It's been a long time since I've made a cover, especially one using a new expansion chip. Earlier this week, jsr released the public beta of FamiTracker 0.3.8, and with it comes the addition of the Namco 163 MMC chip!
Most commonly confused with the N106 (which has the same graphics capabilities, but without the audio synth) the N163 uses wavetable synthesis somewhat similar to the HuC6280's PSG. This was important in the making of this cover as it allowed me to draw a waveform that sounded similar to the instruments of the TurboGrafix-16 version of Bonk's Adventure, which is a cover I've been wanting to make for a while.
For this particular cover, I wanted to do something a little different form my usual covers. Instead of trying to make a 1:1 cover of the TG-16 version of the track, I did something that was closer to the NES port, but with TG-16 like sound. I preferred the slightly faster tempo of this version and the echo effect it had. It only lacked the flute-like instruments in the second half, instead using the same instrument's to play a monophonic version of their part while dropping the main melody. I retained the TG-16's version of playing both simultaneously while keeping the echo effect in the melody only. (I tried to use echo in the flute section too, but I couldn't make it sound right.) Finally, the DPCM samples used where converted from the PCM samples used in the game, but I had some trouble in finding the exact sample rate, so they don't quite sound accurate, but close enough for me at least. Also, they are louder in this version, something I did intentionally because I always thought TG-16 PCMs sounded too soft.
I spent a lot of time listening to the original track over and over to make sure the waveform for the N163 instruments matched the HuC6280 PSG instruments as close by ear as possible. @.@ Took a lot of listening!
I spent a lot of time listening to the original track over and over to make sure the waveform for t
Oh i knew it took some time, bonk's Adventure music is not easy to replicate and even harder to make it sound the way you did. It was very impressive and brought back some fond memories of when I used to own the game and play it for hours.
Thanks for bringing those memories back, nostalgia is a very powerful thing.
Oh i knew it took some time, bonk's Adventure music is not easy to replicate and even harder to make
