Chiptune music: An exploration of compositional techniques as found in Sunsoft games for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Famicom from 1988-1992

CHIPTUNE MUSIC: AN EXPLORATION OF COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES AS FOUND IN SUNSOFT GAMES FOR THE NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM AND FAMICOM FROM 1988-1992

CHRISTOPHER J. HOPKINS

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

FIVE TOWNS COLLEGE

MARCH 2015

Copyright © 2015

Christopher J. Hopkins All Rights Reserved

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ABSTRACT

CHIPTUNE MUSIC: AN EXPLORATION OF COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES AS FOUND IN SUNSOFT GAMES FOR THE NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM AND FAMICOM FROM 1988-1992 by CHRISTOPHER J. HOPKINS

This study explores the compositional techniques of eight selected Sunsoft games in detail. Included are complete transcriptions from those games which incorporate common and novel techniques. The developments that established the chiptune style during the late 1980s lie in three primary areas: technology, the era of its popularity in video games, and the composers. This dissertation examines each area as it relates to chiptune music. First, it explores technology in the sound chips and sound programming techniques used by the Nintendo Entertainment System and Famicom. Next, it provides background information on prominent Sunsoft composers and other notable chiptune composers of the past and present. Lastly, it examines musical excerpts from Sunsoft games, other NES and Famicom games, and more recent games with chiptune soundtracks to identify and codify compositional techniques first as sounds and effects and later as larger musical elements. The findings provide the historical context to examine the direction of chiptune music and video game music in general.

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Acknowledgements

This dissertation would not be of the quality it is without the participation and contributions of various individuals from Five Towns College and the video game industry who deserve a word of thanks. Thanks to the graduate music program at Five Towns College who provided guidance and valuable education in the dissertation and the entire doctoral music experience. These mentors include Dr. Steve Briody, my dissertation advisor, and Dr. Jill Miller-Thorn, graduate advisor. Thanks to Yuki Yamaguchi, my friend at Five Towns College, who helped me write interview questions in Japanese. Much gratitude is given to the video game music composers and enthusiasts who have contributed music and/or offered their insights to me firsthand. These include Alberto José González and Neil Baldwin, NES composers, Troupe Gammage and Jake Kaufman, past and current game composers, Patrick Todd, Inge Gjostol, and John Nilsen, NES audio enthusiasts, and Brent Weinbach, video game music podcast host. Thanks to Aria Tanner, who translated various Japanese papers and web sources which were used in this dissertation. Lastly, a special thanks to composers Naoki Kotaka and Masashi Kageyama for their large works of music with Sunsoft which inspired this study and shaped my musical career.

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Dedication

To my parents who paid for not only my piano and voice lessons growing up but also my gaming library. I never thought growing up that I would integrate games and music in a scholarly manner. To my grandma Antoinette who, through a simple act at the time, exposed me to music through computers with the Miracle Piano Teaching System. My first piano lesson began after hooking up an electronic keyboard to my early 90's Mac computer, in which I experienced fun graphics and minigames to make the experience worthwhile. A portion of my musical knowledge comes from the many television shows and movies I watched with her over the last twenty years, including classic movie musicals and The Love Boat television series. To my brothers Stephen and James with whom I grew up and enjoyed a wonderful childhood. As we grew older, we were reminded of the fond memories we shared through the gameplay and music of Sega Genesis and Nintendo Entertainment System games, specifically Golden Axe and Fester's Quest. To the composers of video game music then and now, whose works are underappreciated and underpaid when compared with established musical studies. Their contributions to the greater musical culture will soon be told.

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Table of Contents

Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ v Dedication ..................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... ix List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. xxv Chapter 1

Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1

Chapter 2

Composers ............................................................................................................ 16

Chapter 3

Sound Chips and Sound Programming Techniques ..............................................24

Chapter 4

Compositional Techniques for the NES/Famicom: Sounds and Effects .............. 52

Chapter 5

Compositional Techniques for the NES/Famicom: Musical Elements .............. 120

Chapter 6

Placement of Music in Games ............................................................................ 174

Chapter 7

Musical Evolution of Chiptune Soundtracks on the NES/Famicom .................. 193

Chapter 8

Summary and Conclusion .................................................................................. 223

Appendices

A. Transcriptions ................................................................................................ 228 Blaster Master ........................................................................................ 233 Fester's Quest ......................................................................................... 282 Batman ................................................................................................... 316 Batman Prototype .................................................................................. 371 Journey to Silius ..................................................................................... 377 Gremlins 2: the New Batch .................................................................... 430

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Batman: Return of the Joker .................................................................. 474 Ufouria: the Saga ................................................................................... 527 Gimmick! ............................................................................................... 564 B. Information Sheet for All Games with Musical Examples ........................... 685 C. Comprehensive Instrumentation and Sound Channel Function for Sunsoft Games ................................................................................................... 686 D. NES/Famicom Pitches Based on Equal Temperament Tuning ..................... 695 E. Interview Transcripts ..................................................................................... 703 F. Japanese to English Translations ................................................................... 746 G. 7-Bit PCM Analysis ...................................................................................... 756 H. Sunsoft NES Audio Engines Analysis .......................................................... 758 I. Source Code of “Game Over” from Asterix ................................................... 776 Definitions of Essential Terms ................................................................................................... 785 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 789

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List of Figures: Chapter 4: Compositional Techniques for the NES/Famicom: Sounds and Effects 1 Duty Cycle 1.1 Duty Cycle – 12.5% Figure 1: “Title Screen” from Batman, Measures 1 through 4 ................................................... 53 Figure 2: “Unused Track 1” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 and 2 ..................................... 53 Figure 3: “Introduction” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 1 through 4 .................. 53 Figure 4: “Boss 2” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 1 through 4 ........................................... 54 1.2 Duty Cycle – 25% Figure 5: “Ending 1” from Batman Prototype, Measure 1 ......................................................... 55 Figure 6: “Noose” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 through 3 .................................................. 55 Figure 7: “Gotham City – Stage 1, and Cathedral – Stage 5” from Batman, Measures 9 through 11 ..................................................................................................... 56 Figure 8: “A Deserted Space Colony in Space Age 0373 - Stage 1, and Inside the Terrorist's Spaceship Factory – Stage 5” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 through 4 ................. 56 Figure 9: “Game Over” from Asterix, Measures 1 and 2 ............................................................ 57 1.3 Duty Cycle 50% Figure 10: “Overworld” from Super Mario Bros., Measures 1 through 4 .................................. 57 Figure 11: “Boss Defeated” from Blaster Master, Measures 1 through 4 .................................. 58 Figure 12: “Prologue” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 through 4 ........................................... 58 Figure 13: “Cutscene” from Batman, Measures 1 through 4 ...................................................... 58 Figure 14: “Stage Clear” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 1 through 4 ................... 59

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Figure 15: “Innocent – Stage 6 Part 1” from Gimmick!, Measures 5 and 6 ............................... 59 1.4 Duty Cycle 75% Figure 16: “Laboratory Ruins – Stage 4” from Batman, Measures 1 through 4 ........................ 60 Figure 17: “Area 1” of Blaster Master, Measures 1 and 2 ......................................................... 60 Figure 18: “Underground Sewers” from Fester's Quest, Measures 9 through 12 ......................60 Figure 19: “Completed Space Colony” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 through 4 ............. 61 1.5 Rapid Duty Cycle Modulation Figure 20: “Final Track” from Hero Quest, Measures 1 and 2 ................................................... 61 Figure 21: “Title Screen” from Retro City Rampage, Measures 17 and 18 ................................ 62 2 Delay/Artificial Reverberation Figure 22: “Area 6” from Blaster Master, Measures 13 through 16 .......................................... 63 Figure 23: “Underground Sewers” from Fester's Quest, Measures 9 through 12 ...................... 64 Figure 24: “Ending” from Batman, Measures 21 through 24 ..................................................... 64 Figure 25: “A Long Way to Go – Ending” from Ninja Gaiden 2: the Dark Sword of Chaos, Measures 1 through 4 ....................................................................................................... 65 Figure 26: “Boss” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 and 2 ..................................................... 66 Figure 27: “Inside the Control Center – Stage 5” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 17 through 20 ................................................................................................... 66 Figure 28: “Stage 3” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 9 through 12 ..................... 67 Figure 29: “Staff Roll and Password” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 1 through 4 ............. 68 Figure 30: “Just Friends – Secret Area” from Gimmick!, Measures 1 through 4 ....................... 68 Figure 31: “World 1-1” from Mutant Mudds, Measures 33 through 36 ..................................... 69

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3 One Channel Echo Figure 32: “Gotham City – Stage 1, and Cathedral – Stage 5” from Batman, Measures 9 through 14 ..................................................................................................... 70 Figure 33: “Outside Street and Final Boss” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 and 2 ................. 71 Figure 34: “Final Track” from Hero Quest, Measures 1 and 2 ................................................... 72 4 Chorus Figure 35: “Ending 2” from Batman Prototype, Measures 3 through 6 ..................................... 73 Figure 36: “Underground Sewers” from Fester's Quest, Measures 73 through 80 .................... 73 Figure 37: “Cutscene” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 21 through 24 ................... 74 Figure 38: “A Long Way to Go – Ending” from Ninja Gaiden 2: the Dark Sword of Chaos, Measures 9-12 .................................................................................................................. 75 5 Detuning 6 Accent 7 Vibrato Figure 39: “The Moon” from Duck Tales, Measures 3 through 12 ............................................ 76 Figure 40: “Prologue” from Journey to Silius, Measures 10 through 19 .................................... 77 Figure 41: “Spaceship” from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: the Manhattan Project, Measures 25 through 27 ................................................................................................... 77 Figure 42: “Sophia (Take 2) – Stage 7” from Gimmick!, Measures 5 through 12 ...................... 77

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8 Amplitude Modulation Figure 43: “Area 6” from Blaster Master, Measures 39 through 44 .......................................... 78 Figure 44: “Boss Defeated” from Blaster Master, Measures 1 through 4 .................................. 79 9 Crescendo and Diminuendo Figure 45: “Prologue and Credits” from Batman, Measures 55 through 58 ............................... 80 Figure 46: “Area 8” from Blaster Master, Measures 1 through 8 .............................................. 80 Figure 47: “Underground Concourse – Stage 2” from Journey to Silius, Measures 25 through 28 ................................................................................................... 81 Figure 48: “Vegetable Valley 1” from Kirby's Adventure, Measures 17 through 24 .................. 81 Figure 49: “World 1-1” from Mutant Mudds, Measures 1 through 8 ......................................... 81

Figure 50: “Mines and Ruins” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 3 through 6 ......................... 82 10 Timbre Changes on Attack and Decay Figure 51: “Ending 2” from Batman Prototype, Measures 3 through 6 ..................................... 83 Figure 52: “Stage 3” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 1 through 4 ....................... 84 Figure 53: “Inside Clamp Centre – Stage 3” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 15 through 18 ................................................................................................... 85 Figure 54: “Inside the Terrorist's Spaceship – Stage 4” from Journey to Silius, Measures 21 through 24 ................................................................................................... 86 Figure 55: “Aporia – Boss 1” from Gimmick!, Measures 17 through 20 ................................... 86 Figure 56: “Spaceship” from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: the Manhattan Project, Measures 23 and 24 .......................................................................................................... 87

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Figure 57: “Boss 1” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 1 through 4 ......................................... 87 11 Pluck/Sharp Attack Figure 58: “Title Screen” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 through 4 ................................... 88 Figure 59: “Spaceship” from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: the Manhattan Project, Measures 1 through 4 ....................................................................................................... 88 Figure 60: “Boss 1” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 5 through 12 ....................................... 89 Figure 61: “Cadbury – Stage 6 Part 2” - from Gimmick!, Measures 4 through 6 ....................... 89 Figure 62: “World 1-1” from Mutant Mudds, Measures 13 through 16 ..................................... 89 12 Slide Figure 63: “The Moon” from Duck Tales, Measures 28 through 30 .......................................... 90 Figure 64: “Outside Street and Final Boss” from Fester's Quest, Measures 3 and 4 ................. 90 Figure 65: “Stage 4” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 11 through 14 .................... 91 Figure 66: “Identify Believer” from Gimmick!, Measures 10 through 14 .................................. 91 Figure 67: “Title Screen” from Retro City Rampage, Measures 19 through 22 ......................... 92 13 Microtones Figure 68: “Underground Conduit – Stage 3” from Batman, Measures 38 and 39 .................... 93 14 Silence Figure 69: “3-D Hallway” from Fester's Quest, Measures 3 and 4 ............................................ 94 Figure 70: “Title Screen” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 22 through 24 ............................. 94 Figure 71: “Inside the Genetics Lab – Stage 4” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 1 through 4 ....................................................................................................... 95 Figure 72: “Ending” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 8 through 10 ...................... 96

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15 Arpeggiation 15.1 Moderate Arpeggiation Figure 73: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measures 23 through 30 .......................................... 97 Figure 74: “Boss” from Journey to Silius, Measures 3 through 6 .............................................. 97 Figure 75: “Inside the Genetics Lab – Stage 4” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 17 through 20 ................................................................................................... 98 Figure 76: “Stage 7” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 9 through 16 ..................... 98 Figure 77: “Mountain Grasslands 1” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 13 through 16 …....... 99 Figure 78: “Good Night (Take 2) – Complete Ending” from Gimmick!, Measures 21 through 24 ................................................................................................... 99 Figure 79: “Galaxy Man” from Mega Man 9, Measures 17 through 20 ................................... 100 15.2 Rapid Arpeggiation Figure 80: “Game Over” from Asterix, Measures 1 through 4 ................................................. 101 Figure 81: “Final Track” from Hero Quest, Measures 30 and 31 ............................................. 101 16 Percussion in Noise Channel 16.1 Closed Hi-Hat Figure 82: “Ending” from Batman, Measures 1 through 4 ....................................................... 102 16.2 Open Hi-Hat Figure 83: “Axis Chemical Factory – Stage 2” from Batman, Measures 1 through 4 ............. 102 16.3 Snare Rim Figure 84: “Stage Clear and Game Over” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 1 through 4 ..................................................................................................... 103

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16.4 Ride Cymbal Figure 85: “Ending 1” from Batman Prototype, Measures 1 through 4 ................................... 103 16.5 Vibrating Brushes Figure 86: “Epilogue” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 through 6 .......................................... 104 Figure 87: “Stages 1 and 6” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 19 through 21 ...... 104 17 Percussion in Pulse Channel 17.1 Toms Figure 88: “Area 3” from Blaster Master, Measure 1 .............................................................. 105 Figure 89: “Title Screen and Ending” from Fester's Quest, Measures 24 and 25 .................... 106 17.2 Bass Drum Figure 90: “Game Over” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 and 2 ............................................ 107 18 Sound Effects Used in Music 18.1 Bird Chirp Figure 91: “Area 8” from Blaster Master, Measures 17 through 20 ........................................ 108 Figure 92: “Game Over” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 and 2 ............................................ 108 18.2 Whistle Figure 93: “Title Screen and Ending” from Fester's Quest, Measures 8 and 9 ........................ 109 18.3 Frog Croak Figure 94: “Area 4” from Blaster Master, Measure 15 ............................................................ 109 Figure 95: “Game Over” from Blaster Master, Measures 1 through 5 .................................... 110 Figure 96: “Game Over” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 and 2 ........................................ 110

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18.4 Triangle Figure 97: “Just Friends – Secret Area” from Gimmick!, Measures 17 through 24 ................. 111 19 DPCM Instrument Samples 19.1 Repitched Samples 19.1.1 Electric Bass 19.1.2 Slap Bass Figure 98: “Strange Memories of Death – Unused” from Gimmick!, Measures 9 through 12 ................................................................................................... 112 19.1.3 Orchestra Hit Figure 99: “Title Screen and Ending” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 through 4 ................. 112 Figure 100: “Boss and UFO Platform” from Fester's Quest, Measures 3 through 6 ............... 113 19.2 Non-Repitched Samples 19.2.1 Voice Figure 101: “Spaceship” from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: the Manhattan Project, Measures 1 through 8 ..................................................................................................... 114 19.2.2 Wood Block Figure 102: “Good Night (Take 2) – Complete Ending” from Gimmick!, Measures 1 through 4 ..................................................................................................... 114 19.2.3 Bongos Figure 103: “Good Morning – Introduction” from Gimmick!, Measures 15 through 18 ......... 115 19.2.4 Kick Figure 104: “Axis Chemical Factory – Stage 2” from Batman, Measures 1 through 4 ............ 115

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Figure 105: “Vegetable Valley 1” from Kirby's Adventure, Measures 1 through 4 .................. 116 Figure 106: “Spaceship” from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: the Manhattan Project, Measures 9 through 12 ................................................................................................... 116 Figure 107: “Just Friends – Secret Area” from Gimmick!, Measures 1 through 8 ................... 116 19.2.5 Snare Figure 108: “Axis Chemical Factory – Stage 2” from Batman, Measures 1 through 4 ............ 116 Figure 109: “Vegetable Valley 1” from Kirby's Adventure, Measures 1 through 4 .................. 117 Figure 110: “Spaceship” from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: the Manhattan Project, Measures 9 through 12 ................................................................................................... 117 Figure 111: “Strange Memories of Death – Unused” from Gimmick!, Measures 9 through 12 ................................................................................................... 117 19.2.6 Toms Figure 112: “Axis Chemical Factory – Stage 2” from Batman, Measures 8 through 10 .......... 118 Figure 113: “Gizmo coming across Gremlins – Stage 2” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 21 and 22 ........................................................................................................ 118 Figure 114: “Spaceship” from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: the Manhattan Project, Measures 7 and 8 ............................................................................................................ 119 Figure 115: “Paradigm – Stage 4” from Gimmick!, Measures 8 and 9 ..................................... 119 Chapter 5: Compositional Techniques for the NES/Famicom: Musical Elements Melody Figure 1: “Area 1" from Blaster Master, Measures 5 through 22 ............................................ 122

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Figure 2: “Gotham City – Stage 1, and Cathedral – Stage 5" from Batman, Measures 9 through 24 .................................................................................................. 123 Figure 3: “Game Over" from Asterix, Measures 1 through 8 ................................................... 124 Figure 4: “Good Morning – Introduction” from Gimmick!, Measures 7 through 14 ............... 125 Figure 5: “Epilogue” from Fester's Quest, Measures 3 through 6 ........................................... 126 Figure 6: “Title Screen” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 through 4 ................................... 126 Figure 7: “Spaceship” from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: the Manhattan Project, Measures 9 through 12 ................................................................................................... 126 Harmony Figure 8: “Underground Conduit – Stage 3” from Batman, Measures 9 through 12 ............... 127 Figure 9: “Gizmo on his Way to Billy's Office – Stage 1” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 5 through 8 ..................................................................................................... 127 Figure 10: “Area 7 and Final Boss” from Blaster Master, Measures 3 through 6 ................... 128 Figure 11: “Inside the Terrorist's Spaceship – Stage 4” from Journey to Silius, Measures 13 through 16 ................................................................................................. 128 Figure 12: “Outside Street and Final Boss” from Fester's Quest, Measures 7 through 10 ...... 128 Figure 13: “Area 8” from Blaster Master, Measures 1 through 4 ............................................ 130 Figure 14: “Mr. Wing's Shop” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 1 through 4 ......... 130 Figure 15: “Mines and Ruins” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 7 and 8 .............................. 131 Figure 16: “Just Friends – Secret Area” from Gimmick!, Measures 25 through 28 ................. 131 Modulation Figure 17: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measures 21 through 23 ........................................ 132

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Figure 18: “Ending” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 8 through 10 .................... 133 Figure 19: “Ending” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 9 through 11 ...................... 134 Figure 20: “Staff Roll and Password” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 7 through 9 ........... 135 Rhythm Figure 21: 3:3:2 Rhythms ......................................................................................................... 135 Figure 22: “Area 7 and Final Boss” from Blaster Master, Measures 3 through 6 ................... 135 Figure 23: "Stages 1 and 6” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 37 through 40 ...... 136 Figure 24: “Boss and UFO Platform” from Fester's Quest, Measures 23 through 26 ............. 136 Figure 25: “Overworld” from New Super Mario Bros., Measures 11 through 30 …................ 138 Abrupt Tempo Change Figure 26: “Area 4” from Blaster Master, Measures 1 and 2 ................................................... 142 Figure 27: “Mr. Wing's Shop” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 1 through 3 ......... 142 Figure 28: “Boss and UFO Platform” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 through 3 ................. 143 Ritardando and Accelerando Figure 29: “Title Screen” from Batman, Measures 12 through 14 ........................................... 144 Figure 30: “Area 4” from Blaster Master, Measures 14 and 15 ............................................... 144 Figure 31: “Game Over” from Fester's Quest, Measures 3 through 5 ..................................... 145 Figure 32: “Mr. Wing's Shop” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 15 through 17 ..... 145 Figure 33: “Game Over” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 and 2 ........................................ 146 Figure 34: “Title Screen” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 24 through 28 ........................... 146 Meter Change Figure 35: “Ending 1” from Batman Prototype, Measures 9 through 17 ................................. 147

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Figure 36: “Unused Track” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 5 through 13 ......... 147 Figure 37: “The Moon” from Duck Tales, Measures 1 through 12 .......................................... 148 Figure 38: “3-D Hallway” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 through 16 ................................. 149 Figure 39: “Mr. Wing's Shop” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 15 through 17 ..... 149 Figure 40: “Prologue” from Journey to Silius, Measures 17 through 21 .................................. 150 Texture Figure 41: “A Deserted Space Colony in Space Age 0373 - Stage 1, and Inside the Terrorist's Spaceship Factory – Stage 5” from Journey to Silius, Measures 9 through 12 ............. 151 Figure 42: “3-D Hallway” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 and 2 .......................................... 152 Figure 43: “Staff Roll and Password” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 1 and 2 .................. 153 Figure 44: “Title Screen” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 1 through 4 ................ 153 Figure 45: “Prologue” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 and 2 ............................................ 154 Figure 46: “Title Screen and Ending” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 through 4 ................. 154 Reusability of Musical Content Figure 47: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measures 5 through 8 ............................................ 161 Figure 48: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measures 9 through 12 .......................................... 162 Figure 49: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measure 5 .............................................................. 163 Figure 50: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measure 8 .............................................................. 163 Figure 51: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measure 23 ............................................................ 164 Figure 52: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measures 23 and 24 ............................................... 164 Figure 53: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measure 26 ............................................................ 165 Figure 54: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measure 31 and 32 ................................................ 165

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Figure 55: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measure 31 ............................................................ 166 Figure 56: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measure 35 ............................................................ 166 Addition and Subtraction of Parts Figure 57: “Prologue” from Blaster Master, Measures 7 through 10 ....................................... 167 Figure 58: “Epilogue” from Fester's Quest, Measures 2 and 3 ................................................ 168 Figure 59: “Untitled – Final Boss Part 1” from Gimmick!, Measures 1 through 8 ................... 168 Figure 60: “Sophia (Take 2) – Stage 7” from Gimmick!, Measures 4 and 5 ............................ 169 Figure 61: “Sophia (Take 2) – Stage 7” from Gimmick!, Measures 38 through 41 .................. 170 Bass or Drum Introduction Figure 62: “Area 3” from Blaster Master, Measure 1 .............................................................. 171 Figure 63: “Ending 2” from Batman Prototype, Measures 1 and 2 .......................................... 171 Figure 64: “Inside Clamp Centre – Stage 3” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 1 through 4 ..................................................................................................... 172 Figure 65: “Stages 1 and 6” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 1 and 2 ................. 172 Figure 66: “Happy Birthday – Stage 1” from Gimmick!, Measure 1 ........................................ 173 Chapter 6: Placement of Music in Games 1. Prologue Figure 1: “Prologue” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 through 4 ......................................... 174 Figure 2: “Prologue” from Final Fantasy, Measures 1 through 4 .......................................... 175 Figure 3: “Prologue” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 through 6 ...................................... 175 2. Title Screen Figure 4: “Title Screen” from Journey to Silius, Measures 17 through 20 ............................. 176

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Figure 5: “Title Screen” from Batman, Measures 1 through 8 ............................................... 177 Figure 6: “Title Screen” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 1 through 4 ................ 177 Figure 7: “Title Screen” from Retro City Rampage, Measures 1 and 2 .................................. 178 3. First Level Figure 8: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measure 5 through 8 .............................................. 179 Figure 9: “Outside Street and Final Boss” from Fester's Quest, Measures 5 through 8 ........ 180 4. Jingles Figure 10: “Boss Defeated” from Blaster Master, Measures 1 through 4 ................................ 181 Figure 11: “Special Moments” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 1 through 3 ...................... 182 5. Boss Figure 12: “Boss and UFO Platform” from Fester's Quest, Measures 7 through 10 ............... 183 Figure 13: “Boss 1” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 5 through 8 ....................................... 184 6. Unused/Rejected Figure 14: “Unused Track” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measure 1 ............................. 185 Figure 15: “Strange Memories of Death – Unused” from Gimmick!, Measures 1 and 2 ......... 186 Figure 16: “Unused Track 1” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 and 2 ................................. 187 Figure 17: “Unused Track 2” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 and 2 ..................................187 Figure 18: “Unused Track” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 1 through 9 ............................ 188 Sunsoft Stages Figure 19: Area 7 and Final Boss” from Blaster Master, Measures 3 through 6 .....................189 Figure 20: “Outside Street and Final Boss” from Fester's Quest, Measures 7 and 8 ............... 190

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Figure 21: “Gotham City – Stage 1, and Cathedral – Stage 5” from Batman, Measures 9 through 11 ................................................................................................... 190 Figure 22: “A Deserted Space Colony in Space Age 0373 - Stage 1, and Inside the Terrorist's Spaceship Factory – Stage 5” from Journey to Silius, Measures 1 through 4 ............... 191 Chapter 7: Musical Evolution of Chiptune Soundtracks on the NES/Famicom 1. Blaster Master (1988) Figure 1: “Prologue” from Blaster Master, Measures 1 through 4 ......................................... 195 Figure 2: “Area 2” from Blaster Master, Measures 5 and 6 ................................................... 196 Figure 3: “Area 1” from Blaster Master, Measures 5 and 6 ................................................... 197 Figure 4: “Area 2” from Blaster Master, Measures 5 and 6 ................................................... 198 2. Fester's Quest (1989) Figure 5: “Title Screen and Ending” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 through 4 ................. 199 Figure 6: “3-D Hallway” from Fester's Quest, Measures 1 and 2 .......................................... 199 3. Batman (1990) Figure 7: “Cutscene” from Batman, Measures 1 through 4 .................................................... 201 Figure 8: “Axis Chemical Factory – Stage 2” from Batman, Measures 1 through 4 ............. 201 Figure 9: “Laboratory Ruins – Stage 4” from Batman, Measures 17 through 28 .................. 202 4. Journey to Silius (1990) Figure 10: “Underground Concourse – Stage 2” from Journey to Silius, Measures 9 through 16 ................................................................................................... 204 Figure 11: “Inside the Terrorist's Spaceship – Stage 4” from Journey to Silius, Measures 13 through 16 ................................................................................................. 205

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Figure 12: “Underground Concourse – Stage 2” from Journey to Silius, Measures 25 through 28 ................................................................................................. 206 5. Gremlins 2: the New Batch (1990) Figure 13: “Gizmo on his Way to Billy's Office – Stage 1” from Gremlins 2: the New Batch, Measures 5 through 8 ..................................................................................................... 207 6. Batman: Return of the Joker (1991) Figure 14 “Title Screen” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 1 through 4 ............. 208 Figure 15: “Stage 3” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 1 and 2 .......................... 209 Figure 16: “Stages 1 and 6” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 3 through 6 ........ 209 Figure 17: “Ending” from Batman: Return of the Joker, Measures 10 through 15 ................ 210 7. Ufouria: the Saga (1991) Figure 18: “Title Screen” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 11 through 14.......................... 211 Figure 19: “Mines and Ruins” from Ufouria: the Saga, Measures 7 and 8 ............................ 212 8. Gimmick! (1992) Figure 20: “Good Night (Take 2) – Complete Ending” from Gimmick!, Measures 8 through 12 ................................................................................................... 213 Figure 21: “Good Weather – Stage 2” from Gimmick!, Measures 18 through 25 .................. 214 Figure 22: “Sophia – Stage 7” from Gimmick!, Measures 5 through 12 ................................ 214 Figure 23: “Just Friends – Secret Area” from Gimmick!, Measures 17 through 20 ............... 215 Figure 24: “Good Weather – Stage 2” from Gimmick!, Measures 2 through 5 ...................... 217 Figure 25: “Sophia (Take 2) – Stage 7” from Gimmick!, Measures 25 through 28 ................ 218

xxiii

List of Tables: Chapter 1: Introduction Table 1: Title, US, and Japanese Release Dates for Games Developed by Sunsoft ..................... 3 Table 2: Title, Developer, US, and Japanese Release Dates for Other NES/Famicom Games .............................................................................................. 6 Table 3: Title, Developer, and US Release Date for Recent Games ............................................. 6 Table 4: Decimal Numbers 0 to 16 Notated in Binary, Hex, and Decimal ................................. 10 Chapter 3: Sound Chips and Sound Programming Techniques Table 1: Available Speeds, Periods, and Frequencies on the PCM Channel for Repitching of DPCM Samples ......................................................................................... 34 Table 2: Repitching of a DPCM Sample Set at Speed F ............................................................. 37 Table 3: Proposed Speed Selection for Melodic DPCM Base on 5 DPCM Samples ................. 38 Chapter 5: Compositional Techniques for the NES/Famicom: Musical Elements Table 1: NES and Famicom Tempi ........................................................................................... 138 Table 2: Soundtrack Memory and Percentage of Total Memory of Selected NES and Famicom Games .............................................................................. 156

xxiv

685

Blaster Master Fester's Quest Duck Tales Batman

Ninja Gaiden 2: the Dark Sword of Chaos Final Fantasy Journey to Silius Gremlins 2: the New Batch Hero Quest

Batman: Return of the Joker Mr. Gimmick

Blaster Master

Fester's Quest Duck Tales

Batman

Ninja Gaiden 2: the Dark Sword of Chaos Final Fantasy

Journey to Silius

Gremlins 2: the New Batch Hero Quest

Batman: Return of the Joker Gimmick!

Kirby's Adventure Asterix X X X X

Kirby's Adventure Asterix

New Super Mario Bros. Mega Man 9 Mutant Mudds Retro City Rampage

Teenage Mutant Ninja Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: the Turtles 3: the Manhattan Manhattan Project Project Ufouria: the Saga Ufouria: the Saga

NES Title Super Mario Bros.

General Title Super Mario Bros.

May 15, 2006 September 22, 2008 January 26, 2012 October 12, 2012

Nintendo DS Digital Download Digital Download Digital Download

Famicom, NES-NTSC NES-PAL

Famicom, NES-PAL

X May 1993 X

Famicom, NES-NTSC

Famicom, NES-NTSC, NES-PAL Famicom, NES-PAL

Released for Famicom, NES-NTSC, NES-PAL Famicom, NES-NTSC, NES-PAL NES-NTSC, NES-PAL Famicom, NES-NTSC, NES-PAL Famicom, NES-NTSC, NES-PAL Famicom, NES-NTSC, NES-PAL Famicom, NES-NTSC, NES-PAL Famicom, NES-NTSC, NES-PAL Famicom, NES-NTSC, NES-PAL X

X X X X

Hoshi no Kirby X

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: the Manhattan Project Hebereke

Gimmick!

Dynamite Batman

Gremlins 2: the New Batch X

Raf World

Ninja Ryukenden II: Ankoku no Jashinken Final Fantasy

Batman

June 14, 1988

Chouwakusei Senki: Meta Fight X Duck Tales

X X X X

March 23, 1993 X

September 20, 1991

December 13, 1991

January 31, 1992

December 20, 1991

X

December 14, 1990

August 10, 1990

December 18, 1987

April 6, 1990

December 22, 1989

X January 26, 1990

Japanese Release Date September 13, 1985

Famicom Title Super Mario Bros.

Sunsoft

Sunsoft

Square Soft

Tengen

Sunsoft

Sunsoft Capcom

Sunsoft

Developer Nintendo

6 megabits 1 megabit

2 megabits

4 megabits

3 megabits

3 megabits

varies

3 megabits

2 megabits

2 megabits

2 megabits

2 megabits

2 megabits 1 megabit

2 megabits

ROM Size 320 kilobits

Nintendo 256 megabits Capcom unknown Renegade Kid unknown Vblank Entertainment unknown

HAL Laboratory Bit Managers

Sunsoft

Konami

Sunsoft

Sunsoft

Gremlin Graphics

Appendix B: Information Sheet for All Games with Musical Examples

February 1992

X

December 1991

X

October 1990

September 1990

July 12, 1990

May 1990

February 1990

September 1989 September 1989

November 1988

US Release Date October 1985

Released in Europe September 1993

Released in Europe November 1992

Released in Scandinavia May 19, 1993, Undated Prototype for NES-NTSC

Prototype for NES-NTSC,NESPAL dated 1991, 1 megabit and 1.4 megabit versions

Prototype for NES-NTSC,NESPAL dated 1989

Other

Appendix C: Comprehensive Instrumentation and Sound Channel Function for Sunsoft Games Blaster Master (1988) Comprehensive Instrumentation – similar to “Area 1” The melody is in the Pulse 1 channel. The echo of the melody and the harmony are in the Pulse 2 channel. Melodic toms and bass are in the triangle channel. Hi-hats or vibrating brushes are in the noise channel. Track Pulse 1

Pulse 2

Triangle

Noise

1

Melody

Melody

Bass

Vibrating Brushes

2

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Bass/Melodic Toms Closed Hi-Hat/ Snare Rim

3

Melody/Harmony Harmony

Bass/Melodic Toms Hi-Hats

4

Melody/Harmony/ Melody/Harmony Melodic Toms

Bass/Melodic Toms Hi-Hats/Snare Rim

5

Melody

Melody

Bass/SFX/ Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats

6

Melody

Melody

Bass

Vibrating Brushes

7

Melody/Harmony Melody/Harmony

Bass/Melody

Hi-Hats/Snare Rim

8

Melody/ Bird Chirp

NONE

Melody/Bass

Vibrating Brushes

11

Melody

Harmony

Melodic Toms/Bass Open Hi-Hat/ Ride Cymbal

12

Melody

Harmony

Melodic Toms/Melody

13

Melody

Melody

Bass/Melodic Toms Hi-Hats

14

Melody

Harmony

Bass

15

Melody

Melody/Harmony/ Bass/Harmony/ Toms Melodic Toms

Vibrating Brushes/ Hi-Hats/Snare Rim

16

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Hi-Hats

686

Bass/Frog Croak

Hi-Hats

Vibrating Brushes

Fester's Quest (1989) Comprehensive Instrumentation - similar to “Outside Street and Final Boss” The melody is in the Pulse 1 channel. The echo of the melody and the harmony are in the Pulse 2 channel. Melodic toms and bass are in the triangle channel. Hi-hats and snare rim are in the noise channel. The bass is in the PCM channel. Track Pulse 1

Pulse 2

Triangle

Noise

PCM

1

Melody

Bass

NONE

NONE

NONE

2

Melody/Melodic Toms/Harmony

Harmony/ Bass/Melodic Hi-Hats/ Orchestra Whistle/Melody/ Toms Snare Rim/ Hit Melodic Toms Metallic Ping

3

Melody

Melody/Harmony Melodic Toms/Wood Block

4

Melody

Melody/Harmony Melodic Toms Hi-Hats

Bass

5

Melody

Melody/Harmony Melody

NONE

Melody/ Bass

6

Bass/Melody

Melody/Bass

Hi-Hats/ Snare Rim

Orchestra Hit/Bass

7

Melody/Bird Chirp/SFX Melody/Bird Chirp/SFX/ Harmony

8

Melody


Vibrating Brushes

NONE

9

Harmony

Melody

Vibrating Brushes

NONE

Melodic Toms/Bass

Melody/Bass/ Vibrating Frog Croak Brushes

Bass

687

Hi-Hats/ Snare Rim

Bass

Melody

Batman (1990) Comprehensive Instrumentation - similar to “Ending” The melody is in the Pulse 1 channel. The echo of the melody and the harmony are in the Pulse 2 channel. The bass is in the triangle channel. The closed hi-hat is in the noise channel. Kick and snare drum are in the PCM channel. Track Pulse 1

Pulse 2

Triangle Noise

PCM

1

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Bass

Hi-Hats

Kick/Snare

2

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Bass

Open Hi-Hat

Kick/Snare

4


Melody/ Hi-Hats Bass

Kick/Snare

5

Melody

Harmony

Bass

Hi-Hats

Kick/Snare

6

Harmony

Harmony

Melody

NONE

Kick/Snare

7

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Bass

Closed Hi-Hat

Kick/Snare

8

Melody

Melody

Bass

Closed Hi-Hat

Kick/Snare

9

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Bass

Closed Hi-Hat

Kick/Snare

10


Bass

Closed Hi-Hat

Kick

11

Bass/Melody

Bass

Closed Hi-Hat

Kick/Snare

Noise

PCM

Melody/Harmony

Batman Prototype (1989) Track

Pulse 1

Pulse 2

11

Melody/Harmony Bass/ Harmony

Melody/Bass Ride Cymbal/ Closed Hi-Hat

Kick/Snare

12

Melody

NONE

Kick/Snare

Melody

Triangle

688

Ride Cymbal/ Closed Hi-Hat

Journey to Silius (1990) Comprehensive Instrumentation - similar to “Terrorist Headquarters – Stage 3” The echo of the melody and the harmony are in the Pulse 1 channel. The melody is in the Pulse 2 channel. Melodic toms are in the triangle channel. Hi-hats and snare rim are in the noise channel. The bass is in the PCM channel. Track

Pulse 1

1

Pulse 2

Noise

PCM

Melody/Harmony Melody/Harmony Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats/ Snare Rim

Bass

2

Melody/Harmony Melody/Harmony Melody/ Melodic Toms

Closed Hi-Hat

Bass

3

Harmony/Melody Melody

Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats/Ride Cymbal/Splash Cymbal

Bass

4


Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats/Snare Rim

Bass

5


Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats/Snare Rim

Melody /Bass

6

Melody

Melody

Bass/Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats/Snare Rim

Bass

7


Harmony/ Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats/Snare Rim/Ride Cymbal

Bass/ Melody

8

Harmony

Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats/Snare Rim

Bass

9


Bass/Frog Croak

Ride Cymbal

NONE

10

Harmony

Melody

Bass

Hi-Hats

NONE

11

Harmony

Melody

Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats/Ride Cymbal/Snare Rim

Bass

12


Melodic Toms/Bass

Hi-Hats/Ride Cymbal/Snare Rim

Bass

Melody

Triangle

689

Gremlins 2: the New Batch (1990) Comprehensive Instrumentation - similar to “Control Center – Stage 5” The melody is in the Pulse 1 channel. The echo of the melody and the harmony are in the Pulse 2 channel. Melodic toms are in the triangle channel. Hi-hats and snare rim are in the noise channel. The bass is in the PCM channel. Track Pulse 1

Pulse 2

Triangle

Noise

PCM

1

Melody

Harmony

NONE

NONE

NONE

2

Melody

Melody/Harmony Melodic Toms Hi-Hats/Ride Cymbal

Bass

3

Melody

Melody/Harmony Melodic Toms Hi-Hats/Snare Rim

Bass

4

Melody

Harmony/Melody Harmony/ Hi-Hats Melodic Toms

Bass/Snare/ Melodic Toms

5

Harmony/ Melody

Melody/Harmony Melodic Toms Hi-Hats/Snare Rim

Bass

6

Melody/ Harmony

Melody

Melody/Bass

7

Melody

Harmony/Melody Melodic Toms Hi-Hats

Bass

8

Harmony/ Melody

Harmony

Bass

9

Melody

Harmony/Melody Melodic Toms Hi-Hats/Snare Rim

Melodic Toms/Bass/ Ride Cymbal

10

Melody

Harmony/Melody Harmony

Bass

NONE

11

Melody

Harmony

Bass

NONE

12

Melody

Melody/Harmony Harmony/ Hi-Hats/Snare Melodic Rim Toms/Melody

Melodic Toms/ Hi-Hats/Snare Harmony Rim Melody/ Hi-Hats Melodic Toms

Bass

690

Bass

Batman: Return of the Joker (1991) Comprehensive Instrumentation - similar to “Stages 1 and 6” The melody is in the Pulse 1 channel. The echo of the melody and the harmony is in the Pulse 2 channel. Melodic toms are in the triangle channel. Hi-hats and snare rim are in the noise channel. The bass is in the PCM channel. Track Pulse 1

Pulse 2

1

Melody/ Harmony

2

Triangle

Noise

PCM

Melody/Harmony Melodic Toms/ Melody

Open Hi-Hat

Bass

Melody

Harmony

Hi-Hats

Bass

3

Melody

Melody/Harmony Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats/ Snare Rim Bass

4

Melody



5

Melody/Bass Melody/Harmony Melodic Toms /Bass


6

Melody/Bass Melody/Harmony Melodic Toms /Bass

Hi-Hats

7

Melody



8

Melody

Harmony

Open Hi-Hat

9

Melody



10

Melody

Melody/Harmony Harmony

NONE

11

Melody/Bass Bass/Melody/ Harmony

Bass/ Melodic Toms


12

Melody/Bass Harmony/Bass

Melodic Toms


13

Melody

Bass/Melody

Harmony/ Melodic Toms/ Bass

Hi-Hats

Bass

14

Melody

Harmony

Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats

Bass

15

Melody

Harmony

Bass/Harmony/ Melodic Toms


Melodic Toms

Bass/ Melodic Toms

691

Snare

Bass

Bass

Ufouria: the Saga (1992) Comprehensive Instrumentation - similar to “Mountain Grasslands 1” The melody is in the Pulse 1 channel. The echo of the melody and the harmony is in the Pulse 2 channel. Melodic toms and harmony are in the triangle channel. Hi-hats are in the noise channel. The bass, kick, and snare drum are in the PCM channel. Track Pulse 1

Pulse 2

Triangle

Noise

PCM

1

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Melodic Toms/Harmony

Hi-Hats

Bass/Kick/ Snare

2

Melody/Bass Melody/Harmony/Bass Melodic Toms/Harmony

Hi-Hats

Bass/Kick

3

Melody

Melody

Harmony

Hi-Hats

Bass

4

Melody

Harmony

Harmony

NONE

Bass

5

Melody

Melody/Harmony

NONE

Hi-Hats and Bass/Kick/ Snare Rim Snare/Toms

6

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Bass

NONE

NONE

7

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats

Bass

8

Melody

Harmony

Crank/Tom

Open Hi-Hat Bass

9

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats and Bass/Kick/ SFX Snare

10

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats

11

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Bass/Melodic Toms

Open Hi-Hat Bass/Snare

12

Melody

Melody/Harmony

Harmony/Melodic Open HiToms Hat/Ride Cymbal

Bass/Kick/ Snare

13

Melody

Melody

Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats

Melody

31

Melody

Melody

NONE

NONE

NONE

692

Bass

Gimmick! (1992) Comprehensive Instrumentation - similar to “Happy Birthday – Stage 1” The melody and harmony is in the Pulse 2 channel. The echo of the melody and the harmony are in the Pulse 1 channel. Melodic toms are in the triangle channel. Hi-hats, snare rim, and ride cymbal are in the noise channel. The bass and snare drum are in the PCM channel. The melody, the echo of the melody, and harmony are in the three channels of the Sunsoft 5B soundchip. Track Pulse 1

Pulse 2

Triangle Noise

PCM

5B 1

5B 2

5B 3

1

Harmony Harmony Melodic /Melody /Melody Toms

Hi-Hats

Bass

Melody/ Harmony Melody Harmony /Melody

2


Hi-Hats

Bass/ Slap Bass/ Snare

Melody/ Harmony Melody/ Harmony /Melody Harmony

3


Hi-Hats/Snare Bass/ Rim Snare

Melody/ Melody/ Harmony Harmony Harmony

4

Melody/ Melody/ Melodic Harmony Harmony Toms

Hi-Hats/Snare Bass/ Harmony Harmony Melody/ Rim Snare/ /Melody /Melody Harmony Melody

5

Melody/ Melody Harmony

Melodic Toms

Closed HiHat/Snare Rim

Bass/ Snare

6


Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats

Melody Harmony Harmony Melody /Bass/ /Melody /Melody Snare

7


Hi-Hats/ Bass/ Harmony Harmony Harmony Ride Cymbal/ Snare/ /Melody /Melody /Melody Snare Rim Melody

8

Harmony Melody /Melody

Triangle

9


NONE

Kick

Hi-Hats/ Bass Ride Cymbal/ Snare Rim 693

Harmony Harmony Harmony /Melody /Melody

Bass

Harmony Harmony

Harmony Harmony Harmony /Melody /Melody

Track Pulse 1

Pulse 2

Triangle Noise

PCM

5B 1

5B 2

5B 3

10


Hi-Hats/ Snare Rim/ Ride Cymbal

Bass/ Harmony Harmony Harmony Snare/ /Melody Melody

12

Harmony Harmony Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats

Bass

Melody

13

Melody

Hi-Hats

Bass

Harmony Harmony Harmony

14


Hi-Hats/ Snare Rim

Tom/ Bass

Melody

15


Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats/ Snare Rim

Bass/ Snare


16

Melody

Melody

Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats/ Bass/ Ride Cymbal/ Tom/ Guiro Scrape Snare


17

Melody

Melody

Melody/ Hi-Hats Melodic Toms

Kick/ Snare/ Bass

18

Melody

Melody

Melodic Toms

Hi-Hats/ Ride Cymbal

Bass/ Harmony Harmony Harmony Bongos /Kick

19

Harmony Harmony Harmony Hi-Hats/ /Melody /Melody /Melodic Ride Cymbal/ Toms/ Snare Rim Melody

Bass/ Melody/ Melody/ Melody/ Wood Harmony Harmony Harmony Block/ Kick/ Snare

20

Harmony Harmony Melody /Melody /Melody

Melody

Bass

Melody

Melody

Melody

Bass/ Bass/ Harmony Harmony Harmony /Melody /Melody

Hi-Hats/ Kick/ Melody Ride Cymbal/ Snare/ Triangle Wood Block/ Toms

694

Melody

Melody/ Bass Harmony

Appendix D: NES/Famicom Pitch Table Based on Equal Temperament Tuning Pulse

NTSC Clock Rate = 1789772.73 Hz

Pitch 12TET Desired Rounded Hex NES Tuning Tuning Offset A-0 27.5 4066.6652954546 4067 27.4977373709 0.0022626291 A#-0 29.1352350949 3838.3647849664 3838 29.1380035491 0.0027684542 B-0 30.8677063285 3622.8777975444 3623 30.8666654594 0.0010408691 C-1 32.7031956626 3419.4851653997 3419 32.7078349781 0.0046393155 C#-1 34.6478288721 3227.5080845296 3228 34.6425505187 0.0052783534 D-1 36.7080959897 3046.3058492726 3046 36.7117806449 0.0036846552 D#-1 38.8908729653 2875.2737140131 2875 38.8945742785 0.0037013133 E-1 41.2034446141 2713.8408748985 2714 41.2010296961 0.002414918 F-1 43.6535289291 2561.468564835 2561 43.6615127342 0.0079838051 F#-1 46.249302839 2417.6482554021 2418 46.2425777697 0.0067250692 G-1 48.9994294977 2281.8999596864 2282 48.9972823587 0.002147139 G#-1 51.9130871975 2153.7706303701 2154 51.9075617749 0.0055254226 bottom A-1 55 2032.8325795455 2033 7F1 54.9954747419 0.0045252581 A#-1 58.2704701898 1918.6823281281 1919 77F 58.2608310547 0.0096391351 B-1 61.735412657 1810.9388380291 1811 713 61.7333309189 0.0020817381 C-2 65.4063913251 1709.242525366 1709 6AD 65.4156699561 0.009278631 C#-2 69.2956577442 1613.2539881488 1613 64D 69.3065648234 0.0109070792 D-2 73.4161919794 1522.6528735577 1523 5F3 73.3994721949 0.0167197845 D#-2 77.7817459305 1437.1368087947 1437 59D 77.789148557 0.0074026265 E-2 82.4068892282 1356.4203919434 1356 54C 82.4324212417 0.0255320135 F-2 87.3070578583 1280.2342394657 1280 500 87.3230254684 0.0159676101 F#-2 92.4986056779 1208.3240871599 1208 4B8 92.5234041563 0.0247984784 G-2 97.9988589954 1140.4499415775 1140 474 98.0375071209 0.0386481255 G#-2 103.826174395 1076.385279067 1076 434 103.8633199861 0.0371455911 A-2 110 1015.9162897727 1016 3F8 109.9909494838 0.0090505162 A#-2 116.5409403795 958.8411640641 959 3BF 116.5216621094 0.0192782701 B-2 123.470825314 904.9694190146 905 389 123.4666618377 0.0041634763 C-3 130.8127826503 854.121262683 854 356 130.8313399123 0.018557262 C#-3 138.5913154884 806.1269940744 806 326 138.6131296468 0.0218141584 D-3 146.8323839587 760.8264367788 761 2F9 146.7989443898 0.0334395689 D#-3 155.563491861 718.0684043974 718 2CE 155.578297114 0.014805253 E-3 164.8137784564 677.7101959717 678 2A6 164.7434398012 0.0703386553 F-3 174.6141157165 639.6171197328 640 280 174.5098215679 0.1042941486 F#-3 184.9972113558 603.6620435799 604 25C 184.8938770661 0.1033342897 G-3 195.9977179909 569.7249707887 570 23A 195.9033198336 0.0943981572 G#-3 207.65234879 537.6926395335 538 21A 207.5339436456 0.1184051443 A-3 220 507.4581448864 507 1FB 220.1984165846 0.1984165846 A#-3 233.081880759 478.920582032 479 1DF 233.0433242188 0.0385565403 B-3 246.9416506281 451.9847095073 452 1C4 246.9333236755 0.0083269526 C-4 261.6255653006 426.5606313415 427 1AB 261.3569991238 0.2685661768 C#-4 277.1826309769 402.5634970372 403 193 276.8831574876 0.2994734892 D-4 293.6647679174 379.9132183894 380 17C 293.5978887795 0.0668791379 D#-4 311.1269837221 358.5342021987 359 167 310.7244322917 0.4025514304 E-4 329.6275569129 338.3550979858 338 152 329.9728484513 0.3452915385 F-4 349.228231433 319.3085598664 319 13F 349.5649863281 0.3367548951 F#-4 369.9944227116 301.33102179 301 12D 370.3999855132 0.4055628016 G-4 391.9954359818 284.3624853944 284 11C 392.4940197368 0.4985837551 G#-4 415.3046975799 268.3463197667 268 10C 415.8393889405 0.5346913606 A-4 440 253.2290724432 253 0FD 440.3968331693 0.3968331693 A#-4 466.1637615181 238.960291016 239 0EF 466.0866484375 0.0771130806 B-4 493.8833012561 225.4923547536 225 0E1 494.959272677 1.0759714209 C-5 523.2511306012 212.7803156707 213 0D5 522.7139982477 0.5371323535 C#-5 554.3652619537 200.7817485186 201 0C9 553.7663149752 0.5989469785 D-5 587.3295358348 189.4566091947 189 0BD 588.7410296053 1.4114937704 D#-5 622.2539674442 178.7671010993 179 0B3 621.4488645833 0.8051028608 E-5 659.2551138257 168.6775489929 169 0A9 658.0046801471 1.2504336787 F-5 698.456462866 159.1542799332 159 09F 699.1299726563 0.6735097902 F#-5 739.9888454233 150.165510895 150 096 740.7999710265 0.8111256032

695

Appendix D: NES/Famicom Pitch Table Based on Equal Temperament Tuning

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Pitch 12TET Desired Rounded Hex NES Tuning Tuning Offset G-5 783.9908719635 141.6812426972 142 08E 782.243326049 1.7475459145 G#-5 830.6093951599 133.6731598834 134 086 828.5984861111 2.0109090488 A-5 880 126.1145362216 126 07E 880.7936663386 0.7936663386 A#-5 932.3275230362 118.980145508 119 077 932.173296875 0.1542261612 B-5 987.7666025122 112.2461773768 112 070 989.918545354 2.1519428417 C-6 1046.5022612024 105.8901578354 106 06A 1045.4279964953 1.0742647071 C#-6 1108.7305239075 99.8908742593 100 064 1107.5326299505 1.197893957 D-6 1174.6590716696 94.2283045974 94 05E 1177.4820592105 2.8229875409 D#-6 1244.5079348883 88.8835505497 89 059 1242.8977291667 1.6102057217 E-6 1318.5102276515 83.8387744965 84 054 1316.0093602941 2.5008673574 F-6 1396.912925732 79.0771399666 79 04F 1398.2599453125 1.3470195805 F#-6 1479.9776908465 74.5827554475 75 04B 1471.8525740132 8.1251168334 G-6 1567.981743927 70.3406213486 70 046 1575.5041637324 7.5224198054 G#-6 1661.2187903198 66.3365799417 66 042 1669.564113806 8.3453234862 A-6 1760 62.5572681108 63 03F 1747.8249316406 12.1750683594 A#-6 1864.6550460724 58.990072754 59 03B 1864.34659375 0.3084523224 B-6 1975.5332050245 55.6230886884 56 038 1962.4700986842 13.0631063403 C-7 2093.0045224048 52.4450789177 52 034 2110.5810495283 17.5765271235 C#-7 2217.461047815 49.4454371297 49 031 2237.2159125 19.754864685 D-7 2349.3181433393 46.6141522987 47 02F 2330.4332421875 18.8849011518 D#-7 2489.0158697767 43.9417752748 44 02C 2485.7954583333 3.2204114433 E-7 2637.020455303 41.4193872482 41 029 2663.3522767857 26.3318214828 F-7 2793.825851464 39.0385699833 39 027 2796.519890625 2.694039161 F#-7 2959.9553816931 36.7913777237 37 025 2943.7051480263 16.2502336668 G-7 3135.963487854 34.6703106743 35 023 3107.2443229167 28.7191649373 G#-7 3322.4375806396 32.6682899708 33 021 3290.0234007353 32.4141799043 A-7 3520 30.7786340554 31 01F 3495.6498632813 24.3501367188 A#-7 3729.3100921447 28.995036377 29 01D 3728.6931875 0.6169046447 B-7 3951.066410049 27.3115443442 27 01B 3995.0284151786 43.9620051296 C-8 4186.0090448096 25.7225394588 26 01A 4142.9924305556 43.016614254 C#-8 4434.92209563 24.2227185648 24 018 4474.431825 39.50972937 D-8 4698.6362866785 22.8070761493 23 017 4660.866484375 37.7698023035 D#-8 4978.0317395533 21.4708876374 21 015 5084.5816193182 106.5498797649 E-8 5274.0409106059 20.2096936241 20 014 5326.7045535714 52.6636429655 F-8 5587.6517029281 19.0192849917 19 013 5593.03978125 5.3880783219 F#-8 5919.9107633862 17.8956888619 18 012 5887.4102960526 32.5004673335 G-8 6271.926975708 16.8351553371 17 011 6214.4886458333 57.4383298747 G#-8 6644.8751612791 15.8341449854 16 010 6580.0468014706 64.8283598085 A-8 7040 14.8893170277 15 00F 6991.2997265625 48.7002734375 A#-8 7458.6201842895 13.9975181885 14 00E 7457.386375 1.2338092895 B-8 7902.132820098 13.1557721721 13 00D 7990.0568303572 87.9240102591 C-9 8372.0180896192 12.3612697294 12 00C 8604.6765865385 232.6584969193 C#-9 8869.8441912599 11.6113592824 12 00C 8604.6765865385 265.1676047215 D-9 9397.2725733571 10.9035380747 11 00B 9321.73296875 75.5396046071 D#-9 9956.0634791066 10.2354438187 10 00A 10169.1632386364 213.0997595298 E-9 10548.0818212119 9.6048468121 10 00A 10169.1632386364 378.9185825755 F-9 11175.3034058562 9.0096424958 9 009 11186.0795625 10.7761566438 F#-9 11839.8215267723 8.4478444309 8 008 12428.9772916667 589.1557648943 G-9 12543.853951416 7.9175776686 8 008 12428.9772916667 114.8766597493 G#-9 13289.7503225583 7.4170724927 7 13982.599453125 692.8491305667 A-9 14080 6.9446585138 7 13982.599453125 97.400546875 A#-9 14917.2403685789 6.4987590943 6 15980.1136607143 1062.8732921354 B-9 15804.265640196 6.0778860861 6 15980.1136607143 175.8480205183 C-10 16744.0361792384 5.6806348647 6 15980.1136607143 763.9225185241

696

Appendix D: NES/Famicom Pitch Table Based on Equal Temperament Tuning Triangle

NTSC Clock Rate = 1789772.73 Hz

Pitch 12TET Desired Rounded Hex NES Tuning Tuning Offset A-0 27.5 2032.8326477273 2033 7F1 27.4977373709 0.0022626291 A#-0 29.1352350949 1918.6823924832 1919 77F 29.1304155273 0.0048195675 B-0 30.8677063285 1810.9388987722 1811 713 30.8666654594 0.0010408691 C-1 32.7031956626 1709.2425826998 1709 6AD 32.7078349781 0.0046393155 C#-1 34.6478288721 1613.2540422648 1613 64D 34.6532824117 0.0054535396 D-1 36.7080959897 1522.6529246363 1523 5F3 36.6997360974 0.0083598922 D#-1 38.8908729653 1437.1368570066 1437 59D 38.8945742785 0.0037013133 E-1 41.2034446141 1356.4204374493 1356 54C 41.2162106209 0.0127660067 F-1 43.6535289291 1280.2342824175 1280 500 43.6615127342 0.0079838051 F#-1 46.249302839 1208.3241277011 1208 4B8 46.2617020782 0.0123992392 G-1 48.9994294977 1140.4499798432 1140 474 49.0187535605 0.0193240628 G#-1 51.9130871975 1076.3853151851 1076 434 51.931659993 0.0185727955 A-1 55 1015.9163238636 1016 3F8 54.9954747419 0.0045252581 A#-1 58.2704701898 958.8411962416 959 3BF 58.2608310547 0.0096391351 B-1 61.735412657 904.9694493861 905 389 61.7333309189 0.0020817381 C-2 65.4063913251 854.1212913499 854 356 65.4156699561 0.009278631 C#-2 69.2956577442 806.1270211324 806 326 69.3065648234 0.0109070792 D-2 73.4161919794 760.8264623182 761 2F9 73.3994721949 0.0167197845 D#-2 77.7817459305 718.0684285033 718 2CE 77.789148557 0.0074026265 E-2 82.4068892282 677.7102187246 678 2A6 82.3717199006 0.0351693276 F-2 87.3070578583 639.6171412088 640 280 87.2549107839 0.0521470743 F#-2 92.4986056779 603.6620638505 604 25C 92.4469385331 0.0516671449 G-2 97.9988589954 569.7249899216 570 23A 97.9516599168 0.0471990786 G#-2 103.826174395 537.6926575925 538 21A 103.7669718228 0.0592025722 A-2 110 507.4581619318 507 1FB 110.0992082923 0.0992082923 A#-2 116.5409403795 478.9205981208 479 1DF 116.5216621094 0.0192782701 B-2 123.470825314 451.9847246931 452 1C4 123.4666618377 0.0041634763 C-3 130.8127826503 426.560645675 427 1AB 130.6784995619 0.1342830884 C#-3 138.5913154884 402.5635105662 403 193 138.4415787438 0.1497367446 D-3 146.8323839587 379.9132311591 380 17C 146.7989443898 0.0334395689 D#-3 155.563491861 358.5342142516 359 167 155.3622161458 0.2012757152 E-3 164.8137784564 338.3551093623 338 152 164.9864242257 0.1726457692 F-3 174.6141157165 319.3085706044 319 13F 174.7824931641 0.1683774476 F#-3 184.9972113558 301.3310319253 301 12D 185.1999927566 0.2027814008 G-3 195.9977179909 284.3624949608 284 11C 196.2470098684 0.2492918775 G#-3 207.65234879 268.3463287963 268 10C 207.9196944703 0.2673456803 A-3 220 253.2290809659 253 0FD 220.1984165846 0.1984165846 A#-3 233.081880759 238.9602990604 239 0EF 233.0433242188 0.0385565403 B-3 246.9416506281 225.4923623465 225 0E1 247.4796363385 0.5379857104 C-4 261.6255653006 212.7803228375 213 0D5 261.3569991238 0.2685661768 C#-4 277.1826309769 200.7817552831 201 0C9 276.8831574876 0.2994734892 D-4 293.6647679174 189.4566155795 189 0BD 294.3705148026 0.7057468852 D#-4 311.1269837221 178.7671071258 179 0B3 310.7244322917 0.4025514304 E-4 329.6275569129 168.6775546812 169 0A9 329.0023400735 0.6252168393 F-4 349.228231433 159.1542853022 159 09F 349.5649863281 0.3367548951 F#-4 369.9944227116 150.1655159626 150 096 370.3999855132 0.4055628016 G-4 391.9954359818 141.6812474804 142 08E 391.1216630245 0.8737729573 G#-4 415.3046975799 133.6731643981 134 086 414.2992430556 1.0054545244 A-4 440 126.114540483 126 07E 440.3968331693 0.3968331693 A#-4 466.1637615181 118.9801495302 119 077 466.0866484375 0.0771130806 B-4 493.8833012561 112.2461811733 112 070 494.959272677 1.0759714209 C-5 523.2511306012 105.8901614187 106 06A 522.7139982477 0.5371323535 C#-5 554.3652619537 99.8908776415 100 064 553.7663149752 0.5989469785 D-5 587.3295358348 94.2283077898 94 05E 588.7410296053 1.4114937704 D#-5 622.2539674442 88.8835535629 89 059 621.4488645833 0.8051028608 E-5 659.2551138257 83.8387773406 84 054 658.0046801471 1.2504336787 F-5 698.456462866 79.0771426511 79 04F 699.1299726563 0.6735097902 F#-5 739.9888454233 74.5827579813 75 04B 735.9262870066 4.0625584167

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Appendix D: NES/Famicom Pitch Table Based on Equal Temperament Tuning Pitch 12TET Desired Rounded Hex NES Tuning Tuning Offset G-5 783.9908719635 70.3406237402 70 046 787.7520818662 3.7612099027 G#-5 830.6093951599 66.3365821991 66 042 834.782056903 4.1726617431 A-5 880 62.5572702415 63 03F 873.9124658203 6.0875341797 A#-5 932.3275230362 58.9900747651 59 03B 932.173296875 0.1542261612 B-5 987.7666025122 55.6230905866 56 038 981.2350493421 6.5315531701 C-6 1046.5022612024 52.4450807094 52 034 1055.2905247642 8.7882635618 C#-6 1108.7305239075 49.4454388208 49 031 1118.60795625 9.8774323425 D-6 1174.6590716696 46.6141538949 47 02F 1165.2166210938 9.4424505759 D#-6 1244.5079348883 43.9417767815 44 02C 1242.8977291667 1.6102057217 E-6 1318.5102276515 41.4193886703 41 029 1331.6761383929 13.1659107414 F-6 1396.912925732 39.0385713255 39 027 1398.2599453125 1.3470195805 F#-6 1479.9776908465 36.7913789907 37 025 1471.8525740132 8.1251168334 G-6 1567.981743927 34.6703118701 35 023 1553.6221614583 14.3595824687 G#-6 1661.2187903198 32.6682910995 33 021 1645.0117003677 16.2070899521 A-6 1760 30.7786351207 31 01F 1747.8249316406 12.1750683594 A#-6 1864.6550460724 28.9950373825 29 01D 1864.34659375 0.3084523224 B-6 1975.5332050245 27.3115452933 27 01B 1997.5142075893 21.9810025648 C-7 2093.0045224048 25.7225403547 26 01A 2071.4962152778 21.508307127 C#-7 2217.461047815 24.2227194104 24 018 2237.2159125 19.754864685 D-7 2349.3181433393 22.8070769474 23 017 2330.4332421875 18.8849011518 D#-7 2489.0158697767 21.4708883907 21 015 2542.2908096591 53.2749398824 E-7 2637.020455303 20.2096943351 20 014 2663.3522767857 26.3318214828 F-7 2793.825851464 19.0192856628 19 013 2796.519890625 2.694039161 F#-7 2959.9553816931 17.8956894953 18 012 2943.7051480263 16.2502336668 G-7 3135.963487854 16.8351559351 17 011 3107.2443229167 28.7191649373 G#-7 3322.4375806396 15.8341455498 16 010 3290.0234007353 32.4141799043 A-7 3520 14.8893175604 15 00F 3495.6498632813 24.3501367188 A#-7 3729.3100921447 13.9975186913 14 00E 3728.6931875 0.6169046447 B-7 3951.066410049 13.1557726467 13 00D 3995.0284151786 43.9620051296 C-8 4186.0090448096 12.3612701773 12 00C 4302.3382932692 116.3292484596 C#-8 4434.92209563 11.6113597052 12 00C 4302.3382932692 132.5838023607 D-8 4698.6362866785 10.9035384737 11 00B 4660.866484375 37.7698023035 D#-8 4978.0317395533 10.2354441954 10 00A 5084.5816193182 106.5498797649 E-8 5274.0409106059 9.6048471676 10 00A 5084.5816193182 189.4592912877 F-8 5587.6517029281 9.0096428314 9 009 5593.03978125 5.3880783219 F#-8 5919.9107633862 8.4478447477 8 008 6214.4886458333 294.5778824472 G-8 6271.926975708 7.9175779675 8 008 6214.4886458333 57.4383298747 G#-8 6644.8751612791 7.4170727749 7 007 6991.2997265625 346.4245652834 A-8 7040 6.9446587802 7 007 6991.2997265625 48.7002734375 A#-8 7458.6201842895 6.4987593456 6 006 7990.0568303572 531.4366460677 B-8 7902.132820098 6.0778863233 6 006 7990.0568303572 87.9240102591 C-9 8372.0180896192 5.6806350887 6 006 7990.0568303572 381.961259262 C#-9 8869.8441912599 5.3056798526 5 005 9321.73296875 451.8887774901 D-9 9397.2725733571 4.9517692369 5 005 9321.73296875 75.5396046071 D#-9 9956.0634791066 4.6177220977 5 005 9321.73296875 634.3305103566 E-9 10548.0818212119 4.3024235838 4 004 11186.0795625 637.9977412881 F-9 11175.3034058562 4.0048214157 4 004 11186.0795625 10.7761566438 F#-9 11839.8215267723 3.7239223738 4 004 11186.0795625 653.7419642723 G-9 12543.853951416 3.4587889838 3 003 13982.599453125 1438.745501709 G#-9 13289.7503225583 3.2085363874 3 003 13982.599453125 692.8491305667 A-9 14080 2.9723293901 3 003 13982.599453125 97.400546875 A#-9 14917.2403685789 2.7493796728 3 003 13982.599453125 934.6409154539 B-9 15804.265640196 2.5389431617 3 003 13982.599453125 1821.666187071 C-10 16744.0361792384 2.3403175443 2 002 18643.4659375 1899.4297582617

698

Appendix D: NES/Famicom Pitch Table Based on Equal Temperament Tuning Pulse

PAL Clock Rate = 1662067 Hz

Pitch 12TET Desired Rounded Hex NES Tuning Tuning Offset A-0 27.5 3776.425 3776 27.5030943871 0.0030943871 A#-0 29.1352350949 3564.4144255817 3564 29.1386220196 0.0033869248 B-0 30.8677063285 3364.3030903713 3364 30.870486627 0.0027802985 C-1 32.7031956626 3175.4231413898 3175 32.7075527393 0.0043570767 C#-1 34.6478288721 2997.1442093655 2997 34.649495497 0.0016666249 D-1 36.7080959897 2828.8713049355 2829 36.7064266784 0.0016693112 D#-1 38.8908729653 2670.0428329236 2670 38.8914966305 0.0006236652 E-1 41.2034446141 2520.1287180691 2520 41.2055483935 0.0021037794 F-1 43.6535289291 2378.6286359496 2379 43.646717437 0.0068114922 F#-1 46.249302839 2245.0703431946 2245 46.2507513357 0.0014484968 G-1 48.9994294977 2119.0081014175 2119 48.9996167453 0.0001872476 G#-1 51.9130871975 2000.0211896051 2000 51.9136369315 0.000549734 bottom A-1 55 1887.7125 1888 760 54.9916291689 0.0083708311 A#-1 58.2704701898 1781.7072127908 1782 6F6 58.2609015704 0.0095686194 B-1 61.735412657 1681.6515451856 1682 692 61.722630719 0.0127819381 C-2 65.4063913251 1587.2115706949 1587 633 65.4151054786 0.0087141534 C#-2 69.2956577442 1498.0721046828 1498 5DA 69.298990994 0.0033332498 D-2 73.4161919794 1413.9356524677 1414 586 73.4128533569 0.0033386225 D#-2 77.7817459305 1334.5214164618 1335 537 77.7538828593 0.0278630712 E-2 82.4068892282 1259.5643590346 1260 4EC 82.3784199048 0.0284693234 F-2 87.3070578583 1188.8143179748 1189 4A5 87.2934348739 0.0136229843 F#-2 92.4986056779 1122.0351715973 1122 462 92.5015026714 0.0028969935 G-2 97.9988589954 1059.0040507088 1059 423 97.9992334906 0.0003744951 G#-2 103.826174395 999.5105948025 1000 3E8 103.7754120879 0.0507623071 A-2 110 943.35625 943 3AF 110.0415121822 0.0415121822 A#-2 116.5409403795 890.3536063954 890 37A 116.587191358 0.0462509785 B-2 123.470825314 840.3257725928 840 348 123.5186533888 0.0478280748 C-3 130.8127826503 793.1057853474 793 319 130.8302109572 0.0174283069 C#-3 138.5913154884 748.5360523414 749 2ED 138.5055833333 0.0857321551 D-3 146.8323839587 706.4678262339 706 2C2 146.9295438472 0.0971598885 D#-3 155.563491861 666.7607082309 667 29B 155.5077657186 0.0557261425 E-3 164.8137784564 629.2821795173 629 275 164.8875992064 0.0738207499 F-3 174.6141157165 593.9071589874 594 252 174.5868697479 0.0272459686 F#-3 184.9972113558 560.5175857986 561 231 184.8384119217 0.1587994341 G-3 195.9977179909 529.0020253544 529 211 195.9984669811 0.0007489903 G#-3 207.65234879 499.2552974013 499 1F3 207.758375 0.10602621 A-3 220 471.178125 471 1D7 220.0830243644 0.0830243644 A#-3 233.081880759 444.6768031977 445 1BD 232.9129764574 0.1689043016 B-3 246.9416506281 419.6628862964 420 1A4 246.7439133017 0.1977373264 C-4 261.6255653006 396.0528926737 396 18C 261.6604219144 0.0348566138 C#-4 277.1826309769 373.7680261707 374 176 277.0111666667 0.1714643102 D-4 293.6647679174 352.7339131169 353 161 293.4440324859 0.2207354315 D#-4 311.1269837221 332.8803541155 333 14D 311.0155314371 0.111452285 E-4 329.6275569129 314.1410897586 314 13A 329.7751984127 0.1476414998 F-4 349.228231433 296.4535794937 296 128 349.7615740741 0.5333426411 F#-4 369.9944227116 279.7587928993 280 118 369.6768238434 0.3175988682 G-4 391.9954359818 264.0010126772 264 108 391.9969339623 0.0014979805 G#-4 415.3046975799 249.1276487006 249 0F9 415.51675 0.2120524201 A-4 440 235.0890625 235 0EB 440.1660487288 0.1660487288 A#-4 466.1637615181 221.8384015989 222 0DE 465.8259529148 0.3378086033 B-4 493.8833012561 209.3314431482 209 0D1 494.662797619 0.7794963629 C-5 523.2511306012 197.5264463369 198 0C6 522.0059673367 1.2451632645 C#-5 554.3652619537 186.3840130853 186 0BA 555.5036764706 1.1384145168 D-5 587.3295358348 175.8669565585 176 0B0 586.8880649718 0.4414708631 D#-5 622.2539674442 165.9401770577 166 0A6 622.0310628743 0.2229045699 E-5 659.2551138257 156.5705448793 157 09D 657.4632120253 1.7919018004 F-5 698.456462866 147.7267897468 148 094 697.1757550336 1.2807078325 F#-5 739.9888454233 139.3793964497 139 08B 741.9941964286 2.0053510053

699

Appendix D: NES/Famicom Pitch Table Based on Equal Temperament Tuning

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Pitch 12TET Desired Rounded Hex NES Tuning Tuning Offset G-5 783.9908719635 131.5005063386 132 084 781.0465225564 2.9443494071 G#-5 830.6093951599 124.0638243503 124 07C 831.0335 0.4241048401 A-5 880 117.04453125 117 075 880.3320974576 0.3320974576 A#-5 932.3275230362 110.4192007994 110 06E 935.848536036 3.5210129999 B-5 987.7666025122 104.1657215741 104 068 989.3255952381 1.5589927258 C-6 1046.5022612024 98.2632231684 98 062 1049.2847222222 2.7824610198 C#-6 1108.7305239075 92.6920065427 93 05D 1105.0977393617 3.6327845458 D-6 1174.6590716696 87.4334782792 87 057 1180.4453125 5.7862408304 D#-6 1244.5079348883 82.4700885289 82 052 1251.5564759036 7.0485410153 E-6 1318.5102276515 77.7852724397 78 04E 1314.9264240506 3.5838036008 F-6 1396.912925732 73.3633948734 73 049 1403.7728040541 6.859878322 F#-6 1479.9776908465 69.1896982248 69 045 1483.9883928572 4.0107020106 G-6 1567.981743927 65.2502531693 65 041 1573.9270833333 5.9453394063 G#-6 1661.2187903198 61.5319121752 62 03E 1648.8759920635 12.3427982563 A-6 1760 58.022265625 58 03A 1760.6641949153 0.6641949153 A#-6 1864.6550460724 54.7096003997 55 037 1854.9854910714 9.6695550009 B-6 1975.5332050245 51.5828607871 52 034 1959.9846698113 15.5485352132 C-7 2093.0045224048 48.6316115842 49 031 2077.58375 15.4207724048 C#-7 2217.461047815 45.8460032713 46 02E 2210.1954787234 7.2655690916 D-7 2349.3181433393 43.2167391396 43 02B 2360.890625 11.5724816607 D#-7 2489.0158697767 40.7350442644 41 029 2473.3139880952 15.7018816814 E-7 2637.020455303 38.3926362198 38 026 2663.5689102564 26.5484549534 F-7 2793.825851464 36.1816974367 36 024 2807.5456081081 13.7197566441 F#-7 2959.9553816931 34.0948491124 34 022 2967.9767857143 8.0214040212 G-7 3135.963487854 32.1251265846 32 020 3147.8541666667 11.8906788127 G#-7 3322.4375806396 30.2659560876 30 01E 3350.9415322581 28.5039516185 A-7 3520 28.5111328125 29 01D 3462.6395833333 57.3604166667 A#-7 3729.3100921447 26.8548001999 27 01B 3709.9709821429 19.3391100019 B-7 3951.066410049 25.2914303935 25 019 3995.3533653846 44.2869553356 C-8 4186.0090448096 23.8158057921 24 018 4155.1675 30.8415448096 C#-8 4434.92209563 22.4230016357 22 016 4516.4864130435 81.5643174135 D-8 4698.6362866785 21.1083695698 21 015 4721.78125 23.1449633215 D#-8 4978.0317395533 19.8675221322 20 014 4946.6279761905 31.4037633628 E-8 5274.0409106059 18.6963181099 19 013 5193.959375 80.0815356059 F-8 5587.6517029281 17.5908487184 18 012 5467.3256578947 120.3260450333 F#-8 5919.9107633862 16.5474245562 17 011 5771.0659722222 148.8447911639 G-8 6271.926975708 15.5625632923 16 010 6110.5404411765 161.3865345315 G#-8 6644.8751612791 14.6329780438 15 00F 6492.44921875 152.4259425291 A-8 7040 13.7555664063 14 00E 6925.2791666667 114.7208333333 A#-8 7458.6201842895 12.9274000999 13 00D 7419.9419642857 38.6782200037 B-8 7902.132820098 12.1457151968 12 00C 7990.7067307692 88.5739106712 C-9 8372.0180896192 11.4079028961 11 00B 8656.5989583333 284.5808687142 C#-9 8869.8441912599 10.7115008178 11 00B 8656.5989583333 213.2452329266 D-9 9397.2725733571 10.0541847849 10 00A 9443.5625 46.2899266429 D#-9 9956.0634791066 9.4337610661 9 009 10387.91875 431.8552708934 E-9 10548.0818212119 8.848159055 9 009 10387.91875 160.1630712119 F-9 11175.3034058562 8.2954243592 8 008 11542.1319444444 366.8285385883 F#-9 11839.8215267723 7.7737122781 8 008 11542.1319444444 297.6895823279 G-9 12543.853951416 7.2812816462 7 12984.8984375 441.044486084 G#-9 13289.7503225583 6.8164890219 7 12984.8984375 304.8518850583 A-9 14080 6.3777832031 6 14839.8839285714 759.8839285714 A#-9 14917.2403685789 5.96370005 6 14839.8839285714 77.3564400075 B-9 15804.265640196 5.5728575984 6 14839.8839285714 964.3817116246 C-10 16744.0361792384 5.203951448 5 17313.1979166667 569.1617374283

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Appendix D: NES/Famicom Pitch Table Based on Equal Temperament Tuning Triangle

PAL Clock Rate = 1662067 Hz

Pitch 12TET Desired Rounded Hex NES Tuning Tuning Offset A-0 27.5 1887.7125 1888 760 27.4958145844 0.0041854156 A#-0 29.1352350949 1781.7072127908 1782 6F6 29.1304507852 0.0047843097 B-0 30.8677063285 1681.6515451856 1682 692 30.8613153595 0.006390969 C-1 32.7031956626 1587.2115706949 1587 633 32.7075527393 0.0043570767 C#-1 34.6478288721 1498.0721046828 1498 5DA 34.649495497 0.0016666249 D-1 36.7080959897 1413.9356524677 1414 586 36.7064266784 0.0016693112 D#-1 38.8908729653 1334.5214164618 1335 537 38.8769414296 0.0139315356 E-1 41.2034446141 1259.5643590346 1260 4EC 41.1892099524 0.0142346617 F-1 43.6535289291 1188.8143179748 1189 4A5 43.646717437 0.0068114922 F#-1 46.249302839 1122.0351715973 1122 462 46.2507513357 0.0014484968 G-1 48.9994294977 1059.0040507088 1059 423 48.9996167453 0.0001872476 G#-1 51.9130871975 999.5105948025 1000 3E8 51.887706044 0.0253811535 A-1 55 943.35625 943 3AF 55.0207560911 0.0207560911 A#-1 58.2704701898 890.3536063954 890 37A 58.293595679 0.0231254893 B-1 61.735412657 840.3257725928 840 348 61.7593266944 0.0239140374 C-2 65.4063913251 793.1057853474 793 319 65.4151054786 0.0087141534 C#-2 69.2956577442 748.5360523414 749 2ED 69.2527916667 0.0428660776 D-2 73.4161919794 706.4678262339 706 2C2 73.4647719236 0.0485799443 D#-2 77.7817459305 666.7607082309 667 29B 77.7538828593 0.0278630712 E-2 82.4068892282 629.2821795173 629 275 82.4437996032 0.036910375 F-2 87.3070578583 593.9071589874 594 252 87.2934348739 0.0136229843 F#-2 92.4986056779 560.5175857986 561 231 92.4192059609 0.0793997171 G-2 97.9988589954 529.0020253544 529 211 97.9992334906 0.0003744951 G#-2 103.826174395 499.2552974013 499 1F3 103.8791875 0.053013105 A-2 110 471.178125 471 1D7 110.0415121822 0.0415121822 A#-2 116.5409403795 444.6768031977 445 1BD 116.4564882287 0.0844521508 B-2 123.470825314 419.6628862964 420 1A4 123.3719566508 0.0988686632 C-3 130.8127826503 396.0528926737 396 18C 130.8302109572 0.0174283069 C#-3 138.5913154884 373.7680261707 374 176 138.5055833333 0.0857321551 D-3 146.8323839587 352.7339131169 353 161 146.7220162429 0.1103677158 D#-3 155.563491861 332.8803541155 333 14D 155.5077657186 0.0557261425 E-3 164.8137784564 314.1410897586 314 13A 164.8875992064 0.0738207499 F-3 174.6141157165 296.4535794937 296 128 174.880787037 0.2666713205 F#-3 184.9972113558 279.7587928993 280 118 184.8384119217 0.1587994341 G-3 195.9977179909 264.0010126772 264 108 195.9984669811 0.0007489903 G#-3 207.65234879 249.1276487006 249 0F9 207.758375 0.10602621 A-3 220 235.0890625 235 0EB 220.0830243644 0.0830243644 A#-3 233.081880759 221.8384015989 222 0DE 232.9129764574 0.1689043016 B-3 246.9416506281 209.3314431482 209 0D1 247.3313988095 0.3897481815 C-4 261.6255653006 197.5264463369 198 0C6 261.0029836683 0.6225816323 C#-4 277.1826309769 186.3840130853 186 0BA 277.7518382353 0.5692072584 D-4 293.6647679174 175.8669565585 176 0B0 293.4440324859 0.2207354315 D#-4 311.1269837221 165.9401770577 166 0A6 311.0155314371 0.111452285 E-4 329.6275569129 156.5705448793 157 09D 328.7316060127 0.8959509002 F-4 349.228231433 147.7267897468 148 094 348.5878775168 0.6403539162 F#-4 369.9944227116 139.3793964497 139 08B 370.9970982143 1.0026755027 G-4 391.9954359818 131.5005063386 132 084 390.5232612782 1.4721747036 G#-4 415.3046975799 124.0638243503 124 07C 415.51675 0.2120524201 A-4 440 117.04453125 117 075 440.1660487288 0.1660487288 A#-4 466.1637615181 110.4192007994 110 06E 467.924268018 1.7605064999 B-4 493.8833012561 104.1657215741 104 068 494.662797619 0.7794963629 C-5 523.2511306012 98.2632231684 98 062 524.6423611111 1.3912305099 C#-5 554.3652619537 92.6920065427 93 05D 552.5488696809 1.8163922729 D-5 587.3295358348 87.4334782792 87 057 590.22265625 2.8931204152 D#-5 622.2539674442 82.4700885289 82 052 625.7782379518 3.5242705076 E-5 659.2551138257 77.7852724397 78 04E 657.4632120253 1.7919018004 F-5 698.456462866 73.3633948734 73 049 701.886402027 3.429939161 F#-5 739.9888454233 69.1896982248 69 045 741.9941964286 2.0053510053

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Appendix D: NES/Famicom Pitch Table Based on Equal Temperament Tuning Pitch 12TET Desired Rounded Hex NES Tuning Tuning Offset G-5 783.9908719635 65.2502531693 65 041 786.9635416667 2.9726697032 G#-5 830.6093951599 61.5319121752 62 03E 824.4379960317 6.1713991281 A-5 880 58.022265625 58 03A 880.3320974576 0.3320974576 A#-5 932.3275230362 54.7096003997 55 037 927.4927455357 4.8347775005 B-5 987.7666025122 51.5828607871 52 034 979.9923349057 7.7742676066 C-6 1046.5022612024 48.6316115842 49 031 1038.791875 7.7103862024 C#-6 1108.7305239075 45.8460032713 46 02E 1105.0977393617 3.6327845458 D-6 1174.6590716696 43.2167391396 43 02B 1180.4453125 5.7862408304 D#-6 1244.5079348883 40.7350442644 41 029 1236.6569940476 7.8509408407 E-6 1318.5102276515 38.3926362198 38 026 1331.7844551282 13.2742274767 F-6 1396.912925732 36.1816974367 36 024 1403.7728040541 6.859878322 F#-6 1479.9776908465 34.0948491124 34 022 1483.9883928572 4.0107020106 G-6 1567.981743927 32.1251265846 32 020 1573.9270833333 5.9453394063 G#-6 1661.2187903198 30.2659560876 30 01E 1675.470766129 14.2519758093 A-6 1760 28.5111328125 29 01D 1731.3197916667 28.6802083333 A#-6 1864.6550460724 26.8548001999 27 01B 1854.9854910714 9.6695550009 B-6 1975.5332050245 25.2914303935 25 019 1997.6766826923 22.1434776678 C-7 2093.0045224048 23.8158057921 24 018 2077.58375 15.4207724048 C#-7 2217.461047815 22.4230016357 22 016 2258.2432065217 40.7821587068 D-7 2349.3181433393 21.1083695698 21 015 2360.890625 11.5724816607 D#-7 2489.0158697767 19.8675221322 20 014 2473.3139880952 15.7018816814 E-7 2637.020455303 18.6963181099 19 013 2596.9796875 40.040767803 F-7 2793.825851464 17.5908487184 18 012 2733.6628289474 60.1630225167 F#-7 2959.9553816931 16.5474245562 17 011 2885.5329861111 74.422395582 G-7 3135.963487854 15.5625632923 16 010 3055.2702205882 80.6932672658 G#-7 3322.4375806396 14.6329780438 15 00F 3246.224609375 76.2129712646 A-7 3520 13.7555664063 14 00E 3462.6395833333 57.3604166667 A#-7 3729.3100921447 12.9274000999 13 00D 3709.9709821429 19.3391100019 B-7 3951.066410049 12.1457151968 12 00C 3995.3533653846 44.2869553356 C-8 4186.0090448096 11.4079028961 11 00B 4328.2994791667 142.2904343571 C#-8 4434.92209563 10.7115008178 11 00B 4328.2994791667 106.6226164633 D-8 4698.6362866785 10.0541847849 10 00A 4721.78125 23.1449633215 D#-8 4978.0317395533 9.4337610661 9 009 5193.959375 215.9276354467 E-8 5274.0409106059 8.848159055 9 009 5193.959375 80.0815356059 F-8 5587.6517029281 8.2954243592 8 008 5771.0659722222 183.4142692942 F#-8 5919.9107633862 7.7737122781 8 008 5771.0659722222 148.8447911639 G-8 6271.926975708 7.2812816462 7 007 6492.44921875 220.522243042 G#-8 6644.8751612791 6.8164890219 7 007 6492.44921875 152.4259425291 A-8 7040 6.3777832031 6 006 7419.9419642857 379.9419642857 A#-8 7458.6201842895 5.96370005 6 006 7419.9419642857 38.6782200037 B-8 7902.132820098 5.5728575984 6 006 7419.9419642857 482.1908558123 C-9 8372.0180896192 5.203951448 5 005 8656.5989583333 284.5808687142 C#-9 8869.8441912599 4.8557504089 5 005 8656.5989583333 213.2452329266 D-9 9397.2725733571 4.5270923925 5 005 8656.5989583333 740.6736150237 D#-9 9956.0634791066 4.2168805331 4 004 10387.91875 431.8552708934 E-9 10548.0818212119 3.9240795275 4 004 10387.91875 160.1630712119 F-9 11175.3034058562 3.6477121796 4 004 10387.91875 787.3846558562 F#-9 11839.8215267723 3.3868561391 3 003 12984.8984375 1145.0769107277 G-9 12543.853951416 3.1406408231 3 003 12984.8984375 441.044486084 G#-9 13289.7503225583 2.9082445109 3 003 12984.8984375 304.8518850583 A-9 14080 2.6888916016 3 003 12984.8984375 1095.1015625 A#-9 14917.2403685789 2.481850025 2 002 17313.1979166667 2395.9575480878 B-9 15804.265640196 2.2864287992 2 002 17313.1979166667 1508.9322764707 C-10 16744.0361792384 2.101975724 2 002 17313.1979166667 569.1617374283

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Appendix E: Interview Transcripts

The following people were contacted for the dissertation and participated in interviews: 1. Patrick “Bucky” Todd, NES game audio enthusiast Patrick Todd's interview questions relate to his expertise on NES audio and the tools to analyze and dissect game audio. 2. Troupe Gammage, composer of Mutant Mudds for the Nintendo 3DS and other systems Troupe Gammage's interview questions relate to his chiptune soundtrack for "Mutant Mudds" and the decisions he and the development staff made which affected his compositions. 3. Brent Weinbach, co-host of the Legacy Music Hour podcast Brent Weinbach's interview questions relate to the propagation of chiptune music and the preservation of its history through his podcast series. 4. Alberto José González, NES composer of Asterix and other games Alberto José González's interview questions relate to the characteristics of his compositions on the NES and the challenges of adapting music from the Game Boy to the NES. 5. Neil Baldwin, NES composer of Hero Quest and other games Neil Baldwin's interview questions relate to his engagement in the video game and chiptune communities and his breadth of knowledge of chiptune composition found in his software tools.

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6. Masashi Kageyama, Famicom and NES composer of Gimmick! and other games Masashi Kageyama's interview questions relate to his soundtrack for Gimmick! and his experience writing for the Sunsoft 5B audio-expansion chip.

Interview #1: E-Mail Exchange with Patrick "Bucky" Todd from August 27, 2013 1.

Do any of the Sunsoft NES games share the same or similar sound engine? I am using

Blaster Master, Batman, Batman: Return of the Joker, Journey to Silius, Fester's Quest, Ufouria: the Saga, Gremlins 2: the New Batch, and Gimmick. Todd: Without access to the source code or the tools they were using, it's difficult to know for sure which soundtracks made use of identical "sound engines". I would assume that any titles without the SunSoft bass sample (including Fester's Quest, which uses different samples), are probably not of the same engine of those that are. Basically, the more similar two different games by the same company sound, the more likely they are to possibly share the same code for their music architecture. This is where my lack of programming knowledge limits me. People who might be able to find out for you are those who rip/ fix NSF files. People like Knurek, rainwarrior, and GilGalad might have the ability to check and compare SunSoft NSFs to see which are most similar / dissimilar. If they're able to do this for you, I could then analyze particular sounds in those games as supporting evidence. Without their help though, I can only really speculate. You might be able to reach them by PM'ing them through the NESdev board-- you can find their posts in this thread: http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=115&start=1440

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2.

Is there a way to detect whether a pulse channel uses the 25% duty cycle vs. the 75% duty

cycle? If so how? Todd: Yes, there are a couple ways to find out which duty cycle is being used, without looking into the game's code. NSF Importer by rainwarrior is software that lets you import NSF files into Famitracker: http://rainwarrior.ca/projects/nes/nsfimport.html In Famitracker, duty cycles are represented in the tracker space as Vxx commands, found in a column to the right of the note that is playing. V00 = 12.5%, V01 = 25%, V02 = 50%, V03 = 75%. You can find examples of 75% this way. Another tool you can use is NSFplay, which is my preferred software for listening to NSFs. The updated version is found here: http://famitracker.com/forum/posts.php?page=1&id=3203 If you go into the settings, you can open a 'keyboard view', which not only shows all the notes as they play on a piano display, but also some information like the duty cycles, volumes, etc, as they play in real time. The "tone" column tells you the duty cycle, and 3 = 75%. Attached are cropped screenshots showing where you can see this information in both programs.

3.

Are you aware of any methods or ways in which the music was compressed in these

games? If so, describe the method and the percent of savings in memory.

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4.

Describe how the samples are saved. Include the fidelity of the samples based on your

insight. Todd: This is another area where I'm heavily limited as to how things these work. My friend Don Miller, who organized and conducted the Blip Fest workshop with me, is an NES programmer and has written a lot of NES software from scratch: http://no-carrier.com/ Another good person to ask could be Neil Baldwin, who composed the soundtracks of Magician, Hero Quest, James Bond Jr, Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge, and more. He's as much of an expert as they come, and has recently become involved again in creating new tools for NES music creation: http://dutycyclegenerator.com/ http://www.nes-audio.com/ Regarding the fidelity of the samples, they are 1-bit DPCM samples: http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/APU#DMC_.28.244010-4013.29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_pulse-code_modulation This is a process where an audio sample is converted into an extremely simplistic digital representation, where the waveform is converted into a sequence of volumes, and then compressed into a 1-bit representation of those volumes (where a value has to be +1 or -1 of the previous value). This creates a unique, lo-fi sound quality that sounds somewhat distorted and filtered at the same time. There's a great breakdown of this process here: http://skrasoft.com/blog/?p=122

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5.

Can you determine how much memory the samples took up in each of those games? You

may answer in kilobytes and/or percent of the full game. Todd: Here's a breakdown of several SunSoft games and how large their samples were collectively: Fester's Quest - 2,566 bytes. This is smaller than other SunSoft games using heavy melodic basslines, because there are melodic samples that are smaller in size (3 bass samples, 2 orchestra hits). Hebereke / Ufouria - 5,735 bytes. Gremlins 2 - 6,007 bytes. The samples are the same in size to those from Ufouria and I believe several other SunSoft titles (Pescatore - unreleased). I can double check the others like Batman RotJ and Journey to Silius if you'd like, but I believe these are the batch of games that all have identical bass samples. The reason why some games will have slightly more or less total bytes allocated to samples is because they may use different percussion samples of different sizes. Gimmick! - 17,807 bytes. This is the largest amount of 1-bit DPCM samples in an NES/ Famicom title I'm currently familiar with, surpassing Super C. The difference between Gimmick! and other SunSoft samples is that they used 12 bass samples total, in additional to two different snare samples and a woodblock-like sample (15 samples total). The reason for Gimmick! having more bass samples is likely because they wanted to have more starting pitches to avoid the distortion and intonation issues that come with lowering the pitches. Other SunSoft games use 5 starting pitches, which is the exact amount required to be

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able to compose using any note in a chromatic scale across a couple octaves. These starting 5 pitches are retuned to lower ones, but it requires slowing down the playback of the sample, which adds a distorted quality to them the lower they are re-pitched. Having 12 starting samples instead of 5 would allow them to have a higher quality sound overall. In addition to that, the bass samples themselves are larger in Gimmick! In other SunSoft games (not counting Fester's Quest), the bass samples are between 993 - 1,009 bytes each. In Gimmick!, they are 1,009 - 1,537 bytes each. These samples are not found in the collection of DMC files of mine you found, at the time the tool I used to export samples from games couldn't export Gimmick! samples correctly. The ones you have are glitched. The "extra space" for these samples was most likely allowed by the use of the SunSoft 5B mapper: http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Sunsoft_5B_audio The mapper that allowed for the sound expansion in Gimmick! is often referred to as FME-7, but "5B" is the more technically appropriate name. The distinction is explained here: http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Sunsoft_FME-7

6.

What inspired you to take such an interest in game music?

Todd: I was born in 1986 and grew up with an Amiga computer my father had purchased. I was always fond of video game music, I found that good music in a game made for a markedly more enjoyable experience. Additionally, if a game had unenjoyable controls or gameplay, good music

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would sometimes be enough to redeem other poor qualities and keep me interested. I would sometimes tape the music and listen back to it a later time, music like the themes to Bubble Ghost, Space Hulk, Myth, Crystal Hammer, and others were very impressionable. At the time I didn't know it was called "mod" music, nor was I really aware of the demo scene. I was perhaps a bit too young and not connected enough to know more about the music scene the Amiga had, but I do have a nostalgia for some of the game music, demos, and cracktros I encountered. I didn't own any video game consoles when I was younger, but I also have fond memories of playing various NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis games at friends' houses. In 1999 my brother got a used NES from ebay, and this was probably the most significant event for sparking my interest. I began to recognize and appreciate the distinct sound qualities. Because I didn't own any NES games growing up, I had perhaps more of a nostalgia for the sound quality itself, rather than any particular themes or melodies.

7.

What current projects are you working on?

Todd: Right now I'm working on analyzing more NES soundtracks through the process of making 100% accurate transcriptions of various tunes in Famitracker (where every detail volume, duty cycles, vibrato, etc are accurate down to the 60th of a second). Though I'm confident in my ability to recognize and analyze different techniques in sound design, I find that trying to recreate tracks with perfect accuracy will help give me a greater understanding of specific techniques, and perhaps distinguish how different composers or companies made

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sounds. The recent post about single channel echo in 'Moon Crystal' on my blog came after making an accurate transcription of the boss theme.

8.

What software do you prefer using to compose chiptunes?

Todd: Famitracker is my favorite. I find that it has a very intuitive and comfortable interface, and the instrument editor field is an excellent way to manipulate voices for the NES. For example, making a volume envelope is as easy as drawing a bar graph by clicking your mouse and dragging it. It also provides a nice visual representation, which is why I take screenshots from the instrument editor field when sharing instrument data on retrogameaudio. I have less experience with other programs, but of particular note is the software created by Neil Baldwin. They can be used to push the sound limitations of the NES like no other.

9.

What are some chiptune topics which you have researched in some detail?

Todd: Sound design on the NES is what I've researched the most. I also know a bit about the limitations and sound chips of other systems, but I'm far more familiar with NES audio. The same goes for the actual soundtracks themselves. I've tagged a lot of NSFE files, which are NSF files but with specific track information, which required playing through the entire games to name the tracks (when official titles don't already exist). http://slickproductions.org/nsfe.php

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I've also explored a lot NSF files-- a project I never completed was a presentation of unused NES/ Famicom music, which involved scouring soundtracks to see if there was anything that was unused. I'll probably make a post about that on my blog in the future.

10.

What are a few of your favorite chiptunes on the NES and/or Famicom?

Todd: The entire Magician soundtrack as a whole might be my favorite NES soundtrack. It utilizes some fairly advanced techniques, but also avoids the criticism of some European sound design which is that "too many" arpeggio effects are used (from the perspective of those who typically prefer Japanese soundtracks). Magician strikes an excellent balance with its overall sound. Magician has an overall dark and moody tone, with track 1 from the NSF establishing this feeling nicely. It has a really great use of the arpeggio effect that is used very tastefully. Notably, there is also a track that is set in a Forest Level, which makes use of the pulse wave to imitate the sound of insects in the woods. It takes a while for the actual music to kick in, and eventually fade the sound of crickets out. The music that does kick in is a nice groove with weird, sparse arpeggios. It's also one of the few soundtracks that I think works fairly well as 'album' if you listen to each track looping twice and then allowing it to move onto the next. Here's a playlist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccjPrFzb_r0&list=PL0248BF5C4D06017E

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Other favorite soundtracks include Journey to Silius, Gimmick!, Castlevania 3, Mega Man 2, Mega Man 3, Hero Quest, Silver Surfer, The Smurfs, Pin-Bot, Contra Force, Snake's Revenge, and more.

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Interview #2: E-Mail Exchange with Troupe Gammage from August 27, 2013

1.

Describe the hardware and software used to create the track for Mutant Mudds World 1-1.

Gammage: I used a piece of tracking software called Renoise (www.renoise.com). I run Renoise on Windows and perform all note entry with a mouse and QWERTY keyboard, not in real-time. Although trackers weren't actually used to produce music on the NES during its production run (as far as I'm aware), they originated on Amiga and allow for relatively similar composition methods. Famitracker is a very similar piece of software I probably should have used, since it more accurately emulates the NES hardware and would have been more authentic! The programmer on the Mutant Mudds project, Matthew Gambrell, wrote a tool that converts Renoise's .xrns format to a Nintendo 3DS-readable format, so all the songs are merely a set of instructions which reference the sample data used by the soundtrack.

2.

Who made the decision to use the chiptune style for the game's sound and music?

Gammage: The game's creator, Jools Watsham, definitely had a chiptune soundtrack in mind from the get-go, but if I recall correctly I was enthusiastic to shoot for a "true" NES sound, which I thought would be more enjoyable to create.

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3.

What was the rationale behind using the chiptune style over other musical styles?

Gammage: I think it's dangerous to deviate too heavily from the limitations of the visuals when considering the sonic palette of the music. Jools had chosen a "12-bit" aesthetic for the game's look, somewhere between NES and SNES, and a full-on bombastic orchestral score would have overshot the relatively low-resolution visuals. I think the pixel-based style was chosen for its ease of creation, accessibility/nostalgia factor, and its tendency to provide more iconic imagery than similarly-composed 3D work. It seemed logical to aim for the same goals with the music; the limited number of tonal voices would force melody to the forefront in the same way that the limited number of pixels in the visuals forced an emphasis on silhouette.

4.

Where did you get the NES chip sounds from?

Gammage: I took all of them from the module versions of virt's (Jake Kaufman) FX 2.0 release (http://archive.org/details/mtk086) -- modules are the file format of trackers and allow anyone with tracking software to edit the composition or extract the sample data used in the song. I learned a ton about the limitations of the NES hardware as well as composition and production tricks from studying virt's work!

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5.

How much memory does the music take up in Mutant Mudds for the 3DS? You may

answer in kilobytes and/or percent of the full game. Gammage: According to Matthew, the soundtrack is "about 930KB. None of this is compressed. Obviously this representation of the music is at least a factor of 10x as bloated as a more compactly represented NES soundtrack would be, without anywhere near 10X the complexity, since we bake what amounts to instrument envelopes down to sample parameters tick by tick."

6.

How and why did you choose to model your composition around the five channels of the

NES? Gammage: Honestly, I thought it'd be fun. I'd done some NES-style tunes before but never on this scale. I was excited to try and bring something fresh and exciting to a sound world that a lot of people perceive as being "dead", or existing purely for nostalgia's sake, in a sense. It was every bit as challenging and rewarding as I expected!

7.

In what ways did this hinder your process?

Gammage: I'm not sure it ever really hindered my process since this style WAS my process. It would be like asking if a painter was hindered by a lack of 3D modeling tools or sculpting clay. My

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brain never really came up with anything I knew was impossible within the confines of the style.

8.

In what ways did this advance your process?

Gammage: The most exciting thing for me is being forced to get away from the "chords + melody" style of composition, which is something I make an effort to do in all the music I write but can often be difficult given unlimited ideas/channels/fingers. Rather than laying out a series of static chords and presenting a melody on top of it, I had to come up with dynamic ways to present the harmonic content of the music, often weaving the melody into the harmony and vice versa. Obviously it's a challenge to be creative with that process across dozens of songs but it made each tune unique and sonically distinctive. Given the difficulty in creating "atmospheric" music with limited channels and sound sources, the NES style also provides an incredible focus on melody, which as I mentioned earlier helps the game achieve a more iconic feel.

9.

When composing this track, were you thinking of or modeling it after a particular game,

song, or composer? 9a.

In terms of feel, I think the tune was more inspired by general "first level" music from all

sorts of games from across multiple platforms and genres than any specific piece. The active bass figure that begins at measure 17 was probably inspired by virt's "Blast Off" from the aforementioned FX 2.0 EP. The more subdued section that begins at measure 65 reminds me of

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Zelda, but again this wasn't an active decision so I can only assume some inspiration worked its way into the song though my subconscious. I've played enough video games that I don't ever have to seek out sources of inspiration -- if I see a screenshot or play a demo build of an environment in a game, I place it in context based on listening to a couple decades of video game music and try to evoke that sound world with the composition. In general I found that most of the comparisons that were drawn between my work and others' by reviewers or commenters didn't accurately pinpoint my influences. The NES Mega Man soundtracks were brought up often, but I didn't have the pleasure of playing the Mega Man series until the SNES incarnations and am unfamiliar with the series on NES. I think that "NES music" and "chiptunes" as a whole are very stylistically distinctive from other music and even other video game music, and some games, like Mega Man, embody that style particularly well. So I guess I'd say that this song and the rest of the soundtrack are emulating that genre, rather than any one individual piece or composer within that genre.

10.

What are some aspects of the track that you are particular proud of? You can discuss

specifics using measure numbers from the transcription or discuss points in general. Gammage: The first thing that comes to mind is the section beginning at measure 33. One of the things I'm sure you noticed in your transcription is the use of a sort of "fake reverb", where aspects of the melody are repeated at a lower volume to give the impression of a delay effect or echo chamber. Proper use of this technique is, to me, a hallmark of NES composition, but normally it's fairly subtle since all three melodic channels are usually active. The reprise of the

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song's primary melody at measure 33 is unique in this regard, because I dedicated an entire channel to the fake reverb effect, giving the section a much more open and vast feel than the rest of the track. I think it works well in the context of first-level music, because it gives the player a sense of adventure and grandeur that's difficult to obtain in the NES format. That moment also provides a welcome respite from the otherwise harmonically and rhythmically dense music. I think the section from measure 49-64 is interesting from a technique standpoint -allowing the triangle wave to take the melody is a fun way to mix up the lead timbre, and I was particularly proud of the way the triangle hands off the melody to pulse 1, which then executes a wacky divebomb that was part of my experimentation with what could constitute a "lead" in the context of an NES song. This was one of my earlier compositions for the project and I think I experimented with more success and finesse later on, but I do think this section provides a little bit of challenge to the listener and breaks genre conventions for traditional NES-style music. On the opposite end of the spectrum, measures 65 through 68 are the closest I came to achieving the "NES sound" in this piece in my opinion. Due to my somewhat limited familiarity with the NES oeuvre, my compositions tend to have a sonic texture atypical of the original era. Occasionally I stumbled into what I considered a proper NES sound, and I feel like this moment works nicely in that context.

11.

What are a few of your favorite chiptune pieces on the NES and/or Famicom?

Gammage: The first piece that comes to mind is the first stage of the original Castlevania: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYfgpodCVHE

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The music of Castlevania does an incredible job of evoking elements of the horror genre in which it resides while still remaining true to the propulsive and harmonically straightforward attributes common to video game music. I tried to achieve a similar balance with the Egyptian and Arabian influences on the music for world 3-2 in Mutant Mudds. While not actually an NES game, the music for Kirby's Dreamland probably had a huge influence on my limited-channel chiptune style, since the Gameboy suffered similar limitations to the NES and I spent far more time with the Gameboy than I did with the NES. Pokemon Blue was also a touchstone for me (many people correctly pointed out the similarity between the Pokemon theme and the Level Select music of Mutant Mudds). Obviously the works of Koji Kondo are incredibly influential for me, as I imagine they are with virtually any composer working in video games today. To me that's where video game music as art begins!

Interview #2A: E-Mail Exchange with Troupe Gammage from September 5, 2014

1.

How has your background prepared you for your role in the video game industry and

your current projects? Gammage: I grew up in a household with two musician parents, so I was always surrounded by music. I also grew up as an only child on the outskirts of town, so I occupied much of my free time with computers and videogames. Around age 10 my best friend Tristan and I discovered a game engine called VERGE (www.verge-rpg.com) which allowed us to create top-down, Final

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Fantasy-style RPG's using our own art, programming, and sound. Since Tristan was by far the better artist (and, as it turns out, the better programmer) I volunteered to create the music for our games, so I picked up a program called ModPlug (www.modplug.com) which was the standard composing tool for VERGE games. ModPlug allowed the user to create small, ostensibly simple tunes using bits of sound called "samples", but with proper technique the songs could actually rival many professional productions of the day. Over the next several years I honed my skills in ModPlug, focusing mostly on arrangement and melody since the technical aspects of the software were limited. Eventually members of the VERGE community started working on professional games (including Matthew Gambrell, who went on to become lead programmer on Mutant Mudds) and I started contributing music to their commercial projects. I believe my first professional gig was for the game Zeta's World, which I completed the music for in high school. Around the time I finished the Zeta's World soundtrack, I headed off to the University of Southern California to study Music Composition. I realized pretty quickly that my heart was in video game music and not film music, so I returned home to Austin after a little over a semester and got an internship with The Fat Man, whom I had met at various game-related functions around time. That was really my crash course on professional game audio, and I worked on scores for a huge variety of games during the couple years that I worked with Team Fat. In the past 5 or so years I've been mostly freelance, having branched out into voice acting, sound design, and pretty much anything having to do with audio and games. You can find some of the projects I've worked on at my website (http://troupegammage.com/music.php).

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As far as inspiration goes, I'd say I'm most influenced by Yasunori Mitsuda of any game composer. Usually I try to dig into whatever genre or mood I'm asked to provide, so direct inspirations vary from Ennio Morricone to Joe Hisaishi to a huge assortment of World Music.

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Interview #3: E-Mail Exchange with Brent Weinbach from August 26, 2013

1.

Who created the Legacy Music Hour?

2.

When and how did it come about?

3.

Roughly how many people listen to your podcast?

Weinbach: Well, back in the early 2000's, I used to do a radio show at a public station in the San Francisco Bay Area and on that show, I would dedicate about a half hour to playing 8-bit and 16bit era video game music. I stopped doing that show around 2003 and until 2010, I had always wanted to do a show like that again and expose more people to this music. And since podcasting had become more and more popular, I thought that that could be a way to do a video game music radio show. I was talking about this one night with Rob and he expressed interest in getting into podcasting, so he said that he'd do the podcast with me, because he also happened to be a big fan of video game music. He bought some equipment and came up with the name, and that's how it started.

4.

Have any game composers discovered you before you discovering their work? If so,

who? Weinbach: No. It seems as though composers discover our podcast because of us playing their music and listing them on our track listings. So we'll have already discovered them. However, once a composer contacts us, it does make me more interested in them and leads me to research

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more of their work. So, while I might have already been aware of a composer, if they discover the podcast, that might lead to me to discover more work of their that I wasn't already familiar with.

5.

What is the mission of the Legacy Music Hour?

Weinbach: One, to bring awareness to music that is super marginalized and underrated, and two, for us to share our personal favorites. So one of the missions is for the good of the music and to give recognition to these great composers, but the other is for a more self-indulgent reason, which is simply that I really love certain video game music tracks and I want to share them with people.

6.

How do you feel you are accomplishing that mission?

Weinbach: Fairly well for something so niche, especially the longer we do the podcast, the more obscure the tracks get. However, I do wish we had even more exposure, because I believe people need to know how amazing some of this music is and not just write it off as bloops and bleeps. I suppose the mission wouldn't be completely accomplished until video game music was firmly and widely regarded as a legitimate faction of music -like jazz, classical, or ethnic music. When we get to the point where 8/16 bit era video game music is studied in universities and played on the radio, then I feel we'll have truly accomplished the mission.

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7.

Why do you feel it is important to showcase chiptune music on your podcast?

Weinbach: It's not necessarily that the music is "chiptune". It's very much the approach to composition. That's what's important. The compositions of the 8/16 bit era are often times very particular to the time and place they were created. And that approach is for the most part quite different than the approach to VGM and chiptune music of today.

8.

Is there a place for chiptune-style music in today's culture? Discuss how it could fit in

games, television, internet, etc. Weinbach: There's a place for 8/16-bit era video game music in today's culture in the same way that jazz has a place in today's culture. Or how 80s music has a place in today's culture. Depending on the sort of mood one was going for, video game music would absolutely be appropriate for TV and film and so forth. If a film called for a classy atmosphere, the director might use jazz music to fit the scene. I recently made a short film about two buff guys who shake hands with each other very intensely and I felt that video game music fit perfectly for that. Or there might be an 80s night at a dance club. There could easily be a VGM night at a dance club.

9.

What are a few of your favorite chiptunes on the NES and/or Famicom?

Weinbach: Rather than list specific tracks, I'll just list games: Kid Icarus, Metroid, Blaster Master, Castlevania, LIfe Force, Konami Hyper Soccer, Racket and Rivals, Gimmick!, Mega Man III,

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Mega Man II, TMNT III: The Manhattan Project, GI Joe: The Atlantis Factor, Little Nemo: The Dream Master, Bionic Commando, Super Spike V'Ball, The Lone Ranger, Mouryou Senki Madara, Crisis Force, Faxanadu, Legendary Wings, Zelda II: The Adventures of Link, Rygar, DuckTales, Pictionary.

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Interview #4: E-Mail Exchange with Alberto José González from September 5, 2013

1.

What game of the 8-bit era do you feel best represents your musical abilities?

González: I couldn’t tell... there are many tunes I like from different games I've worked on. I'm pretty proud of both the Smurfs and Asterix, and not only musically since I also drew most of their sprites. Also I find my latest GB soundtracks to have a very tight and refined sound (Baby Felix Halloween, Turok Rage Wars, Looney Tunes Martian Alert...). Otto's Ottifanten – Baby Bruno's Alptraum is also one of my personal favourite soundtracks, but largely unknown.

2.

What do you feel distinguishes your music from other game music of this time?

González: Probably the use of drums, bass and arpeggios, often with catchy melodies. I tried hard to make the tunes sound full and technically good. I thought players would appreciate that and think “wow, I didn't know my console was capable of that sound!”. The trick was to compose the tunes in a way that it seemed that there were more instruments sounding at the same time than usual, filling every hole with different sounds or instruments. The music was composed with the final sound of the chip in mind, not from a musical perspective, most of the time. Also, I liked to experiment with different and unusual styles, just to learn something in the process.

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3.

How did you end up as a composer for an NES game?

González: My company at the time (Bit Managers) did a lot of 8 bit versions of games produced by the European publisher Infogrames. We worked closely with them since 1990. It was the natural choice for them to entrust their NES projects to us.

4.

Who decided on making a game for the NES and what was the reason?

González: I don't know who decided on making the NES version of Asterix, but it was a decision from someone at Infogrames.

5.

Was the rationale behind the decision economic, technological, or something else?

González: Once they acquired the license for Asterix, it's understandable that they tried to bring it to all the consoles they could.

6.

What are some aspects of the Game Over track from Asterix that you are particular proud

of? You can discuss specifics using measure numbers from the transcription or discuss points in general. González: Thanks for the transcription! I don't remember being particularly proud of that track, sincerely. I never thought about it as one of my best works. The fact that some people likes tunes

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I didn't consider specially good is fascinating to me! Then there are others which I'm very proud of and get totally unnoticed. What I remember is that I didn't think the Game Over theme from the Game Boy version would translate well to the NES, so I decided to compose a new one. The melody in the GB version was driven by what I felt like a sort of trumpet sound, which at some point played 2 octaves simultaneously. This couldn't be replicated in the NES, and also the drum sounds were much different. While the GB version had a kind of militaristic sound, the NES one had a somewhat sad and melancholic feel. I have often done that kind of sad Game Over themes, most notably in Bomb Jack for GB, where it's more than 4 minutes long.

7.

In what ways are the NES and Game Boy sound chips different to compose for?

González: They are enough different to me, to the point were I often composed different tunes in order to take advantage of each sound chip, while I had enough time available, just like the Game Over example of the previous question. At the risk of speaking too technically, these are the main differences I recall: a. The third sound channel on the NES has a sort of stepped triangle wave with fixed volume. I found it very useful for bass sounds, and also to synthesize drums along with the noise channel. The lack of volume control limited its use for other purposes, IMHO, but its characteristic sound and powerful bass made it very special and distinctive.

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b. The third sound channel on the Game Boy had a user definable waveform of 32 steps, but only 4 volume settings instead of the usual 15. This channel was great to create sound effects and some kinds of instruments, but even if you could program the same waveform, it lacked the powerful bass sound of the NES's triangle channel. Actually, the overall sound of the console was very weak in the low frequencies. c. Also, it was not possible to change the volume or the waveform of a channel without sending a restart command, which produced a disgusting noises because of resetting the waveform cycle. In the end modulating volume in real time was not often used, instead, limited hardware envelopes were preferred. The NES didn't had this problem and one could switch the waveform or the volume of the channels in real time without producing clicky sounds, which was very useful for certain effects.

8.

Did other musical styles or genres influence your composition?

González: Not that I can remember.

9.

Any music groups or artists from the 70s, 80s or 90s inspire or influence you?

González: When I started composing music for 8 bit computers I got a lot of inspiration from a Spanish group named “Azul y Negro”. Later I think Mike Oldfield was a great influence. Most of my game composing influences have came from other game composers, though.

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10.

What did you like to listen to outside of game music?

González: I used to listen to all kinds of music, but I specially liked instrumentals and electronic: Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk... also loved Queen, ABBA and ELO. Just to name a few.

11.

In what ways have you discovered and/or interacted with the communities that promote

and support chiptune music? González: Occasionally I've found forums where people talk about composing techniques and I have shared my own experience, but since I have long stopped making music I'm not very involved in the chiptune movement, at the moment.

Interview #4A: E-Mail Exchange with Alberto José González from August 28, 2014

1.

How has your background prepared you for your role in the video game industry and

your current projects? González: There's not much to say, really. I have no background musical studies. I started working in the video game industry in 1988 when I was 16 as a graphic designer, after showing to New Frontier some works I did at home with my ZX Spectrum 128 computer. It was not much later when I started using the computer to do some musical experiments, which

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led me to compose the music of our games and ultimately learn Z80 assembler. I'm an autodidact. My main musical influences at first where other 8 bit computer composers like Ben Daglish, Jonathan Dunn or David Whittaker, to name a few. Years later I also was influenced by the works for consoles of Nobuo Uematsu and Yuzo Koshiro, to name two of the most relevant to my work. Currently I still do a bit of everything, depending on the needs of my company, Abylight, which is the third I've worked on and the second I've founded. Among other things I usually do works of game producer, game programming, game design, sound design and occasionally music composition.

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Interview #5: E-Mail Exchange with Neil Baldwin from September 24 and October 11, 2013

1.

What game of the 8-bit era do you feel best represents your musical abilities?

Baldwin: I think I peaked with Erik The Viking, even though it was never released. I was extremely proud of the music that I created for that game. It has some great musical effects in it that I don't think anyone else was doing at that time, on the NES at least. A couple of the tunes had some actual serious arrangement going on too and I even strayed away from my normal arpeggio fest!

2.

What do you feel distinguishes your music from other game music of this time?

3.

How did you end up as a composer for an NES game?

Baldwin: Back when Eurocom Developments started I was employed as a programmer/sound designer as I'd done a bit of both before that on a few C64 titles.

4.

Who decided on making a game for the NES and what was the reason?

5.

Was the rationale behind the decision economic, technological, or something else?

Baldwin: It was the idea that not many other companies were doing it outside of Japan/America. In fact I think only Rare were the only other UK company making NES games at that time. An opportunity for a commercial venture was spotted and a small development company formed on the back of that idea. Then we went on to lose a lot of money! We were young and naive.

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6.

What are some aspects of Track 5 of Hero Quest that you are particular proud of? You

can discuss specifics using measure numbers from the transcription or discuss points in general. 7.

Did other musical styles or genres influence your composition?

8.

Any music groups or artists from the 70s, 80s or 90s inspire or influence you?

9.

What did you like to listen to outside of game music?

Baldwin: I didn't really tend to listen to much game music at the time, especially NES music. There weren't that many European composers working on the NES and apart from Mario and Mega Man, I was never really a fan of that Japanese style - for me the reliance on the rudimentary hardware effects (pitch sweep and simple amplitude envelope) took a lot of the dynamics away everything seemed to be at one volume and it was tiring to my ears. Don't get me wrong, the tunes and arrangements by some of the Japanese guys were incredible but they just never seemed to be rendered properly. Having said that, given all the tricks and bodges necessary to implement things like amplitude envelopes and vibrato on the NES, the Japanese guys were probably using the NES in the way it was designed to be used! I've had my style described as 'European' because of the judicious use of fast arpeggios to mimic chords. It did tend to be European guys that did that and I've read that Japanese people found the sound of those arpeggios a bit ugly. I'm a guitar player first and foremost so a lot of what I listened to would've been guitar based. I was really into Japan/David Sylvian and went through the whole grunge phase (Pearl Jam et al) and also some of the more progressive stuff (at the time) like Ozric Tentacles. I can't remember if I was still listening to the likes of Jarre then. I certainly did in my C64 days - who

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didn't!? Electronica wise it was people like Ian Boddy, Front 242, Kraftwerk, Yello and then more new age-y melodic artists like Suzanne Ciani.

10.

In what ways have you discovered and/or interacted with the communities that promote

and support chiptune music? Baldwin: I can't remember who it was now that mentioned to me in passing that my soundtrack to Hero Quest could be found on YouTube. I was amazed that anyone would bother but there it was! From there I discovered that there was a whole niche genre of musicians and music which we now know as 'chiptune' and from there, after a little more digging , I found people talking about me in online communities with an odd (to me) sense of reverence. I decided to introduce myself and get involved. Through websites such as The Shizz, True Chip Till Death (who's members honoured me with an award in 2011), 8bitpeople and 2A03.org I connected with fans and active chiptune musicians mainly to discuss how my old NES music was made and to fill in some blanks in my NES history. It was this that gave me the idea of creating the dutycyclegenerator.com website, initially just to document and discuss my old game music.

11.

Why is it important to you to make your chiptunes available on your website despite

many never being commercially released? Baldwin: In the first instance it was because there was (and still is) a lot of quite poor representations of my work, especially on YouTube (bad quality recordings etc.) so I wanted to

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create a place where my music could be heard in a way I was happy with. Early on I had the idea of building the site chronologically so that I could work my way to releasing the soundtrack to Erik The Viking for the first time in public. That project had been abandoned for many years and I always felt disappointed because I considered it the pinnacle of my NES soundtracks. I just felt that I'd made a great leap forward with that project and it that releasing it would properly complete the trajectory of my NES career.

12.

What projects have you or are you working on to further the evolution of chiptune

composition? Baldwin: Since creating the dutycyclegenerator.com website I was inspired to re-engineer the original music drivers that I used in NES games to try get it in a form other people could use for themselves. Mainly because at the time there didn't seem to be any interesting tools (to me) for creating NES music. That quest turned into a release on the website, "Nijuu" but it was only after releasing it that I realised that people found that way of working just too abstract and complicated (essentially Nijuu is a pseudo programming language, similar to MML but more complex). This got me thinking about whether it would be possible to create a music "tracker" that could run on a NES just utilising the NES control pad to input and edit music. After all, the Gameboy had LSDJ but the NES seemed a little under-represented! That crazy idea gave birth to NTRQ: the world's first native NES music tracker. I'm very proud of the fact that as well as being a great music making tool, NTRQ also included my "Auto Single-Voice Echo" technique which

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nobody else had ever done. Sure, there were plenty of way to manually simulate echo effects (by inserting lower volume notes in gaps in the melody, a common technique used by many people) but nobody had actually designed it as a parameterised and 'automatic' effect before. I'm still very proud of that technique and the algorithm used to produce it. It's now been taken up by other trackers such as Famitracker. I then went on to create several other tools for NES music creation: "Pulsar" which gave users an LSDJ-style tracker for the NES, "PR8" which abandons the typical one-track-per-voice architecture in favour of 6 "virtual" tracks to create a drum/synth engine that was very unique. I still tinker with the NES every now and then: "Super Magic Music Maker" was the result of me experimenting with pattern-based generative music. As a development from that I created "cajoNES" (which, by the way, is a box-shaped percussive instrument from Peru, despite people thinking the name was more salacious!) that gave the user powerful randomisation of synthesis parameters to create serendipitous percussion sounds and very much aimed at live performance. My latest release, "droNES" (yes, sorry, another NES pun!) took a completely different approach on two fronts. First, for the fact that it eschews "traditional" chip music for a sound engine and interface that lends itself more to noise/drone in a live performance. Second, it was my first NES-based project that I decided to charge money for. This was mainly because the free time I had to spend on that stuff was dwindling and because I do put an enormous amount of time and effort into the tools I release.

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One of the latest developments is the ability to synchronise some of my software with MIDI (PR8 and cajoNES so far have it). I'd like to spend more time implementing it properly but alas I have very little time spare. I don't know if you'd describe any of my latest output as "furthering the evolution" per se but I kind of got a bit tired of the same stuff (musically) coming from the scene as a whole that I was determined to try to encourage something different. I don't know if I've been successful though!

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Interview #6: E-Mail Exchange with Masashi Kageyama from February 3, 2014 Translation Prepared by Aria Tanner

English Translation: 1. How was the unused track “Strange Memories of Death” going to be used? For example, was it a boss theme? An ending theme? Something else? Kageyama: I believe this track was going to be used as a boss theme. However, it wasn’t cut and then substituted for another piece, rather, the stage in which it was going to be used may have disappeared. I don’t have any memory of writing another song to replace it.

2. How did you realize your musical ideas on the NES and Sunsoft sound chips? Kageyama: Back in those days, I worked with a variety of game systems. Naturally, when it came to timbres, each system had its strong points and its weak points, and each differed in how many sounds could be produced. However, I believed that the quality of music mustn’t be dependent on machine specifications. For not only the Famicom, but each system I worked with, the only thing on my mind was how I could draw out the greatest performance possible. I put my heart into my work in a bid to provide music that was pleasing to the ear, music that players could enjoy and wouldn’t grow tired of. Naturally, this meant composing music that could be enjoyed while playing the game, but I also wanted to create tunes that would be enjoyable to listen to on their own.

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Thanks to Gimmick’s expanded sound channels, I didn’t have to worry about the sound effect track in the 5th channel, and I was able to concentrate on composing.

3. Did Sunsoft provide you with computer software to facilitate composing with the sound chips? Kageyama: For the first titles I worked on (several PCE games and Gimmick on the Famicom), there were no tools for converting pre-made compositional data (MIDIs). Consequently, I prepared sample demos and sheet music that would allow the sound programmers to hammer a song into reality. In the following years, Sunsoft’s programmers were kind enough to create MIDI conversion tools. Through these programs, I was able to reproduce music that contained more richly expressive articulation on game consoles.

4. What musical influences affected the style of the music in Gimmick? Kageyama: There wasn’t any specific music that directly influenced the songs in Gimmick, or from which I took inspiration. Back in those days, however, I listened to and enjoyed jazz, classical, ethnic, and modern music. I was also a saxophonist, so I believe that I was able to create relatively singable, melodious songs. The musicians that influenced me back in the day were Keith Jarrett, Philippe Saisse, Mark Egan, The System, Debussy, Yasuaki Shimizu, Art Pepper, Jan Garbarek, Charles Lloyd, and David Sanborn.

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5. How did you create the sound samples for Gimmick, including bass and percussion? Kageyama: In those days, I composed using Macintosh Iicx and Cubase 1.7 sequencers, synthesizers such as Roland and Yamaha, and samplers. You can listen to 4 tracks from Gimmick at the link below. Please feel free to use them as references. https://soundcloud.com/kagegon-1

6. What considerations did you have to keep in mind when composing with these samples? Kageyama: Game music is background music that plays continuously as people go through a game. Sometimes, people will play the same stage multiple times. I thought I’d try making high-quality music that hadn’t been heard anywhere else, so that players would get good vibes and find the game enjoyable. I considered such points as the sense of rhythm and the uplifting feeling people would get while playing. I also put in ad-libbed sections now and again, so players wouldn’t get bored. In addition, when it comes to writing game music or something that goes along with a scene (like movie music), I feel that there are unique ways to express the emotion in question. For example, if I have to compose music for a sad scene, I ask myself whether I can’t express sadness in a different way than the tried and true method of writing it in a minor key. I think I was able to do that a little with Gimmick.

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7. There are also versions of Gimmick which don’t have a Sunsoft 5B sound expansion chip. The Sunsoft 5B increases the number of sound channels by 3. The music in the versions of Gimmick without the Sunsoft 5B is modified so the melody and harmony are played only by the NES and Famicom sound chips. Did you also work on the versions of Gimmick without the Sunsoft 5B? Kageyama: Gimmick’s background music is configured for 5 sound channels playing simultaneously. Sound effects play at various places during the game, which means that sometimes parts of the music aren’t heard. However, the depth of the music only differs a little bit, so I don’t think it has a dramatic effect on the soundtrack overall. The other games use the same arrangements.

8. If you have any additional experiences composing music on the Famicom that you haven’t explained above, would you be kind enough to expand on them? Kageyama: I did several titles for the Super Famicom, PC Engine, Playstation 1, and X6800, but the only Famicom game I worked on was Gimmick. P.S. Sakai directed and programmed Gimmick, Kagoya did the graphics, and Morota was the sound programmer. As far as the music goes, Morota’s sound programming was amazing.

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Original Interview Transcript in Japanese: 1.「Strange Memories of Death」(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knik6QqDJJ0)という未使用トラックをどうやって使われるはずでしたか。例えば、ボスの音楽やエンディングのテーマなど。この曲はボスのための曲だったと思いますが、没になって他の曲に替わったのではなく、使用する場面が無くなったのかもしれません。私はこの曲の代わりに何か他の曲を書いた記憶がありません。

2. ファミコンとサンソフトの音源チップで作曲のアイデアをどうやって実現しましたか。私は当時、様々なゲーム機で仕事しました。当然、ゲーム機によって得意不得意な音色があり、発音数も異なります。しかし、マシンのスペックによって音楽の質が左右されてはいけないと考えていました。私はファミコンに限らず、私が携わった全てのゲーム機において、最高のパフォーマンスを引き出すことだけを考えていました。そして、プレイしているユーザーが飽きること無く楽しめる耳障りのいい音楽を提供出来るように心掛けました。プレイ画面と一体となって楽しめるのはもちろんですが、単独で音楽だけ聴いていても楽しめるように。

拡張音源のお陰で同時発音数 5 音位で効果音のトラックを気にせず、作曲に集中出来たと思います。 742

3. サンソフトは音源チップで作曲する事を容易にするコンピューターソフトを提供しましたか。私が携わった初期の作品（PCE の幾つかの作品と FC のギミック）には、作成した楽曲（midi）データをコンバートするようなツールはありませんでした。したがって、曲のサンプルデモとサウンドプログラマ（マニュピレータ）が実際に打ち込むためのスコア（楽譜）を用意しました。

その翌年、midi をコンバートするツールをサン電子のプログラマが創ってくれました。このプログラムにより、より表現力豊かなアーティキュレーションを含む楽曲をゲーム機で再現できるようになりました。

4. 『ギミック!』の音楽のスタイルに影響を与えた音楽は何でしたか。ギミックに直接影響を与えた、またはインスピレーションを得た特定の音楽はありません。しかし、私は当時、Jazz、クラシック、民族音楽、現代音楽を好んで聴いていました。私はサックス奏者だったので、比較的歌いやすいメロディアスな曲を生み出せたと思います。

また、私に影響を与えた当時の音楽家は

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Keith Jarrett、Philippe Saisse、Mark Egan、The System、Debussy、清水靖晃（しみず　やすあき）、Art Pepper、Jan Garbarek、Charles Lloyd、David Sanborn

5. ベースやパーカッションを含め、『ギミック!』のサウンドサンプルをどうやって作りましたか。当時の私の楽曲作成は Macintosh IIcx と Cubase 1.7（シーケンサー）ローランド、ヤマハ等のシンセサイザー、サンプラーで作成しました。ギミックで使用した楽曲から 4 曲だけ下記の URL で試聴できます。参考にして下さい。

https://soundcloud.com/kagegon-1

6. このサンプルを使って作曲していた時、何をを考慮に入れましたか。ゲーム音楽というのはプレイしている間はずっと BGM が流れるわけです。同じステージを何度もプレイすることもあります。ユーザーが気持ちよくゲームを楽しめるように、プレイするリズム感や浮遊感等を考慮して、飽きないように、時にはアドリブパートも入れて、他では聴いたことのない良質な音楽を作ろうと思っていました。

また、私はゲーム音楽や何かの場面に沿った音楽（映画音楽のようなもの）を書く場合、その場面に合った音楽、例えば、悲しい場面でマイナーなイメージの音楽を作るのでは

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なく、もっと違う意味で悲しさを表現出来ないか、他に新しい表現方法があるかも知れないと考えています。ギミックではそれが少しだけ表現出来たかもしれません。

7. 「Sunsoft 5B」という拡張音源チップが搭載されなかった『ギミック!』のバージョンもあります。「Sunsoft 5B」は音源の数を 3 つに増加しました。「Sunsoft 5B」が搭載されなかった『ギミック!』のバージョンの音楽はファミコンか NES の音源チップだけにメロディーとハーモニーを鳴らされるように改造されました。「Sunsoft 5B」が搭載されなかった『ギミック!』のバージョンにも手がけましたか。ギミックのステージ上の音楽は同時発音数 5 音で構成されています。プレイ中は効果音も所々で鳴っているので、発音しないパートもありますが、音の厚みが若干異なるのみで、音楽的に大きな変化はないと思います。同じアレンジを使用しています。

8. 上に説明した以外で、ファミコンで作曲した経験があれば教えて下さい。 SFC、PCE、PS1、X6800、のゲームは数本やりましたが、私が手掛けたファミコンはギミックだけです。

p.s. ギミックをデレクションしてプログラムしたのは酒井氏、グラフィックは駕屋氏、サウンドプログラムは諸田氏。音楽に限っていえば、諸田氏のサウンドプログラムは偉大である。 745

Appendix F: Japanese to English Translations by Aria Tanner

The following is an English translation of the web page "Naoki Kotaka - Research Lab," located at the URL http://www.daido-it.ac.jp/hito/media/professor/index.html#02

Naoki Kotaka - Research Lab Studying computer music in a technical college environment, Kotaka, an active musician, has placed his hopes in a brand new approach to music. Professor Kotaka is an active musician, involved in a wide range of roles as a composer and an arranger. He among the first to introduce the use of computers as a method of composition, and has produced hits in the realm of video game music. The exceptionally longselling Shanghai is just one of these. This is the Professor Kotaka who braved the technical college environment, choosing it as his place of instruction. “I study music alongside images, design, and computer skills. I have great hopes for a never-before-seen approach to making music. I believe that we’re raising a new breed of creators. Through the implementation of computers, we can dissolve the handicaps of instruments. I feel that a new potential for computer music is unfolding, different from the type of music studied at music colleges.”

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The following is an English translation of the web page "Naoki Kotaka," located at the URL http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/小高直樹

Naoki Kotaka is a Japanese composer and arranger. He is a professor of information design at Daido University’s Faculty of Informatics. He is also a lecturer on computer music at Nagoya College of Music’s faculty of music. He is a member of the Japan Composers & Arrangers Association. Kotaka graduated from the faculty of music at the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music, majoring in composition. From the 1980s to the 1990s, he worked on the music for game titles released by Sunsoft. He is credited in the staff rolls for these games under such names as “N. Kodaka” and “Kodaka-san”. In recent years, he has mentored the next generation at institutions such as Daido University. [The Wikipedia article offers two pronunciations for the kanji of his name: Kotaka and Kodaka. It's interesting that his aliases seem to use Kodaka. I wonder if that's a way to disguise himself or be silly (like Miyamoto being credited under "Miyahon", an alternate pronunciation of his name's second kanji, in The Legend of Zelda - Hyrule Fantasy), or if that's how he pronounces his name.]

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The following is an English translation of the web page "Naoki Kotaka," located at the URL http://www.jcaa1970.com/arrangers/konsakka24.htm

Hello there! Nice to meet you! My name is Naoki Kotaka. I’m a rarity among JCAA members in that I live and work in Nagoya. I’d like to talk to you briefly about my history in music. I’m sure you hear this all the time, but my parents made me study piano at an early age. No, I should say that they were kind enough to put me in piano. I think I took lessons from ages 3 to 7, but I ended up quitting. For a guy like me, who’d always enjoyed doing my own thing and picking out songs from television by ear more than loyally following along with the etudes that were given to me, forging a connection with music only become more and more fun from that point onward. Despite this, in my third year of high school, I once again began to study music seriously. (Not only piano this time, but composition as well.) I went on to major in music composition at the Aichi University of the Arts. Of course, this was academic music, so, like others, I found myself turning towards modern music. Piano music, string quartet, vocal pieces, chamber music, orchestra… the list goes on. I focused on modern music following graduation, but, in those days, I found myself filled with doubt, fearing that I wasn’t succeeding in expressing myself to my audience. It was around that time that I began to do a lot of work with computers, and composing popular music. Commercial music, movie music, game music, event music… From rock, to enka, to ethnic music, I truly tried my hand at everything. In particular, I think I composed music for close to 40 game titles released in Japan and overseas. Fortunately for me, I was interested in all genres of music, and felt professional respect for people in every line of work. Recently, I’ve

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done a lot of work with choirs, both nationally and internationally, and I did a concert in Italy at the end of last year. In addition, I just finished with the first performance of a series of pieces comprised of Japanese folk music and children’s songs in May of this year. There was also a choral performance planned in Taiwan for September, but, as is the case with these things, it was postponed till next year due to SARS. Come to think of it, I also had an orchestral concert that was cancelled in America around the time when 9/11 occurred. These days, I offer guidance to youth in pursuits such as computer music, arrangement, and composition at the music composition department of the Nagoya College of Music. Come to think of it, it’s been almost 10 years. It may be a product of the times that someone like me who has experience in a variety of fields has become necessary at a music college. I only go in 2 days a week, but my own music has been motivated by connecting with the sensitivities and ideas of the young. As I’m always telling my students, “I like music that you can feel in your soul, that you strive towards with every fibre of your being. But, let’s be sure to learn about theory as well.” All my students work hard for me. In addition, it’s not all that great to limit yourself to studying only the type of music you hope to compose. I believe that it’s only when you have an interest in the music composed by others, and the ability to appreciate it, that you can compose great music. I, personally, am greatly moved by the compositional works of others.

~Masterpieces~ (Game Music) Shanghai, Gremlins 2, Batman, Albert Odyssey Series, Hebereke Series, Etc. (DVDs)

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Mushimushi no Shi [Amazon Description: An edutainment DVD that depicts the wonders of Earth, as well as the problems faced by our planet today, by examining a tropical rainforest through a bug’s eyes.] (Books) Digital Sound Beginner [A textbook co-authored by Kotaka, listed on the syllabus for a class called “Computer Sound 1” at Daido University.] (CDs) Game Music for Orchestra 2.3 (Costars many influential JCAA figures.) [No further information found.]

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The following is an English translation of the article “The Famicom’s Sound, Whose Limits Were Deeply Probed by the Composers & Sound Programmers,” located in the booklet from the CD: Rom Cassette Disc in SUNSOFT

“The Famicom’s Sound, Whose Limits Were Deeply Probed by the Composers & Sound Programmers” Coverage & Editing by Iona Kazeno

Sunsoft’s Famicom titles are known, in particular, for the high quality of their music. The reason behind this may be nothing other than the enormous achievements of a composer known as Naoki Kotaka, who composed for Sunsoft since its early days. Kotaka has rarely appeared in the media since, but I took the opportunity presented by Rom Cassette Disc in SUNSOFT’s release and successfully interviewed him.

Kotaka: After majoring in subjects such as modern and classical music at university, I worked on TV and radio commercials. It was around that time that a senior classmate at my university introduced me to Sunsoft as “a young composer who spends all his time at the arcade.” That was the impetus that lead me to start working on Famicom music. That’s a surprising start. It seems so obvious, looking back, that games would be behind your encounter with Sunsoft. How was your relationship with the company? I’m sure the people there felt a sense of relief, knowing that they were leaving the music for their titles in the hands of someone who was knowledgeable about video games.

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Kotaka: I participated in the team as a composer. I’d do musical notation on sheet music at home, then turn my work over to the sound team. Sometimes, I’d attach a demo tape, depending on the situation. Once the sound was mostly done, I’d check over the way it sounded on the development console. Then, I’d make suggestions like “This part should be calmer,” or “This part should ring out more,” to increase the quality of the finished piece. If I were to illustrate, I’d say that my exchanges with the sound programmers were akin to music lessons. Because of this, I treated the sound programmers not as engineers, but as performance musicians who used computers to express their music. I can’t help but imagine a classical music concert. When I listen to pieces like the opening music from The Wing of Madoola or Ripple Island’s ending theme with my eyes closed, visions of Kotaka conducting the sound programmers’ performance dance in my head. Next, I tried asking Kotaka about his back-and-forth with the sound programmers. Kotaka: At the time, Sunsoft’s sound team was literally the strongest of the staff. They were a group of professionals that didn’t collude with one another, but rather motivated each other. Expressiveness, persistence, theory, flexibility… they had it all. By some miracle, Sunsoft had several excellent sound programmers in those days. These programmers liked music, had musical sense, and were knowledgeable about the hardware. They were kind enough to have confidence in my abilities as a composer, and I trusted them in turn. The Sunsoft sound team had many skills, including techniques they used to make the music sound better than the hardware specs would normally allow. I tried to express my music the way I wanted using the ideas I’d honed as a musician. In order to surmount these challenges, the sound programmers solved the

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puzzles they were faced with using a variety of tricks. This cycle was indispensable to me during my time as a creator. Just as Kotaka says, the games of Sunsoft’s latter era, such as Batman, Journey to Silius (Raf World), Super Spy Hunter (Battle Formula), and Gremlins 2, reproduce a dynamic sound so dumbfounding, it’s hard to believe you’re listening to a Famicom. Not only that, but hearing about the sound programmers’ shocking work habits were enough to send a chill down my spine. Kotaka: I always had this desire to produce the sort of sound that had never before been produced by other companies. So, in order to make the Famicom sing, there were a lot of things I tried out for the first time. Examples include a drum that combined the C channel (triangle waves) and D channel (noise), a base that used delta waves (sampling), and a mock reverb that used the software envelope. Unlike MIDI tools, the Famicom channels weren’t a substitute that anyone could use with ease. Rather, it was easy to use them to produce good or bad variations. So, from from the point of view of a composer like me, the sound programmers at the time were experts with the temperament of seasoned artisans, and boasted a unique excellence.

Kotaka described to me the amazing technological power of Sunsoft’s sound team. The conversation then turned to the topic of one sound programmer in particular. Kotaka: There was an excellent sound programmer by the name of Nobuyuki Hara, who was one of the main sound production staff on games such as Batman and Super Spy Hunter, though he later left Sunsoft. He fell ill in his mid 20s, and his sudden death was a terrible tragedy. He used to say “Kotaka, I want you to write me some good music, because I’m gonna show you how great I can make it sound!” Then he’d wait around at my work station till I finally

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finished at the crack of dawn, and head back to the company, saying “Now, leave it to me!” When I’d give his work the OK, a huge grin would appear on his face. Naohisa Morota, Shinichi Seya, and Nobuyuki Hara. The legend of how these three revolutionized the channels of the Famicom is a hot topic amongst Sunsoft freaks even today. You could say that this episode is more than enough proof of that. These days, Kotaka is far removed from game music composition. I attempted to get to the heart of the matter by asking a question I’d always wanted to know the answer to: whether Kotaka would ever make game music again. Kotaka: Currently, I have the good experience that came of composing songs in all genres during my game music days, as well as the many opportunities where I’ve been able to work with orchestras and musicians from all over the world. Though I’ve long been separated from the work of composing game music, if I met another group of people as passionate as the staff I worked with back in those days, I think I’d like to try my hand at writing game music again. I’m sure there are a ton of game fans who would love to hear Kotaka’s game music once again. They won’t stop begging until Kotaka’s desire to once again work on game music is realized. Lastly, Kotaka spoke on the release of Rom Cassette Disc In SUNSOFT, which contains many of the tracks that he himself composed. Kotaka: Video game sound channels have greatly advanced along with computers. The technology has evolved, but, because video games are entertainment, sometimes I can’t help but wonder if some important, integral aspect hasn’t been lost. The planning for this project brought a variety of thoughts like that to mind. Game music is music born of the unique type of media that is video games. I believe that within the Famicom’s sound channels is contained the true

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essence of the game music we know and love, something that’s missing from today’s games. I’d like people to open their ears to the sound that pours forth from the Famicom, and try to listen for the souls of the many sound programmers that are embedded in its music. As Kotaka says, Rom Cassette Disc In SUNSOFT contains many tracks into which the sound programmers and composers put their all. It is my desire that people turn their ears towards the music that flows forth, and attempt to grasp the music that endeavored to surpass the limits of the Famicom. As the hardware has evolved, the passion of the sound programmers and composers who were spurred by the very limitations of their medium has been forgotten. Their enthusiasm lives on in spirit, conveyed to the listeners through their work.

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Appendix G: 7-Bit PCM Analysis by John Nilsen

The video is question is a little dodgy, if not outright wrong. I claim it's running with a 16 kHz sample rate, but this cannot be true, as the audio data fills ~4 MiB, but the running time of the video is only 1:38 minutes. It should be 4:20 @ 16kHz.

Anyhow, I've written a new demo ROM now that correctly has a 16kHz rate. You can refer to this in your dissertation with source code if you wish.

The new ROM has the following properties:

Audio length: 4 minutes, 20 seconds. Sampling rate: 16 kHz Sample size: 7 bits + 1 bit padding = 1 byte (for performance reasons) Memory needed per second: Sample rate * Sample size = 16000 bytes (15.625 KiB) Memory per minute: 15.625 * 60 = 937.5 KiB

Some other interesting numbers regarding performance:

Machine cycles between samples: 111.8 cycles on NTSC Cycles needed per cycle: 52 cycles for every 16384th sample (needed for bank-switching), otherwise 35 cycles.

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Basically, by the time you've fetched one sample and sent it to the Audio Processing Unit, it's almost already time to fetch a new one. There's not enough time to do anything useful before a new sample has to be fetched. This is the reason why all samples are stored with a 1 bit padding. It saves me a lot of precious processing time at the expense of memory. If I didn't pad, I'd have to make a much more complex fetching routine to correctly stitch the samples together.

This is also why ANY from of compression is out of the question.

Of course, the Famicom doesn't really have any of these problems, as the cartridge itself can output audio directly to the Famicom sound mixer.

- John "Wkter" Nilsen

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Appendix H: Sunsoft NES Audio Engines Analysis by Inge Gjostol

*** Sunsoft NES games audio engines comparison notes ***

by Matrixz (Inge Gjostol - [email protected]) Sep 2013

corrections: Gimmick also has two levels of loops for each channel, not just one. Removed notes about break commands, it seems I was wrong and I can't find evidence that they are used. Changed FME-07 to Sunsoft 5B when referring to the catridge mapper that produces extra sound on Gimmick, since that is the correct name for that particular version of the mapper. (http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Sunsoft_5B_audio)

General/Common Notes ====================

General, ostensible relation between games' sound engines, ordered chronologically: 1988 - Blaster Master 1989 - Fester's Quest - similar to Blaster Master, some changes in RAM locations, possibly they improved the engine for utilizing DPCM.

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1990 - Batman - Similar to Fester's Quest. - Batman (Prototype) - Identical to Batman.

1990 - Journey to Silius - This is either an engine written mostly from scratch, or one based on an earlier game, with many changes. Since I haven't looked into details (such as BGM data or programming), I can't be sure. From analyzing the layout of RAM between the games, there are similarities. All of these games' engines are similar to Journey to Silius: V 1990 - Gremlins 2: the New Batch 1991 - Batman: Return of the Joker (minor difference: utilizes bank-swapping) 1991 - Ufouria: the Saga / Hebereke 1991 - Super Spy Hunter / Battle Formula ^

1992 - Gimmick! - This is clearly based on the "Journey to Silius" engine (or one of the games that used it), but with added support for Sunsoft 5B chip sound channels in the driver, and other enhancements. It uses bank-swapping for BGM data, and bank-swapping for DPCM samples as well. 1993 - Mr. Gimmick - There are small changes like initialization data for Sunsoft 5B channels

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being stripped from the BGM data headers, and change in RAM locations.

BGM data storage: It appears that all engines used in these games have a loop system for BGM, that allows sections of BGM data (one or more notes and/or commands) to be repeated any number of times. (256 max) Each individual channel has its own set of loop counters. (Including the DPCM channel.)

It seems all games allows two layers/levels of loops for all channels. (so you can have a "loop inside a loop").

At least for Journey to Silius and later, those games have a subroutine/macro system, in addition to loops. The BGM data can call an address from the main data, and the BGM data at that address will be played or handled as a subroutine. (The data there can contain notes to be played back and/or commands.) For Journey to Silius and later: The engines are limited so that this can only be done at one level (you can't call a subroutine inside a subroutine.)

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It looks like the games earlier than Silius, uses a subroutine system as well, which is actually more flexible and uses more memory, but I haven't confirmed it for sure. Batman and Fester's Quest use $6C0-$6FF, and Blaster Master uses memory at $180-$1BF for what looks like a stack for storing the return address for BGM data subroutines/macros, where each channel can grow the stack up to 3 levels deep. (3 bytes used for each level).

Common ways that main RAM is organized: In some of the games (earlier than Journey to Silius), memory in $6C0-$6FF is used certain times, possibly being a subroutine stack for all channels. In Blaster Master, this data starts from $180 instead.

This is only for Journey to Silius and later: If the engine uses bankswapping for BGMs, the current bank is stored in the very first byte. Next, there are unknown general-purpose datas, in varying size (1 to 4? bytes), which is usually $00.

Next, the RAM for the main 4 NES channels (All except DPCM) is placed, consisting of both RAM for BGM and sound effects.

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This is typically a big chunk of bytes, size somewhere between 64 and 256 bytes. For each type of byte data: One byte for each BGM channel (4), then one byte for each SFX channel. The number of channel slots available for sound effects varies. (Blaster Master has 5, Gimmick has 2, Journey to Silius has 4, etc.)

When BGMs are played in a NSF file, in a RAM viewer it's easy to distinct between what RAM is used for BGM and what is SFX, the RAM for BGM will have values higher than $00 and the chunks of RAM in-between that stays $00, is SFX memory in most cases.

For Gimmick! only: The channel state memory for the Sunsoft 5B channels are next. The system is the same as with the 4 NES (2A03) channels above, the ordering of types of data as they appear seems to be the same order also. For each type of byte data: One byte for each BGM channel (3), then one byte for each SFX channel (3),

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6 altogether.

In Mr. Gimmick (Europe), all of this RAM stays $00.

Next, is the state memory for the DPCM channel. It seems to follow the same order for different types of data, as with the 4 main channels, but only some types of datas are stored (the DPCM channel doesn't need to store RAM for things like envelopes, volume, etc. that the other channels do.) So, the RAM usage for this channel is significantly smaller. In some of the games, there is spacing for two DPCM channels, so there is a $00 between each DPCM byte used for the BGM. The purpose is unknown, perhaps it's meant for DPCM sound effects.

Blaster Master (1988): ======================

Engine is loaded at $8000-$BFFF. RAM usage: Main: Uses memory in the $700-$7FF range, and RAM at $180 and on. Zero Page: $E0-$EF range.

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Bank system: Single $4000 byte bank loaded at $8000-$BFFF, no bankswap. DPCM samples: None used. Code address: Init: $8013 Play: $8077 RAM details: $736-$739 : Level 1 Loop Counters $73F-$742 : Level 2 Loop Counters

Batman (1989): ==============

General: Engine seems similar to Blaster Master, but this game makes use of the DPCM channel, so a difference could be that they added code for playback with that channel. Uses Memory $6C0-$7FF, Zero Page Memory $41-$4F. Engine is loaded at $8000-$BFFF. Init Routine: $8027 Play Routine: $8828 Bank system: Single $4000 byte bank loaded at $8000-$BFFF, no bankswap. DPCM samples: There are 5 presets, including one Kick, one Snare and Toms at three different frequencies.

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DPCM sample locations (Memory address): $F000-$F0FF: Kick $F100-$F2FF: Snare $F300-$F4FF: Tom (played back at 3 different frequencies.) Note: In my NSF rip, the samples are moved to $C000-$C4FF. RAM details: $72A-$72D: Main 4 BGM channels - Level 1 Loop Counters $731-$734: Main 4 BGM channels - Level 2 Loop Counters $7F3: DPCM channel loop counter

Batman (Prototype) (1989): --------------------------

There seems to be no difference to the regular game.

In the Batman .NSF (at least the one I have), a range of bytes at Memory Address $89E9 is different, which is data in the DPCM table. But this data is identical between the Batman NES ROM and the prototype ROM. It is because the NSF ripper changed those values, so that the DPCM samples are played from a different address in the NSF rip than in the original NES ROM.

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Fester's Quest (1989): ======================

Misc.: Engine appears similar to "Batman", going from the RAM layout. But, the programming is not completely the same, it doesn't have a series of JMP instructions at the start of the bank. Init Routine: $803B Play Routine: $8000 Data address: The address table at $BDAB seems to be (looks suspiciously like) the address table for each Sound Id. RAM info: Uses RAM $700-$7FF, and in some cases $6C0-$6FF. Uses Zero Page RAM $80-$93. RAM details: $7F0-$7F1: Pointer to current byte in DPCM channel data. $7F2: DPCM counter down to next DPCM byte. DPCM playback: DPCM playback routine: $8891 DPCM data address table: $BE3D Presets: $00-$23 : Slap Bass Melodic DPCM, from low to high frequency. (except $1F)

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$1F: Just a very short pop sound.. $24-$34: Melodic DPCM - Orchestra Hit (sounds like a O-Hit sample I've heard in Konami SNES and Arcade games. It's heard in NSF track #2, which I assume is the Title screen song.)

Journey to Silius (1990): =========================

General: This engine seems to be a revision from earlier games (Batman or Fester's Quest), and maybe the first game having this revision. I don't know if the BGM data formats, or things like envelopes/instruments works the same way as earlier games, but the ways that RAM is structured have similarities. Code address: Play: $816D Init: $80A5 Reset all: $8009 Bank system: Single $4000 byte bank loaded at $8000-$BFFF that includes the engine code, BGM and SFX data. No bankswapping. RAM layout:

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Main: $700-$7FF range. RAM details: $732-$735: Main 4 BGM channels - Subroutine/Macro return Address - Low $73A-$73D: Main 4 BGM channels - Subroutine/Macro return Address - High $7DC: DPCM channel data Low $7DE: DPCM channel data High

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990): =================================

General: Engine seems very similar to Journey to Silius, except that the main RAM is in the $600-$6FF region. Code addresses is also a bit different (the Play routine is $8176 here but $816D in Silius.) Code address: Play: $8176 Init: $80A5 Reset all: $8009 Data address: $8925-> : Sound Id Address Table RAM layout: Zero Page: Around $80-$90. Main: $600-$6FF region

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Bank system: Single $4000 byte bank loaded into $8000-$BFFF, no bankswap. RAM details: $632-$635: Main 4 BGM channels - Subroutine/Macro Return Address - Low $63A-$63D: Main 4 BGM channels - Subroutine/Macro Return Address - High $6DC: DPCM channel data Low $6DE: DPCM channel data High

Batman - Return of The Joker (1991): ====================================

General: Engine seems similar to Gremlins 2, the RAM layout is similar but the engine code is a bit different (routine addresses is at different locations from Gremlins 2, also there is an alternate Reset routine.) Code address: Reset all: $800C (JMP at $8000) Alternate reset: $8020 (JMP at $8003) Init: $80B2 (JMP at $8006) Play: $8217 (JMP at $8009) RAM layout: Main: $600-$6FF region. RAM details: $600: ROM bank for the current BGM.

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$605->: Start of main channel RAM. $6E7: DPCM channel data Low $6E9: DPCM channel data High

Hebereke / Uforia: The Saga (1991): ===================================

General: The engine seems to be exactly or almost the same as Gremlins 2, only that the main RAM is $100 bytes higher ($700-> instead of $600->). The Init and Play addresses are identical. Bank system: Single $4000 bank loaded at $8000-$BFFF. No bankswap. DPCM samples are at $C000, where the Hard-wired bank is loaded. RAM layout: Main: $700-$7FF region. RAM details: $742-$745: Level 1 loop counters $74A-$74D: Level 2 loop counters Code address: Play: $8176 Init: $80A5 Reset all: $8009 Data address:

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$895C-> : Sound Id Address Table

Battle Formula (Super Spy Hunter) (1991): =========================================

General: Engine seems similar to "Batman - Return of The Joker", except the main RAM is in the $700-$7FF range here. RAM details: $705 stores the current BGM Id for NSF tracks 1, 4 and 7. Maybe something to do with how those are the main musics for the first 3 stages.. $706-$709: Channel Enable/other. (Write 00 to these to easily disable one or more of the channels.) $736-$739: Main 4 BGM channels - Subroutine/Macro return address - Low $73E-$741: Main 4 BGM channels - Subroutine/Macro return address - High $746-$749: Main 4 BGM channels - Level 1 loop counters $7EC: DPCM channel loop counter.

Gimmick! (Famicom/Japanese,1992): =================================

Engine/sound datas is loaded into $8000-$BFFF. DPCM samples are loaded at $C000-$DFFF. Init routine JMP instruction is at $8006 (the NSF points to a hacked in routine at $9F30, It reads from a table at $9F60 which translates the Song # to

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the actual value to pass to $8006 (in Accumulator)). Play routine JMP instruction is at $8009 Memory Usage: Main RAM: $600-$763. Bank system: Engine code is loaded at $8000-$9FFF. BGM banks are swapped at $A000-$BFFF, depending on which BGM is playing. Each $2000 byte BGM bank contains one or more BGM datas (ranging from 3 to 7). No BGM datas spans multiple banks. It seems there is chunks of unused bytes at the end of each bank. At least one of the BGM datas function as a sound effect. Gimmick uses multiple banks for DPCM samples, so the correct bank is swapped in at $C000-$DFFFF depending on which sample is currently being played back. RAM details: $600: ROM bank for the current BGM. $614-$617: NES 2A03 Channel mapping $626-$629: Subroutine return address - Low $62C-$62F: Subroutine return address - High (00 is written when returning from subroutine.)

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$632-$635: Loop Counters (2A03 channels) - Level 1 $638-$63B: Loop Counters (2A03 channels) - Level 2 $6A4-$6A6: Enable/other registers for Sunsoft 5B channels (write 00 to these to easily disable one or more of the channels.) $758: DPCM channel enable $759-$75A: DPCM channel data address $75B: DPCM channel - frame counter until next note/ BGM byte $75F: DPCM channel loop counter $761-$762: Current DPCM table address (Im guessing it changes depending on what kind of instrument is used for melodic or drum DPCM..) Code address: $8131: Initialize channels when a BGM begins $8DD7: DPCM channel playback handler $8E3B: DPCM channel playack - Play back preset in Memory Address $75. (setting a breakpoint here will make the debugger snap just before playing a DPCM sample). DPCM playback: Presets: The DPCM table address changes through the songs, depending on what kinds of instruments are played. But, each table can be used for multiple instruments and samples. I'm not sure yet how it works. (not sure if one type of

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instrument is exclusive to one exact table address.)

Table Address = $BCF5: Preset value: $00-$22: Melodic Slap Bass Table Address = $BDB8: Preset value: $00-$1A: Melodic Bass $1B: Drum sound (kick?) $1C-$1D: Snare $1E-$1F: Snare 2 $20: Kick $21-$22: Conga? $23-$25: Tom? BGM data commands: FB ll hh

- Play data at address 'hhll' as subroutine?

Mr. Gimmick (Europe): ---------------------

RAM details: Differences from Japanese Gimmick:

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DPCM channel data address is at $753-$754, and the DPCM note frame counter is $755. (The DPCM channel RAM seems to be moved 6 bytes minus relative to the original address.) Other: Although the Sunsoft 5B channel playback is disabled in this version of the game, it appears that the BGM datas for those channels are not removed to conserve space. It's all still in the ROM. However, the initialization data for the Sunsoft 5B channels is removed from each of the BGM datas' headers. (Those are 4 bytes for each channel.) So, the location of BGM datas is slightly different (a few bytes more or less).

*** end ***

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Appendix I: Source Code of "Game Over" from Asterix

Source Code - Uncommented Alberto José González posted the source code of "Game Over" from Asterix on the NESDev Forums on February 4, 2011.140

GAMEOVER INCHA GOMEL INCHB GOCHRD INCHC GOBASS RTS GOMEL DW GOMEL1 DW 0,GOMEL GOCHRD DW GOCHRD1 DW 0,GOCHRD GOBASS DW GOBASS1 DW 0,GOBASS GOBASS1 DB L10,VIB,0,4,5,TRA,-2 PERC 10,GOPERC DB L40 DB a1,__ DB __,g1 DB e1,__ DB __,e1 DB DB DB DB

a1,__ __,g1 e1,__ __,g1

DB d1,__ DB __,d2 DB a1,__ 140 Alberto José González, "How NES Music Was Really Composed," NESDev, February 4, 2011, accessed August 18, 2014, http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?t=7390

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DB DB DB DB DB DB

__,a1 d1,__ __,d2 e1,__ gs1,B1 XM

GOCHRD1 DB L10,SENV,$D1,3,$64,W1,EF1 DO2 DB P9,a2,P3,c3,e3,a3,c4,a3,e3,c3 LOP DO2 DB P9,e2,P3,g2,b2,e3,g3,e3,b2,g2 LOP DO2 DB P9,a2,P3,c3,e3,a3,c4,a3,e3,c3 LOP DO2 DB P9,e2,P3,g2,b2,e3,g3,e3,b2,g2 LOP DO2 DB P9,d2,P3,f2,a2,d3,f3,d3,a2,f2 LOP DO2 DB P9,a2,P3,c3,e3,a3,c4,a3,e3,c3 LOP DO2 DB P9,d2,P3,f2,a2,d3,f3,d3,a2,f2 LOP DO2 DB P9,EF5,e2,P3,gs2,b2,e3,gs3,e3,b2,gs2 LOP DB XM GOMEL1 DB L10,SENV,$39,5,$90,VIB,20,1,4,W1,REL,5,$02 DB e3,__,a3,__,c4,__,__,__ DB __,NN,a3,b3,c4,__,d4,__ DB b3,__,__,g3,e3,__,__,__ DB __,__,__,__,__,f3,e3,d3 DB e3,__,a3,__,c4,__,__,__ DB __,NN,a3,b3,c4,__,d4,__ DB b3,__,__,a3,g3,a3,b3,__ DB __,__,e3,__,__,__,f3,g3 777

DB DB DB DB DB DB DB DB DB

a3,__,__,g3,f3,__,e3,f3 __,__,e3,__,d3,__,c3,__ d3,__,e3,__,e3,__,d3,e3 __,__,__,__,__,nn,f3,g3 a3,__,__,g3,f3,__,e3,f3 __,__,e3,__,c4,__,b3,__ e3,__,e3,__,d4,__,c4,__ c4,__,__,__,B3,__,__,__ XM

GOPERC DB 1,0,6,5,2,0,6,5 DB 1,0,6,5,2,5,1,5 DB END Source Code - Commented Alberto José González commented the source code of "Game Over" from Asterix on the NESDev Forums on February 6, 2011.141

I'm sure you all know that, but let me just remind you that in those times we had severe memory restrictions for both RAM and ROM, so the sound driver and the song data had to be designed to occupy the less bytes possible. This is the initialization routine, very simple. It uses macros to set the song sound driver pointers to the data of this particular song. You can see how channels 1, 2 and 3 are set to GOMEL, GOCHRD and GOBASS tables.

GAMEOVER INCHA GOMEL INCHB GOCHRD INCHC GOBASS RTS 141 Alberto José González, "How NES Music Was Really Composed," NESDev, February 6, 2011, accessed August 18, 2014, http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7390&start=15

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This is the table of tracks for channel 1. Since it's a very short tune it only lists one track. In a longer song it would address many more tracks or “chunks” of data. This is a never ending tune, so the final data instructs the driver to repeat the same table again and again.

GOMEL DW GOMEL1 DW 0,GOMEL Same for channel 2.

GOCHRD DW GOCHRD1 DW 0,GOCHRD Same for channel 3.

GOBASS DW GOBASS1 DW 0,GOBASS

This is the “real” data of the song, and this concretely is what I used to call the Bass Track, because it would contain mostly the bass notes. With the NES you were almost forced to use the triangle wave channel always for the bass part. The first command (VIB,0,4,5) tells the driver to set a vibrato with 0 initial delay, 4 depth and a speed of 5 frames. The second command (TRA,-2) sets this track to transpose the notes down 2 semitones.

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The next line (PERC 10, GOPERC) initializes a drum track with a note length of 10 for each sound. Since drum sequences are usually cyclic, I used to “invoke” drum tracks and breaks from any of the other tracks (usually the bass track), at any time, instead of having a separated table with all the drum sequences. This reduced the amount of data in the song. Next, there is a note length command (L40) which tells the driver to set the note length to 40 video frames. The rest of the data are notes, and tied notes (__), which just leave the last note sounding for the last length set, in this case 40. The last command (XM) marks the end of the track.

GOBASS1 DB VIB,0,4,5,TRA,-2 PERC 10,GOPERC DB L40 DB a1,__ DB __,g1 DB e1,__ DB __,e1 DB DB DB DB

a1,__ __,g1 e1,__ __,g1

DB DB DB DB DB DB DB DB DB

d1,__ __,d2 a1,__ __,a1 d1,__ __,d2 e1,__ gs1,B1 XM

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This is what I used to call the Chord Track, because it would contain most of the chords of the song, in the form of those fast arpeggios that made European chip music so distinctive. The first command (L10) sets the length note to 10 frames. The second command (SENV,$D1,3,$64) sets a volume envelope for the sound. The volume envelope routines of my NES and Game Boy drivers were very similar, so I could share code between them, but in the Game Boy I used hardware envelopes (because of hardware restrictions, nasty noises when changing volume), and in the NES I used a simulation by software. The next command (W1) instructs the channel to set the square waveform to 25% duty. W0 was 50% and W2 12.5% I think. Next there is an arpeggio command (EF0 to EF15). The arpeggios were defined globally for all the songs and consisted basically on tables of sequential notes used to transpose the current note. One arpeggio would contain a major chord (C,E,G,RET), other a minor chord (C,Ds,G,RET), and others may not contain a chord at all, only transpositions to different octaves. The transposition tables could be cyclic or not, depending on the final command (RET or END). This was another technique to reduce song data, since you didn't need to specify all the notes for a chord, only the root note and the chord type (if different than the previous one). The next command (DO2 to DO8) instructs the driver to repeat 2 times the block of data found between this and the next LOP command. This was used to reduce the size of the song data too. Next there is a “procedure” command (P1 to P9). Those commands were used to execute a portion of assembler code which modified whatever was needed in the sound driver. In this

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case I'm using the procedures to change the “instrument” of the song (sort of hard coded program change).

GOCHRD1 DB L10,SENV,$D1,3,$64,W1,EF1 DO2 DB P9,a2,P3,c3,e3,a3,c4,a3,e3,c3 LOP DO2 DB P9,e2,P3,g2,b2,e3,g3,e3,b2,g2 LOP DO2 DB P9,a2,P3,c3,e3,a3,c4,a3,e3,c3 LOP DO2 DB P9,e2,P3,g2,b2,e3,g3,e3,b2,g2 LOP DO2 DB P9,d2,P3,f2,a2,d3,f3,d3,a2,f2 LOP DO2 DB P9,a2,P3,c3,e3,a3,c4,a3,e3,c3 LOP DO2 DB P9,d2,P3,f2,a2,d3,f3,d3,a2,f2 LOP DO2 DB P9,EF5,e2,P3,gs2,b2,e3,gs3,e3,b2,gs2 LOP DB XM This is what I used to call the Melody Track, because usually it would contain the main melody of the song. There are some new commands here. The first new command (REL,5,$02) is what I called the “release effect”. Literally, what this command instructs the driver is to set a decay envelope of $02 just 5 frames before the next note command is reached. This was used to shorten the sound of the notes, like if you released 782

the key before pressing the next one (non-legato). This decay envelope means, in nibbles, no change in initial volume (0) and a decay time of 2, hence the $02 value. The next new command (nn or NN = not note) is a simple command used to trigger the above mentioned “release effect”. This particular track has lots of tied note commands, this is because it's a short tune and probably I had enough memory available. Usually I would pack the data so it occupied less bytes by using the note length commands. For example instead of leaving “L10,C3,__,__,__” I would changed it to “L40,C3”. This had to be done by hand at the end of the composition process for all the tracks. Every byte counted!!

GOMEL1 DB L10,SENV,$39,5,$90,VIB,20,1,4,W1,REL,5,$02 DB e3,__,a3,__,c4,__,__,__ DB __,NN,a3,b3,c4,__,d4,__ DB b3,__,__,g3,e3,__,__,__ DB __,__,__,__,__,f3,e3,d3 DB e3,__,a3,__,c4,__,__,__ DB __,NN,a3,b3,c4,__,d4,__ DB b3,__,__,a3,g3,a3,b3,__ DB __,__,e3,__,__,__,f3,g3 DB DB DB DB DB DB DB DB DB

a3,__,__,g3,f3,__,e3,f3 __,__,e3,__,d3,__,c3,__ d3,__,e3,__,e3,__,d3,e3 __,__,__,__,__,nn,f3,g3 a3,__,__,g3,f3,__,e3,f3 __,__,e3,__,c4,__,b3,__ e3,__,e3,__,d4,__,c4,__ c4,__,__,__,B3,__,__,__ XM Finally, this is the drum track, a pretty simple one. Each number means one different

drum sound, except 0 which is no sound. The default note length is set by the channel that 783

initializes the drum track. Setting the length inside the track was also possible using L commands, but this way I could use the same drum track on different songs that used different base note lengths, again to reduce song data. As you may figure if you listen to the song, 1=bass drum, 2= snare drum, 6 = short hit hat and 5 = slightly different short hit hat.

GOPERC DB 1,0,6,5,2,0,6,5 DB 1,0,6,5,2,5,1,5 DB END

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Definitions of Essential Terms

Although the dissertation is primarily concerned with musical characteristics, a working knowledge of terms and acronyms used in the computer, technology, and video game music fields is provided.

8-bit – refers to the number of bits used in CPU data units, associated with the NES, Famicom, Sega SG-1000, Casio PV-1000, Sega Master System, and Atari 7800 16-bit – refers to the number of bits used in CPU data units, associated with the PC Engine, TurboGrafx-16, Sega Genesis, Sega Mega Drive, Super NES, and Neo Geo ADSR - Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release, the four phases of a sound over time amplitude modulation - change in the volume of a sound wave APU – audio processing unit, a sound chip fills this role boss - a moment in a game, usually at the end of a stage, where the tension builds as the player confronts a challenging obstacle or adversary that must be defeated to advance C64 - short name for the Commodore 64 cartridge – medium for storage of NES and Famicom games, plastic casing covers chip and wiring board chiptune – genre of electronic music that is produced through or emulates the sounds of sound microchips from the 70s to the 90s clock speed – speed at which the CPU chip completes one operation, 1.79MHz for NTSC NES and Famicom and 1.66MHz for PAL NES

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CPU – central processing unit, the hardware which carries out the instructions of a computer and performs calculations delta modulation - a form of audio encoding, the difference between successive samples is encoded DPCM – differential pulse-code modulation, encodes only the difference between successive sound samples, resulting in a smaller file size duty cycle – an amount as a percentage which indicates how often a sound is set to the “ON” position, used to create different timbres on the same sound channel envelope – adjustable variable that controls how a sound's parameter changes over time, used most often for sound decay Famichord - term used by Linus Akesson to describe the practice on the NES and Famicom of a 7th chord with an omitted 5th Famicom – portmanteau of “Family Computer,” product name in Japan, China, Vietnam, Singapore, the Middle East, and Hong Kong interlaced video - video in which two fields, the odd and even scanlines of each frame, are drawn alternately, used in analog televisions J-Pop - short for Japanese Pop music loop point- location in a piece of music where the music jumps to an earlier point in the piece, the end of a section of music that repeats indefinitely macros - an easy-to-read computer instruction that expands into a longer set of instructions to perform a particular task, used to add clarity and efficiency to code

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MOD - computer file format containing a set of instruments in the form of samples, a number of patterns indicating how and when the samples are to be played, and a list of what patterns to play in what order, used by the Amiga's Paula sound chip NES – Nintendo Entertainment System, 8-bit video game console released by Nintendo in 1985 in North America, Europe, and Australia NES-NTSC - NES that is compatible with NTSC televisions, sold in North America and Australia NES-PAL - NES that is compatible with PAL televisions, sold in Europe NSF – Nintendo sound format, audio file format that contains only the original audio data from a NES ROM image NTSC – National Television System Committee, analog television system that displays fields at 59.94 Hz, seen more often as 60 Hz PAL – Phase Alternating Line, analog television system that displays fields at 50 Hz PCM – pulse-code modulation, a method used to represent sampled analog signals as digital signals Plogue chipsounds – music software that emulates 8-bit sound chips used in chiptunes progressive video - video in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence PSG – programmable sound generator, a sound chip that generates sound waves by synthesizing multiple waveforms and includes a noise generator pulse wave – sound waveform that resembles a rectangle or square on an oscilloscope register - computer memory that stores bits of information to be used by the computer Ricoh 2A03 – also called RP2A03 or 2A03, contains the CPU and APU of the NTSC NES

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Ricoh 2A07 – also called RP2A07 or 2A07, contains the CPU and APU of the PAL NES and Famicom ring modulation - an implementation of amplitude modulation by multiplying two signals sampling rate – number of samples taken per second, determines quality of sound sample SID - Sound Interface Device, the sound chip used in the Commodore 64 sound channel – where the sounds are created sound engine - section of game code which controls and regulates all aspects of sound and music Sound Test – menu accessed during a game that allows the user to choose and play back music and sounds from the game Sunsoft – Japanese game company known for its prominence during the NES era of games Sunsoft 5B – chip that is the same as the Sunsoft FME-7 except it contains extra audio hardware, used only in Gimmick!, adds three pulse wave channels at 50% duty cycle, one noise and one envelope generator Sunsoft FME-7 – chip manufactured by Sunsoft used to add additional functionality to games, only used in Gimmick!, Batman: Return of the Joker, Ufouria: the Saga, and Gremlin 2 (Japan) sweep – periodically adjust a sound wave's period up or down, used to change pitch of sound triangle wave – sound waveform that resembles a triangle on an oscilloscope vibrato - a pulsating change in pitch, used to add expression white noise – randomly-generated sound

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Chiptune music: An exploration of compositional techniques as found in Sunsoft games for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Famicom from 1988-1992

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