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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperAudioBlast from the past: how to make music like it's 1992?
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Author Topic: Blast from the past: how to make music like it's 1992?  (Read 1329 times)
kleiba
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« on: December 21, 2016, 12:01:41 PM »

[This may be a frequently asked question and if so annoy regular readers. Apologies if that is the case.]

Back in the day, my friend used to have a tracker program on the Amiga. It supported four channels (two left, two right) and came with a sample library. Nothing spectacular, but, you know, a couple of different synth bass's, some kick drums, snares, hihats, a bunch of lead instruments, some strings and synth sounds. The selection was quite limited, but certainly big enough to get a lot of fun out of the program. My friend and I used to spend a lot of ours playing around with that tracker, making small songs, etc.

Now, a couple of years ago, I remembered that fun and tried to find a similarly simple program for Linux. Perhaps a tracker program just like the one for the Amiga, but maybe something else - it didn't really matter, as long as the entry barrier was low. I did find a couple of programs, but -- not unexpectedly -- the problem was that none of them came with any premade sound banks. That wasn't a big surprise because my friend's tracker back on the Amiga was probably a cracked program (maybe not though).

But I've been wondering again: are there any tools around that allow you to basically just fire up the tool and start making songs out of the box? Especially, I don't want to first have to spend some time synthesizing every instrument for the song... Oh, and I'm not thinking hi-fi studio quality orchestral music or anything like that, I'm more interested in making something that could serve as the soundtrack to a retro-style computer game, reminiscent of the early 90's.

Any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
« Last Edit: December 24, 2016, 04:17:56 AM by kleiba » Logged
PythonBlue
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« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2016, 09:53:01 AM »

Well, I'm not the person to ask over tracker software beyond Renoise products. However, when it comes to the actual sounds, I know that Lode Runner: The Legend Returns (a 1993 computer game) used 8-bit samples from both the Emu Proteus/1 and the Roland SC55 for its instruments.

Similarly, while Myst was a trendsetter for, among other things, traditionally recorded music in games, the original Mac version came out in 1993, and all of the music was done on an Emu Proteus MPS+.

Finally, I've been using chipsounds a small amount of the time, and among the chips it recreated in later versions is that of the music engine of the Amiga computers.

Hope this helps, even if just a little.
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kleiba
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« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2016, 07:31:38 AM »

Sweet, thanks a lot for that information!

In fact, though, I was hoping to find something much simpler, a small, self-contained program perhaps that runs on a normal PC, and has both sequencing abilities and sounds available. It doesn't have to be an actual tracker program but that kind of functionality is exactly what the tracker program my friend and I used to play around with would offer.

I have access to a bunch of synthesizers and I'm also aware of third-party tools to create sounds, but I'd much rather have something that already comes preloaded with a sensible selection of instruments ready to be used to make simple, 1990's-style video game music.

Cheers again!
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kleiba
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« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2016, 11:28:34 AM »

Just to keep this thread fresh: if anyone else has any good insights, I'm still interested to hear them.
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ACEdwards
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« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2017, 07:24:03 AM »

Hey Kleiba,

I'm no expert on trackers either I'm afraid, but I saw your and thought you may enjoy this library from Impact Soundworks - it's basically a sample library of all the legendary retro consoles - https://impactsoundworks.com/product/super-audio-cart/

I'm not sure what your experience is with DAWs and sample library, but basically you need a DAW and Kontakt to run this library (this one works with the free Kontakt player).

From there, you would just create a midi channel and plug in notes via the piano roll :D
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AaronB
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« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2017, 12:20:02 PM »

Maybe you can just use the original program?

https://www.amigaforever.com/

Just use your sound cards audio capture device (Stereo Mix, Wave out etc) to record the final result.
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kleiba
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« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2017, 05:05:01 AM »

Sweet, thanks a lot, ACEdwards and AaronB!
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Glyph
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« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2017, 09:42:42 PM »

There's always www.beepbox.co for small stuff. The interface is very simple, which makes it my go-to for just messing around. It also runs from your web browser and any work is instantly sharable, so that's nice.

For a taste, here's something I made recently in it.
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Svetlana
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« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2017, 08:50:18 PM »

hello hi i am svetlana and i am well-versed in obsolete formats

OpenMPT despite being a modern DAW-like program, is entirely compatible with the original ProTracker (Amiga), FastTracker (DOS) and Impulse Tracker (DOS) formats and you can get it here
http://openmpt.org/

if you want a more classic FastTracker II feel to work with i recommend the program i used the most in the past, MilkyTracker, it even runs on G3 macs !!!! but it's not being well-maintained and doesn't support Impulse Tracker features, it's aimed more at FastTracker and ProTracker
http://milkytracker.org/

Aminet can be a good source for samples, here is a link for all the ST-## sample packs, ST-01 and ST-02 are the most commonly associated with the amiga era since they came with the original SoundTrekker (by Karsten Obarski) and everyone used those samples
http://aminet.net/search?name=ST&path[]=mods/inst

EDIT: OpenMPT is win32 dependant but runs perfectly well (including VST support!) under Wine. Milkytracker is SDL and has native ports for many platforms
« Last Edit: January 29, 2017, 08:57:35 PM by Svetlana » Logged

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MoritzPGKatz
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« Reply #9 on: January 30, 2017, 09:05:52 AM »

Hey,

Timbres are much more important than technique or formats, as long as you're keeping in mind the limitations which 90's producers used to face - assuming you're really trying to create something that really nails that feeling of yore. Arpeggiate away!

If you're looking for original sound sources but want to keep working in a modern DAW, try Plogue Chipsounds - they've meticulously sampled old machines, it's really quite convincing as well as inspiring with tons of presets.

Cheers,
Moritz
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