
Chip - Battletoads in Battlemaniacs - The Hollow Tree (2A03)
At first, I planned to do this using the Konami VRC6 expansion chip. Then I remembered my earlier Battlemaniacs chiptune, where I ended up being more satisfied with the plain 2A03 version anyway. Indeed, I did most of this in VRC6 first.
* I originally put the overdriven guitar in three separate pulse channels, and crammed the ambience into the remaining pulse channel. But it quickly became apparent that this doesn't have nearly as much charm as the one-channel arpeggiated overdriven guitar I first designed for my first Battlemaniacs chiptune. So, I reduced the guitar to one channel, and expanded the ambience to two (main and echo).
* But then I realized I was leaving an entire pulse channel empty. It's not all that unusual in VRC6 to not use one of the channels, or to decide not to use the triangle wave channel at all, and such. But it's very unusual to let a spare pulse channel go to waste. And I finally realized that VRC6 was going to be overkill for this song.
* So, I started over in 2A03 using what I'd learnt from the VRC6 effort, I crammed the ambience into one channel, and managed to share it with the percussion thuds and toms by simply brief interrupting the ambience. The result is full of compromise, but it still manages to sound good in 2A03. I mean, VRC6 is really useful if you need it, but often it sounds like "cheating" because of the three extra channels it gives you. If you can make music in plain 2A03 and make it sound good, it feels more more of an achievement.
Made with FamiTracker targeting the default Ricoh 2A03 sound chip that comes with the NES. No expansion chips whatsoever.
Click here to download the FTM and NSF files.
EDIT: I made some subtle tweaks. First, I changed the overdriven guitar arpeggio from "0 0 0 7 7 7 12 12 12 7 7 7 0" to the tighter "0 0 7 7 12 12 7 7 0", so that the guitar sounds more assertive and not as hesitant. Then, near the beginning, I decided to uncouple the ambience from the thuds and toms, since the other pulse channel was empty during the first two frames, and I thought, "Why didn't I just do this first in the first place?" Also, I added a new percussion instrument - a "kick cymbal", which starts with the noise of a kick, but three ticks in it transitions to the noise of a cymbal that sounds like it's already been decaying three ticks in. (Basically, whichever instrument is louder at the exact moment is the one that gets heard.) This is noticeable near the end of the song before it loops.
* I originally put the overdriven guitar in three separate pulse channels, and crammed the ambience into the remaining pulse channel. But it quickly became apparent that this doesn't have nearly as much charm as the one-channel arpeggiated overdriven guitar I first designed for my first Battlemaniacs chiptune. So, I reduced the guitar to one channel, and expanded the ambience to two (main and echo).
* But then I realized I was leaving an entire pulse channel empty. It's not all that unusual in VRC6 to not use one of the channels, or to decide not to use the triangle wave channel at all, and such. But it's very unusual to let a spare pulse channel go to waste. And I finally realized that VRC6 was going to be overkill for this song.
* So, I started over in 2A03 using what I'd learnt from the VRC6 effort, I crammed the ambience into one channel, and managed to share it with the percussion thuds and toms by simply brief interrupting the ambience. The result is full of compromise, but it still manages to sound good in 2A03. I mean, VRC6 is really useful if you need it, but often it sounds like "cheating" because of the three extra channels it gives you. If you can make music in plain 2A03 and make it sound good, it feels more more of an achievement.
Made with FamiTracker targeting the default Ricoh 2A03 sound chip that comes with the NES. No expansion chips whatsoever.
Click here to download the FTM and NSF files.
EDIT: I made some subtle tweaks. First, I changed the overdriven guitar arpeggio from "0 0 0 7 7 7 12 12 12 7 7 7 0" to the tighter "0 0 7 7 12 12 7 7 0", so that the guitar sounds more assertive and not as hesitant. Then, near the beginning, I decided to uncouple the ambience from the thuds and toms, since the other pulse channel was empty during the first two frames, and I thought, "Why didn't I just do this first in the first place?" Also, I added a new percussion instrument - a "kick cymbal", which starts with the noise of a kick, but three ticks in it transitions to the noise of a cymbal that sounds like it's already been decaying three ticks in. (Basically, whichever instrument is louder at the exact moment is the one that gets heard.) This is noticeable near the end of the song before it loops.
Category Music / Game Music
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 61px
File Size 5.88 MB
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