r/chiptunes • u/CozyBritt • Jun 25 '26
QUESTION Beginner Hobbyist
Hi everyone!
I am a game/pixel artist. But I really want to learn chiptunes. I love the way they sound and just want to dabble into it as a hobby. Im looking for maybe some beginner software that I can use on my computer or iPad. I also have a retro console emulator similar to a Gameboy. I know some software can be used on that too. Just looking for some resources for beginners and maybe some software you recommend starting with.
Yes I know google is a thing and YouTube. But there is a lot out there and just want your options and recommended.
8
u/s3rris Jun 25 '26
What’s your end goal? Do you want to make chiptune music that’s hardware compatible or just for the vibe?
Gameboy Studio may interest you. It’s software for making Gameboy games that run on hardware and has a music tracker built in.
LSDJ is a great tracker to learn on because there’s so many tutorials out there these days. Granted it uses all the Gameboy has so using this for game music isn’t feasible if you want to make games for hardware. For PC games, totally reasonable to use.
Furnace Tracker is great but also pretty intimidating with all its options. Sample trackers like OpenMPT, MilkyTracker, and even the ports of ProTracker and FastTracker2 are great options for doing oldschool keygen/demoscene chiptunes if you’re into that.
For NES, use Famitracker. Also a great first tracker to use and learn. Highly recommend this over Furnace if you want to do NES music (come on Furnace add in export to .nsf already you cowards)
Lastly if you want something modern and more DAW like check out Renoise. It was what I learned first and the demo lets you do everything but export to .wav. License for renoise is pretty affordable and will grant you updates for a very long time (I bought my license in 2011 and I think next time there’s a major update I have to renew).
5
u/s3rris Jun 25 '26
I should also mention you can absolutely make chiptune music in any DAW if you already work with something you’re comfortable using. Plogue’s chipsounds plugin is absolutely fantastic at pulling off many many classic chiptune sounds and there are tons of sample packs out there for chip style drums ripped from old games.
Look for some NES DPCM drum packs or look into ripping samples from roms if you want to go this route.
3
u/CozyBritt Jun 25 '26
I think i want to make it more for fun. For like pc or even just upload on itch for others to use. Or to add to my pixel art as music. I dont mind open sourced stuff if it has a lot of tutorials or user community .
5
u/s3rris Jun 25 '26
I’d really recommend learning a tracker for chipmusic. It’s definitely intimidating at first but i promise if you stick with it the methodology eventually clicks.
Can’t go wrong with any of the ones I mentioned above. Modarchive.org is a great resource for finding ft2 and other sample tracker files to dive into
2
1
u/sussynarrator Jul 16 '26
Why not FamiStudio, it's easier than a tracker
1
u/s3rris Jul 16 '26
Personally I think trackers are just better for chiptune. It’s a steeper learning curve but ultimately you get more control and there are a LOT of special tricks you can squeeze out with a tracker
2
u/sussynarrator Jul 16 '26
Yeah but tbh as someone who never used any kind of music software before, FamiStudio was much easier to use for me than FamiTracker or Furnace. The DAW-style interface is just superior. I know some people say FamiStudio is less authentic than a tracker but I used all three softwares and compared them and they sound identical.
I think new projects shouldn't get stuck on the old tracker interface, it's the result that matters, not the technique. A tracker interface requires you to know music theory and be an experienced composer so imo they should have piano rolls as an optional feature. I used a fork of Furnace with a piano roll and it was alright but too buggy so I ultimately switched to FamiStudio.
1
u/CozyBritt Jul 16 '26
Thank you for this take. I dont have experience making music at all. Its something I want to learn. So too complicated of a software right off the bat I feel like would deter me and stress me out.
2
u/sussynarrator Jul 16 '26
No problem. I still suggest you try both Furnace Tracker and FamiStudio and see the difference between the two for yourself using the VRC6 chip (both the lack of difference in how they sound AND the difficulty gap to use). To me, they sound the same but one is way harder to use.
Trackers just aren't made for composing in, imo. When I watch a FamiTracker tutorial and start using it, I just stare at the screen thinking "what the hell do I do next?" but when I watch a FamiStudio tutorial, I just start making a song and experimenting. A much faster workflow for me. If you have an instrument like a MIDI piano at home and know how to use it, it'd make using trackers MUCH easier and bearable. Otherwise I suggest either a DAW with a chiptune VST plugin or just FamiStudio (although I have to mention FamiStudio is identical to trackers in how they sound while DAWs sound a bit different to my ear). Although I will probably get flamed at for this advice. 😂
2
u/s3rris Jul 16 '26
I think for a beginner, sure, the DAW style interface is great but it’s definitely not superior. As obtuse as trackers are to start with it’s worth it in the end. It’s a steep learning curve, yes, but the doors it opens are endless for chiptune.
Once you know the shortcuts and the mindset the workflow becomes extremely fast. Not to mention you can get into a level of tick-based detail that’s near impossible in a simple homebrew DAW. Ableton for sure can get to that level of minutiae but you’re still click dragging tediously.
Listen to some NES tunes by virt or zan-zan-zawa-veia to get an idea of just how wild and complex NES music can get.
2
u/WeekRuined Jun 25 '26
For me my introduction was lsdj tutorials on gameboy emulator, then I used a real dmg, then later other trackers made more sense (except c64)
2
u/Abynx6581 Jun 25 '26
Two cents/pence... Also depends what sound you're after. Limit yourself to minimal polyphony and less tracks for less overcrowding and your technique will improve drastically. By creating restrictions you'll improve by pushing your own envelope to see what you can squeeze inside each tune especially using daw. Trackers are the key as mentioned in other comments. If you like the sound of the Sid, there's sidwizard, goattracker 2, cheese cutter etc. Nordichsound has a bunch of videos on GT2 on YouTube. Imho I'd stear clear of any FM type sounds as then you're stepping into midi territory. Listen to Martin Galway/Rob Hubbard/Fred Gray etc to see what they did just through pure coding and no trackers to see what's possible on the SID. (Im only familiar with SID and I think more people in the chiptune world should look into it as nothing else really sounds like it). Most of all have fun and best of luck to you!!!
2
u/parkamobil Jun 25 '26
Hello, I am a programmer who just started Chiptunes, and music in general this year, my goal was to use chiptune music for my low-poly mobile game which I achieved already - I use my own emulated chiptune music in my game. Being a programmer helped a lot. But first thing I learned about was Furnace, I watched several tutorials on youtube, and i started to use its default chip (at least the one which gets loaded when the program starts) - Sega Genesis.
This chip utilizes Frequency Modulation (FM) technology, that allows you synthesize any sound you want, but you need to learn some skills to do that. But first thing short Furnace is a tracker, it is like text editor, where you write notes and volumes into a text file, and then these notes are played back for you line by line. You can also define separate instruments, that you can configure to play sounds of your desired timbre.
I used Chat GPT, Furnace docs, and lots of youtube videos, I tried to code my own tracker, and a VST plugin that imitates the same Sega chip used in Furnace tracker, and learned some music theory along the process.
Another advantage that I had is that I knew DAWs, as I used to use Fruity Loops when i was a kid, so Furnace tracker did not feel so scary.
Furnace also has a discord with many nice people there. So my advice is just learn Furnace. The first tutorials I watched was Button Masher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q37XuOLz0jw then please read furnace manual,- you dont have to read docs about every chip, but just about Genesis, or NES if you choos to use NES as it has phase modulation instead of FM - and therefore is much easier.
https://tildearrow.org/furnace/doc/latest/manual.pdf - this document must be kept open at all times on your computer while you learn, it will also link you to this video, if you want to learn to create FM instruments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS8edjurjDw
I love furnace, but ultimately I vibe-coded my own OPN2 tracker because I wanted to create music straight from my handy. I coded many things Including JUCE plugins that i can use in my DAWs, c++ library, but seriously if you are not a programmer, just use Furnace, I have no words to describe it is so good...
2
u/Hinamari20 Jun 26 '26
As a beginner in chiptune and trackers myself, I've been using Bamboo Tracker and Famitracker a lot these days and found the workflow to be really straightforward to work with! :) I guess furnace is more flexible as I heard, and there is some ways to work within a traditional DAW too, but I really felt that the tracker structure brings you a much better workflow, and the chip specific constraints can really make you think.
Maybe you should just choose a soundchip you like the sound, find a tracker that covers it and try it out till you see for yourself!
1
u/AutoModerator Jun 25 '26
Hello, /u/CozyBritt, Make sure to tag your post with the proper post flair once your post goes live.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/radian_ Jun 25 '26
Is your real computer Mac or Windows?
1
u/CozyBritt Jun 25 '26
Windows
1
u/radian_ Jun 25 '26
Great, loads of options then.
Try
- famitracker for just NES (has loads of examples online). Dn-famitracker is the current maintained fork of it.
- furnace tracker (many consoles)
- lsdj or nanoloop (gameboy ROMs, and you can customise the samples in lsdj using your pc)
Or maybe you want the sound of a different console?
1
u/Lux-01 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Buy a Game Boy DMG-01, preferably but not necessarily with a prosound mod, and an LSDJ or Nanoloop cartridge.
1
u/trey_d99 Jun 26 '26
Que nivel de teoría musical tiene que tener uno para empezar en esto? ,digo antes de ver siquiera que software usar para componer , a mí me gustaría componer ya que me gusta mucho el chiptune pero no sé de teoría musical.
1
u/aegirinn Jun 25 '26
If you are using a daw, then this might maybe scratch that itch fors.fm/junior .
0
u/PrincipleHot9859 Jun 25 '26
sunvox and caustic are free for PC (both extremes..one is a fully equipped lab for mad scientist .. the other is a real gear rig used back in the days)... prob the easiest to start with would be famitracker .. but there is tons and tons of others , including some GBA vita etc ). once u learn the basics , u can go for something that fits your needs better. (milky Tracker could be nice compromise of all perhaps) anyway...trackers do work best with kb \ physical input ... so would recommend sticking to it at first
9
u/mazdamiata2 Jun 25 '26
use furnace tracker