The Family Bass - Music with an NES
(linusakesson.net)138 points by rcarmo 17 hours ago
138 points by rcarmo 17 hours ago
This was great.
I always recommend watching his old Chipophone video (homemade 8-bit synthesizer from a repurposed old electronic organ). He has made many cool instruments since. Some of which maybe more tehcnically impressive, I can't tell. But this one is probably still on my all time top 10 "most enjoyment from watching a Youtube video" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1pchpDD5EU
Such cool sounds and he plays it well!
For those who want to try it out, you can also access these sounds in a somewhat easier way by using an NES audio emulator in your favorite DAW, or by using one of the various tracker programs:
This one lets you play the bass on the left hand of a keyboard and the square waves (should really be PWM) on the right hand:
Further, FYI: famitracker has a few different variants, with DN–famitracker being the fork, currently closest to accurately reproducing, the NES and the most common extant sound expansion chips: https://github.com/Dn-Programming-Core-Management/Dn-FamiTra...
And Famistudio is an excellent alternative if you prefer composing on a piano roll: https://famistudio.org
I am a fan of these Famicom/NES synthesized sounds, they have a flavor that is rarely found in modern game music. There are a few musicians who does rearrangements of songs for playback on the Famicom, example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM3bYVt-c1k
Original song:
IMO: Play the second video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gds1EeQGMaQ&t=166s) for a few seconds, and observe when Linus plays with the Japanese Famicom keyboard.
It'll give you a good idea for what he's making. (The music video is also really cool.)
So many other videos are amazing as well. I am blown away.
https://www.linusakesson.net/music/vivaldi-summer-presto/ind... https://www.linusakesson.net/music/withering-bytes/index.php