Chiptune
CHIPTUNE is a synth for pulse leads, fast arpeggios, and chip-style noise.
It makes sound without a WAV. Choose it on an instrument's Type row, then
enter a Phrase note using that instrument number.
Chiptune groups its controls into Oscillator, Envelope, Vibrato, Sweep, and Modulation.
Try a chip arpeggio
- Choose
CHIPTUNEand leave WAVE atPULSE 25. - Enter a Phrase note and set its FX to
ARP 4700. - Play the Phrase. The voice cycles through the base note, major third, and fifth.
- Increase ARP SPEED for a faster cycle, or change WAVE to
TRIANGLE 4BIT.
Each instrument can sound on all eight tracks. Chiptune presets use the shared
64-slot bank without a separate two-preset limit. A new note on the same track replaces
that voice. Note Off and GOF stop it; KIL stops it after its tick delay.
Waveforms
Choose PULSE 12.5, PULSE 25, PULSE 50, TRIANGLE 4BIT, NOISE GB7,
NOISE NES, NOISE SN76489, or WHITE NOISE. The three named noise modes use
frequency-dependent shift registers; white noise uses a separate generator.
Parameters
Two-digit values are hexadecimal. Transpose and sweep amount are decimal.
Disabled values (OFF in the table below) appear as -- on the page.
| Field | Range | Default | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| TRANSPOSE | −24–24 | 0 | Shift the base note in semitones |
| VOLUME | 00–FF | 80 | Set the voice level |
| BURST | OFF, 01–FF | OFF | Begin with a white-noise burst; approximately 1 ms per unit |
| ARP SPEED | 00–22 | 12 | Set ARP step speed; higher is faster, approximately 35–1 ms per step |
| LENGTH | OFF, 01–FF | OFF | Cap the note length; approximately 1 ms per unit, OFF leaves it to the envelope |
| ATTACK | 00–FF | 00 | Rise time; higher is slower |
| DECAY | 00–FF | 80 | Fall time; higher is slower |
| DELAY | 00–FF | 40 | Delay before automatic vibrato, approximately 5.8 ms per unit |
| DEPTH | 00–FF | 07 | Automatic vibrato depth; zero disables it |
| TIME | 00–FF | 00 | Pitch-sweep duration, in 10 ms control ticks |
| AMOUNT | −127–127 | 0 | Downward or upward sweep strength per control tick |
| TABLE | OFF, 00–1F | OFF | Assign a Table |
| AUTOMATION | NO / YES | NO | Enable Table automation |
The volume envelope has attack and decay stages. It continues to decay while a
note plays; there is no sustain stage. LENGTH can stop a note before decay
finishes. Sweep amount controls a repeated pitch multiplier, not a final semitone
target; use PSL for a specified interval.
Commands
Chiptune supports ARP, CSH, GOF, LEG, PAN, PFT, PSL, SIP, VIB,
and VOL, alongside the page's Standard commands. CSH uses its low nibble for bit crushing;
the drive byte is unused. VOL aa00 fades to silence over aa control ticks,
and VOL 00FF sets maximum voice volume immediately.
SIP changes the playing voice only; a new note restores the instrument's saved
settings. See the SIP parameter map
for the indices and examples. Instrument settings are saved with the project;
use Instrument Save to export a reusable .pti file.
Credits
Adapted from the Chiptune Lead instrument in copingTracker by n1LS, under BSD-3-Clause.