Thinking about putting together a collection of free instruments for the community - simple stuff with one or two nodes and one or two envelopes, like this:
...so as to leave a lot of room for modification by users.
What instruments would y'all want in a free patch collection? Right now we have crude versions of:
- violin
- piano
- pipe
- organ
- kick
- snare
- hat
- crash
but a single .sfx file can hold up to 24 instruments, so it feels like we should offer more than eight.
Guitar, synth bass, trumpet, some kind of flute.
Those would be my suggestions.
Something that sounds like a shamisen could also be cool.
An acid bass synth. The squelchy kind that comes from a Roland TB-303. I have no idea how simple of a request that is. I've heard acid bass in pico-8 demo carts but I don't think the music is created with the standard music tracker.
@8bit_gnosis: Watched a YouTube video about bass lines - does this sound acid-bass-y? https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/files/40166/acid-or-no.mp3
(Have also added a guitar, a couple other synth basses, and trumpet patch - gonna look at flute and shamisen later, see if we can make those too.)
A set to simulate the C64 SID chip would be awesome. Had a go myself but really didn't know what I was doing!
Any particular SID sounds? From what I understand, the chip has a lot of sound design capacity.
Thanks to everyone that made suggestions! We're up to seventeen instruments now, with ideas for a few more.
@profpatonildo: do you have any advice on shamisen music? I found a YouTube video of a couple players, and tried to imitate the sound:
--[[pod_type="instrument"]]unpod("b64:bHo0AGoAAABoAAAA8Fl7aW5zdHJ1bWVudD1weHUAAygAAgAABAABEAYPKBABIAEgAfAAAhAGDyAPEBEgDyEgBQ_iAAEED44PGgGADxIQBggAESAPIA-uEAEwD6bwow8lDxwG8AUF8K8P_AoP-w_AD-cNAfAIfQ==") |
...but we don't know how to judge our success, or how to make an instrument preview SFX for it.
@packbat, not really sure TBH but there are some pretty classic "warbly" ones used by Rob Hubbard and some of the other great SID composers.
Not sure how authentic the sounds are in this video but, to me at least, they capture the SID spirit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1DvWS6xCdew
Sorry I can't be more helpful.
No problem - will check that out in a bit! Worst case, we just can't reproduce any within our arbitrary self-imposed constraints.
Edit: Took a listen to the video you linked and read a blog post we found from someone making a C64 sample pack - and came up with two sounds that feel pretty classic chiptune. Thanks for the suggestion!
Awesome idea! I didn't see any epiano-type patches mentioned, I always like those. Also plinky xylophone/marimba/glockenspiel type stuff is pretty useful in my book. Thanks for sharing :)
Oh no, we missed some posts!
@profpatonildo: copy the instrument pod data, select an instrument in the instrument editor, paste!
@SaltySalticid: the current piano patch is deeply unrealistic, but if there's a specific piano you want imitated, let us know! And yeah, xylophone/marimba/glockenspiel is top of the to-do list - gotta have one!
@packbat I meant patches that aim to emulate physical electric pianos, like Fender Rhodes or Wurlitzer. Given the constraints of picotron's synth system, I know that's potentially tough, but I feel something like Yamaha DX7 epiano patches (eg see 7:15 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN4La6qmSnk) should be accessible? I am getting up to speed on it and will post an instrument snippet if I get something decently close.
...full confession? We actually just filled the last two slots with a tom and a steel drum, kind of impulsively.
That said, @SaltySalticid, I just loaded up Dexed with a DX7 E PIANO 1 preset in it, and it turns out you can pretty much just copy all the numbers? Not exactly, there's some features the DX7 has and Picotron doesn't, but the DX7 patches leave all the FM ratios visible, and Dexed offers nice visualizers for it all.
So ... how's this?
--[[pod_type="instrument"]]unpod("b64:bHo0AIsAAACVAAAA8CR7aW5zdHJ1bWVudD1weHUAAygAAgAABAABEAILEAEgASAB8AACEAYPIRABIA4gAQrQDxEPANBAAQ9BMAIPDRABD_zgEQASGSAAMOAPEw4AYigAD0AwAjwAIgQMGwBQD_-QDxUdAPATHlACIAEI8CcPKA_4CfAFDxTwrw-4Cg--D4AP9w8NAfAIfQ==") |
@SaltySalticid I was thinking about how we should update the collection when the new retrigger-every-step option is added, and then I was thinking about how there's room for 32 instruments now, and then I was thinking about your request for an electric piano ... how does this sound? I don't really know how to program a proper Wurlitzer part to be able to test it, but that's the sound I was trying to imitate.
--[[pod_type="instrument"]]unpod("b64:bHo0AGwAAABqAAAA8DB7aW5zdHJ1bWVudD1weHUAAygAAgAABAABEAYPJxABIAEgAfAAAhAGDykPGBEgDyEgBQ8iAAEED3EPOgFwDxEaAPAYIx9AMAEgAQ-4EAQAD0jwog9aAAXwBQbwrw-4Cg--D4AP9w0B8Ah9") |
(Edit: in case it's not obvious, this patch is designed to change timbre as you change volume - my test range was based on the volume slider in the editor, from 08 hex to 38 hex.)
Made a piano sound - bit of a honky tonk piano to my untrained non musical ears lol.
--[[pod_type="instrument"]]unpod("b64:bHo0ANQAAADTAAAA8FR7aW5zdHJ1bWVudD1weHUAAygAAgAABAABEAYPIBABIAENEAEPKOACEAIPIAARIA8lEBEP-w-LAQQPQgACAA-1UA8RAiAPIAABMAEQEQ9HEAQQAgAPT1ABCSAPRyAPgA968AUMABATLQDwWHgQBA8-AALwYAIACBAKEA-fD8QPrw_aD48Peg9vD18PSg86Dy8PGg8PBRABoAEADxCAAQkDEAQQDxoPSg90D5QPLQ_5BA_-D7QPqg_aD4oPeg9kD0oPGvCJD-gKD-8PgA-3DQHwCH0=") |
@EDcreative Is this right? I tried to copy-paste what you gave and it says it's pitched up 13 semitones and has two echoes on it.
@packbat I've since edited it a little and removed the extra echo but still very similar to what I have.
--[[pod_type="instrument"]]unpod("b64:bHo0AMQAAADCAAAA8LN7aW5zdHJ1bWVudD1weHUAAygAAgAABAABEAYPIBABIAEgAQ8o4AIQAg8gABEgDyUP_QARD-8PywEEDzYAAgAP9VAPEQIgDyAAATABEBEPRxAEEAIAD09QAQkgDyAgD64PevCFAgAIEAoQD98PxA_vD5oPjw96D28PXw9KDzoPLw8aDw8FEAGgAQAPEIABCQMQBBAPGg9KD3QPlA8tD7kED78PtA_qD5oPig96D2QPSg8a8IkP_AoP-w_AD-cNAfAIfQ==") |
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