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Hey all, I have some music and sound effects in mp3 format (they are already 4-track chip tunes) that I need recreated in Pico-8! They don't have to be 100% true to the original, but I'd prefer if they were as close as possible. I've got a game that's deep into development and should be completed within the next week or two, and would love to put your name in the credits! There are about 18 mp3s in total, most of them are just small sound effects, and 6 or 7 of them are short pieces of music.

If you're interested, just reply here and I'll send you a link to the mp3 files. Thanks!

P#19221 2016-03-14 13:30 ( Edited 2016-03-26 03:48)

:: solar

I'd be happy to help with this. I've done a couple of carts already that involved making "covers" of existing songs, if you'd like to check them out. I'll be available to put a bunch of work in about 11 hours from now.

P#19225 2016-03-14 16:44 ( Edited 2016-03-14 20:44)
:: Scathe

Ok great! I'm going to give you some fair warning though that it may prove a bit challenging - the music is a selection of classical scores (it's a medieval theme), and was originally done for the Intellivision by one of the most talented game musicians I know. Most of the time, it utilized all four of the INTV's tracks, and the game became fairly well known for its music. It shouldn't be too difficult for someone with a good ear and a bit of talent with the music tracker, though. Like I said, it doesn't all have to be 100% perfect, but I'd like for it to be pretty close.

Here are the files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kk1ykpy17kkc86r/tcast.zip?dl=0

There are 2 small songs missing from there, but that should be enough to keep you busy for a while. I'll get them for you separately (have to open the game in an emulator and record them; they are from the later levels).

P#19226 2016-03-14 18:54 ( Edited 2016-03-14 22:54)
:: solar

I like to think I'm pretty good at doing music by ear. I'll do my best.

I haven't tried it yet, but it's my understanding that we can easily copy sfx and music out of one cart and into another now, so I'll go ahead and start recreating stuff in a new cart on my end.

P#19232 2016-03-15 03:09 ( Edited 2016-03-15 07:09)
:: Scathe

Awesome, thanks solar!


Yep. The p8 files have sections labeled "sfx" and "music" that can easily be copy/pasted from one file to another in any text editor, so it won't be a problem at all.

P#19234 2016-03-15 07:56 ( Edited 2016-03-15 15:05)


Can you please give me some direction on using the music editor. I do not understand the connection of what im pressing on my typing keyboard that corresponds with the not that appears on the screen. Im so lost. I looked on youtube and theres one video, the guy doesn't talk, and is going super fast. Do you have any better info I could take a look at? I just wanna learn it but it seems like there is no info on how, anywhere besides minimal descriptions.

P#19257 2016-03-16 16:23 ( Edited 2016-03-16 20:23)
:: solar

Basically it's just a standard "tracker style interface". If you look up tutorials on youtube for other common trackers eg "milkytracker", you should get a lot of relevant info (this video looks good). The main difference is you're working with 8 preset waveforms instead of loadable samples, and you have 8 effects rather than like... a million.

Here's some notes from the manual:

[box=ffeedd]Tracker mode:
each note shows: frequency octave instrument volume effect
Shift-click instrument / effect / volume to set for all notes

    To enter a note, use q2w3er5t6y7ui zsxdcvgbhnjm (piano-like layout)
    New notes are given the selected instrument/effect values
    To delete a note, press backspace or set the volume to 0
    (Setting volume to 0 can be used to delete a string of notes more easily)

    // note: from 0.1.2, non-qwerty keyboards use the same piano-like layout

    Effects: 0 none 1 slide 2 vibrato 3 drop 4 fade_in 5 fade_out 6 arp fast 7 arp slow
    Arpeggio commands (6,7) iterate over groups of 4 notes at speed 2 and 4[/box]
P#19258 2016-03-16 17:45 ( Edited 2016-03-16 21:45)

Thanks. i really appreciate it.

P#19264 2016-03-17 08:54 ( Edited 2016-03-17 12:54)
:: Scathe

@acombs - Here is an excellent video tutorial series on YouTube about using the Pico-8 sound editor.

P#19271 2016-03-17 17:34 ( Edited 2016-03-17 21:34)

Thanks Scathe! This is great. I appreciate it.

P#19287 2016-03-18 09:17 ( Edited 2016-03-18 13:17)
:: solar

Hey Scathe. I thought I'd show my progress so far. There are two songs left to do in the current pack you've given me. After that I'll be ready for the final two.

The SFX I have tried to squeeze into using only one track, so a couple sound a bit different to the original. If you'd like me to have another try at any in particular just let me know.

Cart #19299 | 2016-03-19 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | No License

P#19300 2016-03-19 02:02 ( Edited 2016-03-19 06:02)
:: Scathe

Hey solar, that's insanely impressive, thanks so much for all your work so far! Everything sounds great!!

P#19301 2016-03-19 02:52 ( Edited 2016-03-19 06:52)
:: Scathe

Hey solar, I was finally able to capture the rest of the missing sounds. Just 2 short songs (comparable to "level 1 invincibility") and 4 additional sound effects I had previously overlooked. That's all of them, I promise! Thanks again for all your hard work, I'm really liking the progress :D


P#19317 2016-03-19 20:30 ( Edited 2016-03-20 00:30)
:: Scathe

Solar, do you have any way I can contact you outside of here? I've got the game very close to being finished, and incorporated (almost) all your audio so far, and want to send you a demo, but I don't want to make the demo public by posting the link here.

P#19411 2016-03-25 21:46 ( Edited 2016-03-26 01:46)
:: solar

Sure, you can email me at [email protected]

I've done all the new SFX you've given me, and still have the songs left. It's likely I'll get most of it done over the next 2 days as it's a long weekend here at the moment.

P#19412 2016-03-25 22:36 ( Edited 2016-03-26 02:36)
:: Scathe

Email sent! Make sure you check your spam folder.

P#19413 2016-03-25 23:48 ( Edited 2016-03-26 03:48)

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