It is not news the Game Boy is the weapon of choice for many chiptune artists, nor that nanoloop is one of the most recognized names for software that makes the Game Boy "sing" to your desires. But now the company is taking things a step further and is releasing a cartridge that turns your old DMG model Game Boy into a three-channel analogue synthesizer.
This is seriously impressive stuff, considering the tunes are coming from twenty-seven-year-old hardware. For the more tech savvy among the Nintendo Life community, here's what makes the cart so special:
In the nanoloop mono cart, the analog components (op-amps, comparators, logic cells etc) of a PIC microcontroller are connected and configured in such a way that they form a hybrid sound chip with 3 analog filters and a true random noise generator, using only a few passive external components; a step sequencer with per-step control for all parameters. There are 8 banks of flash memory each of which can hold 15 patterns per channel and a song structure.
Nanoloop expects to start shipping the nanoloop mono this upcoming December at a sensible price of €69. If all of this (literally) sounds something that might tickle your fancy, keep a close watch on the product page.
Beware that price only gets you the cartridge itself, the Game Boy console is not provided. Also note results are less than stellar on other models of the Game Boy family, with both Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color producing additional, unwanted sound artifacts. The cartridge flat-out won't work on Game Boy Advance models.
But you feel the need to make some music right now and happen to favor a 3DS family console in your pocket instead of the old faithful brick, Rhythmic Ultimate and KORG (with the DSN-12 and the M01D) have you spoilt for choice.
Comments 14
its verry good software.personally i like LSDJ more because i can sync it with my korg volca's.this is probally also possible with nanoloop but i started with lsdj and i like it so i keep using that.but still,very impressive stuff.nanoloop is great
This is fantastic! ordering! I shall be playing it on my Play it Loud unboxed WHITE Gameboy. .
@cfgk24 Had a feeling you would find good use for this...
I'm so tempted, I've always wanted to try this sort of thing, but not really sure where I would find the time
@chiptoon I used to tell myself the same thing. But look at me now!
Isnt this many many years old?
@daggdroppen You might be confusing this for the nanoloop one.
@Shiryu might I ask how you got started with chiptune music? I have been wanting to give it a go for many years but never found the right place to start. I'm mostly interested in NES and Genesis era sounds.
@Hordak Commodore Amiga 500, with Pro Tracker. But nowadays you can get those sounds with free VST instruments! Truly electronic music making has evolved so much in the the past decades. Heck, even KORG manages to reproduce their own vintage synths in our 3DSes!
@Lilith93 yeah, plus, LSDJ has super easy backups, and and great support with all the updates.
Plus the community is pretty big already, with plenty of example code and guides.
Sad but true that the sound quality of the original DMG-001 was never surpassed or even equalled by the other Gameboys.
@Shiryu wow, you've been busy! Nice
@chiptoon I have told my self and I would slow down on that department and write more for Nintendo Life, but even this year I made "NLA Blues" and its probably one of the best albums I ever made.
@Shiryu Hell Yeah!
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