Hi!
So, I’ve been playing slightly with Cabbage in the last week or two, and I really enjoyed it.
And I was wondering if I could get some help with making my first chiptune plugin (8-bit NES based sounds, including a properly working DPCM).
I am not an expert in chiptune music, but I do know the basics of NES channels, commands, effects, etc.
Actually, I have been producing chiptune music in the last couple of months (with a program called “FamiTracker”), and I’ve been quite decent at it.
We will discuss the details in DMs (Direct messages) or whatever you wanna call it in the Cabbage Audio Forums.
But my main idea for my chiptune plugin is to make it emulate an actual NES/Gameboy (and also add some more interesting features such as: a custom chiptune wavetable, a quality option, a fliter, and more.)
Need help to make a chiptune plugin
Are you looking to create a tracker style interface in your plugin, or simply use your plugin in a tracker?
a tracker style interface most likely.
This isn’t simple. I wrote a text based event sequencer widget some time for Cabbage but it was a bit of a mess. The current example doesn’t seem to run either. Syncing a Csound sequencer to a Cabbage GUI has never really worked that well. Did you have any ideas?
Oh, ok… so wdym “simply use your plugin in a tracker”? you mean like almost any other synthesizer plugin? because if so, then that’s fine.
I spent my semester assignment in music technology making chiptune plug-ins with Cabbage, is there anything in particular you’re having trouble with?
Well actually first of all I want to know how I make a custom keyboard? and then I’ll move on to some advanced stuff for the plugin.
Wow, that’s not something I’ve considered before, but I guess you could make a big fat row of tall buttons and have them all schedule different notes to be played.
However, is there a particular reason why you don’t want to use the built in keyboard widget?
There are quite a few ways you could implement you own keyboard. One would be to import a keyboard png, and then overlay transparent images over them. Each image can react to a mouse down. You could also have the alpha colour change when a mouse is down, to give the user better feedback.
But I’m with @SanJacobs on this, why not use the keyboard that Cabbage provides?
ok, thank you for sharing me this way, now about your question, the main reason why I want a custom keyboard is because as I said I want a chiptune plugin, so I wanted to stay with the mood of 8-bit pixelart stuff, instead of modern looking stuff, y’know what I’m saying?
Sure. In that case you have a few options worth exploring. I find it’s often best to design your interface first and then build your GUI around it.