Making an 8 bit song?

[professorlamp]

So far one of my uni assignments is to write a song solely with VST's and samples etc and im interested in writing an 8 bit song (think super mario on the gameboy etc..) right now ive used Reaktor 5 to develop an old snes sounding synth and battery as my sampler for drums but it's still not convincing enough , does anyone know any tips?

 

[updog]

Download the plugin called Chip32. It's free and it's authentic. You're going to have to mess with the waveforms but it's pretty easy to find familiar sounds from it.

 

[ahjteam]

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/2413.html
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/229.html

 

[professorlamp]

thanks guys all i needed

 

[lordofthestring]

Chip32 does the job for VST, though doing it the true old school way would be using NSF tracker. Straight command line, can't beat it! I've done some homebrew NES game soundtracks, fun stuff.

 

[Williamn]

http://www.plogue.com/?page_id=43 Chipsounds.
It looks very impressive, might wanna check it out

 

[professorlamp]

ok to lordofthestring how do i drums for 8 bit? right now im using an electric kit that comes with cubase sx 3 , but even though it's crap it's not as crap (I dont mean to offend here) sounding as the 8 bit drums

 

[lordofthestring]

That's the hard part with making authentic 8-bit songs...you have to make the best with what you have. The triangle and noise channels will be used as drums...usually drums are split between those two channels. Though a lot of developers used DPCM to smash drums sourced from a tone generator and lo-fi them as much as possible. So use the drums you have and cut nearly all the highs and mids off of it. Then use some EQ on it and shape it to get it some 'definition'. The key is you want them to be pronounced but not in the way of the lead instruments.

 

[professorlamp]

thanks again lordofthestrings

 

[Barnacle]

Tweakbench (Peach + Toad + TriForce)
ymVST
PooBoy 2
NesPulse

I use them.

Actually, Get a Gameboy Emulator and do it in LSDJ.