NES Audio: Brief Explanation of Sound Channels

[@appleplates]

I love the kind of creativity that these kinds of limitations force.

[@George-zk4nv]

I’ve always thought that they could use the sound waves on the rock songs that I love. For example, S.E.X. and Feed the Machine are both songs in the C minor key, right? And they’re both by Canadian rock band Nickelback. So if the sound engineers re-recorded those songs again, and maybe they might know about the sound chips used in video games like the NES, then they can use the Ricoh 2A03 sound chip and put it in the chorus of S.E.X. and use it to create other sounds for the instrumental break.

[@cybrnekomusic]

"It cannot fade out" *fades out*

[@MCDreng]

Peyton Blanscet technically with some DPCM trickery you could (roughly) fade it out.

[@cybrnekomusic]

MinecraftWaryur yeah, I know, I've worked with famitracker a long time. I just thought the timing was great, when it said that it couldn't fade out, and then faded out.

[@cybrnekomusic]

cs127 I know it was. But it was just a funny place to fade out, right after it said that the NES can't. I know that the other channels (except DPCM) have volume from 0 to F (15) and consequently they can't get a smoothe fade out either on their own.

[@Scripture-Man]

I'm sure it was done as a joke.

[@detective_l2413]

@@cybrnekomusic Same. I've been using FT since I'm 12 years old.

[@doyalg]

the fact that some of the most memorable video game music of all time came from these limitations is mind blowing.

[@dpvg]

Great video! Just a minor correction: from what I know, the delta PCM sample depth is actually 7 bit, not 1 bit (which would sound terrible). What you probably confused is that the data stream itself is devided into 1-bit segments.

[@randomnerd4600]

the sample channel has two modes : PCM and DPCM, PCM is a stream of numbers corresponding to diferent voliumes like an mp3 or something while DPCM is a stream of 0's and 1's, if its a 0 it subtracts 1 from the voliume and if its a 1 it adds 1 to the voliume. edit : PCM is a 7bit register you write to with the CPU, DPCM activates itself every few cycles and only requires the cpu to start it

[@CommunitySkratch]

so is it 1 bit or 7 bit ;v @@randomnerd4600

[@therealhardrock]

The 12.5%, 25%, and 50% on the pulse wave channels sound like the different pickups on an electric guitar, the higher the pickup is, the softer the sound. I always felt like Konami games had heavy metal music because they sound like a guitar with distortion and all of the power on the bottom pickup.

[@George-zk4nv]

Those pulse waves also sound like different chords on a piano too.

[@superleviathan]

What's fascinating to me is that, for the most part (barring the Famicom Disk System and some third party games with custom chips), these were the tools for audio for the NES' lifetime. So, a game from 1993 will use the same channels as a game from 1983, but sound completely different based on how sophisticated the developers have become with the hardware.

[@thenamelessavenger]

I am not satisfied with the 8-bit Reason tutorials I am finding, so in my research and quest for eventually making my own I found this. it was EXACTLY what i needed to deconstruct the channels and start programming my own. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.

[@nis5e]

Excellent video, both clear and tightly paced. Would love more in this style, especially with popular de-constructed tracks as examples, like with the Mario Bros track at 00:43.

[@WildSaber]

I love to see one of these about the Sega Genesis

[@vergildisparda]

0:00 Pulse Waves 0:40 Triangle Waves 1:05 Noise 1:40 Samples Hope this helps

[@vergildisparda]

Hey, I found one of my old comments!

[@radikalbeats]

the video is barely 3 mins my guy

[@vergildisparda]

@@radikalbeats bro this comment was from 2016

[@kelafornia]

Quick and concise, thanks!

[@SparkyMK3]

What's also interesting is that the NES sound chip is monophonic. That is, each channel can only play one note at any given time, meaning its impossible to play Chords on individual channels, only Arpeggios. The Game Boy had this exact same limitation. And on top of that, the sound effects and music had to share sound channels, so the music would have to be programmed to ignore notes at certain times in order for the sound effects to play (this is very easy to notice while playing Super Mario Bros. 2). Composers still found creative ways to work around that limit by having all of the sound channels working together. They really knew how to make the most with what they had!

[@George-zk4nv]

That 50% pulse wave in arpeggio sound sounds exactly like the telephone ringing.

[@turbohusque]

Wow! This is a really informative and interesting series! I grew up with the NES and have always loved chiptune music. Thanks!

[@George-zk4nv]

I’m glad they released the NES again!

[@theguardian8317]

Very nice explanation with examples! Channel 3 makes me think of SMB2 (especially the pause screen) Channel 4 makes me think of the NES version of Maniac Mansion

[@SpongeMagic]

Channel 3 is the Bass line to SMB2.

[@George-zk4nv]

When you hear the examples of 12.5%, 25%, and 50%, are they in a game?

[@tribaltroll]

Very interesting. I always noticed that in SMB3 when you're flipping your tail while flying (or floating back down), the tail sound interferes with the background music. So much so that it makes the melody sound very different.

[@Pirateyware]

+10forRP All NES sound effects interfere with the background music, by nature. The music and sounds all have to use the same 5 sound channels, so generally something has to get sacrificed for the duration of the sound effect.

[@vuurniacsquarewave5091]

+Plastiware However, every once in a while you got games like Alien 3 or Robocop 3, which simply reserved channels exclusively for one task only. In Robocop 3 you've got only a single pulse channel playing music, while everything else is doing the sound effects. In Alien 3, a single pulse channel is used for sound effects, and the rest for music. This is not a very good way of doing things though...

[@vittosphonecollection57289]

I wonder if Noise in mode 2 can be used for bass...

[@Jurianug]

Sunsoft had amazing sountracks. Excellent series!

[@George-zk4nv]

I love how you use the Ricoh 2A03 sound chip on the musical keyboard. That would actually be my favorite sound when you play on keyboards now.

[@Shezzein]

This was incredibely helpful, thanks!

[@shakeitoff1000]

This is fantastic and has helped me a lot with my university work, thank you.

[@nnooooooooooooo]

I had been previously lead to believe that there were only 4 channels on the NES. I had wondered how EA pulled the theme song for Skate or Die 2 off. Channel 5 would explain it. Neat video!

[@Luigithehomie91]

I am really enjoying this series. I was going to comment about Triangle Toms but then i saw you already had a video on it! awesome

[@explod2A03]

@2HornDogs Thanks! I'll definitely have some posts about the SNES in the future. :)

[@brianmellblom]

the favorite musical instrument of my childhood! thanks for the excellent video

[@chrisxdeboy]

Yeah, I used to play the Mario a lot.

[@GuruRavindra]

मैं टीवी क्यों देखूं ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4i8ZKGaqKdlj80

[@louiei.1552]

the second mode of the noise channel sounds like an atari 2600.

[@Sebastian-xy3xk]

I was thinking that too!!

[@vuurniacsquarewave5091]

The TIA graphics / sound adapter of the 2600 uses a set of bit shifters to produce different distorted pulse-like waves so it does sound very similar to the short-sequence noise of the NES.

[@GuruRavindra]

मैं टीवी क्यों देखूं ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4i8ZKGaqKdlj80

[@kidkique]

75% and 25% pulse waves sound the same, but are out of phase and can be used together for phase shifting

[@clubhappybest]

Excellent little piece!!!! Man, it is hard to get any better than the Megaman 2 music....

[@Moshugaani]

This video series is really interesting!

[@groszak1]

What is the frequency at which the channels were encoded? That is, 16 notes per second for example if a configuration like none/C note/D note/... can be made 16 times per second.

[@Serpter4215]

1:57 what if this was music to a sonic 3 level? Sounds similar to the mega drive

[@onetouchtwo]

I love this video so much.

[@CharcoalRabbit]

The fifth channel could be used for anything. However, since SFX took a lot of data from NES carts. They didn't have a lot of practical usages. Used for timpani drums in Super Mario Bros. 3 and occasional SFX/voice clips.

[@peasedustin]

ending with Journey to Silius was wise!

[@alexv8286]

10 years later, I really appreciate your comment because I was checking to see if anyone named the song! Stage Theme 03. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpe5q5KXicesjbs

[@ktvx.94]

Thank you! This is super clear and concise, exactly what I was looking for. Cheers!

[@cracko6145]

Sunsoft is the fucking god of nes music

[@lucianhartt3123]

Every so often, I rewatch these videos. They're just so dang fascinating. Any chance of you doing something like this for the Gameboy?

[@randomnerd4600]

the gameboy is mostly the same but the pulse waves sound a bit diferent i think, the triangle is replaces with a custom 32 samples long 4bit waveform (defined via "Wave RAM") and the noise can play 256 diferent noises instead of 32

[@lucianhartt3123]

@@randomnerd4600 I see. Very interesting, thank you!

[@George-zk4nv]

@@randomnerd4600 the Game Boy Color would be the same too. But the triangle wave sounds a lot different.

[@randomnerd4600]

@@George-zk4nv as far as im aware, no, only the APU quirks change between DMG and CGB. edit : misread "triangle wave" as "wave", no, the GB has no built in triangle wave, the wave it has *can* be a triangle

[@lordraven]

what is the game from sunsoft at the end?

[@Sh-hg8kf]

Journey TO silius

[@smith507]

It would be really really awesome if you could include picture in picture of those channel's output with an oscilloscope taken directly from the NES. I don't want to teardown my NES... again :P

[@GuruRavindra]

मैं टीवी क्यों देखूं ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4i8ZKGaqKdlj80

[@UnconventionalSci]

Does anyone still fix up NES for midines carts. The one where they split the output channels and clean up the sound? I hope this makes sense.

[@nijiiro2134]

this is exactly the video I was looking for good job

[@mantictac]

The triangle was from SMB2.

[@Sh-hg8kf]

ManticTac I called it!

[@mantictac]

Was it really a year ago when I posted this comment?

[@Sh-hg8kf]

ManticTac ya

[@hayden6700]

@ManticTac was it really a year ago when you posted this reply?

[@t0biascze644]

*SMG4 :)

[@Zenju__]

This is incredibly enlightening, awesome video.

[@GuruRavindra]

मैं टीवी क्यों देखूं ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4i8ZKGaqKdlj80

[@ChrisLeeW00]

What are the 16 preset pitches for noise? Is it the same notes as the preset pitches for the sample channel?

[@RyumaXtheXKing]

Any other soundtrack that makes us of the metallic noise?

[@MCDreng]

Ryuma King Action 52 uses it for sound effects

[@FarnhamTheDrunk1]

using the terms "uses" and "sound effects" very loosely

[@coolbluelights]

The noise channel part was from Bad Dudes.

[@TigansUp]

Thank you. More pulse wave sounds pls

[@plutonic9051]

woah this is a good find for making 8bit music

[@donskiver]

I'd love to see a follow up on this to include the extra sound channels provided by the VRC6 chip in certain Famicom games like Akamajou Densetsu 3 (Japanese version of Castlevania 3). From what I understand, there were THREE extra sound channels that helped the Famicom achieve a more symphonic sound in some games.

[@Nukle0n]

There was actually a video done in this style but I can't find it, uploader's channel must've been deleted.

[@vuurniacsquarewave5091]

+Nukle0n Yeah that was me. If I ever get the time I'll do things like that again.

[@Nukle0n]

+za909returns Neat, it was pretty good.

[@kovertopz]

This is very well done!

[@GuruRavindra]

मैं टीवी क्यों देखूं ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4i8ZKGaqKdlj80

[@demon92490]

This has been so helpful. Thank you!

[@theblurcafex1655]

Can a pulse channel change pulse width on the fly?

[@josueagama8954]

0:55 my favorite part

[@armosthelivingsekizou]

Well i have a question and is the 2 pulse waves the triangle waves and noise channels what be the instrument of reality can represent more?

[@laurinneff4304]

I'm currently making an NES synthesizer with my Teensy 3.5. this video helped me understand the different channels, now I just need to figure out how to reproduce the metallic mode of the noise channel and write some code to read a file from an SD that describes the music (what frequency to play on what channel and in what mode) and convert some music from NES games to that format

[@gamezvideos2]

Pulse waves are essentially square waves with different duty cycles. The difference between them is that they're not symetric (except the 50% duty cycle square wave that sounds like a regular square wave). And there's one more duty cycle: 87.5%, sounding like the 12.5% one.

[@reymicroc]

What else do you need?

[@petwisk2012]

can you made a video splaning how master system sound are made?

[@Jshaw71]

It would only be fair, imo, but that's just me...

[@mypkamax]

Can the periodic noise be used as bass when using the triangle for the flute melody and two pulse channels for the strings?

[@dilliot2k]

thank you so much for sharing this

[@lionelthefox]

Triangle wave sample from mario 2?

[@GaeasBlessing]

This answered so many questions I had! Awesome tutorial, thanks a million.

[@SumRandomDewd]

Triangle waves is the music from super mario bros 2!

[@Visionsofmortality]

Short but sweet! thanks for this video

[@dont-feed-ben4833]

this was way awesome, thanks for explaining. I got one question though. Generally speaking, how can one "pitch" noise? I thought noise was created by random frequencies.

[@Scripture-Man]

I believe it's simply a matter of range. All white noise has some "range". You can "filter" that range to make it higher or lower. The more narrowly you filter it, the more the sound approaches a pure tone. A bit like when you alternate between whistling, and just letting the hiss of air pass through your mouth.

[@radornkeldam]

cool video, simple (in the good sense), informative, and well thought and laid out. I would have gladly taken a little bit more of detail, but I can't say I'm dissatisfied. good examples too. thank you!

[@Kopteeni]

Such an informative and intriguing vid. Thanks for doing it!

[@ABardsLife]

Short and very well done. Thanks!

[@AguFungus]

I wonder if you could do one for the chiptune sounds of the Nintendo DS. Apparently they are more limited compared to NES and Game Boy: It can do the same pulse waves as NES and GB, plus an additional one that was originally heard in VRC6 (used often in the Sonic games by Dimps). I cannot do neither the triangle wave (NES), nor the 4-bit wave channel (GB), resulting in some limited reproduction of some retro chiptunes (like the 8-bit music from Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver).

[@TLOEric]

Can somebody ID the song @ 1:00? Thanks!

[@sirehd879]

what are the songs at the beginning and at 1:57?

[@metarotta]

first song idk but 1:57 is journey to silius stage 3 theme iirc

[@sirehd879]

@@metarotta thank you so much!

[@ZeroJanitor]

@@sirehd879 the first song is Overworld 1 from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

[@sirehd879]

@@ZeroJanitor oh cool! Thank you so much!

[@darkychao]

i like the fact that i can recognize nearly all of the songs with only one channel

[@markhopwood6928]

Interesting that they incorporated a triangle waveform in addition to the square waveform in the chip. It has a very "Nintendo" sound when used for whimsical bassline parts and sound effects.

[@dpaul428]

This should be required viewing for everyone who makes an "8-bit" version of a song with 16-note polyphony and notes decaying all over each other.

[@vasilissoupionis6329]

After watching your video i realized that on my original NES the 1 & 2 pulse waves are missinng and my mario Bros 3 sounds awfull. Is there any way to fix it?

[@sirboomsalot2429]

I think that is a hardware issue

[@monolyth421]

The noise channel is from Bad Dudes

[@isaaksaucedoorendain8897]

Can you remove the final screen

[@emptyspotlight]

1:40 Where's this from?

[@Antonio231102]

finally a video talking about this! thanks!

[@francisleech]

what sunsoft game is that song in the end from?

[@LiloVLOG]

+Francis Leech Is from Journey to Silius, Stage 3. And yes... NES really sounds like heaven! haha

[@GuruRavindra]

मैं टीवी क्यों देखूं ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4i8ZKGaqKdlj80

[@SgtZaqq]

Very helpful video, thank you!

[@jimchan2114]

@explod2A03 does this work for those NES that use 6502 CPU? Does it work for all NES audio in general

[@GreatPrincessSoben]

I wonder how the SMS audio works

[@Luigithehomie91]

There hasnt been a single word from him in forever, huh? It's kinda sad actually... i enjoyed your VRC6 video; hope to see more!

[@paburo-san6667]

where sine and saw waves?

[@quadpad_music]

The NES couldn´t have them, at least that you used expansion sound.

[@HeroOfTheTree]

0:57 I want a full version

[@techy4198]

How can I recognise the Doki Doki Panic first level music by just the bassline :o

[@dereklouden7415]

In america, doki doki panic was changed into our version of super mario bros 2

[@nnooooooooooooo]

I constantly find myself humming different parts of that song as I'm working. The bassline is particularly entertaining to me. Such an iconic tune.

[@AColonelPanic]

You might want to make a video about the differences between the NES and the Famicom. As i understand there were some slight differences in the way the sound was produced.

[@Rikigoya]

this is SOOO great i always try and explain people how 8-bit works but people get confused....thank you for the upload

[@victornoagbodji]

great explanation!

[@Sebastian-xy3xk]

Could someone please tell me what is that song at the end that has the bassy sound samples??

[@vuurniacsquarewave5091]

Journey to Silius Stage 3

[@Sebastian-xy3xk]

:D

[@tellahsage6477]

What game is the last music from?

[@poppylover2586]

i don't know why it sounds like static

[@therandomsomeone.]

good example for the triangle wave with the super mario bros 2 overworld

[@dissident93]

you might be thinking of the FDS

[@falariem]

Very useful for understanding the basics on chiptunes. Thanks for the breakdown, and use of the real NES games for each example. What tune did you use at 0:57? It sounds very familiar. Then again, that tinny "stretched" sound you get from altering the pitch is something I've heard a lot of in NES games, and I consider it one of the console's hallmarks.

[@GuruRavindra]

मैं टीवी क्यों देखूं ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4i8ZKGaqKdlj80

[@RoddyDev]

What's the game at 0:00 ?

[@JamesRobertOsborne]

craftrod TMNT - overhead map.

[@GuruRavindra]

मैं टीवी क्यों देखूं ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4i8ZKGaqKdlj80

[@GuruRavindra]

मैं टीवी क्यों देखूं ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4i8ZKGaqKdlj80

[@pianodancebandkentcounty]

Are the first two channels (the pulse/square channels) capable of playing more than one note on a given single channel (polyphony)? Or is each channel monophonic?

[@AguFungus]

Continued: It can do the noise channel sound, too; but only the first mode, resulting in also limited reproduction of the 8-bit music of Pokémon HGSS.

[@Rael0505]

Can channels 1 and 2 play more than one note at a time?