Chip Maestro

[Dirk]

Years ago there was a Kickstarter for Chip Maestro, a cartridge that would let you play music directly on the 2a03 chip of your NES. You connect the cartridge to your midi keyboard via cable, put the cartridge in your NES and then you can play music directly on your NES.

Here is a link to the Kickstarter page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jarek/chip-maestro-an-nes-midi-synthesizer-cartridge/

Did anyone of you back this? How was your experience with the Chip Maestro? Do you still make music with it?

 

[Raftronaut]

I have been looking to purchase one forever, in fact I had emailed the website and got no response. They exist out there, but I have not been able to get any good info on it... this is something I could put to very good use and potentially get some of my musician friends into chiptune..

 

[Dirk]

I think it would be a quite cool piece of equipment. I don't know how good it works in reality and I saw this on the homepage

Important:
1. The Chip Maestro is programmed for NTSC versions of the NES, it will not work correctly with PAL versions!
2. You must disable the MIDI sync/clock signal on your keyboard or use one that does not send this signal; if you cannot do this the Chip Maestro will not work correctly!

As I have a PAL system it wouldn't work for me, but it might motivate me to get a NTSC version of the NES

I'm not a musician and have hardly any experience playing an instrument so it would probably be wasted on me. My plan is to get a cheap and tiny MIDI keyboard controller to use with Famitracker. I think I'll get this one: https://www.thomann.de/at/akai_lpk_25.htm
It has no MIDI interface so I couldn't use Chip Maestro directly, and I don't know about the part with disabling your MIDI sync/clock... I have no experience with MIDI keyboards.

That being said, if they decide to sell the Chip Maestro again one day, I'll surely get one ^^

this is something I could put to very good use

Thinking of your game music I wholeheartedly agree. I would love to hear and see you play on a Chip Maestro.

 

[Raftronaut]

I think it would be a quite cool piece of equipment. I don't know how good it works in reality and I saw this on the homepage

Important:
1. The Chip Maestro is programmed for NTSC versions of the NES, it will not work correctly with PAL versions!
2. You must disable the MIDI sync/clock signal on your keyboard or use one that does not send this signal; if you cannot do this the Chip Maestro will not work correctly!

As I have a PAL system it wouldn't work for me, but it might motivate me to get a NTSC version of the NES

I'm not a musician and have hardly any experience playing an instrument so it would probably be wasted on me. My plan is to get a cheap and tiny MIDI keyboard controller to use with Famitracker. I think I'll get this one: https://www.thomann.de/at/akai_lpk_25.htm
It has no MIDI interface so I couldn't use Chip Maestro directly, and I don't know about the part with disabling your MIDI sync/clock... I have no experience with MIDI keyboards.

That being said, if they decide to sell the Chip Maestro again one day, I'll surely get one ^^

this is something I could put to very good use

Thinking of your game music I wholeheartedly agree. I would love to hear and see you play on a Chip Maestro.

Oh yeah, thanks
Having an actual NES in the studio to use as a dedicated synthesizer would be incredibly useful and fun. In fact in my band, when we picked up one of the reisuses of the Korg ms-20, the first thing I tried to do with it were recreate the motor sounds from excitebike
just for fun.

Ultimately though, famitracker is much much more useful for making chiptunes, but the chip maestro would be so much fun to add texture to recordings, or simply do experiments with...

Sampling sounds from the NES and using them on a keyboard is pretty easy, but not as fulfilling as using an actual NES IMHO
Imagine if something like this was released as a peripheral back in the day...I would have lost my damn mind. Though Konami released something similar to it in Japan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4EbFb9kUOo cool stuff!


Don't be shy with famitracker, if you're curious, you should try some experiments with it, programming drumbeats and basslines on it is pretty easy and great way to get started. I would be happy to assist with any questions if you had any

 

[Dirk]

I once saw a band using a Gameboy with a custom-made module, with cables everywhere, playing retro electronic music live. It left quite an impression on me. I think it would be the same experiencing a NES concert.

Don't be shy with famitracker, if you're curious, you should try some experiments with it, programming drumbeats and basslines on it is pretty easy and great way to get started. I would be happy to assist with any questions if you had any

Thank you, I'll definitely ask if I have questions... and I will surely have some ^^

I've experimented a bit with envelopes and creating instruments, but I am not really comfortable with inputting notes with the keyboard. I think or hope it will be better with an actual midi keyboard.

 

[Raftronaut]

I once saw a band using a Gameboy with a custom-made module, with cables everywhere, playing retro electronic music live. It left quite an impression on me. I think it would be the same experiencing a NES concert.

Don't be shy with famitracker, if you're curious, you should try some experiments with it, programming drumbeats and basslines on it is pretty easy and great way to get started. I would be happy to assist with any questions if you had any

Thank you, I'll definitely ask if I have questions... and I will surely have some ^^

I've experimented a bit with envelopes and creating instruments, but I am not really comfortable with inputting notes with the keyboard. I think or hope it will be better with an actual midi keyboard.

I never use a musical keyboard for famitracker, I use my QWERTY typing board (and liberal use of mouse) for everything I compose. Sometimes I will look at a picture of a piano if I need to remember a chord shape or work out a bassline. I will sometimes use Virtual Piano with my mouse if I need to hear how a melody works, to me Famitracker is all about planning and composition and less about performance, therefore, a performance-based midi keyboard for famitracker would not be very useful to me personally.
I think it is great that Nesmaker 5.0 will add the midi keyboard function on the music creator suite, but I am so comfortable with famitracker now that I cannot see abandoning it .. Though I AM SURE the midi support will help waves of nesmakers get their own music written and that is something to get excited about..

https://virtualpiano.net/

 

[Dirk]

to me Famitracker is all about planning and composition and less about performance,

Hehe, if you'd see how I'll input notes with a midi keyboard controller in Famitracker you won't call it performance ^^
I have a somewhat hard time to find the notes I want to input on my keyboard. With a midi keyboard I know it immediately.

I'm curious what kind of workflow I'll develop with Famitracker. Maybe I'll abandon the midi keyboard and just use keyboard and mouse too.


Thanks for the link. I played around a bit and got confused too. Then I saw the option to turn see which key plays which note and I realized that the "z" and "y" keys are swapped since I don't have a keyboard with an American layout
I'll have to look if that was something that confused me too with Famitracker.


Yes, the MIDI support for 5.0 will be very interesting.

 

[Raftronaut]

to me Famitracker is all about planning and composition and less about performance,

Hehe, if you'd see how I'll input notes with a midi keyboard controller in Famitracker you won't call it performance ^^
I have a somewhat hard time to find the notes I want to input on my keyboard. With a midi keyboard I know it immediately.

I'm curious what kind of workflow I'll develop with Famitracker. Maybe I'll abandon the midi keyboard and just use keyboard and mouse too.


Thanks for the link. I played around a bit and got confused too. Then I saw the option to turn see which key plays which note and I realized that the "z" and "y" keys are swapped since I don't have a keyboard with an American layout
I'll have to look if that was something that confused me too with Famitracker.


Yes, the MIDI support for 5.0 will be very interesting.

Ah yes, not sure which language keyboard you have, but the notes are layed out similarly on the QWERTY keyboard to a musical one:

Keep in mind, if you input a wrong note, you can right click and select increase/decrease note until it is the note value required.. I also do this with Octaves, I only use a single octave when writing, then ->select all->right click-> increase/decrease octave. This basically eliminates the need for a midi-keyboard and allows you to change note values later....

So basically I only need to use a picture of a musical keyboard to compose music in famitracker and only then as occasional reference point. I only really use that link for a visual guide, in case I am having a brain fart and can't remember what the minor 3rd is to a G chord or the 5th of a B major chord etc... I had reservations about working this way at first, but quickly got the hang out it, and now is completely natural to me.

 

[Dirk]

I'm from Austria so I have the German keyboard layout, so it's a QWERTZ keyboard. Maybe there is an option in Famitracker to change it or I could always just simply change my input language.

Thank you very much for the picture! It will come in handy. I think I'll print it out as reference.

Also thank you for the tip on how to change the notes and octaves.

Yes, I think you are right. I'll just need to get the hang of it.