#97

A post I made in regard to Bitwig contained some reference to the subject of this thread, so I figured I’d extract the relevant bits and provide some additional context, given also that this followed a recent installation of the aforementioned IPS screen replacement/upgrade, which went well and has made working with the DMG substantially less cumbersome. More importantly, it’s sparked quite a bit more experimentation, of late:

But none more radical, to my mind, than this recent undertaking of developing a new workflow and improved signal-chain for my work with the Gameboy:

Tangentially, I’ve been exploring various niches of technical estorica around game consoles and emulation while surveying some potential inroads for undertaking my own development projects in the area and have turned up some interesting gems:

https://bitbucket.org/mpyne/game-music-emu/wiki/Home

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#98

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158519498545355900652940645244033024×4032 2.88 MB

Thought i’d share a couple of 8bit unicorns.

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#99

Midines!? Jealous. x|k was one of my favorites.

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#100

I havent used it in a few years since my NES died. Despite the drama around MIDINES somehow i managed to get 2 of them straight from wayfar. Sold one awhile back and kept his one which is the latest version.

Wish this clone had the same sound quality as the original console.

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#101

Yeah, too bad the Analogue NT Mini was so damned expensive (and now discontinued, I believe). The Polymega, I think, would be the next best thing, assuming it ever comes out, and while it’s certainly not cheap, it is significantly cheaper than the NT and more multipurpose.

#102

The Polymega looks great. I think its being released soon.

I consider this the ultimate NES clone for MIDINES. I’ve always regretted not buying one and they never come up second hand. I wonder if the maker could be persueded to do another run?

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#103

I recently took delivery of an FPGASID chip from Kryoflux for my SID Guts Deluxe. It’s amazing and allows audio in to the filter section. Sweeeeeeet!!

It also seems to respond faster than the SwinSID chip that the SID Guts came with. With that chip I would get slew as notes changed - with this FPGASID chip it’s clean and quick.

Recommended.

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#104

Nice! I think I’ll follow suit quite soon. I wonder how possible or feasible it would be to link the chip between a pair of modules (maybe using a custom PCB mounted across the back of them), considering that it has stereo capability.

#105

There’s a more in-depth video about this one. Been waiting to hear/see a bit more:

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#106

I am very interested to see the MIDI spec on this and how it stacks up to genMDM. One thing that’s kind of disappointing is the lack of USB, particularly since this pretty much precludes any possibility of a hapiNES-style VST implementation. This is beautiful and incredibly tantalizing (albeit, prohibitively pricey), but I’m starting to get burned out on the disjointed nature of the growing number of Megadrive synths, both emulated and physical. Maybe, it’s just me, but I’d like to see some standard interoperability between them (like being able to compose for one and playing it back on another without too much fiddling) and a bit more consideration for the value of VGM capture and playback.

#107

As much as I love the idea of a physical device with a really chip set (or two) I still feel the Plogue VST is probably the best long term option. Being able to play back and also take layers from music you love and rebuild them means it could potentially be a great intro tool to FM design a well as VGM

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#108

I only partially agree. I think that in the longterm, I would prefer to work almost exclusively on FPGA, and while I’ll always eventually wind up on the DAW, the longer I can delay that work, the better. Mainly, I just prefer things to be self-contained to some extent and interoperable (modular, standardized).

Besides, any MIDI device can be made to work as well with a DAW as with any plug-in, the only question is how and whether that how is reasonably portable across devices or at least robust in and of itself. As far as VGM goes, well, I’m not holding my breath when it comes to anything currently available (whether Plogue offers VGM features before Deflemask fleshes out its MIDI implementation or vice-versa, somehow I think these are not high priority for either, though I’d certainly welcome such a surprise).

Currently, I keep my hardware improvisation and VGM composition separate, apart from sharing instrument dumps between them (between Deflemask and the DAFM), but I’m certainly itching for a greater breadth and depth of cross-pollination.

#109

A friend’s SID black metal project now on bandcamp: https://nythyhel.bandcamp.com/

cover photo by myself on the Gameboy Camera :slight_smile:

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#110

Alright, so this is a little different–using ORCA to sequence the RetroPlug VST, running mGB, with Bitwig as host:

The main feature that I have in mind, here (though not yet featured), is to process RetroPlug in two instances with four discrete channels (each sound channel paired off and panned opposite one another and processed discretely as four mono channels). The MIDI between the VST and hardware (DMG) would be identical, but the actual DMG’s sound output would be paired off into only two discrete channels (the extent of its capability).

The idea here would be to use the emulated VST output as a way to accentuate the DMG’s own sound output, though ultimately, I intend to accomplish much the same effect with two DMGs (accomplishing four tracks by abusing their combined two stereo outs); however likely still not to the exclusion of RetroPlug. I may also include the aforementioned technique of using MIDI gates and envelope followers in post-processing of DMG’s output.

I don’t honestly know what all of this will add up to, but I think it’s something like an information enrichment of the chipmusic production process–starting with a maximal amount of information and widdling it down to an impression of the sound, rather than merely a reproduction.

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#111

Forgot to post this a while back. It’s finally on it’s way (though with significant delay):

They moved start and select buttons to the middle, likely in consideration of music application; plus, many of the newly announced accessories (mostly link cable adapters) are very much for music application.

Also, it occurred to me that I hadn’t shared this particular find on here, before:

I did some experimentation a little while ago with ORCA controlling the PPSE部 C700 VST (SNES/SFC emulated sample processing):

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDiCiGdFw9D/?igshid=1uqmva5izs86p

And I have been interested to try the chipsynth SFC:

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#112

I just acquired one of these (prebuilt, with the YM2612). I’m less interested in getting classic Sega sounds than just generally fitting that scruffy digital sound it into my music.

It’s nice for ambient pads and drones, with the loooooong max release time and the softly noisy “ladder effect.” The Etch-a-Sketch style controls with four mini OLED screens works pretty well, though it might not be as much hands-on fun as the (more expensive) Twisted Electrons MegaFM.

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#113

666 characters of I hadn’t realized I needed this. Thank you :goat:

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#114

The DAFM could definitely do with more fleshed out MIDI (I have to follow up, yet, but I do believe there are already some beta firmware updates, though it’s not terribly straightforward to flash, from my understanding). The controls as they are can be nice for making or altering instruments, but they’re immensely less useful for performance; MIDI-CC would be a game-changer (as would program-change), but I think pitch and modulation at least are already in beta.

I do think there are some things that I prefer about the DAFM compared to what I know (or think I know) about the MegaFM. Apart from being more pared down and oriented toward MIDI (rather than as a full-featured standalone instrument), it handles polyphony in a way that more readily facilitates broader instrumentation, rather than prioritizing polyphonic use of a single instrument (which seems to be more common among such devices). The MegaFM does have some sort of MPE functionality, however, and that’s pretty compelling (still, that price, though).

Also, honestly, my little bit of experience with having all the parameters of each operator readily laid out as an array of knobs or sliders (as in the case of a couple of VCV Rack plugins**, for instance) can be a bit overwhelming and less intuitive than the richer interface of the DAFM. I think I even prefer the encoders over using a mouse, such as in the case of Deflemask. If it had proper program-change functionality, it would be my preferred way of creating and editing instruments, hands down.

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#115

Always glad to spread the word :slight_smile: here’s some rare live video:

was a fun nite :slight_smile:

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#116

Yeah I’m really looking forward to this shipping. Hopefully the outs are nice and clean compared to the DMG/GBA.