it doesn't please 100%. there is actually a problem with available effect parameters being used up. there's lots of FDS, VRC7 etc. variables that could (should?) be controlled with effect commands that aren't at the moment, and it would suck if there were no more available commands because they were used up by things like stereo. the only way i see around that is using assignable effects, and it's probably too late in famitracker's life to add that now. at the time of writing, these are all that's left, assuming other characters aren't used: 5xx, 6xx, 8xx, 9xx, Jxx, Kxx, Lxx, Mxx, Nxx, Oxx, Txx, Uxx, Wxx
that's my problem with it. i think stereo pan sliders on each channel (which aren't dynamic) should be as far as its taken. because if you add a pan position effect then people also want pan slide and then pan LFO and so on...
edit: i should also mention that those would be further requests of mine for the future... assigning FDS and VRC7 parameters to new effects, and using Vxx on VRC7 and FDS (VRC7 to select patch, FDS to select wave, which could be defined somewhere else in famitracker rather than in an instrument.) both would help HUGELY with cutting down on redundant instruments.
Exx is a depricated effect and thus could be used by something more useful. axx, bxx, cxx, dxx, exx ... zxx could also be possible effects spaces in the future... You might want to ommit letters which look similar in lower case as they do upper case (C, J, K, L, M, O, P, S, U, V, W, X, Y, Z). You could also combine existing effects. eg. BFF could act like C00 does now. All of this brings the avaliable slots up to 27.
(what is panning LFO?)
Another solution is increase the size of the effect column, eg. you could have 1Axx... Sunvox has a 4-byte effect identifier column (0000-FFFF), but numbers aren't really as memorable as letters...
If panning really is a huge massive problem, single channel exports - however this means I'd be sharing my finished pieces as .mp3/.wav files which are huge compared to .ftms.
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iGotno_scope wrote:
im going to continue making this crazy stuff then after a while my style will be so sick that you will be like damn suuun that shit is so sick i dont even get it. i will be like bro its ok.. you dont have to.
You could also combine existing effects. eg. BFF could act like C00 does now. .
The problem with your proposition is backward compatibility, really. Any piece that ends with a C00 in a current version would now loop instead of stopping, and effect Cxx would be activated with value 00 in a future version... No good.
Low-frequency oscillation (LFO) is an electronic signal, which is usually below 20 Hz and creates a rhythmic pulse or sweep. This pulse or sweep is often used to modulate synthesizers, delay lines and other audio equipment in order to create effects used in the production of electronic music. Audio effects such as vibrato, tremolo, and flanging are examples.
Panning is a fourth example of what an LFO can be applied to. Basically it makes a track's panning sweep from left, centre, right and back to centre and left again in a continual motion. I don't think it's necessary for now, and implementing it would mean we're writing XMs with NES samples instead of true NSFs. As I mentioned before, I'm not a purist, but one has to bear in mind we're writing music for the Famicom here...
Basically I'd stick to RushJet1's "rule of thumb": if the NSF format supports it, it's all good. If it doesn't, too bad.
one thing i mentioned elsewhere on the forums that has also probably become buried and unnoticed: values F and 0 valid in triangle volume column. this is useful for when you you've triggered a note with an effect like pitch bend in use, and don't want to have to retrigger notes due to using note cut (or make a "stutter" or whatever instrument to do it.)
Interrobang Pie wrote:
Exx is a depricated effect and thus could be used by something more useful. axx, bxx, cxx, dxx, exx ... zxx could also be possible effects spaces in the future... You might want to ommit letters which look similar in lower case as they do upper case (C, J, K, L, M, O, P, S, U, V, W, X, Y, Z). You could also combine existing effects. eg. BFF could act like C00 does now. All of this brings the avaliable slots up to 27.
I agree about Exx, and combining redundant effects like Cxx into something else. I don't think involving upper and lower case is a good idea though, because it starts impacting the usability then... it just gets ugly. Wonder what jsr thinks about this, maybe he has something better in mind?
I'm pretty sure something similar to this was already mentioned, but I failed to see it in the current list, so:
A way to edit the period table of FamiTracker would be very useful. This would be a good thing to have for people who either want to compose in the period table of another game, or just people trying to get their own distinctive sound.
I believe a friendly and practical solution to this would work like the following:
Tracker > P. Table > New -----
*premade configurations would go here under "New"*
Upon hitting the New box, a external window would open that would look something like the following:
Open Save Information [(title) ]-[]X ------------------------------------
Period tables could be configured here with a drop down, and saved and opened to be edited, and used by the user. Apologies for such rough diagrams, conveying this idea through wrapped text is somewhat of a challenge.
Anyways, this is my request. If you have a more efficient way of doing this JSR, feel free to state it. I would love to see a feature like this in a future release.
I have a request... it's about backwards-compatibility. Maybe make a function where if you open a FT file saved in an old version of FT (most recent previous one most likely) it will say "hey, this is an old file. want me to convert to the new format?" and it will replace whatever commands have been changed with updated ones. This'll help if you put a bunch of redundant commands into Cxx or whatever they were talking about above.
the thing is, the one custom instrument at a time limit is to do with the VRC7 soundchip itself, so it's a limitation in NSF only by default. but really... why use famitracker if you want to avoid these limitations? maybe use renoise or something... I think it'd be a shame to see famitracker turned into a generic chiptune tracker. there's also TFM if you want unlimited simultaneous FM instruments.
the thing is, the one custom instrument at a time limit is to do with the VRC7 soundchip itself, so it's a limitation in NSF only by default. but really... why use famitracker if you want to avoid these limitations? maybe use renoise or something... I think it'd be a shame to see famitracker turned into a generic chiptune tracker. there's also TFM if you want unlimited simultaneous FM instruments.
I know, I have accepted the facts. I just really wasn't certain before. Actually, before I was told that it was a limitation, I didn't know the real VRC7 couldn't do these things. So now that I know the facts, I'd have to disagree with my past self as well.
Skip-if-first and/or skip-if-second effects. I'm not sure if any contemporary NES music actually used conditional jumps, or even if it's feasible/possible, but it would aid music writing incredibly. In adapting music, I usually think back to sheet music's repeat signs, and how they only correspond to one repeat. It would be interesting to introduce the concepts of first- and second-endings without having to copy the frames over.
i dunno of any other tracker that does that... how would it be implemented though? perhaps by right-clicking/control+scroll wheeling an effect to change its colour (each colour representing an amount of times the effect can be triggered before it's ignored?) i'm not convinced something like this is necessary, might be more confusing than simply duplicating frames... which isn't particularly hard or time consuming.
I was actually thinking of a new effect (taking up space, I realize) that would only jump to a given frame on its first/second (different effects per action? maybe an effect with 00-7F skipping first, and 80-FF skipping second) time. While I don't know if trackers have done this, I'm sure something like Finale (sheet music writer) have support for repeat signs and first/second endings. (like seen on Wikipedia)
It's more of my impulse to write chiptune like sheet music, without having to learn software designed for other uses.
is there any reason why row highlight can't be subsong-specific? would that change impact anything? because it seems like it's just missing and would be hugely useful when working on multiple songs (not having to constantly change the row highlight depending on which song you work on.)
I was actually thinking of a new effect (taking up space, I realize) that would only jump to a given frame on its first/second (different effects per action? maybe an effect with 00-7F skipping first, and 80-FF skipping second) time. While I don't know if trackers have done this, I'm sure something like Finale (sheet music writer) have support for repeat signs and first/second endings. (like seen on Wikipedia)
It's more of my impulse to write chiptune like sheet music, without having to learn software designed for other uses.
Well, the whole point of the frame/order in trackers was to facilitate complex repeat situations. It's what they were designed to do. This tracker goes further than most in letting you reuse individual track patterns instead of having to create a new global pattern. It's really very functional and can already accommodate everything repeat signs do in sheet music.
If the frame editor was a little easier to use, maybe you wouldn't find it a problem to use it in this way? Like, if you could move around and enter values with the cursor/number keys, or could view a larger block of it, cut and paste, etc.
I was actually thinking of a new effect (taking up space, I realize) that would only jump to a given frame on its first/second (different effects per action? maybe an effect with 00-7F skipping first, and 80-FF skipping second) time. While I don't know if trackers have done this, I'm sure something like Finale (sheet music writer) have support for repeat signs and first/second endings. (like seen on Wikipedia)
It's more of my impulse to write chiptune like sheet music, without having to learn software designed for other uses.
Well, the whole point of the frame/order in trackers was to facilitate complex repeat situations. It's what they were designed to do. This tracker goes further than most in letting you reuse individual track patterns instead of having to create a new global pattern. It's really very functional and can already accommodate everything repeat signs do in sheet music.
If the frame editor was a little easier to use, maybe you wouldn't find it a problem to use it in this way? Like, if you could move around and enter values with the cursor/number keys, or could view a larger block of it, cut and paste, etc.
You've got a point there. I was hesitant to call for a new effect, so maybe selection-based copy/paste in the frame editor? Like double-click (or F3) to select the frame editor, then click and drag to select, then paste in place depending on where you've selected? What would be best is if the paste action created new frames, so I could make a new frame to begin the paste region in, then paste the frame selection down. I'll rescind my last request in favor of this.
