Plenty of raw harmonics can be found in the earlier waveforms, while the wayward tuning of the '1x1' register configuration is present and correct. If you're after a more industrial sound, then the crude, crunching tones of the POKEY integrated circuit, as used by early Atari machines, will find a place in your heart. This chip creates a smoother sound using either a pulse waveform with adjustable width, or a custom waveform you can draw in yourself. Our second favourite has to be the DMG-CPU, as used by Nintendo's Game Boy. Controls available are filter type, cutoff and resonance, as well as PWM with LFO modulation. There's no dynamic ring modulation or oscillator sync, but these are promised as the SID emulation moves closer to synthesis (it's currently the most sample-based of the emulations). The waveform list includes mixed combinations alongside versions that include ring modulation. We found its reproduction to be remarkably accurate, buzzing away nicely from the saw waveform or tightly vibrating our speakers with its triangle output. Which are the tastiest chips? Top of most people's wanted list is surely the SID chip of Commodore 64 fame. Plogue chipsounds (opens in new tab) Sound As for control, many generic parameters (eg, in the Modulation page) are exposed via MIDI CC and, where appropriate, chip-specific parameters such as SID PWM are bound to CCs, too. The sound engine uses a careful combination of synthesis and samples - around 95% is the former, says Plogue.
Many chips come in several varieties, eg, PAL and NTSC types, offering European and US chip clock timings respectively, and thus slightly different tunings. Tracker-style keyboard control would be preferable, or at least the option to increment/decrement with left/right keys.Įach chip has custom controls and a selection of timbres (eg, waveforms, noise types and chip 'tricks'), selected using keyswitches or a menu. Rows are played from top to bottom, with the duration of each specified in the T column, and a row can play a note, switch waveforms, adjust the pitch or modulate any parameter.īut this is where the GUI really grinds, as not only is the visible range of the table tiny, but it's entirely mouse-driven - click the MIDI CC column, for instance, and a huge dropdown menu appears, ranging from 0 to 127.
PLOGUE BIDULE RECORDING MANUAL
As the manual rightly states, it looks much like the 'instrument' or 'sample' pages found in trackers on 8-bit machines - basically, a mini-tracker that's triggered on each note. However, it's the wave sequencer that's vital for those crazy, rapid note flutters and crescendos that chip musicians wield so well.
Also cool is Proportional Division, which ensures that each arp cycle lasts the same amount of time, whether you play two notes or ten. As well as looping, it can play in one-shot mode, with or without sustain of the last note. The arpeggiator offers ten playback patterns with host sync. The Controls page is the most important, offering an arpeggiator and wave sequencer preset-saving for both sections. The five-page user interface, while not ideal, is at least straightforward. We're used to seeing this kind of attention to detail in emulations of classic synths and studio gear, but here the same ethos has been applied to mass-produced home entertainment devices. And there's one final chip that comes from neither console nor computer but from Casio's VL-1 mini keyboard.Īn enormous - some would say obsessive - amount of effort has clearly gone into deciphering how these chips create their signature sounds. There are some less well-known efforts, too, such as the SN76489 found in the ColecoVision console and BBC Micro the P8244/ P8245 of the Magnavox Odyssey² and the UVI 2637 that lurked inside the Arcadia 2001. The documentation carefully avoids mentioning actual brands, but you can expect to find emulations of the chips from old favourites like the Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum 128, Nintendo Game Boy, Commodore 64 and VIC-20, Atari 400/8. OverviewĬhipsounds is a soft synth that offers a faithful recreation of nine classic chip configurations found in home computers and consoles of the '70s/'80s.
PLOGUE BIDULE RECORDING PC
But with a modern Mac or PC and Plogue's Chipsounds, you can have essentially the same results after suffering a mere 30-second installation routine. And as for integrating the bleepin' thing with an existing setup, that's another world of pain. To get your fix of such sounds from the source would mean locating a working example of a 20-30 year-old piece of hardware and obtaining (and learning to use) some music software, or programming your own.
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