How To Make 8 Bit Sound Fl Studio
In this tutorial post (and accompanying video), I'm going to show you lot vi ways (almost of them free) to create authentic 8-fleck chiptune music.
When I say "8-scrap," I mean music produced by the sound chips of the NES, GameBoy, and Commodore 64.
At the end of this post, I'm also going to give y'all some compositional tips to make your viii-bit music production even better.
And if you lot're looking for a guide on the fundamentals of how to go a video game composer, click the link to check out my comprehensive guide on the topic.
Why is it called 8-bit music?
Nobody actually knew what a "bit" was when Sega and Nintendo were battling over market dominance in the early '90s. All nosotros knew is the more bits y'all had, the better.
As it turns out, 8-chip music has cipher to do with the resolution of the music itself simply is and then named after the chips constitute in early on video game consoles. The higher the "bit" number, the more information could be processed at a unmarried moment.
Every bit you well know, we have 8-bit consoles, sixteen-scrap consoles, 32-flake consoles, and the iconic console named later on its ain flake count, the Nintendo 64.
After that, I call back nosotros gave upwardly on counting bits.
At present, 8-fleck music is a moniker used to reference music created in the style of those sound chips, often used interchangeably with "chiptune."
Retro resurrection
8-bit music product has fabricated a significant resurgence in the past decade with many high-profile indie games utilizing it as their main sound palette.
Apart from games, there's a thriving chiptune customs that enjoys making this kind of music just for fun.
And then allow'due south talk about how you tin do that, too.
Method #i: How to make 8-scrap music with a VST
The outset method for making 8-bit music is to use a free VST instrument inside of your digital audio workstation. I'm using Reaper for my digital audio workstation and this NES VST is the all-time one I've plant on the web.
Now if yous're wanting to make music that "sounds retro" and not looking to emulate a particular console or audio fleck, this is a bang-up style to do it.
Only, in my feel, it's more fun to impose limitations on yourself and create something that could have been played on the NES or GameBoy or Commodore 64.
In this case, you'll want to do a lilliputian scrap of enquiry on the sound chip you're trying to emulate because there are some major differences.
For example, the NES has 5 sound channels:
- Two foursquare wave channels.
- A triangle wave channel.
- A noise generator channel.
- And a DPCM sample channel.
Which plays very, very low-quality samples, like the iconic bongo sound from Super Mario Bros iii.
Click above to skip correct to the NES VST portion of the video tutorial!
The GameBoy had a different setup, also as the Commodore 64.
The benefits of using a VST plugin are as follows:
- It'southward piece of cake to option up and play, especially if you're already familiar with your DAW.
- It allows you to extend across the limitations of the original sound chips and create "hybrid" sounds.
- You lot tin bring in outside effects and automation parameters to create new and interesting sounds.
Method #2: How to brand 8-bit music with a music tracker
We don't take access to the original software composers in the NES-era used, but a tracker is almost as shut as we tin can get to replicating information technology.
A music tracker is an application that emulates how retro chip music was composed in the 80s and 90s.
I recommend Deflemask, which has both a free and paid version. For what it'due south worth, I equanimous an entire game soundtrack with the costless version.
At first blush, Deflemask looks pretty archaic. It's got simple colors, a weird spreadsheet layout, and a UI that looks direct out of MS-DOS.
To me, this is part of its entreatment. Information technology'south a chip foreign if y'all unremarkably work in a DAW. Just afterward a while, I plant myself working in Deflemask just every bit fast equally I would in any modernistic music-making awarding.
Deflemask likewise includes a wide swath of old-schoolhouse sound chips, all with their particular quirks and limitations.
These include:
- Sega Genesis/Mega Drive
- SEGA Main System
- Nintendo Game Boy
- TurboGrafx-sixteen
- Nintendo NES
- Commodore 64
- Arcade Organization (SEGA X/Y boards)
So any vintage sound you're going for, chances are, Deflemask can accommodate you.
Check out my video above to hear a completed rails composed in existent-fourth dimension!
As far every bit I'm concerned, Deflemask is the all-time of the best. That said, some other great music trackers are MilkyTracker and FamiTracker.
Both of these volition permit you create authentic-sounding 8-flake chiptune.
Method #iii: How to brand 8-scrap music in Beepbox
Beepbox is a powerful, browser-based online chiptune maker with a special emphasis on making eight-bit and chiptune music. The layout of the application is one part MIDI editor, 1 part sequencer, and ane office music tracker.
The large window on the left is your workspace, where you'll place notes like to how you'd edit MIDI in a DAW. The section below that is your pattern editor. Much like Deflemask and other trackers, y'all can create a unmarried pattern and take it repeat multiple times, or click the numerical buttons to wheel through patterns.
Once yous hit Spacebar to play, the patterns will repeat (much like a sequencer), or play through a designated design length. The pane on the right lets you tweak the settings of your workspace and instruments.
While information technology lacks the more than avant-garde features of a full-fledged DAW (you're limited to iv simultaneous layers, for example), I was blown away by what's possible in a uncomplicated browser-based awarding.
For a total tutorial on the software, go to Beepbox.co and read through the detailed instructions.
Method #4: How to brand 8-flake music in GarageBand
GarageBand is a costless, Mac and iOS-exclusive DAW. As of the fourth dimension of this writing, GarageBand has VST support. Therefore, you lot're able to download the aforementioned NES VST plug-in and use information technology within GarageBand.
If yous don't want to download the plugin, you can always use one of the stock electric piano sounds and utilize a heavily distorted Bitcrusher effect. While this isn't "true" chiptune, it'll provide that crunchy viii-fleck sound in a pinch.
Method #5: How to make 8-bit music in FL Studio
FL Studio is a popular DAW among game composers and producers, including my buddy Alec Weesner. I'm not an FL studio user myself, but here'southward a solid tutorial video on how to make 8-bit music in the awarding:
Method #6: How to make 8-bit music in MuseScore
If the sight of a MIDI editor makes your skin crawl and you're more of a sheet music person, yous tin can still brand 8-scrap music for free with MuseScore. MuseScore is an open up-source musical annotation software.
Once you lot've composed your piece (or prior to composing), you tin can utilise the built-in MuseScore scrap synthesizers or download a SoundFont to achieve those signature chiptune sounds.
To use the built-in MuseScore sounds, click View > Mixer and click the dropdown for sound. Curl down until you encounter "Sine Lead" "Saw Lead" and "Square Lead."
Now, if y'all really desire to take a trip down nostalgia lane, you tin can download and install a SoundFont with the real samples used in classic retro games. Installing SoundFonts in MuseScore is unproblematic.
First, download the SoundFont of your choosing and driblet it in this directory (or Mac-equivalent directory if you lot're on an Apple calculator):
C:\Users\[User]\Documents\MuseScore3\SoundFonts Then, restart MuseScore. After the restart, load up a piece and click View > Synthesizer. Go to the Fluid tab and click Add together in the bottom right-paw corner.
Yous should encounter your newly-downloaded SoundFont as an choice.
Load that sucker up and click "Ready as Default." One time y'all do that, you at present have admission to all the instruments in that particular SoundFont. To navigate between instruments, click View > Mixer and assign instruments to each staff. It's that piece of cake!
Tips for Composing 8-bit Music
1. Get creative with implying harmony
The limitations of many vintage sound fries make it impossible to vocalism four-notation chords simultaneously.
For example, the NES only has three melodic voices (if yous're not using the DPCM sample channel for tune).
There are (at least) ii viable ways around this, however:
- Drop the fifth of the chord. The fifth of a given chord is the most expendable chord tone. It exists merely to support the root annotation and doesn't "identify" the chord in any style. Koji Kondo famously did this a lot in his Super Mario Bros. soundtrack for the NES.
- Employ arpeggios. Merely because you tin can't vocalism four tones at once doesn't mean you lot tin can't imply lush and interesting harmonies with arpeggios or "cleaved" chords.
ii. Get creative with effects
One of the best ways archetype game composers offset the limitations of vintage hardware is through effects.
Deflemask in particular offers some actually absurd ways to attune and dispense audio. These include, but aren't limited to:
- White noise washes
- Portamento slides and glides
- Glitchy arpeggios
- Bass drum emulation by pitch-shifting the triangle aqueduct really fast (mind in my example track for this)
iii. Think in counterpoint
If you're a folk musician like me, you're probably used to playing chords on a guitar and singing. Or, maybe, yous're a pianist that's used to playing chords with your left hand and playing the melody with your correct paw.
When composing 8-bit music, it's helpful to think not in terms of chords and melody, just individual voices.
Contrapuntal music, like that constitute in church hymns or Bach's piece of work, is a great example of the mindset of a keen 8-bit composition.
Each vocalism is independent of the others, notwithstanding supports them. The soprano, alto, tenor, and bass voices are all moving in supportive, interweaving ways that create an interesting and at times "regal" sound.
I highly recommend checking out some free Bach scores on IMSLP.org or getting your hands on an onetime church hymnal.
If you really want to strop your counterpoint skills, practice by implementing these pieces into Deflemask or your music tracker of pick.
4. Don't compose in the tracker at start
Composing within a tracker on your very start go-round is a recipe for overwhelm.
My recommendation would be to compose a uncomplicated melody (or utilize existing melodies as I mentioned in the previous point) in your DAW and then implement it into the tracker.
Once you're comfy doing that a few times, it's really fun to get into the tracker totally blind and see what happens.
Nine times out of ten you'll create things you didn't know were possible in a DAW.
Next Steps
If you're ready to kickoff your journeying to becoming a game composer, be sure to check out my podcast episodes with manufacture leaders and my comprehensive guide on how to brand game music.
Happy composing!
Source: https://composercode.com/how-to-make-8-bit-music-two-free-methods/
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