TFM Music Maker

elan · Post by **elan** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:16 am

That is right.I will wait for it sure!!!

Shiru · Post by **Shiru** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 5:20 am

elan wrote:2Shiru: Any news of new version with PCM samples feature???

I answer not only to elan, but to all, who interested about progress.

Like I already said before, somethere in beginning of this thread - DAC and PSG support will be added only in SMD-exclusive version of tracker. I'll start to work on that version only after I implement all planned features and fix all known bugs in TFM MM - I don't want to work and support for two separate projects at once.

Currently there is even no first planned update for TFM MM were released. This update still in work, and will contain bugfixes, some english documentation, and keyboard remapping feature.

Developement of SMD-exclusive version will be started definitely not in this year, possible in next. When it started, in first releases you might expect DAC support and some other SMD-specific features. PSG support will be implemented in the last turn.

About DAC support, I currently assume that it will be single channel, without resampling (i.e. always plays with same pitch), without volume control. without looping; but many samples per song will be allowed. I.e., DAC support will be oriented mostly for digital drums, or short, bad tuned melodic sequences (with different samples for each note), like in Ristar's 'Du-Di-Da' theme.

Of course, right when any progress about TFM MM will be made, I'll post report here.

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:31 am

Sounds good Shiru.

Shiru wrote:About DAC support, I currently assume that it will be single channel, without resampling (i.e. always plays with same pitch), without volume control. without looping; but many samples per song will be allowed. I.e., DAC support will be oriented mostly for digital drums, or short, bad tuned melodic sequences (with different samples for each note), like in Ristar's 'Du-Di-Da' theme.

Just curious, why no resampling or looping? Too heavy on the CPU?

TmEE co.(TM) · Post by **TmEE co.(TM)** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 2:52 pm

resampling and looping are little pain to achieve I guess... if you want to maintain high sampling rate and clarity of the sound like I do.

commodorejohn · Post by **commodorejohn** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 5:58 pm

Resampling would be CPU-heavy, but looping isn't very complicated...then again, when you're running the whole player on a 4MHz Z80, I suppose you can only pull off so much at once.

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:19 pm

Wouldn't mind the player using the 68000, too.

TmEE co.(TM) · Post by **TmEE co.(TM)** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:03 pm

Thing is that the use of 68000 to make sound in Mega Drive is waste of potential of the system...

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:50 pm

TmEE co.(TM) wrote:Thing is that the use of 68000 to make sound in Mega Drive is waste of potential of the system...

Sure, I understand that it's unrealistic. Still cool though...

Shiru · Post by **Shiru** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:05 pm

Sorry, forgot to answer to some questions:

FrozenDelight wrote:Can anyone recommend a good Tracker for Mac, preferably a free one? I know of Renoise (on mac and pc), but it's not free. Not that it's expensive, but I'd like to try free ones anyway. I had some trouble finding Trackers on Mac, perhaps because the word tracker is used for many things.

I'm absolutely not a Mac user, and I've never seen working current-gen Mac in real life (they not popular in my country). So I don't know any details, but I know that MilkyTracker (recent FT2-type tracker) has MacOSX version. You can also check List of audio trackers in Wikipedia, MacOS section.

FrozenDelight wrote:It would have been nice for me to have TFM Music Maker on Mac, because all we use are Macs at my University, which I'll be back at late September.

Current implementation of TFM MM is very platform-dependent, and can't be ported to any other platform. To make editor portable, very significant part of code must be rewritten from scratch (whole interface, which is more than half of all original code).

zinger wrote:Just curious, why no resampling or looping? Too heavy on the CPU?

Yes. Like I said before, TFM MM is designed for making music for real device(s) - originally for TFM sound card on ZX Spectrum; and, as we speak about SMD-specific version, for SMD. Also, important feature of editor is that music can be not only replayed on real device, but can be played in background of main program (i.e. can be used in games, demos, etc.). So yes, CPU power of SMD (as well as other parameters), is a factor which limits editor features.

zinger wrote:Wouldn't mind the player using the 68000, too. :P

This is optional solution, but I prefer to get all from Z80, like developers of 1990s did. Like TmEE said, 68K usage will be waste of SMD's power, which is important in case of usage music in games/demos.

Of course, only volume and resampling requires much power from CPU. Simple looping (forward-only) is easier to do, but I don't think it can be useful because other limitations. Anyway, it's not a key-feature, and I can think about it after basic DAC support will be implemented.

elan · Post by **elan** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:54 am

@FrozenDelight> What about BootCamp+Windows on MAC

jobro · Post by **jobro** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 3:12 pm

Glad to hear that DAC and PSG will arrive at all. I'm working on a few new tracks and some instruments. And shiru ifyou want to include the instruments I did previously then be my guest.

FrozenDelight · Post by **FrozenDelight** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:11 pm

elan wrote;

@FrozenDelight> What about BootCamp+Windows on MAC

You know, I was going to do that, but I didn't for two reasons. Firstly I'd have to buy another copy of Windows XP, and also I'm a little worried about accidently messing up my Mac somehow.

I did really want to do it though... Perhaps I could use Windows '98? That would be cheaper. Wish there was some kinda (dosbox type) emulator for Mac that I could just run small apps like TFM MM in. Oh well, no matter.

Thanks goes to Shiru for pointing out MilkyTracker, looks to be good.

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 8:39 pm

http://www.soundshock.se/forum/zinger/NOA.mp3

Some more music, FM techno madness running in gens emulator (without post processing, ofcourse). Enjoy!

FrozenDelight · Post by **FrozenDelight** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 12:40 pm

OMG that was wicked.

zinger, would you ever consider donating any of your music to any University projects I might do? I'm doing a degree in animation and I might need some background music.

You'd be fully credited (in the credits) and I wouldn't be making any profits from it. I'd show you sample animations first, and you could decide off that. Also this wouldn't be happening for possibly a year. But no worrys if you don't want to, just a thought.

TmEE co.(TM) · Post by **TmEE co.(TM)** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 2:25 pm

NOA kicks @$$, I like it a lot