alex_h Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 I'd like to be able to write some 8 bit music for my next game. Ideally I'd like to be able to do this by finding a VSTi that can generate 8 bit sounds. My audio set up is a bit outdated, I'm on a Windows XP desktop thats something like 8 years old, running Cubase SX 2. I've tried having a quick look for 8 bit VSTi's on KVR but it returns so many home made rubbish synths that it is too hard to search through them all to find something decent. Can anybody recommend either a good 8-bit sounding VSTi or a way of being able to sequence 8 bit music? I've tried just running a normal synth with a bitcrusher on it but the bitcrusher plugin I have is too processor intensive for my poor old machine really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benny! Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 If you have access to an android phone - maybe this is app could work for you: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nightradio.pixitracker1bit (there is also a free demo version in the app store of it available). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_h Posted August 7, 2013 Author Share Posted August 7, 2013 nice one, that looks cool! I'll give it a try - thanks.Any other suggestions anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_h Posted August 7, 2013 Author Share Posted August 7, 2013 Actually pixitracker is more of a 4 bar step sequencer and doesn't seem to let you change the pitch of the samples. So it's a bit too restricted for what I'd like to do. Fun though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benny! Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Hmm ... there is an extended version of the 1bit version by the same author - just called pixitracker - maybe this has extended functionalities https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nightradio.pixitracker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckie Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Tracker-wise, MilkyTracker is probably the best bet: http://www.milkytracker.org/VST wise, the Magical 8bit Plugin is supposed to be good: http://www.ymck.net/en/download/magical8bitplug/ though I've never got it to work on my Linux box.Ones I have used and recommend are the ymVST: http://www.preromanbritain.com/ymvst/ for that Atari ST sound, 38911 Bytes is a good C64 VST with a ton of presets http://freemusicsoftware.org/1521 .. there's actually a few versions of 38911 with slightly different presets, which are worth looking for. Finally, Icecream: http://www.megavst.com/synth/icecream/ is a fun one to play about with as well.Those three I've personally used under Linux with LMMS and they work pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_h Posted August 7, 2013 Author Share Posted August 7, 2013 Those sound like just what I was looking for, thanks a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 SFXR is what I use to generate samples to run through my samplers. The problem is a lot of DAW editors use 16 or 24 bit, regardless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
korshunX Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 try mini SID, Quantum 64 and ymvst . . These are the most realistic lofi vsti that I know of. Or try sampling GoatTracker presets. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_h Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 Thanks for those, I'll check them out as soon as I get the chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rezoner Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 I don't make pure 8-bit music but I like adding all these retro touches, also often using raw saw/square wave for a lead https://soundcloud.com/rezoner/not-obsolete-yet My tool of trade is FLStudio which comes with 3xOSC instrument - that is great for simulating 8-bit square bass, arps and leads Now to give your song REAL 8-bit feeling you want these two VST's: Unknown64 pro - C64 SID chip emulator + sequencer:Not easy to understand but totally worth paying time to learn it.http://theodosynthsarchive.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/unknown64-pro/ Awesome package of fat c64 drumshttp://theodosynthsarchive.wordpress.com/category/drsid/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rezoner Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 I have made a little demo of 3x-osc usage for you https://soundcloud.com/rezoner/x-osc-pretending-sid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_h Posted August 14, 2013 Author Share Posted August 14, 2013 I like it! Sounds great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benny! Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 I have made a little demo of 3x-osc usage for you https://soundcloud.com/rezoner/x-osc-pretending-sid Wow ... nice one. Sounds true oldschoolish! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Burchard Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 This looks promising: https://github.com/meenie/8bit.js Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_h Posted August 28, 2013 Author Share Posted August 28, 2013 Ha ha that supermario example is amazing!I wouldn't try to use something like that on a game targeting mobile devices though, even if I thought it would work on most devices I'd surely want to preserve all my processing power for my game rendering and logic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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