Long post, my apologies. Please understand.
If anyone asks, NO. I don't mean A furnace. I mean the new chiptune tracker going by the name of Furnace.
It is a tracker that does chiptune music, as many do, but unlike several trackers, this one does multiple sound chips across different systems, key of which are very famous in their heyday, others obscure. What's more, it does multi-chiptune, meaning it can play multiple chips and even duplicates of said chips to broaden loads of exceptional possibilities with composing music, even creating untold, unspeakably cooler sound effects than singular sound chips could do by themselves alone.
That program is completely any chiptune musician/soundmaker's greatest dream come true! What I could imagine from that, well, it may very well be... endless plethoras of uses that program does. Some people that have done music on prior trackers can actually feel the limitless creative freedom they've long sought in a program.
People could redo prior themes that had to adhere to sound chip channel limitations on one system with additional channels. People could make very cool all-amazing sound effects with all kinds of chips & chip duplicates to give them lots of amazing impacts than ever before! Imagine the sounds you could make with it! It even has its own file format to boot.
Here are a few musical examples so you can get the idea of what I mean.
Metro City Course (original music, composed by Jake Kaufman) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7RAbPimOtE
Laser Camp (original music, composed by Jake Kaufman) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CCi6KHG05U
Tubelectric, Jazz Jackrabbit 1 & 2, HuC6280+SegaPCM (originally composed by Robert A. Allen, redone by SuperJetSpade) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZU-iO9cgNQ
Attract, Motos, 2X HuC6280 (Originally composed by Norio Nakagata, redone by Tobikomi) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWOJVs56GaU
Mango!, Super Fantasy Zone, 2X SAA1099+2X AY-3-8910 (Originally composed by Naoki Kodaka, redone by Ygor G.)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ-IPPZaSdI
Bgm1, Jimmy White's Cueball (Originally composed by Manfred Linzner, redone by Ygor G.) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_UlsnGnm1k
Wonder Panorama, Mega Man ZX, 2X YM2612 (Originally composed by Ippo Yamada, Masaki Suzuki, Ryo Kawakami, redone by rigid_atoms) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0aZ_oypvHg
Presently, plenty of sound chips are placed in that program, but more are on the way, increasing creativity in music and sounds a lot more than ever before.
The chip names are technical sounding, but they are still all brilliant to have for music and sound making. Bear with me on this.
HuC6280
SegaPCM
YM2612
RF5SC68
AY-3-8910
YM2149
YM2151 (plus PCM)
2A03
Game Boy (Don't know the sound chip name, but closely to that of NES, but different)
SAA1099
SN76489
SID 6581
SID 8580
NOTE: The program, while brilliant, is still in the works, but not behind closed doors, if you know what I mean.
The link is there for any who would want to give it a try, if you're up to it, that is. The download is FREE. Practice is recommended. - https://github.com/tildearrow/furnace
Go crazy. Make very cool music. Create way cooler sounds!
You'll LOVE it! Many people have, and more will, too.
I feel hardly anyone in here's talking about this amazing tracker and its capabilities, so, I'll just do so.
The multi-chiptune tracker's been updated time to time since its launch, and I gotta say, it is such a very great tracker that breaks, from what I've viewed, known boundaries in composing chiptune music and creating sound effects across specific chips alone.
Prior to this, I presume those that worked with most singular chips had to make what's been around, adhering to tight sound channel limits, but even though we have audio formats & converters to help us with many projects, the still-present hurdle in chiptune making is that trackers had only to make music and sounds only from one or select chips alone, not together.
That tracker changed the game a lot to chiptune artists and sound makers out there all over the world! Allowing it to create songs & sounds through limitless chip combinations really gave massive possibilities without having to resort to finding and purchase chips or hardware having said chips at varying prices, not that the choice to do so is a problem or anything.
At that time I posted about the tracker's cool features, there weren't guides on how to make music and sounds, but to those familiar with prior trackers, its no problem getting around it. Now, a guide's been made, along with people making tutorials about using it so more people would get more comfortable.
Guide is here for those who want to learn its great features - https://github.com/tildearrow/furnace/blob/master/doc/README.md
Even there weren't any known available trackers that used TurboGrafx 16's sound chip or others to those wanting to make songs & sounds through those chips to keep the actual authenticity provided from said console's past games, such as Bonk, Neutopia, or even Dungeon Explorer.
More and more people have joined in since, and more are surely doing the same, making more amazing songs & sounds. Even its become a very cool program for game music and sound making! From what I've seen, Mina the Hollower is going to be the first game that uses Furnace as its music and sound making program! Don't know how which other game will solidify it, but, presently, it is set to be that game.
The tracker's version is now updated to 0.6, but later versions are coming soon, including ROM export, said to be in 0.7., from what I've read.
If anyone's worried about exporting, no problem. Whatever song or sounds made in that tracker can be saved into its own .fur module format, and it has the option to export them to .wav format. Even though .mp3 nor .ogg export options are present, the guide says converters can be used to get around this small hurdle, so, its still all good.
STRONG ADVISORY - That tracker's NEVER meant to replace any and all prior trackers, meaning no existing tracker is ever declared obsolete, NEVER EVER. They're all still entirely useful. FamiTracker's still an amazing program, and so is DefleMask, of which's own modules Furnace is compatible with, but the tracker's meant to provide easier multi-chip opportunities & co-exist with such prior trackers for people still using them today. You and anyone else can alternate using between trackers without ever sacrificing them.
Website about the tracker is here - https://tildearrow.org/furnace/
Reminder, it can be downloaded for FREE! No payments, no catches, no nothing of such matters! Just purely FREE to use, however you wish!
I have found one tutorial video, thus far, about using chiptune trackers that has just been posted lately. For those who want to learn how to get around the ins and outs of chiptune trackers, please take a look. More videos like that are coming, so keep a look out.
CHIPTUNE TRACKER TUTORIAL VIDEO BY BUTTON MASHER - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q37XuOLz0jw
What will you create and recreate with that very cool chiptune tracker?