Yeah, I''m the odd composer type that thinks he has to learn every type of digital music there is in order to be prepared for whatever I''m needed for in the VG world. I''m working on a GBA game so I had to teach myself how to use a tracking program, and I have just finished the first song for that game. I can''t really say anything about the game because I have been asked not to, but anyway... It''s the menu music from a game, 2D Side Scrolling Shooter. That''s all I''m allowed to say. http://zack.eg-games.com/ShooterMusic/Menu.xm If you don''t have winamp or some type of Module Player, then I''ll record it so you can download an mp3 of it. Peace. BTW, this music is under copyright, so hands off.

No comments eh? All artists want comments on their music! Unforntunatly I like the harsh ones so..

Well, its ~way~ too short, its a good first section, but I don''t hear a chorus or ending in it, just and intro, then loop. Also, since windows sucks, I had no way of loading this into modplug tracker (it never asks if i wanna save it). Are you using a max of 4 tracks? All of the gameboy music i''ve heard only uses four.

It may be safe to say that listening to some chiptunes would help you out greatly, although some are not 4-track gameboy formatted.

http://www.digitalneo.net/drax-the_play.xm is one of the many chiptunes I have on my comptuer from various chiptune sites. It is 4 trakcs and properly formatted for the gameboy . I''m sure the GBA has slightly less restricting means so if so forgive me.

Anyway, the song you posted is a good BEGINING, finish it and re-post it so we can give you a full review ^_^.

quote: Original post by Dreq
No comments eh? All artists want comments on their music! Unforntunatly I like the harsh ones so..

Well, its ~way~ too short, its a good first section, but I don''t hear a chorus or ending in it, just and intro, then loop. Also, since windows sucks, I had no way of loading this into modplug tracker (it never asks if i wanna save it). Are you using a max of 4 tracks? All of the gameboy music i''ve heard only uses four.

It may be safe to say that listening to some chiptunes would help you out greatly, although some are not 4-track gameboy formatted.

<a href="http://www.digitalneo.net/drax-the_play.xm">http://www.digitalneo.net/drax-the_play.xm</a> is one of the many chiptunes I have on my comptuer from various chiptune sites. It is 4 trakcs and properly formatted for the gameboy . I''m sure the GBA has slightly less restricting means so if so forgive me.

Anyway, the song you posted is a good BEGINING, finish it and re-post it so we can give you a full review ^_^.

Jesus dude...it''s for a MENU. o_o Most of my songs are about 2 minutes before they loop, but I find no need to put any extra effort into making a full song out of something that only plays when you pause the game. If you leave it paused for 10 minutes that''s your own damn fault. :D

Also, GBA doesn''t use chip music, it actualy doesn''t have any specific format anymore. You can write a module player for it to use in games(my team is being lazy and just bought a license to use Krawall) so using files like XM, MOD, IT, etc are a nice plus now.

Then, GBA has 32 total channels you can mix down for(given you program it to be able to use that many). We are only using 8 at the max because the more channels you use the more CPU it uses.

That''s about it. Peace.

Thanks for the feedback though.

Oh really? Then Enix has some explaining to do! GoldenSun2 had mono music, and I kinda figured they sacraficed sterio for more channels.. hrm.. Oh and if you wanna get ~real~ technical, most menus just fade down the stage music being played so hah! ^_^.

quote: Original post by Dreq
Oh really? Then Enix has some explaining to do! GoldenSun2 had mono music, and I kinda figured they sacraficed sterio for more channels.. hrm.. Oh and if you wanna get ~real~ technical, most menus just fade down the stage music being played so hah! ^_^.

I didn''t say MOST menus, I just said I don''t feel like making a full song for a menu/pause screen. :\

Also, It''s a lot easier on the CPU to use Mono playback than it is to use panning at different values for each channel. Supposedly(according to documentation that came with Krawall) the panning on a Module file can cause a major difference in the CPU usage, and they actually recommend Full Left and Right panning(meaning all the sound is in one speaker and not in the other at all) or Centered Pan(mono). I guess it mostly has to do with how much CPU it takes for the GBA to calculate exactly where the position of a certain track will be in the speakers, say 40% in the left speaker and 60% in the right. It takes a lot less CPU to just calculate when everything is set to mono and it''s always 50/50.

Anyway, I guess you get the idea. :D

I guess i''m just used to my audigy2 EAX2 and 64(?) channels of 3Dsound without really touching my CPU much

Hi,

I am by no means a professional composer, or directly involved in game dev, but I do know music. And I do play a lot of games. It''s good...

quote: Original post by Dreq
I guess i''m just used to my audigy2 EAX2 and 64(?) channels of 3Dsound without really touching my CPU much

Well, Audigy is a seperate soundcard that isn''t already preinstalled with the computer. It''s also a pretty big card. Now, GBA has an itty bitty sound processor on it and well...it''s pathetic, not to mention the CPU on a GBA is pretty weak compared to a PC so any and all power that is being used goes mostly towards the actual game''s engine and not so much to the music(because music hogs the CPU bad enough as it is).

Hehe yeah, I always thought of the GBA as a portable SNES. Of course the sony PSP is gonna crush it like a bug :D

quote: Then, GBA has 32 total channels you can mix down for.

Semi true. The 32 channels you are talking about is only what Krawall can mix by software on a full CPU. The GBA itself has no hardware mixing, besides the sound chip for playing sampled sounds.

Your track is not bad for someone who''s not used trackers before.

However... being this is for For GBA:

1) You may want to re-think 16bit samples since it''s only an 8Bit machine. So you''re wasting ROM space, and you''re better off converting to 8 bit yourself than relying on Krawall to do a decent job.

2) You would want to rethink the bass sample too, you won''t be able to hear it at all on a GBA.

3) Does Krawall allow multi-sampled instruments?

Good luck and let us know when the game is released.