FTM2GBMC

Make Gameboy Music in FamiTracker!

Hey there BotBrs! I finally got around to remaking my previous software that converted FamiTracker music from a text export to Gameboy music, this time much more functional than last time. Instead of using the somewhat flaky and complicated xpmck, I'm using GBMC (Gameboy Music Compiler) as the MML format I'm converting to. Now given that this is a fairly new software, (and my n00b programming skillz) it's not fully featured, and has a few strange quirks which I will try my best to explain.

Current version -> 0.1.5 : http://savestate.info/upload/FTM2GBMC-0.1.5.jar

Older versions:
0.1.4 -> http://savestate.info/upload/FTM2GBMC-0.1.4.jar
0.1.3 -> http://savestate.info/upload/FTM2GBMC-0.1.3.jar
0.1.2 -> http://savestate.info/upload/FTM2GBMC-0.1.2.jar
0.1.1 -> http://savestate.info/upload/FTM2GBMC-0.1.1.jar
0.1.0 -> http://savestate.info/upload/FTM2GBMC.jar

To run @ command line: java -jar FTM2GBMC.jar
(it asks for file names after you run it)
This will output an MML file that you should compile with GBMC which can be found here: http://www.geocities.jp/submarine600/html/sounddriver.html

Supported effects:

Pulse 1 & 2:
Axx
Vxx
Qxx
Rxx
Pxx
Triangle:
Qxx
Rxx
Pxx
Noise:
Axx

Special Effect Wxx:
Since DPCM isn't used in Gameboy music, Wxx is used as the loop point instead of Bxx (Dxx isn't supported at all currently...) but feel free to use Bxx along with Wxx since unsupported commands are skipped altogether. Also, you'll need to use Wxx on each channel at the point you want to loop it. (changing the xx in Wxx does nothing)

Axx:
Ok so the way Axx works in GBMC is it retriggers each note, even if you don't set a volume paramater on each note... so you need to keep that in mind when designing the song.

C-3 00 A A02
D#3 00 - ---
G-3 00 - ---
C-3 00 - ---
D#3 00 - ---
G-3 00 - ---
C-3 00 - ---
D#3 00 - ---
G-3 00 - ---
C-3 00 - ---

... is the same as ...

C-3 00 A A02
D#3 00 A ---
G-3 00 A ---
C-3 00 A ---
D#3 00 A ---
G-3 00 A ---
C-3 00 A ---
D#3 00 A ---
G-3 00 A ---
C-3 00 A ---

... so you'll probably want to do something like ...

C-3 00 A ---
D#3 00 - ---
G-3 00 9 ---
C-3 00 - ---
D#3 00 8 ---
G-3 00 - ---
C-3 00 7 ---
D#3 00 - ---
G-3 00 6 ---
C-3 00 - ---

Vxx:
Works as expected

Qxx / Rxx:
Ok, so GBMC's pitch slide isn't based on a speed, it's based on a set note length, so pitch slide will take the entire length from when the slide was called to the next note. A way around this is to put down the note you're sliding to shortly after the slide that is called.

e.g.

B-3 00 F Q41
... .. . ...
... .. . ...
... .. . ...
D#4 00 . ...
... .. . ...
... .. . ...
... .. . ...
G-4 00 . ...
... .. . ...
--- .. . ...
... .. . ...
A-4 00 . Q41
... .. . ...
=== .. . ...
... .. . ...

would be changed to

B-3 00 F Q41
... .. . ...
C-3 00 . ...
... .. . ...
D#4 00 . ...
... .. . ...
... .. . ...
... .. . ...
G-4 00 . ...
... .. . ...
--- .. . ...
... .. . ...
A-4 00 . Q41
... .. . ...
A#4 00 . ...
=== .. . ...

Pxx:
Works as expected

Jxx: (as of 0.1.3)
PSG Channel Enable!
Refer to the post above in this thread

Hxx: (as of 0.1.4)
Hardware Channel Volume!
Refer to the post above in this thread

----------------------------------

Macros

Listed macros work along with release points and loop points.

Volume macros work! ... but I highly suggest not using them unless you like the sound of hardware resets all up in your square waves.

Arp macros do not work because GBMC does not support arp macros. It does however support inline arps (0xx), a goal to implement in the future.

Pitch & Duty macros work fully and without flaw!

Note off ( --- ) and note release ( === ) work!

----------------------------------

Triangle wave? Why not Namco channel 1?

Yeah I'm dumb, expect this to be changed in a future release.
Feel free to modify the MML to your liking though in the meantime (sorry I suck)

----------------------------------

Please let me know if you run into trouble with this!

You're a cool guy and you are doing cool guy work. I am well up for trying this out for the next winter chip. Keep it up :)

Yes! This sounds awesome! I will definitely try this out.

Update: http://savestate.info/upload/FTM2GBMC-0.1.1.jar

Changes to 0.1.1
- BPM divided by 4 (songs were playing 4x too fast!)

Wow, this sounds very interesting!

just because it is written in java does not mean you should not release the source code

Oops! I forgot to put this in the original post.
https://github.com/Always8bit/FTM2GBMC

this is a likable post now

0.1.2

update: fixed major bug that prevented the use of Axx effect properly.

0.1.3

update! added panning support. use effect JXX!

The command usage is as follows: JLR
L is left channel enable.
R is right channel enable.

Examples:
J01 = right channel
J10 = left channel
J11 = both channels
J00 = no channels (aka mute)

1 or greater will be considered as 'enabled'
JB2 == J11
J60 == J10
J02 == J01

heads up, using a JXX command WILL reset the volume envelope, so doing this ...

C-3 00 A A03 J11
--- -- - --- ---
--- -- - --- ---
--- -- - --- J01
--- -- - --- ---
--- -- - --- J10
--- -- - --- ---
D-3 00 A J11 ---
--- -- - --- ---
--- -- - --- ---
--- -- - --- ---

would sound like

C-3 00 A A03 J11
--- -- - --- ---
--- -- - --- ---
C-3 00 A --- J01
--- -- - --- ---
C-3 00 A --- J10
--- -- - --- ---
D-3 00 A J11 ---
--- -- - --- ---
--- -- - --- ---
--- -- - --- ---

if you encounter any bugs with this, let me know!!

0.1.4

update again! added global hardware channel volume support! use Hxx

The command usage is as follows: HLR
L is the global left channel volume (0-F, divided to 0-7)
R is the global left channel volume (0-F, divided to 0-7)

When I say divided, GBMC's command parameters are 0-7, so 0 = 0, 1 = 0, 2 = 1, 3 = 1, 4 = 2, 5 = 2, etc etc

Examples:
H2F = very quiet left channel global volume, max volume right channel global volume
H11 = silent because 1 divided by 2 == 0 (think integer division)
HFF = both channels are at full volume

also, using an HXX command will reset the volume envelope for the channel it's in (due to having to code the timing factor for the volume change). It's supported in all channels however so use it in whichever one would be least affected by an envelope reset. (often the wave channel)

As this is not a hardware feature supported by most GBS players, I suggest using nezplug++! It seemed to play the file back correctly. foo_gep however does not!!

This is the kind of thing I was hoping people would do when I wrote the text exporter for Famitracker. :)

Cool, will check this out later for sure.

Heads up, I just merged a pull request from williamd1k0 that added cli support, which should make scripting w/ ftm2gbmc a thing now!

I don't have the resources to install netbeans and build it as of now, so if you'd like cli then you'll have to dl the project from github and build it yrself. otherwise, i'll make another update post in about a week or so when i get around to updating the build here.

oops ! thanks for electronoob reminding me about this lol
updated to 0.1.5 !! binary incl'd

What's new? :O

The CLI, I never built it or updated the version here

ooh nice the CLI :D

lots of cool build stuff added on the github

- idea and gradle support
- add travis ci support
many thanks to rogersachan (LucasOne on the Puke7 Discord)
edit: and now on BotB!

it2gbs when :))))))))))

shinichi just use it2nsf2ftm2gbmc u noob!