Category: minimal_worlds
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07-broken_window
Much simpler than golden_battletrain, broken_window takes heavy inspiration from Midwest Emo, where strength of emotion is the main thing that matters. Having said that, the movement of the secondary voice (between 1:00 and 2:00) is the more technical aspect of the track, and aims to add (rather than distract from) the emotional throughline. The kick…
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06-golden_battletrain
Ending up as one the catchiest and most technical tracks on the album, golden_battletrain started out as a very-late-night “can’t sleep” project. The steam-engine-inspired noise channel and bass line, combined with the tempo changes, made for a very cool dynamic here. Though it is hard to say if it would work as well if attempting…
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05-selenas_field
Back in Furnace Tracker after the previous track experiment with Renoise – the vibrato function gives a lot of character to leads, making them “closer” to a human voice. In retrospect, this technique is used widely across chiptune music of the 80s and 90s. There is also the realization that chiptune leads should have breaks…
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04-mt_solace
Having pushed up against some of the mixing limitations of Furnace Tracker, the Game Boy sounds were exported and imported into Renoise, which has the capabilties of a conventional DAW. Despite having many more audio options, the aim was to still keep it consistent with the rest of the album. It is not to say…
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03-pneumasprite_pond
As with all composing, but especially seeming the case with retro trackers, you can start out with a very simple repeating bass line or chord progression and weave a melody in around it. Once the dynamics between those begin to resonate, it is easier to spend time refining and humanizing the details of the foundation.…
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02-tower_of_vera
A little stranger melodically, the hook of the track relies on the sound design of the duduk-inspired lead. It was surprising (and welcomed) to find a wider possibility of instrument design than stereotypical square waves associated with Game Boys. As with many tracks, tower_of_vera didn’t start out with a concept (or name) in mind, but…
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01-house_of_the_shoguns_son
Furnace Tracker is impressively robust for a new open-source kid on the block, and includes a huge library of console chips emulated. The Game Boy chip provides the four channels in the real console, limiting you in scope, but focusing you in detail. This track was originally “completed” with a less melancholy melody, but sounded…
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00-alabaster_shore
Trackers seem like a great way to visually show the internals of a music project, so that others curious can investigate how a piece was constructed. If people want to go even deeper, the project files have been provided below. Famitracker is quite powerful once you get past the small obstacle of learning a new…