Hey, sorry if this isn't the best place to put this. I'm writing music for a game a friend is programming for Gameboy Advance and we can't really figure out how to get the music into the game. When I say "I'm writing" I mean I'm just creating the actual melodies and everything, but I have no idea what programs to use and what format the music has to be in to get it into the game. I prefer a program using tab because well... I don't feel like running out and buying an expensive keyboard, and half the stuff I write I can't actually play anyway. We are on a VERY tight budget (read: no money) so preferably free works best. It doesn't have to be amazing just needs to work. I have been using TABIT to create midis just to get the general song ideas down at the moment. Here is the development environment he is using... Language: C++ using the HAM library Music playback library: Apex Audio Systems (and change if something works better) Any help would be very nice.

Gameboy Advance music uses tracked music. Typically the composer will 'track' the music which is basically graphing up notes and values. Look for Mod Trackers on google and you'll find some good ones. There are also communities dedicated to this.

Once you've got your .MOD or .IT/whatever file, the programmer will load it into the game. They'll have a sound system worked out I'm sure. There are MIDI to .mod converters, though I've never had much luck with this. You might want to look around and see what you can find. I don't track music, or write for GBA games but I have done a bit of research on this and tests in the past.

It's not your job to get the music in the game, it's the programmer. Your task is to either learn how to track, or find another way to get music into the game. You can't exactly just load up an mp3 - GBA has limitations, especially size wise.

Check out gbadev.org forums under audio.

Good luck.

-Chris

Theoretically it is the programmers job to get the music into the game but it is pretty much just me and him doing the entire game... and I have a programming background (CS degree) so it isn't really out of my league or anything. Plus as stated we weren't even sure how to make the music to begin with, once I get that all straightened out I probably will just give him the files and make him deal with it all.

Hmm well at the moment I've been using Tabit just for fun (actually used to write songs for a previous band so we could pass ideas around) which is basically tabbing stuff out digitally... seems similar to "tracking" as you describe it. I'll check that stuff out.

Thanks!

Is there no GBA sound development/tracking for mac? :(