chipmusic.org — LSDJ Chord Cheat Sheet / Advice on Learning Tables threads (2015)

Two chipmusic-org threads: LazierGunz's chord cheat sheet for C commands and arpeggio tables (an image; the discussion carries the values), and a beginner asking how anyone learns to write tables — answered by herr_prof and Dire Hit with the "think in ticks" method and two worked instruments.

Key claims#

Chord cheat sheet (t15949)

• The sheet lists chords as scale-degree formulas and as LSDj hex values; Knife Crimes explains the degree column (1 = root, b flattens, # sharpens a semitone). Mrwimmer adds the "arpmaster" web tool.
• LazierGunz's major-seventh table: transposes 00 04 07 0B 0C 07 04 00 (with a hop it loops 0 4 7 B C) — on C: C E G B C B G E. Slower arps by doubling rows (00 00 04 04 07 07 0B 0B 0C 0C), textures like 00 04 00 07 00 0B 00 0C. Later: "maybe I'm not giving the C command enough credit."
• Mrwimmer: no need to double rows — G01 on the table's first line with groove 01 set to 2/2 halves the speed "(and SO MUCH MORE)"; "the speed of the C command is static (and therefore kinda useless imo)". LazierGunz: "I keep forgetting that the G command isn't global." SketchMan3: the doubled version and G01 + 00 04 07 0B 0C sound the same, the latter uses half the table.
• danimal cannon: arpeggios downward, out of order, with octave notes between, at 16ths, 8ths, triplets or 32nds, five-note patterns over more than an octave — "just don't go up the chord every time the same way"; SketchMan3 orders arps by the note to emphasise. Lack of Sound links the LSDj wiki's "Chords using Tables".

Learning tables (t16432)

• powersupply uses mostly W, O, P, H, K and transposes. herr_prof: everything is 16 steps of six ticks; G changes ticks per step, H the length; in a phrase H is a pattern break (H01 on step 3 → next phrase, step 1); in a table (quoting the manual) H21 hops twice to position 1, H04 forever — use hops to give a command time to work "like a ADSR works on a synth": a3 up to c3 over four steps and back over four, embedded in the instrument so the phrase stays free.
• VCMG: no formula — trial and error plus "dissecting other people's song files"; people share .savs on request.
• Dire Hit: "really think about the phrase step sequencer in terms of ticks instead of the actual music timing terms. Each step is 6 ticks." Homework: Trey Frey's "Dreaming" chord instrument, Fighter X's "Massive Damage" remix intro (two channels), Monodeer's pulse-channel cymbals "(hint: they use a single command to emulate frequency modulation)".
• Dire Hit's worked answers: "Dreaming" — fade in with E09/E0A, count steps to the wanted level and place EX8 (X = the level) where the fade seems seamless, maybe V; at the fade-out H over two steps that change the pulse width while an EX6 releases, H0E on the last step so the volume commands do not repeat, L on the notes. Monodeer's cymbals — V's first digit is the modulation speed, the second the depth; VFF is so fast "it almost becomes audible as a tone" — FM in effect — "if you ever need noise percussion out of a pulse channel our friend the vibrato command can help". Also: "the first number of an R command is an envelope."
• nora: Zef's video tutorials on tables, ticks and commands. Biere Gratuite: Nanoloop can do hard sync and soft pulse, LSDj cannot; herr_prof: "There is nothing you can do in nanoloop that cant be done in lsdj, except you actually have to know what you are doing."

Practical takeaways#

Write arps as transpose tables and set their speed with a table groove (G01 → 2/2) instead of duplicating rows; learn tables by counting ticks (six per step) and by rebuilding instruments you hear; VFF on a pulse is a cymbal.

Notable quotes#

"Just don't go up the chord every time the same way." — danimal cannon

Pages touched#

chord-arpeggio · instrument-tables · vibrato · shuffle-funktempo · pulse-width-modulation · retrigger · tracking-workflow · lsdj · chipmusic-org