Ham Sandwich Triangle Wave

On the left: The 8-bit triangle waveform from an eprom-based synthesiser.

On the right: The analog triangle waveform from the sauce on a ham-based sandwich.

chiptech.milkcrate.com.au updated

I have updated chiptech.milkcrate.com.au to include more projects and more links to information. The page now includes sections for eprom-based music, 3-bit music and writings. Of course, all of the old sections (Game Boy, Sega Master System etc) are still there and have been updated as necessary.

little-scale: first300

"Chipmusic is a big part of my life, and I love the fact that there are places like 8bc that encourage open sharing of all things chip. This work is wholly comprised of the first three-hundred tracks available on the web-site 8bitcollective.com. I hope that you enjoy this work as much as I enjoyed creating it."

- little-scale, December 2008.


License
This is released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA License. For more details, see: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/.


Credits
Please see the included documentation for the full credits for this work - see below for the source tracks and artists.


YouTube Video
An excerpt of this work can be viewed here:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=xUHxNJhMn_Y


Download
Download 'first300' here:
http://milkcrate.com.au/little-scale/first300.zip

Lotek64 Issue #28 Is Out Now!

Issue #28 of Lotek64 is out now! It's in German, and it includes reviews of two of my recent releases: Five Step Plan and A Week In The Life Of 8BC (both of which you can get here) as well as four compilations I am on; Merry Pixmas, Ninja Compilation, One Channel Only and Two Channels Only. This issue is jam-packed with content, so go and download it now! I highly recommend it.

Merry Pixmas Compilation!

The Pixelmod Records Merry Pixmas Compilation is out! Thanks to MM for putting it all together. I did a cover of Coventry Carol for this one.

Download it here:
http://www.adventure-hack.de/master/merry_pixmas.zip

Free Webspace for Chiptune Storage

If anyone would like some free space, drop me a line at seb (dot) tomczak (at) gmail (dot) com.

I can set you up with an FTP account etc. The space would be a sub directory of milkcrate.com.au/

So, for example, if someone was wanting some space to host a zipped (chiptune - related) album w/ artwork etc, without having to go through a service such as megaupload or what not, this could be a way to do just that. Then the URL to such an album would be http://milkcrate.com.au/yourname/album.zip

Maybe this would be useful for some? I don't know. But please, if you're interested, let me know.

If you are interested, please send me an email with:
• Subject of the email should be 'Chiptune Storage'
• What you want your username to be
• What you want your FTP password to be

This intended to be specifically for 8-bit related stuff that you have made that doesn't break any copyright or licenses (ie. your original 8-bit music / movies / images etc). I will be checking these directories on a regular basis, so don't even think about uploading your porns or your scams.

Physical CDs of "Red, Yellow and Orange" and "Five Step Plan"

I made these up as a special order. Let me know if you would like some too.

"Synaesthesia in Chipmusic" Thread

This thread on 8BC about synaesthesia might interest some. Be warned, though: in typical 8BC style not all of it is relevant :D

http://8bitcollective.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=7890&p=1

Video for Milkcrate #28: "Synthermal"

There is a short video for 'Synthermal'. You can watch it here: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=wD0cvMV-T74

This will give you some sort of taste for what the session is like.

Milkcrate #28: "Synthermal"

A direct foil to the water-based theme of milkcrate 26, 'Synthermal' uses only objects that are associated with heat and fire. From sparklers to butane-based soldering irons, from toasters to matches - all is fair game.

Get it here: http://milkcrate.com.au/sessions-details-028.html

Wedding Invitations

From Lauren:
"Seb and I have finally got round to design the invites for our wedding and, with only 8 weeks to go, we certainly have cut it fine in getting these finished and ready to send out! We didn’t really have any ideas before mucking around with this design, but it seems to have emerged as a kind of mongrel crossbreed of old photographic carte de visites, treasure maps, and arcade tickets… which is probably very much what you would get when you crossed Seb and my brains anyhow, so I guess its very fitting!

There will also be a couple of loose cards in the same style, namely:

+ a dorm pass with a designated room number (guests are staying the night in the heritage building we have hired), and details regarding the overnight stay.

+ an RSVP card.

+ A card detailing charity options, in lieu of gifts.

These still aren’t quite finished - I can’t decide between the brown or red colours. Hmmm… Hopefully they will be finished in the next day or so."

Halfway Report from Milkcrate #28

(from the milkcrate blog)

All is going well here in the land of 'crate.

We spent the first three or four hours of this crate collectively sampling and choosing objects and sounds out of the ones that we had all brought.

For objects that we could record indoors (ie. those with zero fire hazard), we set up a large diaphragm condenser in a tiled room - the room itself adds a bit of nice sound as well. There was quite a bit of background noise because of the air conditioning vents and about 16 or 17 computers with their fans on, but our samples were still useable.

So each person would come up with their objects (except for me - because the only thing I brought along is a box of matches) and then record some material from their chosen objects. I was manually riding the input gain to try and maximise our effective dynamic range and manage the already unmanageable environment noise.

For objects and actions that we could not record indoors (ie. those with some fire hazard), David and I went over to the park next to the parade grounds. Here we used a portable recorder with a shirt as a wind shield and recorded a few useable samples.

Some of the highlights of the samples have included:
• some party poppers (courtesy of david)
• a toaster (courtesy of jordan)
• a heatsink (courtesy of jesse)
• some butane and a gas-powered soldering iron (courtesy of justin)

As I've said the only thing I brought was the box of matches (others brought the same or similar items too of course).

All in all, we have about 6 or 7 minutes of samples (after editing and splicing) which is actually a huge sample bank for any milkcrate. There are probably well over 80 or 90 individual events contained in our samples, which is nice. However, almost all of the sounds are really very percussive, somewhat limiting the source timbres we can use for melodic / pitched music material.

For the most part, people seem to using a combination of Live and ProTools, often in tandem rewired together.

Jordan and Justin have been working on a dance track that makes use of Justin's new Kaos Pad 3. Jesse has been working on an ambient track and David has been making a number of highly distorted and loud works. Unfortunately, his computer only has a demo of Live running on it so he is unable to save his projects, forcing him to work very quickly, constantly in fear of crashing.

As for me, I've somewhat formalised some of the things I've been doing in the last few milkcrates. I have thus far only used my very short sample of me striking a match. I have written 15 tracks, but my self-imposed limitation is that every track I make has been and will be one minute in length exactly. This may sound easy but I've been finding it more and more difficult as the day progresses.

To some degree, perhaps it's an exploration of 'pop' music sounds and structures as sound objects in their own right, something with their own weight and mass to be considered a single event. I'm not sure. I've been going for more than twelve hours, so I'm not even sure if that sentence makes any sense or not.

Wish us luck as we slip into the night...

- seb

Australian Chipmusic Videos Thread

Here is a thread dedicated to Australian chipmusic videos.

Video for Dallas, 4AM

By request, I've uploaded a video of one of my tracks called 'Dallas, 4AM'.

"This track was made only from manipulating the sound of a Game Boy kick drum sound.

This track was made in Dallas, Texas, USA at 4AM. The footage is from driving from Meningie to Adelaide in South Australia, Australia."

Watch it here: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ukUR-xLVnMw

kitsch-bent

Head over to http://www.kitsch-bent.com/ to pick up some nice free things, like LSDJ .sav files from a variety of people! I've got a few things in there as well, but there seems to be a nice growing mixture of LSDJ files there.

And if you are in the US and need some Game Boy chipmusic gear, check out Kitsch's shop at http://kitsch-bent.embarqspace.com/.

Milestones

I thought I would briefly mention that milkcrate has reached some milestone: we have hit 500 tracks and also 30 hours of musical output.

Thai Singing Spinning Top

Today I went to the markets at the port and picked up a Thai Singing Top. What an amazing little thing! The video does not give the sound that this wooden top makes any justice at all.

Video: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=WgPbs8DOfig

Permutations: (2 ^ 4) ^ (2 ^ 2)

This is another full set of permutations, based on the waveform space shown above - where there are four bits for the amplitude (Y-axis) and two bits for the waveform length (X-axis).

Once again, it's on a Sega Master System II.


Download: (2 ^ 4) ^ (2 ^ 2)

Permutations: (2 ^ 1) ^ (2 ^ 4)

Overview
In the last few hours I have become increasingly interested in waveform permutations based on low bit resolution and low sample rate constraints - to be more specific, I have become interested in hearing all of the permutations of a given set.

So let's get the ball rolling.


65,536 Possibilities
I have named my first example (2 ^ 1) ^ (2 ^ 4). That is because this is the total number of waveforms present in this set. This particular set is defined as being 1 bit in depth (hence the "2 ^ 1") and has a waveform length of 16 (hence the "2 ^ 4").

In other words, it is a sonification of all possible 16-bit words(from 0x0000 to 0xFFFF) when represented as a continuous 1-bit waveform. Each waveform is only played once - ie. each 16-bit long number is not repeated.

Personally, I find the resulting audio output almost hypnotising but I am sure others will disagree.


Practical Realisation
I have realised this outcome on a Sega Master System II console. The audio that you can download below was recorded directly from hardware.


Listen
Download: (2 ^ 1) ^ (2 ^ 4)

A Country Practice Video

We made a video for Milkcrate 27: A Country Practice. I'm very happy with it; probably the best milkcrate video in a while.

Part 1: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=CrSznaVCJhc
Part 2: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ6jCeUAcJY

Milkcrate 27: "A Country Practice"

Milkcrate 27: A Country Practice (2008)

Scott Jackson, Sebastian Tomczak and Martin Victory.

Using only locally-sourced objects in a small country town.

"Scott, Seb and Martin proudly present the first milkcrate that was done out in the country. The theme was to take objects that were found / bought locally and only use these to do a session.

The impact of the serene environment of Lake Albert and Meningie can be clearly heard throughout the forty tracks that were completed."

Download it here: http://milkcrate.com.au/sessions-details-027.html



I'm really happy with this milkcrate.

Sega Master System II as a Bitcrusher Effect

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Kggt44jzNjA

Object Exhibition @ Paperhorse

I went to one of Lauren's exhibitions on Thursday. This was an object-based exhibition at her studio (Paperhorse). What she did reminded me of RiverRaid. Trust me when I say that this is a compliment.

Video for 'Objects From Our Man Salazar'

I've made a very short YouTube video for the 25th milkcrate session, 'Objects From Our Man Salazar'. If you haven't listened to the session, this would be a way to get a quick taste of some of the tracks.

Watch it here: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=q4NUjrZfasY

There is a Milkcrate in the Back Yard

EMU Earpoke 2008 :: This Wednesday

If you are in Adelaide, please come along.

I will be playing some Sega Master System music.

Nanoloop and Trippy H Game Boy Camera Sync

Nordloef and little-scale present:
"Syncing Nanoloop to the Trippy H Game Boy Camera music sequencer"



Overview
Trippy H is the cool little 'secret' sequencer that is part of the Game Boy Camera cartridge. You can play little loops on it using some of the sound capabilities of the Nintendo Game Boy. You can find more information about Trippy H here and here.

One of the downsides to Trippy H is that you cannot synchronise it with other things, for example two other Game Boy music programs LSDJ and Nanoloop.

This is a method of synchronising Nanoloop with Trippy H; in other words, Trippy H controls the speed of Nanoloop, and Nanoloop plays in time with Trippy H.


Limitations
The idea is as follows: you can pan your indidual notes hard left and hard right in Trippy H. By using one of the audio channels (either L or R) only for sending a regular note on every eighth, it is possible to use this signal as a way of sending synchronisation information to Nanoloop.

This consumes a few resources, as you might imagine.
• The musical output from Trippy H is limited to mono (ie. the channel that is not being used for sending regular notes for clock data).
• Every eighth of the Trippy H SOUND1 channel will be occupied by having to send a regular beat to Nanoloop. On the plus side, there is still some musical benefit that can be had from the SOUND1 channel.

Nonetheless, this might not be too high a cost for the ability to synchronise Nanoloop with Trippy H.


Arduino Software Setup
This process requires a microcontroller. We are using an Arduino microcontroller platform, but the code could be easily ported to other platforms.

You can download the code here: http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/downloads/projects/TrippyH_Nano_Sync/GBCAM.zip


Hardware Schematic
Notes:
• The signal coming from the Trippy H Game Boy needs to be split into two mono signals (L and R).
• The L signal from Trippy H is shown on this schematic and cannot be used for musical output.
• The R signal from Trippy H is the signal that is amplified and recorded etc for musical output.
• A switch can be added from Arduino digital pin 3 to 5V, so that the sync can be interrupted.



Trippy H Setup
Above you can see the most important parts about setting up the SOUND1 channel in Trippy H for sync output in this situation.

• Add a low C to every odd note (ie. in positions 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15) (hold A on each position and press right on the d-pad).
• Pan each note hard left (hold start on each position and press left on the d-pad).
• Set the duty to option #1.
• Set the env gain to 15.
• Set the gate to 7.
• Set the mod depth to 0.
• Set the mod freq to 0.
• Set the loop to an even number.

For any other notes that you play in Trippy H on any channels including SOUND1, it is important to remember to pan hard right. Panning center or left will interfere with the sync.



Demonstration Video
A demonstration video can be viewed here:



Your friends,
Nordloef and little-scale

A True Rompler (3): Synthesis

This is an extension on to a previous post.


Synthesis
So of course it is possible to play back samples on an EPROM without a microcontroller or a computer. But what about some form of synthesis? Well, i built a circuit that loops only a small memory area of the EPROM to form a periodic waveform and then lets you select different waveforms by changing the upper address bits (to move the output of the EPROM to different areas of non-overlapping memory).

The circuit is so simple that i won't draw a schematic at this stage. Instead, here is a basic block diagram of the idea:

I have also added a basic arpeggiator (as seen on the Fun With Sea Moss Page: http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/sea-moss/).



Breadboard Setup



Getting the Waveforms Ready
I made a Max/MSP patch for this synthesis process that allows you to generate and draw in waveforms, and then dump the data as a 32KB text file.

In total, there are 32768 x 8 bits used. In terms of the waveforms that are played back, this area is divided up in the following fashion:

• There are 256 different waveforms
• Each waveform is 128 bytes long
• Each byte is 8 bits wide

Above you can see a snapshot of the promWaver Max/MSP patch. The patch has 32 pages, where each page has eight waveforms that can be edited. It's pretty basic stuff - the patch can generate sine, saw, reverse saw, triangle, pulse and noise waves. The user can also draw waveforms by hand or edit these rendered waveforms by hand.

The gain for each waveform can be set from 0.0 to 100.0 where 1.0 representes using up all eight bits of amplitude. For pulse waves, a width can be set from 0 to 100% in increments of 1/128ths (so this is a sample-accurate pusle width I guess you could say).

You can download the Max/MSP 5 patch here: http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/downloads/projects/eprom_music/promWaver.zip.


Demos and Example
Audio Example
Here is an MP3 of the following waveforms: http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/useless/wave_examples.mp3

Video Example:

EPROM Synthesis Waveform Examples

One Channel Only Compilation

"From the guy who organised the Two-Channel Compilation comes the One-Channel compilation, taking the restrictive art of chipmuisic to an extreme! One channel only was allowed for this compilation, yet still the music kicks a whole load of arse! Random, Jellica, Sparkyboy, Nestroyer and many more contribute tracks to this one-channel madness!"

My track was on Atari 2600.

Get the compilation here: http://calmdownkidder.com/records/?p=66

Awesome Golden Koi Shoes

Lauren (aka Cloud Sparrow aka StarAndBluebird) has been working on these beautiful shoes. Check out her blog or her etsy store for more cool things!

South Australian Vegan Festival

Lauren and I went to the South Australian Vegan Festival last weekend. The event was heaps of fun and there were many interesting stalls and so much food to try out - something that we are not accustomed to.