FAMITRACKER TUTORIAL BY GORSAL -- BASIC TECHNIQUES&TIPS (Started in 1.21.2011) Version 6.0 ################################################################### #BETTER VIEWED IN LUCIDA CONSOLE FONT. SIZE 9 OR 10 IS RECCOMENDED# ################################################################### This tutorial shows you the basics of making music in Famitracker. A lot of people ask me how to make songs with it and wants me to teach them, so I thought ‘why not making a tutorial for those people?’. So here it is. I hope you read it, understand it and start making 8-bit music (or at least, understand how it works). This will need you to have read Famitracker's help file first, as it covers all the starter knowledge (scattered with a bunch of boring technical info). This tutorial will cover the details behind them. --------------------------- PURPOSE & AUTHOR'S COMMENTS --------------------------- The purpose of this tutorial isn't to explain each niggle the NES has. I'm more interested in explaining what the program does, and how you can use the sounds in a clever way. For example, I will not talk about NTSC/PAL or how many Kilohertz a DPCM sample can have or shit. I want just to teach how to produce sounds and use them to make music. It wouldn't be interesting for me anyway since I don't have a clue about what they do or change in the music. Also, since music is a type of art, you got to have the inclination for this. This isn't a 2-sec job MIDI conversion, but notes written the hard way by your own hands. Bear in mind that I've been using this program for three years, and I still learn a different thing every day; I am not a professional, but rather someone interested to share the wonders of this nice program. My intention on writing this tutorial is to shorten the time of the learning curve for you. Also sorry for any mistakes on typing. Thanks for reading, GORSAL ------------------------- UNDERSTANDING FAMITRACKER ------------------------- "What is Famitracker?", you might be wondering. Famitracker, as the name suggests, is a music tracker made by JSF that reproduces the Famicom (aka NES)'s sound capabilities. A music tracker program works by writing lines with notes and effects to be played. You can compose music with it, save it in Famitracker Module files and even export it in WAV, NSF and NES files. The possibility of saving your songs as a NSF/NES file proves that this tracker makes genuine NES 8-bit; this means that any song made with this program could well be played in a real NES game. This is an important point, since this doesn't use soundfonts, samples, VST or plug-ins. What you get here is the real deal. -------------------------- COMPOSING WITH FAMITRACKER -------------------------- ............................. STEP 1: FAMITRACKER'S ANATOMY ............................. Famitracker window has those sections: +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ¦ Untitled-Famitracker [_][º][X]¦ ¦----------------------------------------------------------------------------------¦ ¦ File Edit Module Instrument Tracker View Help ¦Instrument>New. You'll notice that the 00's got green and a small line saying '2A03 00-New instrument' appeared on the Instrument list. You have now sucessfully assigned an instrument (00) to your notes. You can create more instruments by repeating the process, and you can use them by selecting the instrument in the Instrument list first. Try writing notes on other columns, and notice the sound difference between them. --- Effects, Volume and Instrument values work until it is given a new value; For example, if you write F in the Volume, the notes will be max-volume until it hits another value. This means you need to rewrite the Volume every time you change it. While this can be tedious, it can make things faster also. It allows you for a nice effect control, and it's simpler to toggle it on/off. ................................................. STEP 3: COOL, BUT WHAT EXACTLY ARE THOSE COLUMNS? ................................................. Those 5 columns are called Channels, and those are the default channels the NES can use. It is comprised of two identical Square waves, one Triangle wave, one Noise channel and a DPCM channel. I suggest writing something on each channel while reading this. #The square waves are the main sounds of NES music. As they’re very flexible, a lot of composers utilize them as lead instruments. #The triangle wave is a fixed-volume channel that is used mostly as bass. They can also be used for percussion and lead in some cases. #The noise channel is widely used in percussion. There are 16 predetermined sounds you can use (each assigned to a note in the keyboard), and it has moderate flexibility. #The DPCM is a sample-based channel. I’ll be talking more about it later. For now, let’s focus on the first 4 channels. .................................................. STEP 4: OKAY, I GOT IT! LET’S START TRACKING THEN! .................................................. Not so fast. There are some other things you must know to make a good-sounding music. These include some commands and effect, as well as some tips. First of all, you may have noticed that the instrument sounds a bit bland. It's a continuous, boring sound, and it overlaps when you try writing the same note more than once. If you want to change how it sounds, double click the active instrument to make a pop-up appear. This is the Instrument Editor. +-------------------------------------------------------------+ ¦ Instrument editor - 00. New Instrument (2A03) [X] ¦ ¦-------------------------------------------------------------¦ ¦ +---------------------------+ ¦ ¦ ¦2A03 Settings¦DPCM Settings¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ''''''''¦'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Instrument Settings ¦ Sequence editor ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ +-----------------+ ¦ +-------------------------------+ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦___¦#¦Effect Name¦ ¦ ¦15 ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦[ ] 0 Volume ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦Configuration. A similar symbol, Note Cut (___), can also be configured there. Note Cut works similarly than Note Off, but it disregards the last section, cutting it altogether. I'll be representing Note Cut with stars (***) for readability in this Tutorial. ........................................................................... STEP 6: OKAY, GOT IT. BUT WHY ARE THE NOTES WEIRDLY PLACED ON THE KEYBOARD? ........................................................................... After getting familiarised with those features, let's understand how the notes are placed on the keyboard. They are arranged in the keyboard like a Piano: +-----------------+ ¦ [ [ ¦ [ [ [ ¦ [ ¦ Selected octave's note layout. It takes up the lower half of the keyboard, ¦ S D ¦ G H J ¦ L ¦ and writes notes in the selected octave (you can select the octaves by ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ clicking on the toolbar or simply pressing / or * in the numeric pad). ¦Z¦X¦C¦V¦B¦N¦M¦,¦.¦ The ',', 'L' and '.' notes are the same as 'Q', '2' and 'W' in the next +-----------------+ layout. +---------------------+ ¦ [ [ ¦ [ [ [ ¦ [ [ ¦ [ Next octave's note layout. It takes the upper half of the keyboard and ¦ 2 3 ¦ 5 6 7 ¦ 9 0 ¦ ´ writes notes an octave higher than you selected (if you selected ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ octave 3, for example, the notes will be octave 4. It is useful for ¦Q¦W¦E¦R¦T¦Y¦U¦I¦O¦P¦[¦ making music without having to change the octaves manually often. +---------------------+ To change the notes' octaves before writing them, press / and * in the numeric pad. It's also interesting to note that a lot of trackers use this layout for the notes, so if you can use Famitracker, you won't be out of place when using other tracker programs. ....................................... STEP 7: NICE! I WANT TO MAKE MUSIC NOW! ....................................... Let's tackle something more serious this time. Open a new FTM module, and create a new instrument with this property (copy the line of numbers, paste it on the Text String and press the [Parse] button). [v] Volume 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 After this, select this new instrument and press Z, X, C..., giving a space between each note, like this. Square 1 C-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- D-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- E-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- F-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- G-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- A-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- B-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- C-4 00 - --- --- -- - --- *** -- - --- After writing this, press play in the toolbar (alternatively, hit 'Enter' key). You'll hear your first Famitracker sequence! Congratulations! You might want to make it play faster, though. In this case, reach for the Song Settings section and DECREASE (yes, decrease) the Speed value. It is 6 as default; try reducing it to 3. It'll be twice as much faster than before. Alternatively, a value of 12 will make it twice as slow. Tempo also alters the song speed, but the bigger the value, the faster it is. It's used more for 'fine-tuning'. The extra BPMs can be achieved with them. Rows add lines to the pattern. It is set at 64 lines (3F) as default. You can either decrease it or increase it so you can have more space/dynamic when making music. Finally, Frames add frames to the song. Clicking there adds a frame in the Frame Viewer, useful for making longer tunes. As a real, melodic practice, let's try making a small nursery rhyme in 8-bit with this instrument. I'd suggest 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' for begginers, but feel free to do other music. Nothing complicated, though, as you're still getting used to it! Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Speed: 8 Tempo: 150 Rows : 64 Square 1 C-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- C-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- G-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- G-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- A-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- A-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- G-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- F-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- F-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- E-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- E-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- D-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- D-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- C-3 00 - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- After writing this, you probably got the tempo spacing and hopefully, the song pitch. Try finishing it now! To add another frame, go to the Toolbar and click 'Add new frame' icon. Notice that the new frame comes with '01' as the first value. This happens because you wrote the first music sequence at frame 00. The program automatically gives you the frame 01 so you don't accidentally overwrite the 00 frame with 01's notes. EACH CHANNEL HAS THEIR FRAME VALUES. Continue your small tune normally. In the end, your Frame Viewer should look like this: 00 ¦ 00 00 00 00 00 01 ¦ 01 00 00 00 00 02 ¦ 00 00 00 00 00 Notice that the first frame and the last frame are equal (both frames' first square channel is 00). This is because those frames sound identical; I reused the frame. This is extremely helpful in NES music. Since old games had little memory in their cartridges, music needed to economize frames so it doesn't end up taking the whole space available. It also makes things faster, as you don't need to rewrite the same exact notes again and again. You can decrease/increase the pattern number by clicking on it and pressing + and - in the numeric pad. Voilà, this is your very first 8-bit music! Cool, isn't it? This is the very basic of 8-bit music making; all channels can be edited in this way. Use your creative mind to add a bassline, if you feel like it. And change the instruments, as you already know how to do. --------------------------- FAMITRACKER INSTRUMENTATION --------------------------- This section of the tutorial will be full of techniques regarding instrumentation. You can emulate quite a lot of real instruments with those humble waves, so let's learn about them c: ...... SQUARE ...... Square waves are the main channels of the NES. Because of its flexibility, it's usually assigned to be the main melody and the harmonics. By now, you might've been familiarised with this channel, so here are some tips on how to use them efficiently. You can use the Duty/Noise parameter to change its sound. Go to the Instrument Edit window and write this on its text string: [v] Duty/Noise 0 (copy and press Parse) This is the Square wave with a pulse width of 12,5%. It makes an 'open' sound, and you can use it as guitar or any 'strong' string instrument. [v] Duty/Noise 1 (copy and press Parse) This is the Square wave with a pulse width of 25%. It's way suave than the 12,5% one. I reccomend using it as a trumpet or brass instrument. [v] Duty/Noise 2 (copy and press Parse) This is the classic 8-bit sound, with a pulse width of 50%. You can use it to imitate older games, as well as flutes or whatnot. [v] Duty/Noise 3 (copy and press Parse) This one is pretty much identical to the 25% sound; it's the 75% pulse width square. It's only a inverted version of the 25% one. These are their waveforms, in case you're wondering: _ _ | | | | _____| |_____| |_____ 12,5% __ __ | | | | ____| |____| |____ 25% ___ ___ | | | | ___| |___| |___ 50% ____ ____ | | | | __| |__| |__ 75% You can combine several pulse widths in the instruments, producing very interesting sounds. --- Using some volume dynamics can also make the square wave sound interesting. For example, instead of using ***, write a low volume value (such as 1) instead: C-3 00 F --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- - --- --- -- 1 --- That '1' cuts the instrument partially; it gives a nice echo-y effect on your sound. Konami does this in lot of songs. --- You can achieve delay echo effects if you copy the main melody and paste it 4 lines lower in the secondary channel, for example. You may need to lower the delayed melody's volume. --- Another thing that you can use to spice the overall sound is to write the same pattern in both squares, but make one channel sound lower than the other (or even play it in a different duty cycle). You can also use a fine-pitch P82 effect to make it sound more floaty, but I'll be talking about effect codes later. ........ TRIANGLE ........ Triangle wave is usually assigned to the bassline because of its grave nature (nothing keeps you from using it as the main melody and a Square channel as the bass, though). But since the NES has its limitations, the Triangle wave can not suffer volume changes. It can be either ON or OFF. This is a little problematic, because this way you can't have some dynamics and such. Let's open a new FTM and create a new instrument. Do not edit any of the checkboxes yet, and try writing this in the pattern field: Triangle C-3 00 --- --- -- --- C-3 00 --- --- -- --- C-3 00 --- --- -- --- C-3 00 --- --- -- --- C-3 00 --- --- -- --- C-3 00 --- --- -- --- *** -- --- Notice that you can't hear the individual notes (doo-doo-doo-doo...), but rather a continuous one (doooooo...). Try now editing the volume to this: [v] Volume 10 9 8 7 6 (copy and press Parse) And try playing it again. Listen to the triangle wave sound. Nothing has changed, right? This is because the triangle wave reads any number bigger than 0 as 'ON' and 0 as 'OFF'. Now, clean the old value and try putting this instead: [v] Volume 0 15 (copy and press Parse) This value should fix it and will make the Triangle wave to sound 'doo-doo-doo'. This is because you set him to be off for split second, then on. This same effect can be given with Arpeggio value of -12 0 (copy and parse) or a combination of both methods. --- Triangle wave can also be used as percussion. Megaman games, for example, used the Triangle wave as toms. How did they do that? You can get this sound by making a new instrument with those values: [v] Volume 15 15 15 15 15 0 [v] Pitch | 20 The volume plays the triangle wave for a while then it cuts; the pitch complements it by making the note to slide down quickly, giving the percussive feeling. Use alternating it with the bassline. Another percussion you can make is a Clave, the high-pitched woodblock sound used in Latin songs. It can simply be achieved with a volume value: [v] Volume 15 0 With this, the sound will only play with a split second. Write a very acute note (C-6, for example), and it'll sound like a Clave. Using it in a grave pitch (C-3) along with a Noise drum makes for a stronger Snare drum, too. ..... NOISE ..... Noise channels can be made to produce percussion such as crash cymbals, hats, maracas and snares. A simple snare drum/hat can be made with this parameter: [v] Volume 15 13 11 8 5 2 0 Using lower notes such as 0-# gives you a grave sound; a mid note (6-#) gives you a snare drum and a high note (F-#) gives you a hat sound. If you want a more interesting snare sound, complement it with this parameter: [v] Pitch 0 8 4 2 | 0 OBS: This Snare drum works better with grave notes (0-#, for example). --- A crash cymbal can be made with these values: [v] Volume 5 9 14 15 15 15 14 14 13 13 13 12 11 11 10 10 9 9 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 4 4 4 3 3 2 [v] Pitch 0 8 4 2 | 0 --- Noise channel can suffer modifications if you give it a Duty/Noise parameter. If you give it a value of 25% or 75%, it'll sound like a machine, or better yet, the dial-up modem sound. You can use it as a sound effect or a wacky percussion. You decide. With a little more skill, you can even simulate seashores, wind gusts or even TV static. .... DPCM .... Here it comes! The misterious (until now) DPCM channel. DPCM stands for 'Differential Pulse-Code Modulation' and encodes .wav files into smaller, .dmc files. The NES uses a different version of DPCM, the Delta-Modulated PCMs. It transforms the files into 1-bit samples that can be assigned to the notes in Famitracker. You can have a total of 16KB of samples in each Famitracker module. Due to the nature of severely lowering down the sample's size, the sound will suffer quality loss. Usually, composers assign percussion to this channel because they don't have 'notes' (e.g do, re, mi etc...) and plays for a little time (the quality loss is more perceptible when it plays a longer sample). You can change the output sound's quality and volume when inserting it into the Famitracker module; the quality changes its pitch drastically, saving up more space. Lowering the quality also increases the sample's playing time to a max of 8 seconds, while a high quality DPCM will only play for less than 1 second. Ah, the 8-bit limitations... DPCM also has a quirk of lowering the Triangle and Noise's volume. This is more noticeable when you use a loud sample. You can counter this with some options and use this channel to its fullest. tl;dr-DPCM reduces a .wav sample to its minimum so the NES can play it. ............. DPCM SETTINGS ............. To insert a .wav sample into an instrument, double-click the instrument to summon the Instrument Editor. +-------------------------------------------------------------+ ¦ Instrument editor - 00. New Instrument (2A03) [X] ¦ ¦-------------------------------------------------------------¦ ¦ +---------------------------+ ¦] ¦ +------------------+ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ +-----------------+ ¦Space used 0KB, 16KB avail..¦ ¦ ¦ ¦_________________________________________________________¦ ¦ ¦ _________________________________________________________ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Virtual Keyboard ¦ ¦ ¦ ----------------------------------------------------------- ¦ +-------------------------------------------------------------+ ...................... DPCM-INSERTING SAMPLES ...................... To successfully implement a DPCM in Famitracker, click on the Import button first. You can open a common .wav file here. Famitracker will preview this file before loading it in the module, which is nice. After selecting and opening the file, another popup will appear: +----------------------------------------------+ |DPCM Import [X] | |----------------------------------------------| | | | Quality: 15 Preview | | | | Low ------------VHigh OK | | | | Volume: 4 Cancel | | | | Low ----V--------High | | | +----------------------------------------------+ It contains two sliders and three self-explanatory buttons: Quality: it changes the sample's quality. 15 is best but plays for less than a second; 0 is worst but can play for 8 seconds. It is related to the instrument's pitch. Volume: it changes the sample's volume. 16 makes it sound clearly; 1 makes it sound muffled. Usually you'll stick with 4, as it's good enough. Preview: previews the sample. OK: accepts the changes and insert the sample into the module. Cancel: ignores all the edits and doesn't insert the sample into the module. ......................... DPCM ASSIGNING & EDITING ......................... After inserting a sample, assign it in the keyboard. Click a line in the Assigned samples box (for example, C) and click on the drop-down menu. The sample you inserted will be there. Select it and test it in the virtual keyboard. Cool, isn't it? When inserting .wav samples, be sure you're using low-quality .wav samples as input. I suggest not using higher quality .wav files as they tend to eat up 4KB of space of the 16KB available in the FTM. Also if you want this sample to have effects such as fadeout, filters etc, be sure to make it on a other program before inserting it in Famitracker; once inserted, the DPCM sample cannot be edited, save deleting silent parts and reducing Triangle/Noise volume changes. This converted sample can be saved as .dmc files by clicking on the Save button. Those .dmc files can be opened directly by clicking the Load button. --- Editing .dmc samples in Famitracker is limited to cropping silent parts, starting from 64 and tilt to 0. To crop silent parts, select the straight line in the end (if the sample has any) of the graph with the mouse, and press delete. Doing this will lower the sample's size, allowing you to fit much more in 16KB total. Start from 64 is a checkbox that bends the sample graph's start at value 64. This is to reduce sample clicks and undesired volume changes in Triangle and Noise channels. Tilt button tilts the sample's end to 0. Select the whole sample's graph with the mouse and click the Tilt button. This is also another method to reduce clicks in the music. Be sure to use both this and Start at 64 to make your sample to sound crisper. The other buttons are self-explanatory, I think... Oh, and the Pitch slider previews how the sample will play in said pitch value. Slide it as you wish and click the Preview button. ..................... OTHER DPCM TECHNIQUES ..................... After inserting a couple samples and assigning them into the notes, there are still some techniques you can use: Octave: changes the assignable notes' octave. It is set to 3 as default. Changing this value to, say, 4, changes the assignable notes' octave to the 4th octave. It is used when you have more than 12 samples to insert in the FTM. Pitch: changes the sample's pitch. 15 is normal, 0 is lowest. It is used to make low-quality samples to sound fine-pitched, as well as making high toms/low toms. Loop: checking this box will make the sample to play indefinitely until it hits a note cut symbol (***). --------------------------- EFFECT CODES AND THEIR USES --------------------------- So... This is the last part of the music-making techniques. The effect codes are values you insert in the last 3 hyphens of a line: --- -- - --- ^ |_These lines. You can then assign an effect (represented in Famitracker as a symbol) and its parameter (values given in hexadecimals). But what exactly is an effect code? Effect code is a simplified way of inserting parameters into an instrument. All those variables (such as volume, arpeggios, pitch, duty/noise) can be written as effect codes. Those effects are listed in the program's help file, but I'll cite some, such as: #Arpeggio (0xy): it arpeggiates notes you write; x is the first note's value, y is the second note's value. Ex: C-3 01 F 012 This means the note C-3 will cycle through two other notes; one being 1 seminote higher and another being 2 seminotes higher than the base note (C-3, C#3 and D-3, respectively). #Volume slide (Axy): it increases or decreases the note's volume gradually. x is the volume increase's speed and y is volume decrease's speed (both in hexadecimals). Ex: C-3 01 F A01 This will lower the note's volume in a speed of 1. The higher the value, the faster the volume change. On the other way, C-3 01 1 A10 will increase the note's volume in a speed of 1. I suggest reading the program's effect code list, as it teaches a lot of things that can make your song to sound better, or ease the composing process. Particularly, I use those effects more: 0xy (arpeggio) *this only works if the instrument you're using doesn't have the duty/noise checkbox checked in instrument editor. 1xx (pitch increase) 2xx (pitch decrease) 3xx (portamento) 4xy (vibrato) 7xy (tremolo) Axy (volume slide) Bxx (jump to frame xy) C00 (stop the song) D00 (stop this frame in this line and skip to the next) Fxx (speed/tempo) Gxx (note delay) Pxx (fine pitch tuning) Qxy (note increase) Rxy (note deacrease) Vxy (duty/noise change) *this only works if the instrument you're using doesn't have the duty/noise checkbox checked in instrument editor. Zxx (DPCM delta counter-Makes DPCM to sound louder/Triangle to sound quieter) Try making music regularly with some of those effects so you can get used to these. Also, check some NES music and try imitating their sounds. It'll be a good training. ................................ ADDING MORE EFFECTS INTO A LINE? ................................ You can have a maximum of 4 effect columns per channel (the Famitracker shows only one as a default). To add more, Click the > sign next to the channel's name. fx2, fx3 and fx4 should appear. This gives the instrument a more dynamic sound. Be sure not to place two identic effects on the same note, or write two mutually exclusive effects in the same line (for example, there is no point in writing C00 and B00 in the same line, as C00-'stop the song' has higher priority). ---------------------------- 2A03 AND ITS EXPANSION CHIPS ---------------------------- The NES' soundchip is known as the 2A03 chip (2A07 in PAL countries). This is the guy responsible to all the 5 default channels the NES has. Eventually, third-parties, such as Konami and Namco (and even Nintendo itself), started developing their own expansion chips that were hard-wired in their game cartridges and/or hardware. Some of those chips can be accessed in Famitracker, and can help you give that extra juice you were needing on your songs. Those chips are: *Nintendo MMC5: Adds two square waves identical to the two default ones. The instruments you made for the original two squares will also work on these channels. *Nintendo Famicom Disk System (FDS): Adds one custom-wave channel. You need to place the cursor in this channel first to create an instrument for this channel. *Konami VRC6: Adds two square waves with 8 levels of duty/noise and a saw wave (without duty cycling function). You need to place the cursor in this channel first to create an instrument for this channel. *Konami VRC7: Adds six Yamaha Synthesis channels comparable to SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive' sounds. You need to place the cursor in this channel first to create an instrument for this channel. They work almost equal to the default channels, but they can't have hardware sweep as the square channels, can't have DPCM samples assigned to them and they have some peculiar traits that are explained in the program's tutorial. ........................................................ ADDING AN EXPANSION CHIP INTO YOUR MUSIC (AND MANY MORE) ........................................................ To add extra channels into your song, go to Module>Module Properties. This will summon the eponymous Module Properties popup: +------------------------------------------+ |Module properties [x]| |------------------------------------------| The Module properties popup. Here, you can add and | | remove songs, move them around and use expansion | Song editor Add | chips. | Remove | | #01 New song Move up | Vibrato is set default as New style; it doesn't | Move down | change the song that much in my opinion, so I | | always leave it as it is. | | | | | Title [New song ] | | | | Expansion Chip | | Internal Only (2A03/2A07) <> | | | | Vibrato | | New style (bend up & down) <> | | | +------------------------------------------+ Here, you can create more songs in a FTM file, give names to them and choosing the desired expansion chip. The buttons on the sides are pretty straight-forward, I believe, but Add adds a new song to the list, Remove deletes a song from the list (NO UNDO!), Move up will move selected song one level up and Move down will move selected song one level down. Be sure not to change anything when Famitracker is playing any song. It may crash and corrupt the file. Also making more than 20 songs in a file may cause DPCM overflow (if you're using it) and the output NSFs will lack them altogether. Be reasonable, and if you really need to make more than 20 songs with the same instrumentation, copy the FTM file, delete the songs and continue from there. Choose your expansion chip on the tab and close the popup. Other columns should appear. To create an instrument for that channel, just click anywhere inside the new channel and create an instrument as usual. Say you added VRC6 chip into your song, for example. This new instrument will be labeled with a small 'VRC6' icon. Edit it as usual. Expansion chips have a different Instrument Edit popup, but I guess they're pretty easy to figure out. Edit them and test with the virtual keyboard to understand each variable. For more minucious info, check out the program's help file. ------------------ SAMPLE INSTRUMENTS ------------------ Along with this .txt file, I'll be including some sample instruments for your use.