chipmusic.org — LSDJ Advanced Tricks thread (2012)

A chipmusic-org thread started by a tracker who had "PU1 as a kick, PU2 as the main melody, WAV as the lower notes, NOISE as hi-hat" and ran out of channels. The replies are the Game Boy scene's consensus on channel economy: never dedicate a channel to one job.

Key claims#

• SketchMan3: high-frequency V effects give "a more complex raspy sound"; custom sample kits with chordy sounds; O for stereo space; "You can have kicks, snares, toms, lead, bass and chords all in one channel and in one pattern if you mix it up and alternate."
• Saskrotch: "definitely don't use one channel for just kick drums" — the wave channel does kick, bass and snare (backing the noise channel); "try to fill up any blank space you have".
• Jellica: pulse snares, pulse kicks mixed with noise kicks, bass and melody on the wave channel; wishes the Game Boy had the C64's fixed pitches and waveform combinations.
• roboctopus: put "arps or echoes in between your pulse kicks"; the "LSDJ and You" article series at noisechannel.org, including a tutorial on the F command.
• defiantsystems: "Tables are your best friend" — "add wild pitch commands at the end of your tables to add subtle little bleeps and bloops"; get comfortable with E so ringing notes survive instrument switches; the noise channel is not only percussion.
• Analog: learn the wave channel (F and H "can make your instrument go nuts"); layer channels (three-channel kicks and snares); leave room in the frequency spectrum.
• Victory Road: "you'd be surprised at how many gaps in the music the listener's brain fills in on its own."
• danimal cannon: a free channel doubles, echoes, octaves or detunes what is already there, volume compensated; L-tron: kit percussion "used tastefully" and a wave PINGPONG with a very low cutoff (1A) at one end; herr_prof: "Dont be afraid of silence."
• Learn from save files: Zef's saves with his free album, Jotie on a Pandastar save full of random pitch and V sequences, lsdsng.com's collection; Zef's command-tip videos.

Practical takeaways#

Alternate roles within a channel (a kick between melody notes, echoes between kicks), layer drums across channels, and let envelopes carry ringing notes over the gaps — the listener fills the rest in.

Notable quotes#

"Don't be afraid of silence." — herr_prof

Pages touched#

channel-interleaving · instrument-design · fake-echo · vibrato · stereo-panning · tracking-workflow · lsdj · chipmusic-org