I wanted a responsive input controller for a new Macbook Pro I’d bought – real confession: I bought it to emulate applications I’m working on, but that’s a one shot desire so I decided to install Ableton Live and commit to a bit of music noodle-ry.
I’ve been hand programming beats for decades and I’m massively in love with Tobacco and Odd Nosdam right now with their 2 minute mixtape style dirty hip hop and 80’s synth grunge and I just wanted to get back to that.
I plumbed for an Akai Studio 2 – which is hands down the most DELICIOUS user drumming experience I’ve enjoyed in a long time. For the weight, size and resistance it just feels good in a way that just like in the video you can’t quite ‘put a finger on’ – a hah hah.
But here’s the kicker – it is not a standalone midi device, and it is intensely locked into the MPC Studio software line, so with the miracle of the same person who effectively sold it to me provides the solution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eROFgY_vl0
The script is free, but who can resist buying a ‘kofi’ or a swift donation for free software that turns a 1 ton midi device into a usable tool. I’m happy as it just takes the tool I like and plumbs it into the thing I want to enjoy. Don’t let the tech restrict you. Make fun music and look future forward.
I know right, you wait forever and then sometimes come two posts come at once. I’ve been thinking hard about some of the best little cheap plugins I ever enjoyed
Tweakbench were incredible plugins that got me through the 90’s. They are 32bit only plugins and there’s just a ton of them that sadly didn’t get the development time to keep using them in modern times. They still exists and I’m confident you could emulate them as 64bit. They were used heavily on the lead chiptune-Zelda-NES lines in the song Glass in my band Michael Television’s Interloper.
Michael Television’s Interloper – Glass
I stumbled on this plugin on …Instagram of all places. 14$ and you have a little 12-bit toy to mess with. I’ve been working for years with hardware chiptune but every now and then, I enjoy a little software and it reminded me of that accessible way I got into some chip-inspired synth fooling.
I’ve been following /r/Gameboy for a while and I wasn’t even sure why. For someone who has been heavily modding for nearly ten years, most of the posts would be pretty basic and most up-voted posts would be ‘look what I found in my attic’ with a beat up classic ‘grey boy’ with leaking ink screens and gunk around the dpad. I stopped subscribing.
But, this started to change over time. It feels like there’s never been a better time to pimp up handheld consoles. My first steps into modding gameboys started nearly ten years ago with looking up online and finding mostly only Thretris’ body of work, which wholly consisted of spray painted shells, backlights, custom buttons where necessary and chiptune mods.
Today it’s mostly possible to build your own colour screen from the ground up, with primary colours, translucent shells, glow in the dark plastic and pastel shades. So the subreddit for Game Boy really started to shine. Incredible, eye-popping GB’s started making an appearance in my timeline once I subscribed again. A huge output of products from China is making it possible to get replacement shells, buttons and screens in abundance.
A couple of mods recently caught my eye: A voltage output display on a Gameboy Advance that was polished down to a crystal clear glass looking shell. ‘Gibe Shrugs’ is a machinist who is polishing, sand and soda blasting shells, but also working Aluminium SP buttons.
I recently purchased a set of aluminium buttons and the quality is fantastic. They’re tiny but the level of work that’s been put into them is incredible. Now, despite the fact they do not use the silicone rubber, they almost defy what you’d expect by snapping perfectly back into place. These are incredibly tactile feeling buttons. I paid $15.00 (£11.46) for these and the only sting was in the ridiculous costs to ship internationally from the US to the UK these days.
My buttons nestled in my clear and red GBA SP
Secondly, I saw the work of Retro game EVO, who also mods, but their particular forte is casting custom resin buttons. I ordered a pair for my current Game Boy that I’m working on. I wanted a nuclear theme to go with a sort of toxic colour scheme.
The quality of these buttons is incredible. I ordered a set of two, as that’s the default price, but I am using one of these in my current Game Boy. The other will go with my spares for a backup. I toyed with the idea of one of them being an Acid smiley, but for now, keep it simple.
This set were £12.00 ($15.70) including postage and packaging but you may pay a little more if you’re buying from outside of the UK. Retro Game EVO do plenty of different types of buttons. Check them on Insta for a better idea of their range and devices. Better still, DM them for pricing. They will surprise you.
The finished articlesInside the Game Boy itself
I can’t leave this article without an honourable mention. While I was on a button buying tip, I spotted these golden button sets from jellybelly customs. Until next time!
I felt like I’d been paying for hosting for so long on the site but not really been doing anything with it. In short, I built the site a few years ago to act as a capacity for people to springboard their projects, mostly with micromusic and electronics, but I’m really hot into minimalism, art and photography too. I was logging in nearly every day and tweeting content I thought was good and just got caught up in the daily grind of things and stopped doing this.
Recently the collapse of a quite large chiptune community group and label, there’s very clearly a change in the way the community wants to treat each other and expect to be treated. It’s unpleasant to watch, but it feels like a necessary metamorphosis for a better more level platform for marginalised people.
I’ve been busy modding in the background and on twitch, but I did read a tweet recently where someone was talking about documentation on an open source project being a bit vague to those learning and as I’m currently working through the project myself, it seemed like a good time to take more of an active interest in sharing those methods with other people.
So that’s it. It’s mostly just me pottering about on a dead platform muttering to myself.
How’s it going everyone? We’re back with episode 7! In this episode Anthony talks about the Gameboy Color and how well it stacks up in the Gameboy lineup for making chiptune music with. Enjoy!
How’s it going everyone? In episode 6 of Chiptune Tech, Anthony talks about the pros and cons of the DMG-01 for making chiptune music. He will talk about the sound, ease of modifying, and the CPU limitations. Welcome to a new episode of Chiptune Tech!
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How’s it going everyone. Sorry for the long delay. We are proud to present episode 5 of Chiptune Tech. In this episode, Anthony talks about how to get started with LSDj. How to get the ROM and effective ways of dipping your toes in the water without breaking the bank. Bonus: For anyone attending Square Sounds Festival 2017 in Melbourne on March 3-4, come out and say hi! Anthony will be attending and is down to hang out.
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We are proud to present episode 3 of Chiptune Tech. In this episode, Anthony talks about the prosound mod for the Gameboy Color. Have you ever wanted to use a GBC for making chiptune music but found the output from the headphone jack really low? Have you ever wanted to know how many colors the Gameboy Color could produce? Find out all of that and more in this episode of Chiptune Tech!
Links:
Dat OG Low-Gain GBC prosound guide: http://lowgain-audio.com/GBCmod.htm
Dat OG Capcomposer GBC prosound guide: http://capcomposer.blogspot.com/2010/…
Audio connector guide: http://www.cablestogo.com/learning/co…
We are proud to present episode 2 of Chiptune Tech. In this episode, Anthony talks about the inner workings of the prosound mod for the DMG-01 Gameboy. What’s a pre-pot?! What’s a post-pot?! Find out in this episode of Chiptune Tech!
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So, it’s taken a while, but as promised, Anthony is all setup for recording. Our first audiocast is a nice byte-sized introduction to Chiptune Tech. Chiptune Tech is here to provide information on chiptune hardware, mods, accessories and innovations being brought to the world of chiptune music. We will be delving into the mechanics of LSDj and Nanoloop in future episodes. With you, the listener, we are interested to hear what topics you would like for us to discuss, so please let us know via email at mikee@ohmnohmnohm.com. Anthony starts our first episode talking about the difference between DMG-01 CPUs and how to choose the right one for making music with.
