Seems like a good place and time to talk about my next project.
I'm creating a drum (and bass-line) machine for the NES.
+ 6 virtual tracks, one drum sound assigned to each track
+ each drum sound can use all 5 or any combination of the NES's hardware voices
+ where two drum sounds require the same hardware voice(s), voice allocation to is done on a bottom-up basis depending on which track the drum sound is assigned to
+ drum parameters include: amp envelope, LFO, pitch sweep, arpeggio, duty modulation etc. all running at 120hz
+ patterns are 16 steps long (and 6 tracks deep)
+ simple song structure - 256 steps with loop feature
+ on each pattern grid cell, where you place a trigger to play a drum sound you can set 5 playback parameters: root note, retriggering speed and 3 proxy parameters
+ the proxy parameters are defined in the drum sound, each one points to one of the 42 different parameters that make up the drum sound
+ this enables you to modify up to 3 parameters in real time, changing any or all 3 values on every step of the pattern
+ I plan to have some kind of external sync (either as master or slave, depending which is possible/easier
)
Here's a screen shot of the latest ROM.
I've got all the synthesis working currently and I'm able to fake a single track of a pattern and modulate the proxy parameters. I'm really, really excited about this as I think it's the first time anyone has approached NES audio in this way. I'm going to try to do a video soon.
Neil
I'm creating a drum (and bass-line) machine for the NES.
+ 6 virtual tracks, one drum sound assigned to each track
+ each drum sound can use all 5 or any combination of the NES's hardware voices
+ where two drum sounds require the same hardware voice(s), voice allocation to is done on a bottom-up basis depending on which track the drum sound is assigned to
+ drum parameters include: amp envelope, LFO, pitch sweep, arpeggio, duty modulation etc. all running at 120hz
+ patterns are 16 steps long (and 6 tracks deep)
+ simple song structure - 256 steps with loop feature
+ on each pattern grid cell, where you place a trigger to play a drum sound you can set 5 playback parameters: root note, retriggering speed and 3 proxy parameters
+ the proxy parameters are defined in the drum sound, each one points to one of the 42 different parameters that make up the drum sound
+ this enables you to modify up to 3 parameters in real time, changing any or all 3 values on every step of the pattern
+ I plan to have some kind of external sync (either as master or slave, depending which is possible/easier
)
Here's a screen shot of the latest ROM.
I've got all the synthesis working currently and I'm able to fake a single track of a pattern and modulate the proxy parameters. I'm really, really excited about this as I think it's the first time anyone has approached NES audio in this way. I'm going to try to do a video soon.
Neil