Instruments

Screenshot of the instruments tab, editing a square instrument Screenshot of the instruments tab, editing a wave instrument Screenshot of the instruments tab, editing a noise instrument

Legend:

  1. Instrument number: This selects which instrument of its type to edit. Ranges from 1 to 15 (inclusive).
  2. Instrument name: This is the name for the instrument. It is shows in the instrument combobox in the toolbar and in the song components.
  3. Instrument type: Selects which “type” of instrument this is. Can be square, for instruments to be played on the pulse channels; wave, for instruments to be played on the wave channel; and noise, for instruments to be played on the noise channel.
  4. Length: When enabled, a playing note will be cut off immediately after a certain amount of time elapses.
  5. Test C-5: Plays a test note for a few seconds, to test what the instrument will sound like.
  6. Import/Export buttons: Used to import or export an instrument’s settings to/from a file.
  7. Sweep time: Selects the “sweep time” for the note to take. The greater the value, the slower the sweep.
  8. Sweep direction: Selects the direction of the sweep the note should take. “Up” portamentos the note up, “Down” portamentos it down.
  9. Sweep size: Selects the magnitude of sweep for the note to take per “tick” as specified by sweep time.
  10. Duty: Selects the timbre of note to play. Each setting sounds different, and they are useful when you don’t want both of the duty channels to clash with one another.
  11. Start vol: Selects the starting volume for the envelope. When there’s no change on the envelope, this functions simple as the volume for the note, unless overridden by a volume effect command.
  12. Direction: This specifies which direction for the envelope to go.
  13. Change: This specifies for how long the envelope goes. The higher the value, the more the note will fade in or out.
  14. Wave volume: Specifies at what volume a wave instrument shall play, unless overridden by a volume effect command.
  15. Waveform: Specifies which waveform should play as part of this instrument. See waves.
  16. Shift clock mask: A component of the noise generation algorithm. Tweak it however you want.
  17. Dividing ratio: A component of the noise generation algorithm. Tweak it however you want.
  18. 7-bit counter: When checked, the instrument will sound more like a musical tone rather than noise.
  19. Randomize: Rather than manually tweaking the sliders, you can click this button until you hear something you like. Plays a random configuration of sliders, with a random length, at a random pitch.