319 views

 

51% retrokid104

::|CONTENTS

1. Features
2. Restrictions on submit
3. Playback (for voting)
4. See also

Little Sound Dj, often abbreviated as LSDj, is a hardware tracker for the Nintendo GameBoy that has been developed by Johan Kotlinski for over 20 years. It runs on the GameBoy itself or in an emulator and uses the full processing power of the system to push the soundchip to its limits. It has been a popular chiptune tool for many years; thanks to its portability and feature set (such as a "live mode" and MIDI sync), it is widely used in live shows. Its design and layout have also inspired many other trackers over the years. The ROM is free to download on the official LSDj website

, though its author encourages donations.

The BotB LSDj format is for GameBoy music programmed specifically in LSDj - submit your project file or a save file. For even more information on LSDj, as well as detailed setup instructions, check out the LSDj lyceum article.

The GameBoy offers four channels of sound: two pulse channels, a wave channel and a noise channel. If you're new to making music on this chip, check out the GameBoy format article or consider reading the LSDj manual

, which extensively describes its capabilities within the context of this format.

Features

---

Here are a few key features that make LSDj stand out from other Gameboy tools:
- A multi-screen layout that navigates between different "views" like song view, "phrase" view (a 16-row pattern on a single channel), "chain" view (a 16-row pattern of phrases), and instrument view. They are like tabs and navigated between by holding Select and pressing a direction on the d-pad. You can have up to 256 phrases and chains. Keep in mind they are shared between all four channels.
- Highly customizable instruments (up to 64). Envelopes, command rates, tables and more!
- Tables: Patterns of effect commands, volume changes and transpose commands that can be called up as "automation/macros" on instruments or within patterns (up to 32)
- Heavy processing power allows for very quick processing of effects (like vibrato, retrigger and pitch bend), producing sounds similar to overclocking on other chips
- Wave channel synthesizer for complex wavetable synthesis
- Samples in the wave channel; up to two can be played at once. LSDj comes with several preloaded drum kits, but you can also patch your own into the ROM using LSDPatch

. Be sure to submit .lsdprj if you use custom samples.

Restrictions on submit

---

Submission must be either an .lsdprj, .lsdsng, or .sav file. The .lsdprj filetype is a project file that can include custom samples if those are used in your song; .lsdsng is a project file without samples (and is technically deprecated - the latest version of LSDPatcher will only export .lsdprj). A .sav will include every song currently saved on your LSDj ROM.

It's strongly recommended to indicate which version of LSDj you used with your entry. This will ensure voters can judge its playback accurately. There have been some key changes to the noise channel and wave channel over the years.

Since the focus is on the LSDj projects themselves, .mp3 is not allowed. If you want to submit LSDj music on an old LSDj cart without USB flashing capabilities this way, there is still the GameBoy format.

Playback (for voting)

---

On PC / in an emulator:
- For .sav files, name the .sav and your LSDj ROM the same thing (for example song.sav and song.gb), place the .sav wherever your emulator looks for those (probably in the same directory as the ROM), then open up the ROM in your emulator. If you don't see the song already, press Select+Up to view the "Project" view, then scroll down to "Load/Save Song". Press A, then press A again on the "Load" option. Press A one more time to select the relevant song. Once it has loaded, you can press Start to begin playback of the song.
- For .lsdprj and .lsdsng files, download LSDPatch

(for which you may need to install Java). Open LSDPatch, select your LSDj ROM and its associated .sav file (if you don't have one, run the ROM briefly first). Click "Songs", then "Add songs...", select the .lsdprj/.lsdsng file, then press "Save...". Follow the directions above to open the song in LSDj and play it back.

On hardware:
- With any of these filetypes you'll be flashing a new .sav and possibly a new ROM (if the entry is .lsdprj, which could contain custom samples, or if they're using a different version than you) to your flashcart. The instructions will be similar to the above, except instead of opening the LSDj ROM in an emulator, you will have flashed it to your flashcart for use on a physical GameBoy. Use LSDPatch

for .lsdprj/.lsdsng files.

NOTE: Some emulators and flash carts (such as the Everdrive GB line of carts) use .srm instead of .sav as their filetype. However, it's a bad idea to simply rename the file to .sav, as this can cause discrepancies due to differently encoded files. It's recommended that you use a converter tool like this one

to convert between the two.

See also

---

- gameboy (format)
- LSDJ
- Little Sound Dj Effects Commands
- Furious Advance Tracker (a hardware GBA tracker modeled after LSDj)
- LGPT (a multi-system sample tracker modeled after LSDj)
- Dirtywave M8 Tracker

, a handheld tracker inspired by LSDj and the GameBoy form factor