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Can you tell me what you're hearing? I don't recall the original music well enough, but this one sounds slightly muddy -- would a 50% square waves sounds crispe

by SamBam 5y ago

Can you tell me what you're hearing? I don't recall the original music well enough, but this one sounds slightly muddy -- would a 50% square waves sounds crisper?

nyanpasu64 5y ago
I used to make chiptune (and still do to some extent). Pulse waves (periodically alternating high and low sound pressures) are a type of waveform, and the width or duty cycle of the waveform (the percent of the time the sound pressure is high rather than low) controls the harmonic spectrum and perceived timbre. I could identify by listening that it was greater than 25% but less than 50% by listening by ear, and hone in on a guess by comparing to FamiTracker's emulated VRC6 (which can output duty cycles between 6.25% and 50% in steps of 6.25%). I don't know what you mean by "muddy", but I did notice the speaker (perhaps mic too) has a crappy frequency response, and the bass notes are quiet and difficult to identify the pitch of.
- jeffalyanak 5y ago
  Just to add a datapoint, I've been making chip music for nearly 15 years and being able to accurately hear pulsewidth, waveform (assuming a simple, fundamental chiptune waveform like square, saw, triangle) is actually relatively common with a bit of experience. When I got started I was awed by it in others I talked to on IRC, but it wasn't too long before I was familiar with it, too. It's also pretty easy for me—and I'd bet for nyanpasu64 as well—to identify the actual PSG or platform used and even to get a good idea of what sort of sequencing/programming is involved to get any particular sound I hear. For me it's pretty specialized, though. I absolutely can't do that with traditional music production. I wouldn't be able to tell you too much about music I heard produced with modern tools.
tobr 5y ago
Describing timbre in text is difficult, but I wouldn’t say a symmetric square wave is “crisper”. Maybe more hollow, tooty, clarinet-like. Asymmetric pulses first sound richer but less clear, brighter, more nasal, then as you get to more extreme settings it starts to sound thin and fragile.

by SamBam 5y ago

Can you tell me what you're hearing? I don't recall the original music well enough, but this one sounds slightly muddy -- would a 50% square waves sounds crisper?

nyanpasu64 5y ago

I used to make chiptune (and still do to some extent). Pulse waves (periodically alternating high and low sound pressures) are a type of waveform, and the width or duty cycle of the waveform (the percent of the time the sound pressure is high rather than low) controls the harmonic spectrum and perceived timbre. I could identify by listening that it was greater than 25% but less than 50% by listening by ear, and hone in on a guess by comparing to FamiTracker's emulated VRC6 (which can output duty cycles between 6.25% and 50% in steps of 6.25%). I don't know what you mean by "muddy", but I did notice the speaker (perhaps mic too) has a crappy frequency response, and the bass notes are quiet and difficult to identify the pitch of.

jeffalyanak 5y ago
Just to add a datapoint, I've been making chip music for nearly 15 years and being able to accurately hear pulsewidth, waveform (assuming a simple, fundamental chiptune waveform like square, saw, triangle) is actually relatively common with a bit of experience. When I got started I was awed by it in others I talked to on IRC, but it wasn't too long before I was familiar with it, too. It's also pretty easy for me—and I'd bet for nyanpasu64 as well—to identify the actual PSG or platform used and even to get a good idea of what sort of sequencing/programming is involved to get any particular sound I hear. For me it's pretty specialized, though. I absolutely can't do that with traditional music production. I wouldn't be able to tell you too much about music I heard produced with modern tools.

tobr 5y ago

Describing timbre in text is difficult, but I wouldn’t say a symmetric square wave is “crisper”. Maybe more hollow, tooty, clarinet-like. Asymmetric pulses first sound richer but less clear, brighter, more nasal, then as you get to more extreme settings it starts to sound thin and fragile.