Elektron Musical Instruments

Just wondering,

Does anybody here know what kind of a sound chip (if not integrated) 
was in the Nintendo NES? How is it compared to a SID? I understand, 
that the NES and the c64 had some common chips inside them (not sure, 
though)... How cool would an Elektron NES-station be...? ;)

-Mikael Nuotto

On Mon, 13 May 2002, nuotto wrote:

> Does anybody here know what kind of a sound chip (if not integrated) 
> was in the Nintendo NES? How is it compared to a SID? I understand, 
> that the NES and the c64 had some common chips inside them (not sure, 
> though)... How cool would an Elektron NES-station be...? ;)
> 
The NES has a very simple programmable sound generator (PSG), which can
play 2 square wave channels, one triangle channel, one noise channel, and
one PCM sample channel. No envelopes, no filters, no hard sync, afaik.
Compared to the SID, it sounds very poor.

Cheers,
Andreas

> > 
> The NES has a very simple programmable sound generator (PSG), which 
can
> play 2 square wave channels, one triangle channel, one noise 
channel, and
> one PCM sample channel. No envelopes, no filters, no hard sync, 
afaik.

Damn.

> Compared to the SID, it sounds very poor.

No it doesn't! ;)

-Mikael

At 05:05 PM 5/13/02 +0000, nuotto wrote:

> > Compared to the SID, it [the NES] sounds very poor.
>
>No it doesn't! ;)

It may not be exactly what you're after, but if you've not already done so, 
check out http://www.nanoloop.com.  Nanoloop is a tracker that allows 
direct access to the sound chip on the Nintendo Gameboy.  There are also 
some schematics online for providing sync to existing setups, although I 
usually just feed the sounds/loops directly into a sampler or computer and 
play with 'em there.

You can get some pretty kewl noises with only a bit of tweaking, and it's 
great to take on roadtrips where you want to get some work done without 
dragging a ton of gear around the countryside.

         -c-

_____
"i want to reach my hand into the dark and *feel* what reaches back"
                                                     -recoil

Theirs also this for the game boy http://www.littlesounddj.com/

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Catilyne 
  To: elektron-users@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Monday, May 13, 2002 3:41 PM
  Subject: Re: [elektron] Nes


  At 05:05 PM 5/13/02 +0000, nuotto wrote:

  > > Compared to the SID, it [the NES] sounds very poor.
  >
  >No it doesn't! ;)

  It may not be exactly what you're after, but if you've not already done so, 
  check out http://www.nanoloop.com.  Nanoloop is a tracker that allows 
  direct access to the sound chip on the Nintendo Gameboy.  There are also 
  some schematics online for providing sync to existing setups, although I 
  usually just feed the sounds/loops directly into a sampler or computer and 
  play with 'em there.

  You can get some pretty kewl noises with only a bit of tweaking, and it's 
  great to take on roadtrips where you want to get some work done without 
  dragging a ton of gear around the countryside.

           -c-

  _____
  "i want to reach my hand into the dark and *feel* what reaches back"
                                                       -recoil



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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>> The NES has a very simple programmable sound generator (PSG)
[...]
>> No envelopes, no filters, no hard sync, 

IIRC there was at least some pitch-up/pitch-down hardware slides.  I think
that was to make up for the fact that each write to the sound registers
caused a click.

>> Compared to the SID, it sounds very poor.

>No it doesn't! ;)

Hehe... it's all software magic.  The video hardware blows chunks too (no raster effects possible (well, one: split screen)), but that didn't stop
Shigeru Miyamoto and company from creating some of the best games ever using
it.

I also recommend nanoloop to anyone wanting to play with minimalist hardware
like the NES sound chip.  Little Sound DJ is cool too, but it's IMO it's
trying too hard to emulate pro audio hardware.  Nanoloop just goes off and
does its own weird thing.

-Jim

-- 
Jim Crawford
Me:   http://www.goombas.org/
Band: http://smush.goombas.org/

--- In elektron-users@y..., jim crawford <pfister_@m...> wrote:
> >> The NES has a very simple programmable sound generator (PSG)
> [...]
> >> No envelopes, no filters, no hard sync, 
> 
> IIRC there was at least some pitch-up/pitch-down hardware slides.  
I think
> that was to make up for the fact that each write to the sound 
registers
> caused a click.
> 
> >> Compared to the SID, it sounds very poor.
> 
> >No it doesn't! ;)
> 
> Hehe... it's all software magic.  The video hardware blows chunks 
too (no raster effects possible (well, one: split screen)), but that 
didn't stop
> Shigeru Miyamoto and company from creating some of the best games 
ever using
> it.
> 
> I also recommend nanoloop to anyone wanting to play with minimalist 
hardware
> like the NES sound chip.  Little Sound DJ is cool too, but it's IMO 
it's
> trying too hard to emulate pro audio hardware.  Nanoloop just goes 
off and
> does its own weird thing.
> 
> -Jim

I actually thought of buying a LSDJ, I might order one one of these 
days... (getting dangerously OT)

-Mikael

--- In elektron-users@y..., "nuotto" <Nuotto@h...> wrote:
> Just wondering,
> 
> Does anybody here know what kind of a sound chip (if not 
integrated) 
> was in the Nintendo NES? How is it compared to a SID? I understand, 
> that the NES and the c64 had some common chips inside them (not 
sure, 
> though)... How cool would an Elektron NES-station be...? ;)
> 
> -Mikael Nuotto

Dear Mikael:

The NES uses a 2A03 device, a modified 6502 with a 5-channel audio 
portion.

There is a NES-instrument under construction by Rhombus, it is named 
the "greybox" and will be completed this year. It will be 5 parts 
multitimbral with knobs for nearly every function, several effects, 
and midi-enabled. I've heard a few demos of it, and let me tell you, 
this will be one great machine!

More info and website soon!

those of you interested in another similar item......

please check out the noizSPIKE-2600/R on my website.

http://www.manipulate.net/skan/



>--- In elektron-users@y..., "nuotto" <Nuotto@h...> wrote:
>> Just wondering,
>>
>> Does anybody here know what kind of a sound chip (if not
>integrated)
>> was in the Nintendo NES? How is it compared to a SID? I understand,
>> that the NES and the c64 had some common chips inside them (not
>sure,
>> though)... How cool would an Elektron NES-station be...? ;)
>>
>> -Mikael Nuotto
>
>Dear Mikael:
>
>The NES uses a 2A03 device, a modified 6502 with a 5-channel audio
>portion.
>
>There is a NES-instrument under construction by Rhombus, it is named
>the "greybox" and will be completed this year. It will be 5 parts
>multitimbral with knobs for nearly every function, several effects,
>and midi-enabled. I've heard a few demos of it, and let me tell you,
>this will be one great machine!
>
>More info and website soon!
>
>
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/



SPIKE the Percussionist

http://www.manipulate.net/skan/

on 5/22/02 11:43 PM, SPIKE the Percussionist at speyek@... wrote:

> 
> those of you interested in another similar item......
> 
> please check out the noizSPIKE-2600/R on my website.
> 
> http://www.manipulate.net/skan/
> 
    Hey. I checked out your page. The rackmounted 2600 is really cool. How
exactly do you impliment it as an instrument in your studio? I noticed you
had a "synthcart" inserted into it. Did you code that? What does it do? I'm
really interested in the capabilities of the 2600 as an instrument. Have you
ever considered selling one of these?

                cheers,
                John

INFORM3R AUDIO + DISCOGRAPHY
-----------------
http://www.inform3r.com/audio.html

for more on the synthcart:

http://www.mindspring.com/~paul-slocum/synth.html

~andrew

> Dear Mikael:
> 
> The NES uses a 2A03 device, a modified 6502 with a 5-channel audio 
> portion.
> 
> There is a NES-instrument under construction by Rhombus, it is 
named 
> the "greybox" and will be completed this year. It will be 5 parts 
> multitimbral with knobs for nearly every function, several effects, 
> and midi-enabled. I've heard a few demos of it, and let me tell 
you, 
> this will be one great machine!
> 
> More info and website soon!

Sounds cool!

Any idea if the greybox will ever be on sale (and what would it cost?)
...and be sure to notify me (us) when it gets completed...!
-Mikael

from http://www.gweep.net/~shifty/txt/videogamemusic.txt

NES - pAPU (Pseudo-Audio Processing Unit) - 4 analogue channels 
(2 pulse/square, 1 triangle, 1 noise) , 1 digital PCM channel.

I would suggest that if you don't use envelopes on a sidsta, and
only 2 pulse widths, you would come close to the NES.

-N

On Mon, May 13, 2002 at 04:02:33PM -0000, nuotto wrote:
> Just wondering,
> 
> Does anybody here know what kind of a sound chip (if not integrated) 
> was in the Nintendo NES? How is it compared to a SID? I understand, 
> that the NES and the c64 had some common chips inside them (not sure, 
> though)... How cool would an Elektron NES-station be...? ;)
> 
> -Mikael Nuotto
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
> 

-- 
                                 DSP Audio Effects! http://gweep.net/~shifty
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