Thursday, December 10, 2009

Let's Tune the Game Boy Like a Japanese Koto

Someone asked me to tune the Game Boy LSDJ ROM like a Japanese Koto. Sure, I said. The scale that this individual requested was the Hirajoshi 2 scale, which is a pentatonic scale made up of the following ratios above a fundamental frequency that is considered to be 1/1:

• 9/8
• 6/5
• 3/2
• 8/5
• 2/1

I've tuned the entire ROM to an A as a tonic note. The process was very similar to previous cases of retuning LSDJ for other purposes. I worked using a spreadsheet, which had the ratios and then calculated the frequencies for each note. Then, the data needed for the Game Boy to generate that frequency was calculated, and converted into hex. Finally, this block of hex tuning data was copied into the LSDJ ROM using a hex editor.

If anyone wants to see the spreadsheet or would like more details, please let me know.




5 comments:

Unknown said...

I love the novation programing! I especially like the ripple effect. Also from an audio standpoint I love the sega mega sounds sounds you have. keep up the good bending and thanks for the how to on the post below.
James
www.illuminatedsounds.com

T-FR said...

I am trying to write in an indian scale. So far I have edited a few open source PC synths to get it to work but I'd like to try LSDJ too.

I found the right chunk of hex in the rom but I thought you might be able to save me some time before I try to figure it out. What format is it in and what note does it start with?

Thanks,

REI_ said...

I am actually using this right now. Hopefully it sounds good enough to make it on the compilation album. I really appreciate this work Little-Scale.

REI_ said...

Little Scale I am still not sure if this is actually considered a microtonal scale.... when I look it up I I get this: ABCEFA which are not microtones at all.... am I missing something here?

newbie said...

Awesome blog! I would like to know how exactly you calculate tune the lsdj into a koto. It is amazing! Could you maybe one day make a video tutorial or something like that cuz I'm stupid just can't get it?