Simple development software recommendations

BruceMcF · Post by **BruceMcF** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 12:27 pm

Ou HS jazz ensemble in the late 70s had a Yamaha electric piano, and one thing you can do with an FM synth is electric piano ... with five channels ... three for three finger chords, and two for the melody line (so the decay can overlap), you can do a quite nice ragtime tune.

Johan Kårlin · Post by **Johan Kårlin** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 1:28 pm

Thanks all for the recommendations.
Just to clarify I am a beginner at all aspects of making a game: programming, art and audio.
I was thinking of using Notepad for Basic coding, but I will try Notepad++ and Visual Studio Code.
They will be handy when I try to optimise using assembly code.
Pyxel Edit looks like a useful program. Also Tiled Map Editor sounds like it might be worth a try.
Aseprite might do for all graphics needs, tiles and sprites.
I’ll try them all out.
I’m working on a pseudo 3d driving game:

Just in the planning stage at the moment with some basic concept/placeholder art (not the pictures posted August 04th. I've done some 'slighter' better stuff since).

I have found PyxelEdit very useful. You can draw you tiles and simultaneously arrange them in tilemaps to see how they work together. It have some bugs though. Tiled is the best program I know for drawing tilemaps. I have made an extension that exports the maps in the binary format that the X16 uses. I have made a small tool for converting tilemaps made with PyxelEdit as well but that is a separate program because PyxelEdit does not support extensions. You can find them under “Development Tools” in the download section.

DeathSprockett · Post by **DeathSprockett** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 8:20 pm

I highly recommend Visual Studio Code, it has a fabulous support base, an incredible amount of add-ons and has proven to be a solid performer. I normally code .Net applications and for that I use the full blown Visual Studio, but for everything else from Assembly to Typescript to even C++ I use VSC. It also has a CC65 plug in, so you can setup it up to compile assembly right from the IDE...

-Paul-

Fenner Machine · Post by **Fenner Machine** » Fri Mar 26, 2021 8:23 pm

How does one test music ideas and compose for the YM2151?

Is there software to help program FM synth music?

What about a keyboard/digital piano that would simulate or actually use a YM2151, or interface with the software?

SlithyMatt · Post by **SlithyMatt** » Fri Mar 26, 2021 8:31 pm

6 minutes ago, Fenner Machine said:

How does one test music ideas and compose for the YM2151?

I would recommend Deflemask: https://www.deflemask.com/

You can use the built-in support for Sega arcade boards, which used a YM2151 and a multi-channel PCM. You can just leave the PCM channels empty.

Fenner Machine · Post by **Fenner Machine** » Fri Mar 26, 2021 9:26 pm

Would a Yamaha Reface CS be good for experimenting with?

Would its sounds translate well to a YM2151?

ZeroByte · Post by **ZeroByte** » Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:51 pm

1 hour ago, Fenner Machine said:

Would a Yamaha Reface CS be good for experimenting with?

Would its sounds translate well to a YM2151?

I think VOPM is easier to play with than Deflemask if you're just looking to doodle around with instrument settings to see what sounds good. If you already have a DAW setup, you could put a VOPM plugin into it, set up some basic test sequence and start monkeying with sliders and knobs and checkboxes.

The one thing that Deflemask really makes hard to noodle around with IMO is the noise waveform functionality on OP31 - its "pitch" is not controlled by the note value but a separate register on the chip, which you can set in Deflemask using an effect, but it's far from ideal IMO.

Deflemask is great, and I love it, but its instrument editor I find a bit on the clunky side. I was hanging out in their Discord a couple of weeks ago, and the devs were there, and they let it "slip" that a new version is nearing release, and it's going to support Linux x64 natively, and that the UI has been overhauled. I'm pretty excited to see that. I should go donate to their Patreon or Paypal or whatever their tip jar is....

But I agree with @SlithyMatt - using Deflemask is probably the best tool to make actual music that you can get into your program because you can export your tunes as VGM, which is a fairly straightforward format to play back on the X16. The simplest thing to do would be to write a python script or something that takes a VGM and strips it down to just a stream of YM messages and pause values. (That's how Id software's AdLib music routine works, for instance). Then the music playback routine will be as fast as possible in your game.