NerdTracker 2 FINAL BETA v2.

1 Win32 Version
official documentation v8.16.2005
Use MS-DOS edit or a 100% compatible program
to view this file if you want it to look right
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Nerdtracker 2 Credits:
Programming, NES replay code, and .NED file format by Mr. Bananmos
ANSI graphic design by Phlum-Dumb
Ported to Win32 by thefox
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
http://nesdev.parodius.com/nt2/
NT2 is discontinued. This is the final version.
Better late than never.
Index:
0. Introduction
1. Effects
2. Keys
2.a Pattern Editor
2.b Sample Editor
2.c Order Editor
3. Instrument Settings
4. Advice and Suggestions
4.a Using the Keyboard for Music
4.b Using the DPCM Channel
4.c Using the Noise Channel
4.d Bugs!
4.e Optimizing
4.f Tricks
5. Replay Program
5.a Introduction
5.b Usage
6. Troubleshooting
7. Credits
-==========================================================================-
0. System Requirements:
- Soundblaster (or 100% Compatible) Soundcard
- x86 233 Mhz
- DOS
-==========================================================================-
1. Effect: What it does:
1xx Portamento up. Slides pitch up.
2xx Portamento down. Slides pitch down.
3xx Portamento to note. Slides pitch to note.
4xy Vibrato, x = speed, y = depth. Sine pitch modulation.
7xy Tremelo, x = speed, y = depth. Sine volume modulation.
8xy Arpeggio. Alternates note between specified half-note values.
Axy Volume Slide, value is the speed. x = up, y = down
Cxx Set volume, maximum is $3F. (NES only has 16 volume
Dxx Go to next pattern. (levels, though)
Fxx Set tempo. Default is 6. Lower values are faster. BPM = 125
xxx Theoretically, you could modify the replay program and create
your own effect, though it would do nothing inside the tracker
itself.
-==========================================================================-
2. Keys:

(written with american keyboard in mind, may be different on other systems)
2.a Pattern Editor:
Music keys See section 4a.
Space Inserts a note-off at cursor location.
(bug: it works in the PCM channel on the NES replay
code, but not in NT2's sound emulation)
Left Ctrl+L Load .ned (Type in full filename)
Left Ctrl+S Save .ned (Don't press backspace while typing the
filename, or it won't be saved!)
Right Shift Starts/Stops playing the song.
' and \ or Select current instrument.
F9 and F10

F1 through F8 Set octave. (use F8 for the lowest, but the NES
can't go lower than A-0 !)
Numeric * or ~ Switch between pattern, instrument, and order editors.
Left Shift+F3 Go to sample editor.
(or Left Shift+* which works in DOS)
Cursor keys Moves cursor. (hmm..)
Insert Inserts blank line at cursor location. Moves all
notes below cursor down.
Backspace Delete note above cursor, moves position and
everything below it up.
Delete Delete note or effect at cursor postion.
Page Up/Down Moves cursor up/down by 16 steps.
Home/End Moves cursor to the top/bottom of the pattern.
Enter Creates DAT and IHD files for use with NES replay code.
Escape Escape! Exits the program.
2.b Sample Editor:
L load sample (Format is 1bit Delta-PCM. An 8to1bit converter
is available at http://nesdev.parodius.com/)
Numeric * switch between sample editor, notetable, and instruments.

2.c Order Editor:
left/right cursor Select track.
up/down cursor Select order position
+ and - Set pattern in selected position.
space Set current position as loop-back point.
insert Insert new pattern in selected position.
delete Delete pattern in selected position.
(bugs: change track patterns to 0 before deleting,
also be sure your last order position doesn't use
all pattern 0's, or that entry is removed upon
save/load)
-==========================================================================-
3. Instrument Settings:
Duty cycle Shape of squarewave, 4 possible settings
Hold note Hold note. Required, unless Timelength is set
Envelope fix Set to ON if you want volume control (you should)
Inst. Volume Default volume of instrument
/ Frequency Var. \
| Freq. ChngSpeed | These settings are no longer supported, so don't
| Hi to Lo | mess with them.
\ Freq. Range /
Timelength Use this if 'hold note' is turned off
/ Arpeggio X \
| Arpeggio Y | Auto-arpeggio settings
\ Arpeggio Z /
Vibrato Speed Auto-vibrato speed
Vibrato Depth Auto-vibrato depth
Tremelo Speed Auto-tremelo speed
Tremelo Depth Auto-tremelo depth
Volume fade Auto-volume fade
Volume fade=UP Volume will fade up
Looped noise Use to make metallic sounds with noise channel
Auto portamento Automatically slides frequency down
Portamento=UP Auto-portamento will go up
Unlabeled 1 Reverse arpeggio (lower instead of higher)
Unlabeled 2 Non-looped auto-arpeggio
-==========================================================================-
4. Advice and Suggestions:


4.a Using the Keyboard for Music:
Are you not familiar with other tracking programs? Then, it really
helps to know what keys correspond to notes on a musical keyboard.
"Q" is C, "2" is C#, "W" is D, "3" is D#, "E" is - guess what - E.
The same pattern repeats until the "P" key, which is high E.
There's a bottom row too, starting at "Z" (being C) and going until
"M" (being B). If you know that that there is no E# or B# (as you
should anyways), the pattern is really easy to follow. I highlighted
the sharp keys with a green magic marker on my keyboard, for visual
reference. (Note: If you do this, don't put ink on the top of the
keys unless you like your fingers changing colors! Heheh.)

4.b Using the DPCM Channel:
NT2 uses instruments, similar to .XI instruments in how several
samples can be loaded into one instrument. You'll need to have 5
samples (with each one 1 half-tone higher than the one before it)
of the same sound if you want to have a usuable frequency range
from one sample.
There is no instrument file saving, so the best way to save your
instruments is to save them in a blank .NED.
The NES's frequency control is only *4* bits (yeesh). If sample #1
is a C note, then you should set sample #1's frequency value for C-2
(or any other octave) to $C in the sample editor. Now things
start to get wierd. Set E-2 to $D, G-2 to $E, and C-3 to $F (all
of them using sample #1). This is where the half-tone higher samples
come in, and if you understood what I was just talking about then
you can probably see the pattern that you'll need to follow. This
technique should work fine, as long as sample #1 plays a C note when
the frequency value is $C. It's not known if Nintendo designed
certain values to be notes, or if it's just blind luck that they are.
Here are some diagrams to explain NT2's PCM instrument interface.


PCM Instrument Editor:
Sample Number

Sample Filenames
(this is where you hit 'L' to
load a sample)

Inst Name 0sample1.dmc
Instrument #01 1sample2.dmc
(each one can 02 2drum.dmc
contain 8 03 3blahblah.dmc
samples) 04 4
05 5
06 6
07 7





PCM Note-table Editor:
Octave
00 01 02 03

NoteC 00000000
C#00000000
D 00000000
D#00000000
E 00000000
F 00000000
F#00000000
G 00000000
G#00000000
A 00000000
A#00000000
B 00000000


Sample Number
Sample Playback Speed
Sample Playback Speeds:
0 C-8
1 D-8
2 E-8
3 F-8
4 G-8
5 A-8
6 B-8
7 C-9
8 D-9
9 F-9
A G-9
B A-9
C C-10
D E-10
E G-10
F C-10

Remember that any instrument settings you set for normal instruments
will have no effect on the PCM channel. Effects such as volume and
pitch slides, etc. can't be done with the NES's DMA method of using
samples. They are stored in ROM, and are played as-is. The
maximum amount of sample data you can use without bankswitching is
16378 bytes. It wouldn't be too hard to write the code to do
bankswitching to get more, but would depend on how the samples were
arranged. Contact me if you're wanting to try something like this.
Also, due to the filtering on the NES's sound the PCM channel is
significantly quieter and cleaner sounding than most emulators to
date. On a real NES, if the pulse channels are too loud, they can
easily drown out the PCM samples. Personally, when I use samples I
keep my pulse channel volumes below 8 because of this.
4.c Using the Noise Channel:
The noise channel has a 4bit frequency range, and that means it can
produce only 16 unique tones. The tracker interface doesn't have
an obvious way of letting you know what notes are what, but if
you keep the following points in mind, you shouldn't have very much
trouble using the noise channel. First, remember that the lowest
noise frequency is the note E-1, and the highest frequency is G-2.
Secondly, the tracker will play some noise when you put a note in;
that sound is not the actual pitch. This problem is only on the
noise channel. Play the song to hear how it actually should sound.
Noise emulation isn't very accurate in emulation. Especially the
'looped' (metallic) noise. At this time, the emulator that seems
closest in that aspect is the Nosefart plugin for Winamp.
4.d Bugs!:
The NES's hardware has a bug, or a design feature, or whatever you
would call it involving writing the high-byte of the frequency. What
happens, is that if a vibrato or a portamento affects the highest 3
bits of the frequency, the sound will snap, crackle, and pop. So
basically what you do to work around this is not use vibratos on some
notes, and remember that it will kinda pop if you do portamentos on
some notes. One game where this is noticable is Crash 'n the Boys by
Technos. If you have the cartridge, listen to the .NSF first, then
play the game on NES and hear the difference. Also, the title screen
music of Demon Sword uses this feature to a rather nice effect!
Damian Yerrick looked into the matter, and sent me this:

A-3 A-2 A-1 F-1 D-1 B-0 <-- Those are approximately the
notes where the NES switches the high byte.
Chibi-Tech pointed out the following bugs and SNAFUs:
Changing the duty cycle of instrument $0E will cause a crash when you pl
ay
the song. Leave it at $00, or save your song often.
Setting the xx value of "Set speed" command (Fxx) to 00 will put the NT2
playback in a permanent lock. It's a legit value for the NT2 replay code
,
indeed (as its main use is to set the frame countdown to infinity -- in
other words, halting further playback), and is often used to end a song
without looping. But unfortunately in the program, there's no way to set
playback to a normal speed again after its set to 00.
If you accidentally set off command F00 & halt playback (especially pron
e
to this mistake if you're trying to input speed-swings while composing y
our
track), my best bet is to just correct/omit the command, save your work,
quit & restart NT2 (to reset the speed tick counter back to default 06),
load up the track again, and resume work as usual.
Inputting ANY command in the DPCM track will do nothing, in both the
tracker & the replay code. Sorry, even "set speed" command Fxx in the DP
CM
track will be ignored, too. (Note: An exception is the note-off command
.
It works in the replay code but not in the tracker.)

4.e Optimizing:

NT2's file format works in a very optimization-friendly way.
Say you want to repeat the same note several times. E.g.:

E-2 1 A02
A00 ; volume slide will keep going down at speed 2
E-2 1 A00
A00
You could instead, do this:
E-2 1 A02
A00
1 A00
A00
It would sound the same (*), and make the file smaller. You can
also change the instrument number to do things like change the
duty-cycle of a squarewave without affecting the frequency, which
is great for being able to do duty-cycle or other instrument changes
during note-slides and such.
(*): Resetting the instrument in that way will not re-trigger a
non-looped arpeggio. It also will not work if you have the
Hold-Note setting disabled.
You can also save some space by removing the intrument numbers from
the pattern in the triangle channel. Just make sure the first note
in the pattern has an instrument set. Since that will not reset the
volume, it won't work on the noise or square channels if you are
using volume effects.
4.f Tricks:
There are lots of different ways people have gone about trying to
get the most out of chip music, and a good way to learn is to
download some NSF and/or SID files, and listen to each channel
seperatly. For instance, you'll notice in some NES music, the
triangle and noise channels work together seamlessly to provide
the music with a good drumbeat and bassline. For example, you could
make a triangle channel instrument that uses the auto-portamento
effect at a high-rate, put a note in and give it a space or 2
depending on the tempo then put a note off or your bassline in the
triangle channel.

Using the non-looped arpeggio effect, with the first arpeggio value
at $C will provide a short percussive sound at the beginning of a
note.
Using the noise channel along with drum samples will greatly alter
the sound of the drum, with a snare sample for example you could
give it a longer decay and/or a brighter quality. Try using apeggios
(looped and non-looped) on the noise channel.
Most importantly, try to develop your own style and techniques.
That is what makes music worth listening to. But that will happen
without you really noticing it, anyways. :)
-==========================================================================-
5. Replay Program:
5a. Introduction:
This is what makes Nerdtracker 2 really great; it gives one the
capability to hear your music on a real NES system. If you want
to make an NES game or demo, this is a good way to get music in
your program quickly if you're not planning on writing your own
music program. The only downside is the lack of simultaneous
music and sound effect playback, though that could be possible
with some kind of code modifications.
The playback code, like NT2 itself, was designed and written by
Bananmos.
6. Usage:
The source code compiles with the x816 assembler by minus. The
.NED files are not used directly by the replay program. Instead,
NT2 creates these 2 files when you press enter while your song is
loaded:
temp.dat - pattern, order, and instrument data
temp.ihd - DPCM samples and DPCM note-table
You'll then run the temp.ihd file through the makedtt.exe program.
For example:
makedtt temp.ihd temp.dtt temp.dmc 0
Would take the temp.ihd file and create temp.dtt (DPCM note-table),
temp.dmc (DPCM sample data) and set up the sample location to start
at ROM adress $C000. The NES normally can only play samples located
higher than $C000. (But it actually wraps-around to $8000. See
Brad Taylor's delta moldulation doc for a complete description of
it's various features and functions.)
The latest version of the replay code includes a convenient built-in
NSF header so you can throw it directly into your favorite NES sound
emulator.
If you want to play more than one song with the program, you probably
have the songs.asm file that I created for Solar Wars' soundtrack.
Simply edit the .incbin commands to include your own .DAT files. If
they use samples, they must all have the PCM instruments and note-
tables set up in the same way in each song, because they will all
be using the same note-table.
If you're putting it into a ROM, put it in at the NSF's load adress
if it's without the header, or (load address-$80) if the NSF header
is present. Then to initialize a song, load the accumulator with
the song number to play, and the X register with 0 if you want NTSC
speed or 1 if you want PAL speed, then do a JSR to the init address
in the NSF header. Then you JSR to the play address every frame
(60hz NTSC or 50hz PAL) to play the music. If you want to stop the
music with silence, stop running the play code and clear the sound
registers (you could probably get away with only clearing $4015).
-==========================================================================-
6. Troubleshooting:
Q: I'm getting an error that says "BLASTER enviroment not found,
what the?!...".
A: NT2 requires your soundcard to have DOS drivers. You can usually
find out if you have DOS drivers by typing "set" at the command
prompt. There should be a line that says "BLASTER=(your config)".
Your soundcard maker should have DOS drivers on their website.
A: NT2 might not work on an operating system that doesn't allow a
program to communicate directly with the hardware. Full DOS
compatability is required.
Q: NT2 is running, but I'm not hearing any sound.
A: Did you give your instrument a volume level, and enable
'hold note' or 'note length'?
A: Many DOS programs run into trouble when the soundcard's IRQ is set
to a high number. Try the Soundblaster 'default' settings of
Address=220 IRQ=5 DMA=1, or IRQ=7. If your soundcard is a
"Plug-n-Pray", you can change these settings fairly easily in
windows system properties, but beware of conflicts.
Q: I still can't get it to work!
A: Post your problem/question on the NES Music messageboard at
http://nesdev.parodius.com/

-==========================================================================-
7. Credits:
Bananmos bananmos_uv@nonspam.at.hotmail.dot.com.kthx
creator of NT2, show your appreciation of his work by sending him
your NEDs! But remember that NT2 is discontinued.
Phlumb-Dumb
did stuff
thefox xofeht@gmail.com
modified NT2 to work in win32. Send an email for any improvement
requests.
Memblers memblers@nonspam.at.parodius.dot.com.kthx
wrote most of this document. If you want your NES music published
on the web, send it to me in either NED or NSF format. Don't forget
to include the song info! (Title, Author, year/copyright)
Chibi-Tech sprite@nonspam.at.starplace.dot.com.kthx
designed the NT2 website, helped with this document.
Damian Yerrick, skankpit, and others (I forget!)
helped with this document, and misc. stuff.

Nerdtracker 2 is giftware! If you get good use out of it, please
send something to Bananmos to show your appreciation. =)


Visit http://nesdev.parodius.com/ for more NESdev stuff.
Post your questions and comments on the 'NES Music' messageboard on
the website above.
Thanks to everyone who made writing this document worthwhile.
- Memblers
-==========================================================================-

-=EOF=-