NES Audio: Triangle Kick Drum

[@TakeshiAndTheKid]

NES actually uses a lot of similar tricks to beatboxing... since beatboxing is pretty much single channel audio.

[@stevenschiro1838]

I need this framed

[@fezzeniicrazysequel9893]

I can confirm this

[@TheDogn]

It's all coming from one source, but articulation is kind of like super parameters, allowing the synthesizer to become effectively multilayered in exchange for loosing polyphony. Since a synthesizer isn't a DAW, it's hard talk in terms of "channels" per say, but this multilayered capability can equate to something like 2 to 5 channels depending on the skill of the end user.

[@SendyTheEndless]

You'd never guess that the triangle kicks and percussive blops were cutting off the bassline. The limitation of the chip meets perfectly flush with the limitation of our auditory perception. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?!

[@vuurniacsquarewave5091]

+SquareWaveHeaven It can fool the ears for many reasons. The same waveform is doing both things, and they are not that far off from eachother in frequency either. Imagine a pulse channel doing these drums while also playing a melody. It would be very noticable in that case.

[@Luse_kororo]

@@vuurniacsquarewave5091 unless the pulse channel was the bass

[@Nukle0n]

European composers really did wonders on the NES sound chip.

[@porcorosso81]

European composers had the training of the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum area. ;-)

[@McAlby]

You really need a real NES and an old TV to fully appreciate a NES soundtrack, and specially the drums. After all, they were composed and calibrated using these. Nothing beats the body resonance of a good old CRT TV for drums and bass! :)

[@robintst]

I always recommend looking for a 1984 RCA Colortrak 2000 lyceum model or anything of comparable design. It's what I use for my old games and the fairly large stereo speakers are mounted through real wood on the sides that further amplifies the sound. Only TV I ever had where even NES music could make the house rumble. :)

[@Martyste]

As soon as 0:26 kicked, I began feeling that specific A.J.G signature, this vibrating note used alongside the song's tempo, and as soon as I scroll down to the comments, who do I find? You! And I totally agree, a CRT like my Sony Trinitron can really give a unique audio experience, all the way up to the N64 era!

[@Meteotrance]

Tim Folin was a boss using this technic every track he made with the NES soundchip was awesome. Solstice soundtrack impressed me so much because of his ability to make the impossible, he do also a good stuff with super nes chipset, on Rock n Roll Racing and Plok and Equinox.

[@Mikhaijlovich]

You can either write the bassline around the kick hits as you go, or you can try writing the entire bassline first and then back out any notes that'd conflict with the kick hits. I use a combination of both methods, myself.

[@antihumor2231]

Tell people this: The DPCM sample sounds are for percussion, but it was rarely used because of how much space it took up. So most composers altered the triangle channel between bass and percussion. These channels were used in combination with noise because noise alone sounds kinda thin. This thickens the percussion up enough. When you are telling a person what method CHOOSE ONE!!! In this case, the triangle method is being used (most common). In this case, the DPCM sample method is being used. In this case, both methods are being used.

[@RyumaXtheXKing]

@Alberto J. González That Smurfs track is really beautiful.

[@mysteryloaf]

Yeah, that makes sense both ways. I think my chipy-time plugin has automatable pitch controls, so I might write the bassline as you suggested. Then, separately, program my flavor of pitch bend + return back to OG pitch value. Then I just automate pitch bend on and off through the track. There's probably a million "easy" ways to do it, and I suppose it's really all up to the composer in the end, anyway. Thanks again for the awesome vid, and the response!

[@jalq1978]

This, my friends, is ART. Rest assured.

[@Robinerd]

Thanks! Came in handy, working on my own sound engine and trying to code something like this.

[@vuurniacsquarewave5091]

Robinerd Have a bunch of shadow register values. The first layer is what all the music without sound effects and tri drums would want to send to the real APU. When these are ready, calculate the tri drum if there is one active and overwrite the triangle registers in the music shadow set. Then copy the music shadow set to a final shadow register set. Now process the sound effects if there are any, and you can overwrite the final set with the sound effect values. In the end this will let you have sound effects on top of music, which has the triangle drum on top.

[@brendanstreecko7847]

Well, how did it go?

[@Robinerd]

@@brendanstreecko7847 I actually made a cover of the Seagulls song last year but haven't released it yet. I managed to really push the channels to the limit and added some pretty thick bass drums usign the technique in this video :) Hoping to release it after getting rights to do so. Stay chiptuned ;)

[@JJTunes]

great video! actually helped me with my 8bit tunes I've been working recently, thx!

[@johneygd]

This is mind blowing!!!

[@DashRetro]

I love this! It would be really cool if you showed how to achieve this using something like FamiTracker.

[@Nelwyn]

A lot of the music in this video sounds like C64 music.

[@AgsmaJustAgsma]

And that makes sense because Tim Follin and Jeroen Tell were prolific C64 composers before composing for NES games. Neil Baldwin was a C64 composer, too, only not as notable.

[@CODMarioWarfare]

Probably because fast arpeggios were popular on the C64

[@quadpad_music]

CODMarioWarfare - I believe (do I'm not sure) those "fast arpeggios" are called "thrills"

[@litroolay]

@@quadpad_music fast arpeggios are trills only when its 2 notes, usually near each other

[@exoticcar5482]

Because the C62 uses all the same wave forms

[@dentistguba]

the bass and drums sharing the channel kind of give a fell similar to the gain pump you get in dance music, maybe makes it sound better in a way; more chunky.

[@FarnhamTheDrunk1]

omg u have to continue this series!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@a-ramenartist9734]

That's so resourceful

[@kikef.e.6177]

Thank for all this info!!!

[@wiidlbeetle3857]

Very cool!

[@dezinfectant]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I LOVE THIS CHANNEL XD

[@hector8927]

NIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE! i always wanted to know how the nes sound works :D

[@PsychadelicoDuck]

Do you know what the shortest note possible is? A lot of these tricks work off of playing two different "tracks" in eachother's offbeats. How difficult is it to do this? Could even more "pseudo-tracks" be layered into the music?

[@quadpad_music]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6PVf4J4m7lgnac I know this is an old comment, but just to answer your question...

[@incognitiosaystransrights]

the shortest note would be 1/60th of a second for NTSC

[@Luigithehomie91]

For me, this is the hardest thing to cover/use for an original song, especially the way Mr. Baldwin did it.

[@ElephantMariotheRHDNhater3293]

I love a triangle kick

[@art11art12]

explod2A03 I love these little tid bits of info, I myself am a enthusiast

[@mysteryloaf]

I'm just trying to wrap my brain around COMPOSING with these techniques

[@quadpad_music]

5 years late, but if you make the triangle pitch bends last 3 frames exactly, you can compose the bass almost any way you want. The blops will be unnoticeable, and the drums will sound awesome (if you know how to do this properly).

[@esmooth919]

Believe it or not, the first composer I ever heard used this technique, before I even heard of the Follin Brothers, was Hip Tanaka, by way of the Gyromite soundtrack.

[@commentman7446]

it's better that both the kick and bass can't play at the same time, because it would make the song muddy.

[@commentman7446]

I mean, it sounds tighter this way.

[@ssg-eggunner]

@@commentman7446 "tight tight tight" - tuco salamanca

[@teeshuck]

Joe liked this

[@f.k.b.16]

Are there any videos of NES drum samples (not samples in the real recorded audio sense). Drums made on the NES's 2A03 alone. I was a big Master System fan as a kid but its sound chip sucks and I just recently heard a SMS game with ok sounding drums made using two of the four of its channels verses the 99% of all other SMS drum sounds.

[@user-ql2re2es9y]

Sunsoft also uses this triangle drum btw.😆

[@esmooth919]

One of the biggest examples of being blaster master.

[@jednes8bit2]

has escuchado a anamanaguchi? te lo recomiendo mucho esta lleno de nostalgia :D

[@uzziel524]

Back when sine waves don't percuss

[@Ambipie]

bloopity bloopity

[@cococooley2589]

Sidechaining was a thing then I guess

[@Then00bhunt3r]

But you forgot Journey to Silius...

[@tardistardis8]

That's DPCM, not triangle wave.

[@Then00bhunt3r]

tardistardis8 The triangle is used for kick drums for most of the soundtrack because of the DPCM bass.

[@tardistardis8]

Then00bhunt3r Oh, alright then...

[@esmooth919]

And then there's Blaster Master

[@luigikoopa8771]

Virgins use DPCM for drums and triangle for bass Chads do it the other way around

[@wesleychalmers9056]

420th like and 42.0th comment rawr xD

[@johnmalcolm9980]

At no stage did I hear anything that sounded like kick drum.

[@the-NightStar]

That is because you are dumb