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## I have no experience with music at all! :O

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TabbyCat
  Posts: 2
  Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2016 8:56 pm

### I have no experience with music at all! :O

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Post by TabbyCat » Mon Feb 15, 2016 9:07 pm

Hi!
I have just began learning how to use FamiTracker and because I have no previous music experience I am finding it quite difficult (although interesting!) From the tutorials I have seen, many people have recommended covering songs for basic learning so I am trying to do the same- however I am struggling even with the whole 'listening to the music and trying to repeat it' way of doing things so I was wondering if there are any tutorials to cover particular easy songs or even if any of you have any recommendations for super easy songs I can use or even some helpful tips (right now I am trying to do the grassland theme from Super Mario 3 but even that is seeming impossible at this rate! )
Did anyone else find it this hard at first?
Thanks so much for your time! x
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TheMudkipMaster12
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### Re: I have no experience with music at all! :O

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Post by TheMudkipMaster12 » Mon Feb 15, 2016 9:39 pm

Hey, welcome to FamiTracker! Most people would start with this tutorial. There are multiple parts and lets you cover a rather easy song: Kraid's Lair. It's kinda outdated, but most things mentioned are the same.
"It's funny because cool, means cold." -Savestate, Feb. 17, 2016
HI IM KIPPTUNE AND THIS IS MY OLD ACCOUNT LOL
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BioMechanicalDude
  Posts: 309
  Joined: Sun May 24, 2015 2:54 pm
  Location: Bulgaria

### Re: I have no experience with music at all! :O

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Post by BioMechanicalDude » Mon Feb 15, 2016 10:10 pm

Listening to music and then replicating it is a quite difficult thing, actually, particularly when it comes to notes. Perfect pitch is something you either train for a long time or you're born with it. I personally don't have the time nor patience to train perfect pitch, so when I'm making a cover, I try to find a way to examine the notes in a song, either by looking up a MIDI version of it or something. That or at least try to find out in what key it is. I don't know if this is a good practice, but it works for me.
Greetings! I'm That Bio Mechanical Dude and I like creating various stuff like movies, games and of course chiptunes!
You can check out my YouTube Channel.
You can also follow me on Twitter.
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TabbyCat
  Posts: 2
  Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2016 8:56 pm

### Re: I have no experience with music at all! :O

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Post by TabbyCat » Tue Feb 16, 2016 6:45 pm

Thank you for your help! I will check out the link and try looking up song notes Hopefully you both see this because I still have to work out real replies and stuff haha x
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BioMechanicalDude
  Posts: 309
  Joined: Sun May 24, 2015 2:54 pm
  Location: Bulgaria

### Re: I have no experience with music at all! :O

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Post by BioMechanicalDude » Tue Feb 16, 2016 7:06 pm

No problem. And yes, we do see it.
Greetings! I'm That Bio Mechanical Dude and I like creating various stuff like movies, games and of course chiptunes!
You can check out my YouTube Channel.
You can also follow me on Twitter.
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Stratelier
  Posts: 378
  Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2015 7:46 pm

### Re: I have no experience with music at all! :O

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Post by Stratelier » Wed Feb 17, 2016 3:00 am

> BioMechanicalDude wrote:Listening to music and then replicating it is a quite difficult thing, actually, particularly when it comes to notes. Perfect pitch is something you either train for a long time or you're born with it. I personally don't have the time nor patience to train perfect pitch, so when I'm making a cover, I try to find a way to examine the notes in a song, either by looking up a MIDI version of it or something. That or at least try to find out in what key it is. I don't know if this is a good practice, but it works for me.

Heh. I don't have "perfect pitch" but I can generally identify what key a song is in, i.e. the base note and then transcribe the notes from that. So, for example, I can't tell you what key the Chocobo theme song is in but I can clearly identify that it's a major key and the opening three notes are 5th, 3rd, and root.
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bidy2014@web.de
  Posts: 63
  Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2016 2:47 pm
  Location: Germany

### Re: I have no experience with music at all! :O

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Post by bidy2014@web.de » Wed Jul 13, 2016 10:38 am

> TabbyCat wrote: Hi!
> I have just began learning how to use FamiTracker and because I have no previous music experience I am finding it quite difficult (although interesting!) From the tutorials I have seen, many people have recommended covering songs for basic learning so I am trying to do the same- however I am struggling even with the whole 'listening to the music and trying to repeat it' way of doing things so I was wondering if there are any tutorials to cover particular easy songs or even if any of you have any recommendations for super easy songs I can use or even some helpful tips (right now I am trying to do the grassland theme from Super Mario 3 but even that is seeming impossible at this rate! )
> Did anyone else find it this hard at first?
> Thanks so much for your time! x

When i sarted working with famitracker i had totally never worked before wth anything like that too. So of course i found it hard too in the beginning, but it got easier after taking a closer look at the demosongs (I don't think the beta 0.5 has those) and clicking on the "help" button. (The help button isn't working in the beta for some reason.) I started working with famitracker in 2015, and im almost only using the 0.4.6 version, because this version has a working "help" button and demosongs. So its July 2016 now and im still not the master of famitracker, but i keep getting better. As you can see, it needs it's time, but in my opinion it is worth it. I attached an unfinished game soundtrack by me, it's very simple (2 Channels, 2 Instruments, no effects, not longer than 7 frames) and i thought it would be easy to cover. i also attached something even more easy to cover. About the grasslands: This sondtrack seems pretty easy, but actually, it isn't. Reason 1: Some parts of the soundtrack are made with PCM sampling (which is in famitracker the DPCM Channel.) I don't want to confuse you, so i think it's necessary to explain a bit, what that is. Sampling means recording sounds of real instruments (the voice is real instrument too!) and saving them in waves, todays .wav files for example. Those waves need a lot of memory, so they can only be low quality and short. If you want to use DPCM samples you'll just have to create a 2A03 instrument (the normal instruments you can use for Pulse 1 and 2, triangle and noise) Select he DPCM Channel and doubleclick on the instrument. Or just click on DPCM samples. (Easier i guess) Then you can click at import and you can select any .wav file you want. Then a window with two settings will appear. Quality and Gain. Less Quality means more length, but it doesn't sound so well, high quality means less length but better sound quality. (I am so logical) Gain is something i can't really explain, but i bet it can be used to GAIN (hahaha ) something. (Sorry.) There is a preview button to get a preview of what it sounds like, then if it sounds like what you wanted, you can click ok, and add the sample to a key you want. ok sampling explained. The problem with doing a cover is that it might be difficult to get exactly this sample, or one that sounds like that one. I mean for beginners like you?! Reason number two: I know how hard it is recreate something only from listening. Here is a link to a video that might help you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDBV2UvRmuU
Ok. Reason number three: The original grass lands contains some instruments which are pretty difficult. But i don't want to say it's impossible. Just believe in your self. (That might sound like a stupid motivation text but is true) If you want to know something else like, how to use expansion chips, or create cool sounds, use some cool secrets (theyre medium cool, but very useful) or ANYTHING else, just ask. Im on the forum pretty much everyday. (I already helped someone with his ost, yeah!)

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This is an old account ... like really old. It's long dead and honestly kind of embarassing from today's perspective.
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