My Journey to Making Chiptunes
My Journey to Making Chiptunes
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Below is an article that's also published at another website.
Below is an article that's also published at another website.
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Atomic Purple GameBoy Color, just like the one I had when I was a little kid.
The Early Days
The Early Days
So, where do I begin? Let's go all the way back to early 2000. I was 3 years old and my sister was only a couple of months old. I had a Nintendo Game Boy Color, and the four games I remember playing on it were Super Mario Land, Donkey Kong '94, Rampage: Universal Tour, and possibly Pokemon: Yellow Version (because I remember hearing Pikachu's voice in that game). If you know anything about the Game Boy/Color's sound capabilities, you'll know that it has 4 channels, of which it has 2 pulse wave channels, a programmable wavetable channel, and a noise channel. I highly enjoyed the songs that were playing from the four games I previously mentioned, and it probably sparked my interest in music (since I was imagining some games with custom characters and music).
So, where do I begin? Let's go all the way back to early 2000. I was 3 years old and my sister was only a couple of months old. I had a Nintendo Game Boy Color, and the four games I remember playing on it were Super Mario Land, Donkey Kong '94, Rampage: Universal Tour, and possibly Pokemon: Yellow Version (because I remember hearing Pikachu's voice in that game). If you know anything about the Game Boy/Color's sound capabilities, you'll know that it has 4 channels, of which it has 2 pulse wave channels, a programmable wavetable channel, and a noise channel. I highly enjoyed the songs that were playing from the four games I previously mentioned, and it probably sparked my interest in music (since I was imagining some games with custom characters and music).
What's this? Plug-and-Play TV games?
What's this? Plug-and-Play TV games?
Sometime in 2003, my parents got me a SpongeBob plug-and-play TV game. Being the little kid I was at the time, I liked SpongeBob SquarePants, so I really had fun playing it. I did notice that the console didn't play any sampled sounds, rather it was all "bleeps and bloops" (as most chiptune musicians would say nowadays). From watching a video in 2017 of a playthrough, I can determine that the developers had probably used a NOAC (Nintendo-On-A-Chip) for the sound (though the 50% pulse wave is ever used for it). I don't know what happened to this plug-and-play TV game, but it was probably a case where it stopped working one day and it got thrown out. Around Christmas Eve 2006, over at one of my late aunt's house, I was at the basement where my cousins were hanging out. They were playing a plug-and-play TV game which had various Namco games from the 1980s, including Pac-Man, Rally-X, among others. They let me play some of the games, and I really enjoyed playing them. Once again, the console didn't use any samples, being all "bleeps and bloops" once again (I did notice that it sounded different compared to the SpongeBob plug-and-play I played three years earlier, but I know why now).
Sometime in 2003, my parents got me a SpongeBob plug-and-play TV game. Being the little kid I was at the time, I liked SpongeBob SquarePants, so I really had fun playing it. I did notice that the console didn't play any sampled sounds, rather it was all "bleeps and bloops" (as most chiptune musicians would say nowadays). From watching a video in 2017 of a playthrough, I can determine that the developers had probably used a NOAC (Nintendo-On-A-Chip) for the sound (though the 50% pulse wave is ever used for it). I don't know what happened to this plug-and-play TV game, but it was probably a case where it stopped working one day and it got thrown out. Around Christmas Eve 2006, over at one of my late aunt's house, I was at the basement where my cousins were hanging out. They were playing a plug-and-play TV game which had various Namco games from the 1980s, including Pac-Man, Rally-X, among others. They let me play some of the games, and I really enjoyed playing them. Once again, the console didn't use any samples, being all "bleeps and bloops" once again (I did notice that it sounded different compared to the SpongeBob plug-and-play I played three years earlier, but I know why now).
Yes, this thing existed. Image from evaluezone.com
It wasn't the first time I played Pac-Man, but it was the first time I played Rally-X, which wasn't in Namco Museum 64.
Cobalt Blue GameBoy Advance SP. I kept this one until 2010, when I decided to give it away to one of my cousins.
The GBC's Successor
The GBC's Successor
In Christmas Day of 2003, I got a Cobalt Blue Nintendo GameBoy Advance SP. The first game (which I had also got on Christmas that same day) I can recall playing on this system was Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (a port of the SNES game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island). I did play other GBA games, including one of the Mega Man Battle Network games, but I played SMA3 the most, and thus I enjoyed listening to its soundtrack a lot. Sometime in 2004, I got the GBA port of DKC2, which I had also played a lot, and I immediately liked its soundtrack as well (even though I never got past Lava Lagoon, which I hated so much). The GBA and SP models have two DirectSound channels panned to the left and right, and does music using some kind of software mixing, but it does have four Game Boy-compatible sound channels, and some of the games I played did make use of these Game Boy channels (either for music or sound effects). At this point, I don't remember what happened to the Game Boy Color I had, but at least the GBA is backwards compatible with the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, so I didn't worry too much about it.
In Christmas Day of 2003, I got a Cobalt Blue Nintendo GameBoy Advance SP. The first game (which I had also got on Christmas that same day) I can recall playing on this system was Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (a port of the SNES game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island). I did play other GBA games, including one of the Mega Man Battle Network games, but I played SMA3 the most, and thus I enjoyed listening to its soundtrack a lot. Sometime in 2004, I got the GBA port of DKC2, which I had also played a lot, and I immediately liked its soundtrack as well (even though I never got past Lava Lagoon, which I hated so much). The GBA and SP models have two DirectSound channels panned to the left and right, and does music using some kind of software mixing, but it does have four Game Boy-compatible sound channels, and some of the games I played did make use of these Game Boy channels (either for music or sound effects). At this point, I don't remember what happened to the Game Boy Color I had, but at least the GBA is backwards compatible with the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, so I didn't worry too much about it.
A NES Wannabe Comes Into Play
A NES Wannabe Comes Into Play
Around 2007, my parents got one of those cheap, Chinese "Famiclones" (Famicom Clones). At this point, I had already moved to another state. The console was penguin-shaped and had a bunch of NES games slapped on to it. This is my earliest memory of discovering the existence of the NES and I discovered Super Mario Bros, the NES game from 1985. I knew of the game existing since I watched some YouTube videos about it, but it was my first time playing the game. I did try going for the warped route (take the warps to World 4 and 8 in 1-2 and 4-2 respectively), but I got a game over, so I tried going for the warpless route and got a game over again. I usually brush off the game overs nowadays, but as a kid, you tend to get frustrated seeing those game overs. But, I did have fun and enjoy playing the game, even though the cheap "Famiclone" didn't last long (it stopped working after a couple of weeks if I recall). So, as a little kid, I had discovered 8-bit music and sounds.
Around 2007, my parents got one of those cheap, Chinese "Famiclones" (Famicom Clones). At this point, I had already moved to another state. The console was penguin-shaped and had a bunch of NES games slapped on to it. This is my earliest memory of discovering the existence of the NES and I discovered Super Mario Bros, the NES game from 1985. I knew of the game existing since I watched some YouTube videos about it, but it was my first time playing the game. I did try going for the warped route (take the warps to World 4 and 8 in 1-2 and 4-2 respectively), but I got a game over, so I tried going for the warpless route and got a game over again. I usually brush off the game overs nowadays, but as a kid, you tend to get frustrated seeing those game overs. But, I did have fun and enjoy playing the game, even though the cheap "Famiclone" didn't last long (it stopped working after a couple of weeks if I recall). So, as a little kid, I had discovered 8-bit music and sounds.
Although it's from 2010, it's exactly as I remembered it. Also, do those controllers resemble the PSX ones? Image from Super Retro Bros.
Discovering Homebrews and Custom Music
Discovering Homebrews and Custom Music
FamiTracker layout, with the internal 2A03 chip and no expansions.
Cover of Space Harrier's Theme using the N163 expansion chip by yours truly. This has become my personal favorite.
After 6 years of discovering other NES games, in 2013, I discovered homebrew games, of which I saw a TAS of the game Inversion, created by Lucas "Dizzy9" Kur. At this point, I'm attending a private school. I was intrigued that people were making new games for the old video game consoles. It was also at this point where I was curious about how people were getting music and sounds into these old consoles. Not bothering to do internet research, I determined that there was some kind of trickery being done to get the music and sounds into these old consoles (of course, now I know that they have a soundchip somewhere in their motherboards). I was also becoming interested in wanting to make music that could play on these old consoles. In 2014, I attempted to do just that when I tried Addmusick, but decided to give up soon afterwards since I thought that MML (Music Macro Language) was hard to learn though. It was also at this point where I discovered FamiTracker, a program that makes music for the NES/Famicom, including all of its expansion chips (although the Sunsoft 5B was not supported at the time). I had also learned about soundchips, including their capabilities and limitations (and finding out why the sound effects were cutting off some instruments in some of TASes I watched). While I did become interested in all of this, I had left it off to the side for the time being.
After 6 years of discovering other NES games, in 2013, I discovered homebrew games, of which I saw a TAS of the game Inversion, created by Lucas "Dizzy9" Kur. At this point, I'm attending a private school. I was intrigued that people were making new games for the old video game consoles. It was also at this point where I was curious about how people were getting music and sounds into these old consoles. Not bothering to do internet research, I determined that there was some kind of trickery being done to get the music and sounds into these old consoles (of course, now I know that they have a soundchip somewhere in their motherboards). I was also becoming interested in wanting to make music that could play on these old consoles. In 2014, I attempted to do just that when I tried Addmusick, but decided to give up soon afterwards since I thought that MML (Music Macro Language) was hard to learn though. It was also at this point where I discovered FamiTracker, a program that makes music for the NES/Famicom, including all of its expansion chips (although the Sunsoft 5B was not supported at the time). I had also learned about soundchips, including their capabilities and limitations (and finding out why the sound effects were cutting off some instruments in some of TASes I watched). While I did become interested in all of this, I had left it off to the side for the time being.
Making Music for the First Time
Making Music for the First Time
This image shows one of the later updates to the no-longer-existing Auxy Classic for iPad, featuring the option to save multiple songs. The very first version had a different interface, different instruments, and the option to save multiple songs didn't exist.
Image from the company's Twitter page.
Image from the company's Twitter page.
My very first FamiTracker song and very first chiptune song outside of making MIDIs with soundfonts I had done before then. And yes, "MyFirstNSFSong" is the name I chose for this song.
JetStar1997 was my username from around 2015 to late 2017.
JetStar1997 was my username from around 2015 to late 2017.
Likewise, here's my very first Sega Genesis song and very first Deflemask song. This is actually a port of a song I orignally made in Auxy Classic back in 2015, so you get a repetitive bassline and chord motif here.
2014 also marked something significant for me. It was when I actually started making music, not chiptunes though. I discovered an app on my iPad in November 2014 called Auxy (the classic version, which has since been superseded by Auxy Studio). It allowed anyone without musical knowledge or background to make music with relative ease. I gave it a try and was really pleased with it (Listen to the song by clicking or tapping here). From there on, I created a bunch of music with this app, and on a couple of more music-making apps that I would discover over the months, while still watching runs of games from old video game consoles. I rekindled my interest in wanting to make chiptune music at the start of 2016. However, rather than have second thoughts about it, I decided to go ahead start making chiptunes, starting with downloading FamiTracker in February 2016. While confused at first (since I never used a tracker music program), the program's help HTML helped so much and I was able to make my very first chiptune song. For around 10 to 11 months, I would intermittently switch between making chiptunes (mostly covers) and modern music on my iPad (also discovering Deflemask in the process in August 2016), before I became less interested in the latter in 2017. In 2018, my interest in chiptune music overtook my interest in the modern music-making apps.
2014 also marked something significant for me. It was when I actually started making music, not chiptunes though. I discovered an app on my iPad in November 2014 called Auxy (the classic version, which has since been superseded by Auxy Studio). It allowed anyone without musical knowledge or background to make music with relative ease. I gave it a try and was really pleased with it (Listen to the song by clicking or tapping here). From there on, I created a bunch of music with this app, and on a couple of more music-making apps that I would discover over the months, while still watching runs of games from old video game consoles. I rekindled my interest in wanting to make chiptune music at the start of 2016. However, rather than have second thoughts about it, I decided to go ahead start making chiptunes, starting with downloading FamiTracker in February 2016. While confused at first (since I never used a tracker music program), the program's help HTML helped so much and I was able to make my very first chiptune song. For around 10 to 11 months, I would intermittently switch between making chiptunes (mostly covers) and modern music on my iPad (also discovering Deflemask in the process in August 2016), before I became less interested in the latter in 2017. In 2018, my interest in chiptune music overtook my interest in the modern music-making apps.
The Present Day
The Present Day
And to this day, I'm still making chiptune music. This has been quite an interesting journey for me. If it weren't for the Game Boy Color I had when I was 3, I probably wouldn't be making chiptunes today. Making chiptunes has really made me appreciate the old video game consoles a lot more than I did back in 2014, and it also allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and interact with chiptune communities (e.g. geekbeatradio, Nightride FM, etc). Now, what have I've been up to these days? Well, I released an album on July 23, 2021 that's a revisit of 8 songs I made during my days as JetStar1997 and Wavetable Guy. From 2017 until the end of 2018, I pumped out a bunch of covers (and originals starting in 2017) within a short time of making them, but I have slowed down since the start of 2019, mostly due to being "burned out" from making said covers and originals (and some other reasons, which I won't get into), but I won't stop making chiptunes! Who knows what the future has in store for me?
And to this day, I'm still making chiptune music. This has been quite an interesting journey for me. If it weren't for the Game Boy Color I had when I was 3, I probably wouldn't be making chiptunes today. Making chiptunes has really made me appreciate the old video game consoles a lot more than I did back in 2014, and it also allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and interact with chiptune communities (e.g. geekbeatradio, Nightride FM, etc). Now, what have I've been up to these days? Well, I released an album on July 23, 2021 that's a revisit of 8 songs I made during my days as JetStar1997 and Wavetable Guy. From 2017 until the end of 2018, I pumped out a bunch of covers (and originals starting in 2017) within a short time of making them, but I have slowed down since the start of 2019, mostly due to being "burned out" from making said covers and originals (and some other reasons, which I won't get into), but I won't stop making chiptunes! Who knows what the future has in store for me?
Thank you for taking the time to read my journey, and hopefully it will inspire someone out there. Have a nice day!
Thank you for taking the time to read my journey, and hopefully it will inspire someone out there. Have a nice day!
Click here to go to the article published at the Chiptune Cafè website.
A section where I show you some songs I have made
Abandoned album project.
A project where I completely revisit my old originals songs made between July 2017 and August 2018
A small page regarding the albums I decommissioned from my Bandcamp+a link to the archive of said albums
My thought history of the Sega Genesis, from when my grandpa once owned a Genesis when I was in 7th grade to today
My history on the Chiptune Café Discord server from 2017 to 2020. I also talk about songs from an album I released in December 2020.
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