March 16/19 edit: Major 1500-word update to the article below, exploring the connection between harmonic and spatial relationships at the piano. Also includes 15 new images of how some of these relationships may be visualized and felt at the piano.
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In the previous article, I explored active and passive relationships as a starting point for understanding h...
2019-03-01 15:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a PREVIEW of my tutorial on creating Explosion SFX in Pico-8
+5$ Patrons have access to the full tutorial video, the Pico-8 cart with 30+ explosion sounds, and a .zip file with ALL the .wav files. Use them in your games!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/24903769
2019-02-25 15:09:57 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy Monday!
Attached is the Pico-8 tutorial and explosions SFX pack!
Explosion SFX are lots of fun. In this tutorial, I play with a few different workflows. Here’s a summary:
To start:
To play:
💥 BANG BOOM KAPOW 💥
+5$ Patrons now have access to a Pico-8 cart with 20+ explosion sound effects! (Link). Watch the YouTube video above to hear them all.
Also attached is a .zip file with all those sounds as 20+ .wav files. Use them in your games!
Tutorial next week!
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ALSO - In case you missed it:
Creating SFX (UI, Scroll, Select) - Pico-8 Music Tutorial #4...
2019-02-18 15:18:10 +0000 UTC View Post
💥 BANG BOOM KAPOW 💥
UPDATED Explosions SFX pack, can be found here, along with the tutorial.
Attached is a Pico-8 cart with 20+ explosion sound effects. Watch the YouTube video above to hear them all. Also attached is a .zip file with all those sounds as 20+ .wav files. Use them in your games!
Below is ...
2019-02-18 15:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a PREVIEW of my tutorial on creating UI SFX in Pico-8 (Scrolling, selecting etc.)
+5$ Patrons have access to the full tutorial video, the Pico-8 cart with 40+ UI sounds, and a .zip file with ALL the UI sounds as a .wav file. Use them in your games!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/creating-sfx-ui-24535508
2019-02-11 18:54:19 +0000 UTC View Post
A tutorial on creating UI SFX for your game (scrolling, selecting etc.). Hope you enjoy!
Attached is the video file, the Pico-8 cart with 40+ UI effects (complete list below), and a .zip file with all the sounds as a .wav file. As I write more sounds, I’ll update this post.
Scroll
Up to this point, I’ve treated the right and left hands equally, showing fingerings and hand positions for both hands. This fulfills an ideal that many jazz pianists have: that the left and right hands should be equally capable.
One way this is commonly demonstrated in jazz piano is by playing parallel octaves. This has unique challenges and is a common goal for jazz pianists, but it’s not very interesting contrapuntally. The previous exercises set the foundation for thi...
2019-02-07 15:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
UPDATED UI SFX pack, can be found here, along with the tutorial.
Attached is a Pico-8 cart with 40+ sound effects dedicated to UI. Watch the YouTube video above to hear them all. Also attached is a .zip file with all those sounds as 40+ .wav files. They're yours to use! 2019-02-04 15:03:18 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a PREVIEW of my tutorial on creating jump SFX in Pico-8.
+5$ Patrons have access to the full tutorial video, the Pico-8 cart with 32 different jump sounds, and a .zip file with ALL the jump sounds as a .wav file.
In the next month or so, I'll be putting together a Pico-8 cart for everyone, with a variety of sound effects.
2019-01-28 15:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
A tutorial on creating jump SFX for your game. Hope you enjoy!
Attached is the video file, the Pico-8 cart with 32 different jump sounds (complete list below), and a .zip file with all the jump sounds as a .wav file . As I write more sounds, I’ll update this post.
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Something I don’t mention in the tutorial is if you need jump sounds in the first place. Does your game even need...
2019-01-28 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostHowdy!
I got some feedback from Patrons who thought it’d be a good idea to make a list of all my Pico-8 music tutorials with links to where you can watch them. Here they are!
I’ve produced these tutorials non-linearly, so I’ve also divided them between beginner, intermediate and advanced tutorials. The ones marked as "Patreon" means there is exclusive content available.
Hope this is helpful!
Beginner
A request from Trasevol_Dog! Death from Fez (composed by Disasterpeace)... arranged in MilkyTracker
As usual, attached is the sheet music, Mp3, Mp4 and the .xm file if you want to check out how it was made. The goal was to create all the instruments, and not use any imported samples.
I still have one more cover from Celeste I'd like to make. I'll see how this week ...
2019-01-21 15:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostHello Patrons and friends!
An update on some of the content you can expect over the next few months and through 2019:
Pico-8 SFX Tutorials
This is an idea I got from Paul Nicholas and other members of the Pico-8 community. I’m going to produce some tutorials on how to make specific kinds of sound effects (jump, explosions, lasers etc.). $5+ Patreon content will include a cart with, for example, many different jump sounds for you to check out and use in you...
2019-01-17 15:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
A tutorial for beginners who are just getting started with making music and sound in Pico-8.
Most of my tutorials are for users who are already somewhat familiar with Pico-8. So I thought it would be helpful to have a tutorial to give an overview of the UI, and how to start writing music and sound effects.
I realize that most of my Patrons are probably already familiar with sound and music in Pico-8, but your feedback is appreciated before I make it public! Did I...
2019-01-14 15:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
A request from Neil Popham! Home from Fez (composed by Disasterpeace)... arranged in Pico-8.
As usual, attached is the Pico-8 cart, sheet music, Mp3 and Mp4.
Next up is Death from Fez. Though, I think I'm going to do that one in MilkyTracker. I'll hopefully have that done next week!
Of course, I'm open to more requests, these are fun! 2019-01-10 15:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone!
I've opened my Discord server up to ALL Patrons!
I don't share everything I'm working on all the time, but I'd like to be more active here. I’ll be posting everything I’m working on from playing the piano, new tutorial videos, live streams, and electronic music.
Feel free to jump in, post what you’re working on, ask questions etc. I’m also here to help!
Server invite: 2019-01-08 16:18:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a good holiday.
I'm excited to be back at work. I have lots of plans this year for tutorials, making music in Pico-8, Milkytracker, live streaming and more. I'll write a more specific update on this soon.
In the meantime, we're starting off the new year with First Steps from the Celeste soundtrack! Written by Lena Rain...
2019-01-03 15:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
The first track from the Fez soundtrack! One of my personal favourites from the album.
Attached is:
The music transcription, which is actually a kind of hybrid between a score and a lead sheet. My goal is to transcribe all the important harmonic and melodic information and make it playable for as many musicians as possible.
The Pico-8 Cart, if you're curious how it's put together. The instrument I used for the melody was fun to make. I also u...
2018-12-17 16:35:39 +0000 UTC View PostAttached are Christmas music Mp3s that I've worked on this year and last. Most of them have been written for games for the Pico-8 Advent Calendar. Some of the games haven't been released yet, but I wanted to get this music out in time for the season!
Tracks include:
Please vote for two of your favourite indie games. Poll closes on Friday night!
I picked these games because they're rather popular and seemed to have the most interesting soundtracks that could be translated to Pico-8. I’ll transcribe a tune from the winner, make a Pico-8 arrangement, and upload the sheet music. I’ll try to stream the whole process too. Follow me here if you want notifications of when I go live: 2018-12-03 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends and patrons!
Just wanted to update you on the content you can expect in the near future:
Noob Theory Tutorial Series & Future Tutorials
The Noob Theory Pico-8 tutorial series is complete!
Starting next week, I’ll be making these tutorials public on YouTube. +5$ Patrons will be able to download the video files on Patreon to watch anywhere. As you can imagine, I’d like to take a short break from making tutorials. I’ll probably resu...
2018-11-19 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
In this video, I use the ionian, lydian and mixolydian modes to composing some chill village music. Workflow went something like this:
In this video, I compose using mixed modes, like in the Fortnite example from tutorial #43. I also try to compose something more ambient. Workflow went something like this:
For the next three tutorials, watch me compose as much music as I can in about 15mins.
In this video, I use only the mixolydian scale. Workflow went something like this:
February 1/19 edit: Now includes a section at the end called “Practice Goals” which includes exercises that are a good summary of the entire article. Also includes a simple chart for keeping track of progress.
Dec. 19/18 edit: Updated the images to include anchor points (clear note heads)
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Up to this point, we’ve mostly covered stepwise motion in our scale. There are still many more ways I’d like to explore this scale, but ...
2018-10-25 14:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
In this tutorial, I take three compositions from three video games, and extract some of the modes used to compose them. Hope you enjoy it… it’s definitely one of the most difficult videos I’ve had to produce!
Sonic the Hedgehog, 1-UP Stinger
This is a very simple, short example. If you assemble all of the notes in sequence from the root, you get A Mixolydian (which is the D Major scale, starting on the 5th note).
How do you know what the root is? Somet...
2018-10-22 14:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
In Pico-8, I consider ‘odd-meters’ to be anything that doesn’t cycle evenly in 32-rows. This will include anything grouped in 3, 5, 6 and 7.
I take the same approach as in the previous tutorial – starting at a very high SPD, creating a simple kick/snare pattern with an odd grouping, and gradually increasing the resolution.
At some point, increasing the resolution will require more than 32 rows. You can decide to either through compose the beat, which will require usi...
2018-10-15 14:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostJanuary 19/19 edit: I've added a section at the end called “Practice Goals” which includes an exercise that’s a good summation of the whole article. It also includes a simple chart for keeping track of progress.
Dec. 19/18 edit: I’ve updated the article and images in “Exercises for Changing Direction.” It is now ONE article, in two parts. The first part is a shorter explanation of the exercise using the chromatic scale. The second part ex...
2018-10-11 14:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Taking a break from talking about scales and modes to talk about meter. Very technically, the word “meter” refers to points in time, that are part of a repetitive, organized hierarchy.
In Pico-8, there are two types of meters. Those that work very nicely, and those that don’t. In this tutorial, I talk about the nice ones – the ones that can be organized in 32 rows. These are symmetrical meters, often referred to being in duple or quadruple time.
You’ll see in...
2018-10-08 14:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post