ntrq (format)
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The most recent version as of mid-2024 is 1.8, released 17 Feb 2011.
NTRQ, instead of using MML-like fields to store instrument-related data, uses tables. There is the instrument table, the pitch table, the duty table, and the song table. The song table specifies what patterns to use for each channel per frame. It also has another column, called the "master track", which can manipulate the playback in different ways, such as repeating the same frame a specified number of times, or fading out. There can be up to eight songs, all sharing the same data, but with a different song table.
As NTRQ is a hardware-oriented tracker, its save output is a SRAM dump. The included NTRQ tools in the latest archive allow you to insert your custom DPCM samples and reference your tracker data .sav (SRAM) file.
The NTRQ manual is likely to be your best friend, and you'll have to do some cross-referencing it to get the hang of the program.
Here are a list of pages in the manual that will help you get started right away:
14 — Notes data limitations.
17 — Explains NTRQ's non-destructive transposing. Nice feature.
30 — You're always editing. '
Note this.
32 — General controls.
33-34 — Controls in the song table.
37-39 — Controls in the pattern editor.
45 — Notes the persistence of pattern effects.
46-47 — Controls in the three bottom tables: instrument, pitch, and duty. Not too different from everything else.
63 — Explains ADSR volume envelopes. For those unfamiliar with ADSR.
65-67 — Goes over how the speed table works.
68-69 — Explains how DPCM is used (it has some special treatment).
72-73 — Goes over clearing data and options you can set in NTRQ.
77 — Goes over how changing the pattern length can seriously mess up an established song.
78 — Guess what? You can access the hardware sweep registers. Yay!!
79 — Completely destroying your progress with two steps.
80-81 — Explains "Auto Echo".
89-92 — Quick reference for every table. This is goes over what value does in each table. Very, very helpful.
The NTRQ ROM can be patched with custom DMCs (DPCM samples). (The stock samples provided are from a TR-808 drumkit.)
If you are considering the use of custom DPCM samples, you will need to use "dcm2ntrq" to reference the locations of your *.DMC files. dcm2ntrq will output a custom-patched ROM with your chosen samples. Check out the included file "Using The Command-line Tools.txt" for instructions.
Do note that the total filesize restriction for this function is extremely small, around 13KB. The filesize of DPCM samples individually usually range from 1KB (like for a small, quick drum hit) to a max of 4KB (4081 bytes specifically).
If you want to create some DPCM samples of your own, consider using RJDMC.exe (RushJet1's DMC tool) or FamiTracker import then saving from there.
All data for NTRQ is stored in a 8kB (8192 bytes) SRAM (.sav) file. Be sure to check that your emulator doesn't compress the SRAM file. The most recent version of the "NTRQ format" itself - how the SRAM is "laid-out", as Baldwin puts it - was last revised in NTRQ 1.6, released 01 Jul 2010.
Submitting .zip files containing the patched ROM together with the .sav file is allowed.
Please make sure to put in the license.txt inside your .zip as well so it's legal!
Some emulators produce a .srm file instead of .sav; these should be easily changed to .sav for submission, but make sure to check that your work opens in an emulator using .sav (see section below).
The original NTRQ site is long-gone, so here are some available uploads of the latest version (1.8):
- NTRQ 1.8 on kleeder's BotB file repository
- NTRQ 1.8 mirror
- virtuanes: by default, .sav inside save directory (neighbour to virtuanes.exe)
- fceuxdsp: by default, .sav neighbour to ntrq*.nes rom
- bizhawk: (mono/.net based)
- mesen: (mono/.net based) by default, "Saves" directory in the same folder as the emulator. Directory can be configured in Settings
- nestopia: creates a .sav file everytime the emulator is closed
- punes: .sav files are stored as .prb, at "~/.wine/drive_c/users/(currently logged user)/My Documents/puNES/prb" (Wine on GNU/Linux), "(System drive letter):\(users folder)\(currently logged user)\My Documents\puNES\prb\" (on ms-Windows or ReactOS)
- fceux: no support at all (unless the savestate could be converted into sram dump somehow)
- mame/mess: no support at all
- rocknes: (?)
- nesticle: (?)
- retroarch: produces .srm that can be renamed to .sav for submission
- (...)
(more information)
- everdrive n8: stores .srm at "EDN8/gamedata/ntrq" on sd card, can be renamed to .sav for submission
In case you want to use this software for the NSF formats, there is a converter tool provided! Check out "Using The Command-line Tools.txt" for instructions on doing this. Additional info:
Standard NSF export entails that you use "ntrq2nsf" and reference your SAV (SRAM) file song data. (Keep in mind if you are using NTRQ on hardware to make sure you are able to extract your SRAM data somehow.) If you have a valid 8K SRAM file it can reference it and inject the song data into an NSF file; and export it for you.
If you wish to export to NSF with your custom samples, you need to have already made a custom *.NES file with your sample data in it. Simply rename the "NTRQ.NES" to something like "NTRQ.NES.BAK" and rename your custom *.NES file to "NTRQ.NES". When you run ntrq2nsf it will reference the NTRQ.NES file for your DPCM offsets and export properly.
Your resulting NSF export will always (as of v1.8 tools) contain "8" songs. You can change the output of the Song Total, Author, Song Name, etc. with a hex editor and referencing the NSF spec.
- NTRQ Manual pdf
- NTRQ .sav file format specification (incomplete)
As mentioned, the original NTRQ site is dead. So are these links.
- Tutorials and Tips
- Old NTRQ Download
- FamiTracker
- 2a03 (soundchip)
- nsf (format)
- nsfplus (format)
- nsf_classic (format)
Battle Formats
::|CONTENTS
- Usage
- Custom samples
- Restrictions on submit
- Download
- .sav support from emulators
- .sav support from flashcarts
- NSF export
- Documentation
- Controls Cheatsheet
- Broken links you might be able to find on archive.org
- See also
The most recent version as of mid-2024 is 1.8, released 17 Feb 2011.
NTRQ, instead of using MML-like fields to store instrument-related data, uses tables. There is the instrument table, the pitch table, the duty table, and the song table. The song table specifies what patterns to use for each channel per frame. It also has another column, called the "master track", which can manipulate the playback in different ways, such as repeating the same frame a specified number of times, or fading out. There can be up to eight songs, all sharing the same data, but with a different song table.
As NTRQ is a hardware-oriented tracker, its save output is a SRAM dump. The included NTRQ tools in the latest archive allow you to insert your custom DPCM samples and reference your tracker data .sav (SRAM) file.
Usage
The NTRQ manual is likely to be your best friend, and you'll have to do some cross-referencing it to get the hang of the program.
Here are a list of pages in the manual that will help you get started right away:
14 — Notes data limitations.
17 — Explains NTRQ's non-destructive transposing. Nice feature.
30 — You're always editing. '
Note this.
32 — General controls.
33-34 — Controls in the song table.
37-39 — Controls in the pattern editor.
45 — Notes the persistence of pattern effects.
46-47 — Controls in the three bottom tables: instrument, pitch, and duty. Not too different from everything else.
63 — Explains ADSR volume envelopes. For those unfamiliar with ADSR.
65-67 — Goes over how the speed table works.
68-69 — Explains how DPCM is used (it has some special treatment).
72-73 — Goes over clearing data and options you can set in NTRQ.
77 — Goes over how changing the pattern length can seriously mess up an established song.
78 — Guess what? You can access the hardware sweep registers. Yay!!
79 — Completely destroying your progress with two steps.
80-81 — Explains "Auto Echo".
89-92 — Quick reference for every table. This is goes over what value does in each table. Very, very helpful.
Custom samples
The NTRQ ROM can be patched with custom DMCs (DPCM samples). (The stock samples provided are from a TR-808 drumkit.)
If you are considering the use of custom DPCM samples, you will need to use "dcm2ntrq" to reference the locations of your *.DMC files. dcm2ntrq will output a custom-patched ROM with your chosen samples. Check out the included file "Using The Command-line Tools.txt" for instructions.
Do note that the total filesize restriction for this function is extremely small, around 13KB. The filesize of DPCM samples individually usually range from 1KB (like for a small, quick drum hit) to a max of 4KB (4081 bytes specifically).
If you want to create some DPCM samples of your own, consider using RJDMC.exe (RushJet1's DMC tool) or FamiTracker import then saving from there.
Restrictions on submit
All data for NTRQ is stored in a 8kB (8192 bytes) SRAM (.sav) file. Be sure to check that your emulator doesn't compress the SRAM file. The most recent version of the "NTRQ format" itself - how the SRAM is "laid-out", as Baldwin puts it - was last revised in NTRQ 1.6, released 01 Jul 2010.
Submitting .zip files containing the patched ROM together with the .sav file is allowed.
Please make sure to put in the license.txt inside your .zip as well so it's legal!
Some emulators produce a .srm file instead of .sav; these should be easily changed to .sav for submission, but make sure to check that your work opens in an emulator using .sav (see section below).
Download
The original NTRQ site is long-gone, so here are some available uploads of the latest version (1.8):
- NTRQ 1.8 on kleeder's BotB file repository
- NTRQ 1.8 mirror
.sav support from emulators
- virtuanes: by default, .sav inside save directory (neighbour to virtuanes.exe)
- fceuxdsp: by default, .sav neighbour to ntrq*.nes rom
- bizhawk: (mono/.net based)
- mesen: (mono/.net based) by default, "Saves" directory in the same folder as the emulator. Directory can be configured in Settings
- nestopia: creates a .sav file everytime the emulator is closed
- punes: .sav files are stored as .prb, at "~/.wine/drive_c/users/(currently logged user)/My Documents/puNES/prb" (Wine on GNU/Linux), "(System drive letter):\(users folder)\(currently logged user)\My Documents\puNES\prb\" (on ms-Windows or ReactOS)
- fceux: no support at all (unless the savestate could be converted into sram dump somehow)
- mame/mess: no support at all
- rocknes: (?)
- nesticle: (?)
- retroarch: produces .srm that can be renamed to .sav for submission
- (...)
(more information)
.sav support from flashcarts
- everdrive n8: stores .srm at "EDN8/gamedata/ntrq" on sd card, can be renamed to .sav for submission
NSF export
In case you want to use this software for the NSF formats, there is a converter tool provided! Check out "Using The Command-line Tools.txt" for instructions on doing this. Additional info:
Standard NSF export entails that you use "ntrq2nsf" and reference your SAV (SRAM) file song data. (Keep in mind if you are using NTRQ on hardware to make sure you are able to extract your SRAM data somehow.) If you have a valid 8K SRAM file it can reference it and inject the song data into an NSF file; and export it for you.
If you wish to export to NSF with your custom samples, you need to have already made a custom *.NES file with your sample data in it. Simply rename the "NTRQ.NES" to something like "NTRQ.NES.BAK" and rename your custom *.NES file to "NTRQ.NES". When you run ntrq2nsf it will reference the NTRQ.NES file for your DPCM offsets and export properly.
Your resulting NSF export will always (as of v1.8 tools) contain "8" songs. You can change the output of the Song Total, Author, Song Name, etc. with a hex editor and referencing the NSF spec.
Documentation
- NTRQ Manual pdf
- NTRQ .sav file format specification (incomplete)
Controls Cheatsheet
Broken links you might be able to find on archive.org
As mentioned, the original NTRQ site is dead. So are these links.
- Tutorials and Tips
- Old NTRQ Download
See also
- FamiTracker
- 2a03 (soundchip)
- nsf (format)
- nsfplus (format)
- nsf_classic (format)
C A T E G O R I E S
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