MSX (or even in an MSX emulator) ... I experienced it with many of my own songs, while i was converting them to KSS it's better than nothing though