Gameboygenius
Playing around with Protein DScratch part 2
updated
Here are my tips:
- It seems the purple and blue in the middle are always there as a starter move. Use it, obviously.
- Don't be in a rush to open up the sides. You'll let out the monsters, let out the fire. Better let the monsters eat the fire.
- If given the choice clear other dots first to drop more purple dots.
- Follow (what I think is) the universal strategy for this game: keep up the square momentum. Not only are squares useful because they clear a lot of dots, they are also useful because they in the next round, no dots of that color will be spawned. This increases the chance that there will be a square available going forward, because you only have 4 colors on screen instead of 5. Plan ahead how you can make the next square after the current one. You can see this for example when I have 19 moves left. I could have cleared the three vertical cyan dots to get a purple square. Clearing the two blue dots is the better move, because I'm guaranteed to have two squares lined up, first cyan, then purple.
- From that follows another strategy. Basically never touch the outer sides directly in this level. Let squares do the work. Notice in the walkthrough the only time I touched anything in the sides was in the last round, to finish off the last ice block.
- Another strategy that follows (often applicable in other levels). Sometimes it's better to spend a few rounds to get back into square-making.
At Stockholm Makerspace. https://www.makerspace.se/
Software used: BGB, home-made Python script, Adobe Audition, AVISynth, CamStudio lossless codec, VirtualDub, x264vfw.
This ROM explores the idea of what would happen if you wrote random data to random IO registers and random positions in video RAM. If you like audiovisual glitches, this is for you. The ROM generates randomized graphics, and bleeps, bloops and static. Sometimes it will even produce tones that are vaguely melodic, even if dissonant.
asmgames.com/collections/frontpage/products/heebie-gbs-2014
A Halloween 2014 compilation album as a Gameboy ROM. The world's first LSDj album sold on cartridge.
Menu code and LSDj adaption by nitro2k01. Spaghetti code by a pastafarian. Powered by LSDj by Johan Kotliniski.
Track list:
Nordloef - Cradle to the Rave
Aaron Ishibashi - Freaky Fugue
Solarbear - Pornogoblin
Tommy Creep - The Witch
Pixelherozero - Thrashold
Vegas Diamond - Skulljam
Matthew Joseph Payne - Zoinks!
Video recorded with BGB. Further edited with avisynth and Sony Vegas Pro.
Halloween? Easter? What's the difference? You can get eggs any time of the year.
A compilation of spooky tunes from various different chiptune artists.
Originally available for pre-order starting October 28th 2014. Available for sale again as of 2019:
asmgames.com/collections/frontpage/products/heebie-gbs-2014
Asked here: facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151099837886061&set=a.10150307608761061.387273.205356106060&type=1&ref=nf
The party was organized by S23M and Piratbyrån. (The Bureau Of Piracy)
From the very last Microdisko Stockholm.
http://microdisko.gg8.se/disko.php?disko=2008-10-04
Performer: Christian Källström
Buy it: http://handheldheroes.bandcamp.com/album/v-a-handheld-heroes-volume-one
CM.O discussion http://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/7451/va-handheld-heroes-volume-one-finally-out
BGB 1.4 has improved link cable emulation, and Pokémon linking now works. BGB 1.5.2 has further fixes and Pokemon linking should now be completely stable.
Download: http://bgb.bircd.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ge9rltWCc
code: dox, peitchi
gfx: vodka, thUg
music: wiklund
Recorded from the Gameboy emulator (and debugger) BGB 1.4 (beta version)
http://blog.gg8.se/wordpress/2011/09/28/syncing-monotribe-to-lsdj-using-the-sync-jack-no-midi/
Information about the MIDI mod: http://blog.gg8.se/wordpress/2011/08/14/monotribe-midi-and-me/
Monotribe has jacks on the back for sync in and out. The sync output outputs 15 ms 5V pulses, which can either be rising or falling. (There's a setting for this.) The sync input can also trigger on either a positive or a negative edge. (There's a setting for this as well.)
You can trigger this input from LSDj. There are two things to think about:
1) The signal from the headphone jack is too weak. You need a ProSound modded DMG with the volume turned all the way up. (Other models untested, may or may not work...)
2) The monotribe requires a single clean rising edge to trigger correctly. The pitfall when using LSDj is that for example a square way, or a sawtooth wave, or even the noise generator, will trigger multiple steps. For this reason, you cannot use the pulse channels for this without getting a lot of false triggers. But you can use either the wave channel or the noise channel with somewhat predictable results (almost no false triggers) using a couple of tricks.
In this video I'm showing you how. As you can see, the video also shows which buttons I were pressing at any one time in case anything is unclear. Below is an explanation for the things show in the video.
1) Using the wave channel
The idea of this method is to create a wave that doesn't oscillate. Instead of a sawtooth wave or a sine wave, you have a constant voltage. The easiest way to do this is by creating a synth with zero volume and moving all samples to the top.
Select+B, right until everything is selected, up until the samples are at the top.
(After recording this I realized that an even easier way to do the same thing is to set the VSHIFT parameter to 80, but this is good exercise in using the wave editor.)
The instrument used needs to be a wave instrument and have PLAY set to MANUAL. At this point, the instrument hould be ready to use. Place a note on on each step in the sequencer where you want to trigger the monotribe.
2) Using the noise channel
The Gameboy noise channel actually doesn't produce real noise, but pseudo-random noise by changing amplitude between 0 and 1 in ways that sound random to humans. The Gameboy allows you to control the pitch of the noise, and at very slow pitch settings, it can take a second between the changes. This can be to sync the monotribe by first turning on the sound quickly to trigger the sync function, and then turning it off again, so the noise channel's oscillations won't trigger any more steps after that.
The way to do this is by setting the shape to 54 and usinng a table that turns off the sound output with the O command. (Trust me, I'm a professional.) I also changed the envelope to F8 to get the maximum amplitude possible.
General instructions
Use either the wave method or the noise method, not both. Both methods should give you OK stability from 40 BPM to 255 BPM, but sometimes you'll see glitches, especially if you adjust the tempo.
If you have an appropriate left/right splitter cable, you can pan the sync instrument to the left and all other instruments to the right, to get both sound and sync out of one Gameboy. If any sound instrument is panned to the sync channel, the monotribe will start rushing.
Always start the monotribe first (or stop/start it before you restart LSDj) if you want things in sync. Otherwise, it will start at the step where it received the last pulse before it stopped.
Even when following all instructions, it may happen that the monotribe misses a beat when you press play, in particular the first time you press play after turning on the Gameboy. If so, stop LSDj, stop/start the monotribe and try again.
Tip 1: Adding some swing
You can add some swing in LSDj, just like when using Korg's iOS app SyncKontrol. Swing, or shuffle, basically means that you delay every second note to get a more natural and less straight feel.
For this, I'm using the groove function in LSDJ. Since I laid out the the sync notes as 1/8th notes, I need to make a groove pattern that is 4 steps for it to have any effect. This is an LSDj technique that doesn't need the monotribe to work. Go here to learn how the groove function in LSDj works.
http://www.packetsofknowledge.se/LSDj:Ticks_and_grooves
Tip 2: Using the noise channel as a random trigger source
If you want to get random trigger pulses that are not synced to the tempo, or anything else, you can create a noise instrument with a low shape value, just like in the noise example below. If you let it play, it will trigger the monotribe at seemingly random intervals.
If you have any questions or thoughts, ask below.
The photos in this video: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gameboygenius/sets/72157627291262639/with/6034699085
Discussion on the Muff Wiggler forums: http://muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39099&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Music sequenced in Renoise, played back on Korg monotribe and fed back inte Renoise's effects. The drums are not played by the monotribe, but are samples in Renoise.
1) As a TB-ish synth.
2) Creating instruments on the fly by sending new automation data for each new note.
BIG info post: http://blog.gg8.se/wordpress/2011/08/14/monotribe-midi-and-me/
Discussion on Muff Wiggler Forums: http://muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39099&start=0
Another monotribe modder: http://monomodder.blogspot.com
BIG info post: http://blog.gg8.se/wordpress/2011/08/14/monotribe-midi-and-me/
Discussion on Muff Wiggler forums: http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=531711#531711
http://microdisko.gg8.se/disko.php?disko=2008-10-04
Sorry (or happy) for the harsh sound. The crappy microphones on the camera doesn't exactly make it less harsh. ;)
http://people.mozilla.org/~jmuizelaar/fishie/fishie-gl.html
1) XR-VCO being controlled by x0xb0x's control voltage.
2) x0xb0x 's main out used as linear CV on XR-VCO.
plus of course a bunch of other random patching and wiggling.
web.archive.org/web/20101225165753/http://home.swipnet.se/cfmd/synths/schematics
The original sawtooth frequency doubler ("octave shifter") works by "cutting the sawtooth in two", to double its frequency. The phase shifter lets you modulate where the wave is "cut", in other words, it allows to shift the phase of the wave. Instant fattification!
Of course, this module can be abused, just like any other module.
This video shows how the credits would normally look for good measure, of course on the same crappy B/W mini-TV.
1) there's no actual staff credits displayed - just the music.
2) there's a background sound that sounds like something is boiling.
Boring since I only (almost) only have two modules ready to play with. Oakley VC-LFO + a home-made ADSR someone left in the trash. The ADSR took ages to troubleshoot due to a bunch of really crappy solder joints. Will make finish more modules.
Not on screen: A sine function generator FM'ing the VC-LFO and a button to trigger the envelope.
On the top, you can also see the waveform that the wave channel is currently using.
On the top, you can also see the waveform that the wave channel is currently using.
Download: http://gbdev.gg8.se/files/misc/notevisualizer/
http://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/884/lsdj-microloops-a-useless-tip
^Discuss on chipmusic.org


