How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 1, Introduction

Famitracker is a tracking program which emulates the sound chip from a Famicom. A
tracker is a type of sequencer which is used to create music and looks a bit like a
spreadsheet. Starting out, this might be a bit intimidating, but it is really much less
complex than it seems.

Each column of data below represents an instrument channel and each row represents
the progression of time through the song. Effects can be added in each cell for
incredible granular control over the generated sounds.

Why use Famitracker when more modern DAWs have broader features and less
limitation? For starters, Famitracker can create an incredibly authentic Nintendo sound.
It has been compared to something like pixel art as well, where working with less can
sometimes create something much more.

I learned much of this while working on my own Chiptune album and getting a solid start
using various online resources was fairly difficult. My goal for this tutorial series is to
offer a broad overview of how to get started with Famitracker and start writing music.
Enjoy the series!
Additionally, if you prefer to learn by watching videos. You can watch this guide on
YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLW08UHPY2AEoWhZJVfaE4tUF9jpso8KI0&v=U
bGfosQHfm0

How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 2, Getting Started

To begin, you’ll need to download Famitracker, if you haven’t already. Famitracker can
be downloaded from the program’s website (http://famitracker.com/). The program runs
on Windows only unfortunately, but various Windows emulation programs do work for
running Famitracker on a Mac.

When Famitracker is first opened, this is the first screen you will see:

This might be intimidating at first, especially if you are unfamiliar with trackers in
general, but once the areas are broken down it really isn’t so bad. This is everything
explained, section by section.
In the end, it should be noted that the help documentation for Famitracker is pretty
robust. If you have questions or are stuck, be sure to hit F1 and look through the
supplied help files. There’s no shame in reading the manual! The people that wrote it
have the most intimate knowledge of the program out there.

Pattern Editor

The pattern editor is the guts of Famitracker. It is where you will be doing your music
writing. From here you can control when notes start and stop, what volume they should
be played at, and apply various effects to the generated sound.

At the top of each column you see the channel names: Pulse 1, Pulse 2, Triangle,
Noise, and DPCM. These are the instruments that are available to a standard Nintendo.
All these channels are monophonic, meaning only one note can be played at a time.
There are expansion channels you can enable giving you access to a few more
columns, which is nice for complicated songs.

There will be much more detail on this area in following lessons.

Toolbar

The toolbar has most of the standard program functions: New, Open, Save, etc. Note
there are two green play buttons in the middle. The one of the left plays the song
continuously between frames while the one on the right plays the current frame in a
loop. The stop button stops the song playback and the record button allows you to start
entering notes in the pattern editor.

Further to the right you will notice the Octave drop-down menu, this is very important to
watch as it is how you control what octave the notes you are inputting will be. Finally, on
the far right you can change your row highlighting options to make it easier to create
songs with a more unconventional time signature.

Frame Editor

The Frame Editor can be considered a zoomed out view of the entire song. Each row on
here is considered a “frame”, which are a block of rows in the Pattern Editor. Usually, a
frame is 2 or 4 musical bars long. Frame editing will be explained in more detail later in
the Making Frames section as an example of making a small game loop.

Song and Edit Settings

The Song and Edit Settings control some of the basic parameters for the current file:
Speed: This setting determines how quickly a song plays. Without getting too technical,
the Famicom had hardware limitations with how it renders audio while maintaining a
consistent video framerate. To overcome this, the tempo of a song remained consistent
(usually at 150 or 180 BPM), but the speed at which the song was processed was
modified. Generally, it is recommended to modify the speed rather than the tempo. For
a more detailed explanation, check the help documentation (Interface->Menus->Control
Panel).
Tempo: This is the beats per minute the song plays at. Like mentioned above, it is
recommended that this be 150 or 180, but generally any multiple of 30 works pretty well.
Keep in mind that a row is the shortest length of time in a song. By default, this is
generally 16th notes. Doubling the tempo will give you much more flexibility when it
comes to creating detailed rhythms, but also make navigating the song a bit more
difficult.
Rows: This defines how many rows there are per frame. If you are looking to create
something with an odd time signature, or are creating a project with a very fast tempo,
be sure to consider the rows before starting the song. Changing this halfway through
production can be incredibly time consuming.
Frames: This is the current number of frames in the overall project.

Instrument Editor

The Instrument Editor is used to create instruments which are then referenced in the
Pattern Editor. You can consider instruments in Famitracker as patches or presets for
the instrument columns. Pre-defining an instrument with a volume envelope or arpeggio
means you don’t have to create an effect for it in the Pattern Editor. This can save a
significant amount of time, especially when working with percussion. While it is entirely
possible to write entire song using only one instrument, it can create a lot of extra work.
How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 3, Creating an Instrument
Before you can generate sound inside Famitracker, you need to create an instrument.
An instrument is a collection of preset parameters which can be sent to a synth channel.
A basic instrument with no parameters will play at the same pitch and volume until
turned off or another note on that channel is triggered. Preset parameters allow an
instrument to rapidly fade the volume so it sounds more plucked, or create a sequence
of tones to follow which creates an arpeggiated chord.

Begin the process of creating an instrument by clicking the Add Instrument button in the
Instrument Editor.

A new instrument with the name New Instrument is created. You can rename the
currently selected instrument via the text box to the right of the New Instrument button.
It is recommended to keep your workspace organized and name the purpose of all your
instruments to eliminate confusion.

To edit any instrument, simply double click it.

This is the default setup for all newly created instruments. The Instrument
Settings section on the left shows which settings for this instrument are active and, if so,
which number they are using. The number allows you to share sequences between
instruments. For example, if you wanted a bunch of different sounding instruments to
have the same volume parameter, you can set them share the same parameter rather
than re-creating the exact envelope for every instrument.

Starting out, the three basic instrument settings to focus on are Volume,
Arpeggio, and Duty / Noise.

Volume: This helps shape how loud the instrument is over time. Good for quickly fading
something in or out. This can be used to create more texture and punchiness to your
instruments. Note that volume settings do not affect the triangle channel.

Arpeggio: This is used to cycle between notes quickly. Since each channel is
monophonic, creating long, suspended chords often consumes many instrument
channels, meaning less other stuff is able to play in your song. To counteract this,
having one instrument play 3 or 4 notes in rapid succession creates the impression of a
chord without occupying other channels.
Duty / Noise: For pulse channels this changes the pulse width, or the tone of the
channel. For the noise channel, this drastically affects how the noise sounds. This does
not affect the triangle channel.

To create volume parameters, simply click the Volume check box in theInstrument
Settings panel and then click the plus button in the Sizesection. Once you have
increased the size, simply click and drag across the sequence editor graph above to
define the volume parameters. In the below example, the instrument fades evenly over
100ms.

To arpeggiate an instrument, click the Arpeggio check box in the Instrument

Settings panel and then click the plus button in the Size section. This time, set a size of
3 to indicate three notes played rapidly. The vertical space in the graph above is
separated by semitones, or half steps. In the example below, 0, 3, and 10 are selected,
which creates a minor 7th chord (with the 5th interval omitted). If the note C were played,
the instrument would rapidly move between C, Eb, and Bb.

Since this arpeggio should loop rather than simply play the three notes once, click the
gray bar between the size selector and the sequence editor graph. You can set the loop
point for this effect. In this case, it should loop everything so clicking to the farthest left
will create a loop point at the beginning. To clear the loop point, simply click on the right-
hand side.

Of course, you can set a loop for any of the other effects as well if needed. Looping the
volume can give the instrument a bit more texture and movement over a solid tone.

Finally, you can modify the Duty / Noise effect just like the other two. This can
drastically change the color of the instrument so be sure to experiment with this setting.
It certainly isn’t necessary to edit the effects of your instrument every time, you can still
write music without any instrument effects at all! Use effects and sequences when it
would be easier to automate an instrument’s volume or arpeggio.

How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 4, Making a Simple Loop

With all the preliminary stuff out of the way, this article will get you started on
actually writing music! It will cover how to input your first notes and create a very simple
loop.

The first step is to create a new project to start fresh.

Next, create an instrument named “Main”. In this example, for simplicity’s sake, you
should leave all the instrument parameters off. You can come back to the parameters
after this lesson and mess around with them if you would like.
Next, you need to enable recording in the Pattern Editor by clicking the red circle button
on the top toolbar or pressing the space bar. This will turn the highlighted blue row in
the Pattern Editor to red, telling you that it is armed for recording.
Make sure that your cursor, the gray rectangle inside the red bar, is at row 00 in
the Pulse 1 channel. This cursor indicates where you are inputting data. Finally, press
the Z key on your keyboard to input the note C at octave 3.

Notice the data that was created here. First, the text C-3 indicates that the note C
natural on octave 3 was triggered. The 00 following it indicates what instrument was
used. In this case, the instrument Main.

If for some reason the note that was inputted was the wrong octave, double check
the Octave drop-down menu on the toolbar at the top of your window. Some keyboard
shortcuts can adjust this drop-down menu and it may have affected your input.

Inputting notes via the keyboard might seem counter-intuitive at first. While there are
ways to use a MIDI instrument to add notes, with a little practice using the keyboard can
become very quick and streamlined. Keyboard keys are laid out to correspond with
piano keys with the key Z being the note C at your current octave and the key Q being
the note C at an octave above.
This gives you access to two full octaves on your computer keyboard for quickly
inputting notes and melodies.

The next thing to do is add a note cut to the currently playing note. As mentioned in
Chapter 3, once a note is triggered, it will continue playing forever until turned off or
another note is triggered. By default, the Note Cut keyboard shortcut should be bound
to the 1 key, but if for some reason it isn’t working or you would like it somewhere else,
you can find it in the File->Configuration menu.
In this example, I added a note cut at row 02. This creates an 8th note since each row is
broken into 16th notes.

Continue down the frame, adding notes and cuts like the example below. This will
create your first four bars of Chiptune music!
Looking at it like this might seem complicated, but it just takes a bit of time and effort to
understand the system before it comes naturally. Consider the piano roll or sheet music,
to many people these look like gibberish, but it’s the same melody as the Famitracker
example above.
By clicking the Play button on the top toolbar, keyboard shortcut F7, your song will play
through and loop when it reaches the end. You should end up with something like
this:http://abstractionmusic.com/tumblrAudio/Famitracker_Tutorial_Chapter_4.mp3
By moving to the Pulse 2 channel, you can create a simple counter melody and basic
bass.
It will be left up to your own efforts to hear the final result!

And that’s all there is to it! A good way to learn how to use Famitracker is to find songs
you love (both from old Nintendo games and recent music) and copy the melodies. That
way, you aren’t trying to juggle being creative while also learning a new process of
creating music. Once you are comfortable with the process, you will probably find it
much easier to dive into creating your own songs.

How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 5, Basic Effects

This lesson gets into the meat and potatoes of Famitracker. All those extra columns of
empty data in each instrument channel is where you can hard code the channel volume
and define effects.

The prior chapter discussed the first two columns in the instrument channel. The first
column defines what notes are turned on and off while the second column defines which
instrument is being used for that particular note.

The third column defines the channel volume. Notice that this is a hexadecimal
character, meaning that it contains 16 values. It contains the standard 0-9, but then
moves to A, B, C, D, E, and F to handle 10-16. The loudest volume a channel can be is
F, or 16. The lowest is 0, which plays nothing.
Many effects use the same hexadecimal number system to handle a range of values.
Keep in mind that 9 isn’t the highest number you can use in most cases!

In the example above, the volume of the notes is decreasing over time. You can also
have the volume change every row, creating notes that fade or grow over time.

The rightmost column allows you to define various effects. This can range from simple
volume fades to complicated arpeggios, pitch bends, and vibrato.

Like the volume column, these effects can be defined regardless of whether a note is
created on the same row.

Also, similar to triggering a note, an effect will persist until it is turned off. The A01 effect
slowly lowers the channel volume. But it will continue to do so even when new notes are
triggered or volumes are set. Notice theA00 effect later in the example, this turns off the
volume fade effect. Be sure to always know what effects you have active and turn them
off when appropriate.
If more effects are needed for a single row you can show or hide extra effect columns
for each channel by clicking the arrows at the top of each channel.

Here is the full list of effects that are available in Famitracker. I have bolded the ones
that are used commonly.

Effect number: Description

0xy: Arpeggio, x = second note, y = third note
1xx: Pitch slide up, xx = speed (00 to disable)
2xx: Pitch slide down, xx = speed (00 to disable)
3xx: Automatic portamento, slides to new notes xx = speed (00 to disable)
4xy: Vibrato effect, x = speed (0 to disable), y = depth
7xy: Tremolo effect, x = speed (0 to disable), y = depth
Axy: Volume slide, A0x = slide down, Ax0 = slide up
Bxx: Jump to pattern xx
Cxx: Halt, stopping the song (xx doesn’t do anything)
Dxx: Skip to next frame and start at row xx
Exx: Volume setting. Obsolete, use the volume column instead
Fxx: Speed/tempo, sets the speed when xx is between 00 - 1F, and tempo when xx is
between 20 - FF
Gxx: Note delay, delay before the current row is triggered, xx = frames to wait
Hxy: Hardware sweep up, triggers a hardware sweep up (only available for square) x =
period (0 - 7), y = shift (1 - 7)
Ixy: Hardware sweep down, triggers a hardware sweep down (only avaliable for
square), x = period (0 - 7), y = shift (1 - 7)
Hxx: FDS modulation depth
Ixx/Jxx: FDS modulation speed (high part & low part)
Pxx: Fine pitch, xx = offset (80 is default)
Qxy: Note slide up, x = speed, y = number of semitones
Rxy: Note slide down, x = speed, y = number of semitones
Sxx: Mute delay, xx = frames before mute
Vxx: Square duty/noise mode/N163 wave, xx = 00 - 03 for square, 00 - 01 for noise
and 00 - 0F for N163.
Wxx: DPCM sample speed override, xx = sample playback speed
Xxx: DPCM sample retrigger, xx = delay in frames
Yxx: DPCM sample offset, each step adds 64 bytes
Zxx: DPCM delta counter, changes the delta counter directly, affects volume of noise
and triangle. xx is between 00 - 7F
Here is an example of the effects I used on a completed song. This is a frame
from Save the City.
Primarily, I use the S03 effect to give the note a shorter duration than a full row. If the
song's Speed is set to 6, then setting the mute delay to 3 will cause the delay to last half
a row. Essentially, this is creating a dotted 16th note since the note is playing for a row
and a half.

Using pitch bends (Rxx and Qxx) can be complicated initially, but understanding the
distance between notes can be very helpful. On row1C, the pulse waves are playing C#
and F, and then they both slide down to C on row 1E.
Vibrato and volume fades are used sparingly in this frame, but notice that they are
turned off shortly after they are triggered so it doesn’t impact more notes than it should.

One final important thing to note with channel volumes is that Axx effects directly
impact the channel’s volume setting. If you apply this effect, you will need to reset the
channel volume later or it will remain where the effect ended. Notice at row 30 of
the Pulse 1 channel. There is a volume fade (A05) which ends a few rows later where
the volume is reset back to F.

Also remember from a few lessons ago that the Triangle channel cannot have a volume
set to it, it is always at F regardless of what commands you send to it.

How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 6 - Wrangling the Noise Channel

One thing that hasn’t been talked about yet is the noise channel. Unlike the pulse and
triangle channels, the noise channel specializes in atonal bursts of static that usually
contribute rhythmic, percussive, or sound effects to your song.
The noise channel functions a bit differently than the other channels in Famitracker.
Rather than the standard 12 A-G letter notes in an octave, noise is triggered via 16
Hexadecimal notes (0-F). These notes trigger various “tones” of noise from very low
rumbles to high hisses. You can think of it like a 16-step bandpass filter.

Inputting commands into the noise channel can be a bit confusing sometimes since the
noise “scale” has 16 “notes” (0-F) whereas the tonal scale has 12 notes. Depending on
what octave Famitracter is set to, the same key will input a different noise command. It
takes a while to get used to.

Like the Pulse and Triangle channels, once you trigger the Noise channel, it will
continue playing indefinitely unless turned off or another noise tone is triggered.

The noise channel can take any instrument as an input, remember that an instrument is
just the instrument settings (volume, arpeggio, etc) and nothing more. If you wanted
your lead pulse channel and your noise channel to have the same volume envelope, it
can sometimes be easier to use the same instrument.

In these starting examples, a simple empty instrument with settings will be used. The
following section will build a very simple loop, step by step. Starting with the kicks. Open
an empty Famitracker song and create an empty instrument, input the following:
In this example, a noise tone of 1 is used, meaning that it is very low frequency, more of
a rumble than anything else. Starting at a volume of F, the effect A09 is applied which
causes the volume level to drop very quickly. Now to make the snares:

Snare hits can really vary the most depending on the song you are writing. Sometimes
they can be quick with punch, other times they can fade away slowly. Choosing a noise
tone of 5 or 6 usually works pretty well when creating a simple snare drum. Notice that
the effect for the snares is A06, meaning that they fade slower than the kicks. Finally,
the hats:
Hats often use the very high noise tones with a very short decay time (in this
case, A0F). Also notice that I changed the starting volume for the hats to D rather than
the loudest F.

This is the most basic drum loop you can conceive of, but it’s a start! Say, for example,
if you wanted to add a shuffle feel to the hats and an “open hat” sound on the last
offbeat:

And then what if you wanted to mess around with the kicks/snare rhythm a bit to give it
a bit more expression:

The problem with doing it this way is that it can get messy very quickly. Manually setting
volume effects can get cumbersome and can sometimes result in oversights and
mistakes. When it comes to basic drum hits, each one is usually very similar.
Additionally, most percussive sounds start very loud, then quickly fade to a lower
volume and then slowly fade out. Setting up a volume envelope is where creating
dedicated instruments to your percussion hits can be extremely handy.

In this example, you can see that the volume starts at full, but then quickly drops off and
then gradually fades. This gives both the strikesound of percussion as well as
the resonant sound of it fading away. This type of curve works well for many types of
percussion, primarily kicks and snares.

On the topic of snares, it should be noted that the arpeggio section can work
wonderfully for snare drums.
Notice that this snare uses the same volume envelope as the kick drum (#0), but
includes a two tone rising arpeggio. This helps create the solid strike on a snare drum,
but also gives it some movement during the resonant sound. Depending on the type of
snare sound you are going for, you could try arpeggiating down a few tones as well.
Completely changes the feeling of the hit.

Finally, when it comes to hat strikes, it’s often a pretty basic volume curve. Very similar
to the kick and snares, but much faster.
One more thing to make note of in the instrument editor is the Duty/Noise effect. This
has a drastic effect on the noise channel’s sound, often making it far more metallic and
clangy. It works great for special effects and quick weird stabs. Also keep in mind that
the channel effect V00-V03 can be used to change this setting on the fly, which is often
far more convenient:
Finally, two very useful things that can be done using channel effects are crashes and
rolls.

Crashes happen over long periods of time and often have subtle variation in tone as to
not get boring or tiring to the listener. They can be used to evoke the sound of cymbal
crashing or the swishing of waves.
Using the vibrato effect (431) works wonderfully here, slowly moving the pitch of the
noise up and down over time while a volume effect (A01) slowly fades the noise out.
Notice in the example above that an empty channel with no volume envelope was used.
The volume is being controlled the the channel effect instead.

Rolls are when an instrument, usually a hat or snare, is hit far too rapidly for the
individual notes to be places manually in the song. You can take advantage of the
channel arpeggiation effect for this (0xx)

Near the bottom of this example, notice that 012 effect is being used to roll the hats for
a brief period of time. Be sure to turn off the arpeggiation effect when you aren’t using it
by setting it to 000! Again, notice that rather than using the instrument 04 like the rest of
the hats, an empty instrument is used to roll the hats instead.
How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 7 - Juggling Instruments
One of the more difficult skills to learn while using Famitracker is instrument juggling.
Since the number of channels available to work with are so limited, they should be
utilized as completely as possible. When one melody isn’t playing, something else
should be taking up that channel to fill the space.

In the example above (which is taken from 32 seconds into Save the City), notice how
the Pulse 1 channel is bouncing between two different instruments playing both the long
effect notes as well as the bass lead that just came in.

This is a very difficult skill to master and it requires something of a situational

awareness of where all the elements of the song are at the moment. Many of the prior
lessons focus on concrete, easily explainable skills, but this one is quite a bit more
difficult to nail down in a simple guide. Here are a few tips that should help you starting
out.
Pay attention to when notes start
This is probably the most important thing you can do. Most of the time, the important
part of the note is when it starts, not necessarily how long it lasts. Starting a note can
define both a melody as well as rhythm, even if it is happening for a very brief period of
time.

If melodies on the same channel overlap, pick the dominant one

It is completely OK to bring in another instrument after the first one is finished playing.
This happens a lot in the Noise channel where you want a long cymbal crash, but you
need to insert several other percussive hits. Often, it is as easy and starting the crash,
then playing the other drums, then resuming the crash at an appropriately lower volume.
The listener’s mind can often fill in the blanks.

With melodic instruments, you can to play long droning chords in the background, but it
is very difficult to include any moving melodic elements. However, you can have those
long notes playing whenever the melody isn’t doing anything.

Find the important notes in your chords

Disclaimer: This tip is up for debate depending on who you ask, so take this with a grain
of salt. Your mileage may vary depending on the complexity and style of chords you are
using. If it works for you, then great!

When it comes to building and playing full chords in Famitracker, you need to keep in
mind the most important notes of that chord since you only have three melodic
instruments to work with. Also, this assumes you are playing chords; power chords (just
the first and fifth) don’t count here.

The root of the chord is by far the most important note that should be played. This
solidifies the chord’s place in the overall chord progression.

Next, the third should be played. This generally is a major or minor third, and sets the
tone of the chord depending on the overall song.
Finally, the seventh (or ninth, or sixth), should be the last note you utilize. The
extensions give the chord color and often help move the song’s overall chord
progression forward.

Why omit the fifth in your chords? It often simply isn’t necessary. In many cases the
fifth’s main job is to reinforce the root note and smooth the dissonance between the root
and the seventh, not really add any flavor to the chord like the third and seventh do.
For a more elaborate explanation and a few examples on the topic, watch this part of a
presentation given on the Elements of Chip Music. If you have the time, watch the
whole video, it’s incredibly interesting.

How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 8 - Percussive Triangles

After messing around with the Noise Channel for a bit, you might notice that the
percussion created from it lacks the “punch” that certain elements in traditional Chiptune
music have. When listening to music from classic NES games, you will notice other
percussive sounds layered alongside the noise channel. These additional sounds are
often created by taking advantage of the Triangle channel.
The secret to this technique is very quick downward pitch bends. This method achieves
two very important things when emulating percussion.

First, it greatly excites a specific section of the frequency spectrum. The noise channel
is great for making washes of static, but it lacks focus on the frequency spectrum. The
triangle channel on the other hand, is very close to a sine wave and generates a very
narrow frequency band.

When quickly swept across an octave or two it can easily saturate the lower-midrange
frequencies and does a great job at briefly ovewhelming through other elements of the
song.

This creates a very punchy sound. When you strike a drum, most of the vibrational
energy happens immediately with lower frequencies dissipating slightly slower. Starting
the triangle tone high and quickly pitching it down creates a sense of a strike and
energy dissipation.

There are two primary ways to create a pitch bend for the triangle channel.

The first method uses the effects column on the triangle channel to manipulate each
note. Using Rxx (like in the example at the top of this article), or 2xx like the image
below are both viable options. Using the theRxx effect will often give you something
more melodic in nature since the pitch bend is based off semitones.
The second method is to create a dedicated instrument for using thePitch effect. This
way, the speed of the pitch can be very precisely controlled.

In both cases, the octave where you start your triangle percussion can create different
effects. Starting on a low octave (3 or 4) works well for kicks and bassy hits. Moving to
higher octaves gives you the more traditional tom sound which can be heard in a lot of
Mega Man games.

Regardless of the method you use, you’ll have to become well versed at Juggling
Instruments between your percussion and melody/bass.

How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 9 - Wrangling the DPCM Channel

DPCM (Delta Pulse-code Modulation) is a conversion method traditionally used to
transmit voice, often at the cost of quality to save on space or bandwidth. Famitracker’s
main interface (the 2A03 sound chip) has a DPCM channel built into it, allowing to play
short, low fidelity samples.

Often, the DPCM channel is used to further enhance percussion with a more realistic
sound. The burden of playing the kicks and snares are sometimes brought to the DPCM
channel with support from the Triangle channel. This leaves the noise channel open for
more complicated hats, cymbals, and sound effects.

It is important to know that DPCM samples should be kept as short as possible. The
memory available for each sample inside Famitracker doesn’t allow for you to import
anything longer than a few seconds depending on import quality.
To begin the process of importing a sample, you must have the sample in WAV format.
You can use a program like Audacity to convert multiple sound files to WAV. Once
Famitracker is open, you must have an instrument created. It doesn’t have to be unique
or special, you simply need to be able to access the Instrument Editor.

Once inside the Instrument editor, click the DPCM samples tab.
From here you are able import samples and manage your loaded samples. To import a
sample, click the Import button and navigate to where you saved your WAV file. The
following dialog box will display.
A few options are available to manipulate the sample before the import is complete.

The Quality slider determines the quality and speed at which the sample will be played.
For best audio quality leave this setting at 15, but keep in mind that your maximum
sample size will be reduced to less than a second.

You can use the Gain slider to modify the imported sample’s imported volume. There
are no volume controls on the DPCM channel so be sure that it is at a level you are
happy with. Use the Preview button to ensure you are getting what you want.

When you are satisfied with the imported sample sound, click the OK button to import
the sample into Famitracker.

Now that the sample is imported, it will display in the Loaded samples panel. It is
recommended to click the Edit button after importing the sample to view how well it
imported. In some cases, there is DC offset that needs to be corrected.
Simply clicking the Center wave check box will align the sample to the waveform’s
middle. Click OK to return to the Instrument editor.

Now that you have your sample imported and ready to go, you need to assign a musical
key to it. You can do that by clicking the left arrowbutton in the Assigned
samples section.
All that is left now is closing the Instrument editor and adding the notes you assigned to
your frame.

Keep in mind that like the Triangle channel, there is no way to modify the volume of
samples during playback. Once they are imported, that’s the volume they will be at.
Of course, beyond simply using percussion sounds, you can incorporate short voice
clips or single-cycle samples using the loop check box in the Assigned Samples area.
This lets you get an authentic sound without having to post-process things in a different
program. Using the DPCM channel can really open up a lot of creative opportunities.

How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 10 - Expansion Channels

The Famicom has the ability to expand its sound output by mixing audio generated by
expansion chips included in some game cartridges. Famitracker can currently emulate
five of those chip expansions.

Adding expansion chips into your Famitracker projects greatly extend the number and
variety of channels you have at your disposal. This lesson will focus on adding and
using the Konami VRC6 expansion chip, but the other four chips offer a wide variety of
unique features and sounds.

You can find more information about the expansion chips on Famitracker’s wiki
here: http://famitracker.com/wiki/index.php?title=Sound_hardware

Only one expansion chip can be enabled per project, so it is important to know the
styles and types of chips at your disposal and choose the correct one if it is necessary.
Start enabling an expansion chip by clicking the Module Properties button in the top
toolbar.
This opens the Module Properties window, which allows you to create and organize
multiple songs in the same project file. The Expansion Sound drop-down menu at the
bottom is what you are looking for.
Choose the Konami VRC6 option and then click the OK button to return to your project.
Notice now that three new channels have appeared. Another set of Pulse 1 and Pulse
2 as well as a Sawtooth channel.
A very important thing to keep in mind while working with an expansion channel is that
they have their own unique instrument editor. To create an instrument for an expansion
channel, simply have that channel selected when you create an instrument.

The instruments for expansion channels are not compatable with the standard
instrument channels in Famitracker. If you try to use an expansion instrument inside a
core Famitracker channel, the instrument number will display in red like in the example
below.
Aside from simply having extra channels to play notes though, one of the biggest
advantages of expansion channels are having expanded functionality to the instruments
themselves. Rather than the 4 duty cycle options of the standard Famitracker Pulse
instrument, the VRC6 offers 8! This can create a much wider variety of sounds.
How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 11 - Managing Frames
Up until this point, these lessons have been done within a single frame of music for
simplicity’s sake. However, a single frame doesn’t contain much space for an entire
song, usually only 2 or 4 bars of music. At some point you’re going to need to add more
content!

Like mentioned in previous lessons, a frame can be considered a “chunk” of the song.
When one frame of the song has completed playing, the following frame automatically
plays.

You can create and delete frames by using the frame + and frame -buttons on the top
toolbar. Additionally, you can use the up and down arrow buttons to change the
position of a frame in the song and theduplicate frame button to make a copy of the
current frame.

Each created frame is given a hexadecimal number for the order it is played in the song.
Hexadecimal numbers were initially discussed inChapter 5 if you need a refresher.
Notice that each instrument channel in the frame is given their own number. It is
important to know that thecurrent frame number isn’t linked to the instrument’s frame
number. You can change the instrument frame’s number by using the + and - buttons
below the frame menu.

These instrument frame numbers allow you to reference already created instrument
data into a new frame. For example, if you have want your triangle channel to loop
throughout the entire song, you could use the instrument frame number that you created
and re-use that exact same data through all the frames of the song. Notice how the
instrument data in the triangle channel doesn’t change because it is all referencing
frame 01.
Traditionally, this was used to conserve storage space inside the cartridge. Rather than
filling many instrument frames with repeated data, it will instead look back to a different
instrument frame and re-use already existing information.

A strong word of warning while reusing frame data, however. If you change anything on
a shared instrument frame all other shared frames on that instrument channel will also
change. It can be very frustrating to modify one section of a song and find out later that
other sections of the song were also inadvertently changed.
Referencing the bass channel example above. If you decided to change the triangle
channel on frame 01, be warned that frame 02 and 03 will also change since the same
data is being referenced.

Unless conserving space is a very large concern for your project, it is recommended to
keep all frames of your song as individual numbers rather than stacking them up. It is
far simpler to copy/paste frame data into a fresh frame than worry about whether you
are overwriting work elsewhere in the song.
How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 12 - Putting it All Together (Save the
City)
This final chapter of How to Use Famitracker is going to be a little bit different. I am
dropping the “3rd person tutorial” mode of writing for a more personal approach. I want
to dive into the creative process of using Famitracker while taking advantage of all the
technical details that have been discussed in the prior chapters. This chapter will be
discussing my own thoughts and considerations during the creation of two Chiptune
songs: Save the City and Sanctuary. But first, a little back-story.

During the creation of Three Red Hearts, I was still learning how to use Famitracker
myself. Thankfully, many of the Chiptune tracks I had written began in Ableton and
simply needed to be transcribed over into Famitracker. Since the music was already
written, I was able to worry about learning Famitracker’s workflow and interface without
bothering about being creative.

Once I got more familiar with using Famitracker I started writing original tracks. A
tracker has a completely alien workflow, which I feel really twisted around my normal
“style”. The first track I was comfortable sharing is called Save the City.

Click here to download the Famitracker project for this song.

(This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attributions, you are allowed to remix
and share this file freely as long as my name and website is still attached to it. If you
make a sweet remix, bounce it to me, I’d love to hear it!)

This song came about because of the initial descending bass line.
It gave me the feeling of a gigantic monster emerging from dark water, moving toward a
nearby metropolis. Layering the buzzy pulse wave with the low triangle really helped
give that initial weight and mass. One thing I wanted to accomplish with this song was to
see how far I could takeinstrument juggling. Having those long sustained notes while
also bringing it more complexity was a very interesting mental challenge I had never
experienced before.
This was also the song that really taught me the power of the noise channel and the
absolutely insane sounds you can generate with it. Most of the time I was looking for
wooshes and short pings to convey the feeling of action around the creature. I used
the Triangle channel to help with percussion to give the important hits more weight.

Then the hero of the story arrives with the arpeggio. Rising up to challenge the monster
in a battle to the death! Whether that hero is a piloting a giant robot, a superpowered
mutant, or laser-blasting aliens, that’s up to the listener to decide.

The opponents square off in a brief moment of calm. This break does a lot of things in
the song. It helps raise tension by offering contrast after the long buildup. It also
prepares the song for a transition into the main bulk of the track. Since this break is only
two bars long rather than the four bars that was happening before, it creates a bit of
instability with what to expect next.
Combat is flashy and full of rhythmic punches. Like any combat scene, things start
simple and continue to build to a climax. It starts by establishing a simple bass and
rhythm. More and more complex things start getting added as the combat progresses.
The monster’s instrument sound from the initial bass line comes back as a lead at a
higher octave.

One thing I’ve learned while writing this kind of stuff is that it needs to be sprinkled with
little breaks. I love these because it gives the audience a chance to fill in what is
happening with their minds. Did the hero just get punched through a building and is
slowly getting back up? Maybe a fleeing semi truck was grabbed and is being used as a
club.

To some people, it might sound weird conjuring these ambiguous scenes while writing
music, but I find that it really helps tell an engaging story rather than just making a
bunch of noises. It helps guide when things should happen and how they happen. Even
if it isn’t obvious to the listener, without these breaks and quick shifts in tone, it would
just be wall to wall action and that could get tiring on the listener quickly.
Finally, near the peak of the song, the hero’s arpeggio comes back in. This does two
major things for the song. From a mechanical point of view, it helps reestablish the
tempo and rhythm of the song. By this point, much of the song’s percussion and bass
has been disjointed and broken. Bringing back the arpeggio snaps everything back to a
specific tempo and rhythm.

From a story perspective, bringing back the hero’s arpeggio takes the focus off the
monster’s instrument sound and they start playing off each other a bit in a final struggle
for dominance.

How to Use Famitracker - Chapter 12.2 - Putting it all Together

(Sanctuary)
Unlike the last chapter about Save the City, which was based off a small story I had in
my head, I wrote Sanctuary based on a feeling of what I wanted. As primarily an
ambient and downtempo musician, I was curious how well I could create a song in
Famitracker that was more about expressing a relaxing mood. I wanted to capture that
vast sense of wonder and adventure while traveling across the grasslands fighting
pixelated goblins and slimes.
I knew I couldn’t rely on complex chords like when using a modern DAW; I simply
couldn’t afford to invest that many sound channels into it. In this project I did use
the Konami VRC6 expansion chip to give me access to three more channels.

Click here to download the Famitracker project for this song.

(This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attributions, you are allowed to remix
and share this file freely as long as my name and website is still attached to it. If you
make a sweet remix, bounce it to me, I’d love to hear it!)

The first thing I did in this project was work on some “pad” sound design. Unlike working
with modern DAWs, there aren’t any lowpass filters available to help smooth out
channel frequencies. I opted instead to have the notes gracefully fade in and out
using Axx effects. To the listener, this gives the ears a brief moment to prepare and
acclimate to the chord changes. This also helps smooth the pad sound and make it
seem more rounded, creating a larger sense of space in the overall mix.
I chose a very simple chord progression: Bm-G, or i-VI. It is one of my favorite
progressions because of how versatile and emotive it can be. The fact that you can play
both chords at the same time (to get VI7) means you can do fun things like have the
arpeggio stay the same between both chords and not run into any dissonance issues.

However, I did run into my first problem while creating the arpeggio: I had already used
all my instrument channels for the chords! I briefly tried working with only two sustained
notes, but it lacked that harmonic richness which I craved. I brought in the VRC6 and
moved on.
I decided to add the arpeggio to help give the song momentum and forward movement.
Having the pads cycle back and forth was pretty, but it didn’t really feel like anything
was happening.

At the end of each two-bar arpeggio section, I extended the flourish with an echo
effect on the second, unused expansion pulse channel. This added echo helps create a
feeling of openness and exploration.

The percussion comes in at half time giving it a super chilled atmosphere that I really
dug. One thing I worked very hard on was the snare. I wanted it to be large and open,
but still have enough punch to tie the song together and continue driving the everything
forward.

The volume envelope is similar to what was discussed in the Wrangling the Noise
Channel chapter. A very hard initial strike with a quick drop and then long fade out. I
also slowly bent the pitch of the strike up, which gives the impression of it echoing and
reverberating in a physical space.

One other notable discovery I made while working with the percussion in this track was
the hat rolls.

Basically, the Noise channel is arpeggiating between notes, creating the effect that the
hat is being struck very quickly.

I was able to use the 0xx effect to create a rolling sound for the hats. This used the pad
instrument (instrument 00 rather than the hat 04) because there were some weird
conflicts with the instrument’s sustained volume.

On the Triangle channel, overall it is pretty basic. There is a large focus on graceful
pitch bends to give the sense of flowing movement rather than quick, jerky bursts of
speed. When things do start getting more active, most of the movement is in octaves.
I really liked how the triangle channel flowed around the rest of the music, making way
when it needed to, but often just reinforcing what was already there.

Finally, there is the Sawtooth lead that comes in halfway through the song.
Like many other parts of Sanctuary, the Sawtooth channel flows through most of its
melody using pitch bends rather than jumping between notes. The process of figuring
this out was initially confusing and frustrating since I had to math my way between the
notes. Up a step, down a major third, and so forth.

Also, it is worth noting how quiet this channel is. I don’t believe it ever gets above a
volume of 6. This is because higher frequency notes are often perceived as louder. If
this was set at full F volume, it would drown out the rest of the mix. When it comes to
raw waveforms, especially in Chiptunes, it is important to be aware of how the higher
and lower pitches affect the overall sound of the song.
That is all I had to sum up Sanctuary. It ended up being one of my favorite songs on
the Three Red Hearts album and I’m glad I was able to share some of my production
process with everyone.

This also completes the How to Use Famitracker tutorial series! I’m so glad that you
have taken the time to read my posts and learn more about writing Chiptune music. If
you found it useful, and think it would be helpful for others, please consider sharing it
with your friends.
Finally, the combat stops and all that is left is a more melodic revisiting of the monster’s
stomping from the start of the song. Does this mean that the monster triumphed or is
beating a hasty retreat back to the ocean? Again, that’s up to the listener to decide.

From a sound design perspective, aside from the monster’s instrument sound, much of
the melodic sound design in this song uses simple instruments.

As a personal preference, I really enjoy keeping things very simple and harmonic rather
than trying to blast out as much noise as possible. The monster’s sound is really the
focus in this song as it stands out as ugly and alien from the rest of the track.
Creating this song and the mini story behind it was a lot of fun. It was a great
exploration of Famitracker’s noise channel and becoming very familiar with instrument
juggling. The next chapter will talk about Sanctuary, which is a completely different
sound and mood.