I tried running the GBA rom on my DSi XL but it seems to freeze pretty quickly after I start messing around. Has anyone else encountered this? As far as I'm aware I'm using the most up to date version of TwilightMenu++ and GBARunner2.
I know i'm a month late but can you simply not download the .cia file instead of the .gba? It will be directly added to your 3ds home menu so it'll be a much more smooth experience for you since you won't have to go through TM++ to launch the game. And GBARunner2 is frankly kinda crap.
Just use FBI to install the .cia and play it directly. And if you need to grab the save file just use Checkpoint.
At the time I was specifically trying to run it on a DSi XL, not a 3DS. I haven't personally run into any other issues with GBARunner2 but admittedly I haven't tested it out deeply either. I didn't realize there were so many holes in the compatibility list, knowing that makes this issue make a bit more sense. lol. I have other systems I can load this on though so it's not a huge deal to me, just thought it was worth noting.
If using an emulator or SD based flashcart, you can just copy the .sav files somewhere else for safekeeping. To export the track as WAV you will need some other software like Audacity or a DAW to record the songs as they are performed.
thank you for your support! have fun and let me know if you have any more questions. Oh and be sure to tag me if you upload something on socials. Love to see what people come up with ;D
This is really nice piece of software, the UI/UX is very slick and modern. I came up with a cool little groove in 10 minutes after launching it for the first time. Any plans to expand the step amounts per pattern, or adding LFOs? I have no idea if those are even possible with GBA.
Maybe there was already something like this which I missed, but using, for example, select+D-Pad to quickly move between patterns/channels would be another useful feature.
All in all, I really enjoy it thus far, thanks a lot for sharing it! Hopefully you want to keep expanding on it even more.
Glad you like it and happy to hear it was easy to get started, that is one of the main goals of the project :D
I have some things planned for STEPPER, LFOs would be feasible within some constrains, though it may take a while for me to add them.
One of the main things I will push for next version is pattern chaining so that we can have a pseudo "song mode" available, I'll see if I can incorporate your suggestion after that. If I understand you well, you would like to switch patterns or channels while on trig selection mode right? I could see that being useful, though I'm also thinking on adding a "marking" mode so that you can copy-paste multiple trigs and was thinking select + d-pad for doing that. Unfortunately the GBA has a very limited set of buttons!
After that's done I want to do a parameter UI update so that I can include a "chance" and maybe a "panning" knob per trig.
Just keep in mind these updates will probably come out slowly, this project is not fully self-sustained at the moment of writing and can't afford to make it my full (or even part) time job.
I'm working on it when I can though and would love to push a few more updates for sure.
Thanks! Sorry it took to long to reply but somehow missed the comment notification :)
I don't think I want to pursue putting it on any other store at the moment, it's already tough to keep up with feedback and updates in both social media and here and would prefer to funnel the interest to this itch.io page :)
I just discovered your project, it’s very cool to know there is a project like this made today! Do you plan to use samples? Normally it’s possible on gba because with FAT (furious advance tracker) you can use both dmg sounds and samples. I stopped using FAT just because it crashed too much but using dmg sounds and samples at same time is so cool! And the sound quality of samples with gba is much better than with dmg-01 in lsdj.
Thanks, it's pretty fun to work on! At the moment I'm not planning on adding sampling support but it could be something I will consider in the future.
There are two ways around it, one would be to bake the samples in the rom file, either at compile time or with an injector of sorts. The other would be to keep the samples on the save file. Both of these need extra tooling in addition to the work it's required to make it work on the sequencer side.
This can be a lot of extra work and unfortunately my time is limited and this project is not yet self-sustainable. I'll let you know if I decide to toy with this idea though.
Thank's for your response! I use samples (only) on a (very ugly) sequencer I made on the nintendo ds in C with the help of an open source project. I use max_mod and devkitpro, there is examples on github for auto compile sample from wav files in a folder named max_mod in the project. So it's on the rom file. I don't know if something similar exist on gba but on ds it's very easy.
But yea, it would mean more works that's true, the important is making something you like :-) I tried your sequencer just a few minutes and it seems to be a lot of fun!
The implementation of CV gate written in the description would be sooo awesome! O.o For my part I use "sync" in my nds sequencer, which is just a button who transform all the sequencer to mono and pan all to left and use the right channel to send a Sync sample. It needs a Y cable and it works good with korg machines because they accept low level sync
This is so cool! I've been wanting a good gba sequencer for years, right now I use lsdj on my gba but it's not ideal. Thank you so much, I'll be giving it a whirl as soon as I get home!
Thank you, I hope you like it! I think LSDJ is more powerful than STEPPER at the moment, but I was going for a more intuitive user experience and a bit more of a performance mindset. Hope you have fun with it!
Nice work! Nice work! Love the user interface especially. Is there a way to access more granularity in the settings to get quicker or more precise envelopes for example?
Thank you I'm glad you like it! Sadly no, the DMG sound engine is limited and STEPPER just uses the available hardware registers. For example there are 4 bits for initial envelope values (16 possible levels) and 3 bits for envelope time (8 possible values).
If you are interested in learning more, you can check out this page for a description of the sound registers:
Edit: Recently toyed a bit with version 1.6 and noticed each step can have a different waveform (didn't noticed it before?). This make it in my humble opinion very flexible!
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Nice work <3
I found a problem with the CIA file, don't save the work I made. Every time I start the program it comes like never used before.
I tried running the GBA rom on my DSi XL but it seems to freeze pretty quickly after I start messing around. Has anyone else encountered this? As far as I'm aware I'm using the most up to date version of TwilightMenu++ and GBARunner2.
I know i'm a month late but can you simply not download the .cia file instead of the .gba? It will be directly added to your 3ds home menu so it'll be a much more smooth experience for you since you won't have to go through TM++ to launch the game. And GBARunner2 is frankly kinda crap.
Just use FBI to install the .cia and play it directly. And if you need to grab the save file just use Checkpoint.
At the time I was specifically trying to run it on a DSi XL, not a 3DS. I haven't personally run into any other issues with GBARunner2 but admittedly I haven't tested it out deeply either. I didn't realize there were so many holes in the compatibility list, knowing that makes this issue make a bit more sense. lol. I have other systems I can load this on though so it's not a huge deal to me, just thought it was worth noting.
Same issue with me and why it would be nice to get a .nds version.
I have the same problem with a ds lite using a TTds flashcard
any chance of getting a .nds version? my DSi wont run .cia
is there a way to export an audio track once its been created?
If using an emulator or SD based flashcart, you can just copy the .sav files somewhere else for safekeeping. To export the track as WAV you will need some other software like Audacity or a DAW to record the songs as they are performed.
Thank you! I sent you $10. This is an incredible project. I'm already having a lot of fun with it
thank you for your support! have fun and let me know if you have any more questions. Oh and be sure to tag me if you upload something on socials. Love to see what people come up with ;D
This is really nice piece of software, the UI/UX is very slick and modern. I came up with a cool little groove in 10 minutes after launching it for the first time. Any plans to expand the step amounts per pattern, or adding LFOs? I have no idea if those are even possible with GBA.
Maybe there was already something like this which I missed, but using, for example, select+D-Pad to quickly move between patterns/channels would be another useful feature.
All in all, I really enjoy it thus far, thanks a lot for sharing it! Hopefully you want to keep expanding on it even more.
Glad you like it and happy to hear it was easy to get started, that is one of the main goals of the project :D
I have some things planned for STEPPER, LFOs would be feasible within some constrains, though it may take a while for me to add them.
One of the main things I will push for next version is pattern chaining so that we can have a pseudo "song mode" available, I'll see if I can incorporate your suggestion after that. If I understand you well, you would like to switch patterns or channels while on trig selection mode right? I could see that being useful, though I'm also thinking on adding a "marking" mode so that you can copy-paste multiple trigs and was thinking select + d-pad for doing that. Unfortunately the GBA has a very limited set of buttons!
After that's done I want to do a parameter UI update so that I can include a "chance" and maybe a "panning" knob per trig.
Just keep in mind these updates will probably come out slowly, this project is not fully self-sustained at the moment of writing and can't afford to make it my full (or even part) time job.
I'm working on it when I can though and would love to push a few more updates for sure.
Cheers!
Super Cool app! Can't wait to get to know it.
Since you have the .cia, have you though of putting it on the Universal Updater/3DS Homebrew store?
Thanks! Sorry it took to long to reply but somehow missed the comment notification :)
I don't think I want to pursue putting it on any other store at the moment, it's already tough to keep up with feedback and updates in both social media and here and would prefer to funnel the interest to this itch.io page :)
Yeah man, that's totally reasonable. Keep up the good work!
I just discovered your project, it’s very cool to know there is a project like this made today! Do you plan to use samples? Normally it’s possible on gba because with FAT (furious advance tracker) you can use both dmg sounds and samples. I stopped using FAT just because it crashed too much but using dmg sounds and samples at same time is so cool! And the sound quality of samples with gba is much better than with dmg-01 in lsdj.
Thanks, it's pretty fun to work on! At the moment I'm not planning on adding sampling support but it could be something I will consider in the future.
There are two ways around it, one would be to bake the samples in the rom file, either at compile time or with an injector of sorts. The other would be to keep the samples on the save file. Both of these need extra tooling in addition to the work it's required to make it work on the sequencer side.
This can be a lot of extra work and unfortunately my time is limited and this project is not yet self-sustainable. I'll let you know if I decide to toy with this idea though.
Thank's for your response!
I use samples (only) on a (very ugly) sequencer I made on the nintendo ds in C with the help of an open source project. I use max_mod and devkitpro, there is examples on github for auto compile sample from wav files in a folder named max_mod in the project. So it's on the rom file. I don't know if something similar exist on gba but on ds it's very easy.
But yea, it would mean more works that's true, the important is making something you like :-) I tried your sequencer just a few minutes and it seems to be a lot of fun!
The implementation of CV gate written in the description would be sooo awesome! O.o For my part I use "sync" in my nds sequencer, which is just a button who transform all the sequencer to mono and pan all to left and use the right channel to send a Sync sample. It needs a Y cable and it works good with korg machines because they accept low level sync
I'll be working on the CV and audio sync this weekend, you can see a taste of it here: https://merveilles.town/@bd/110423839732385870
Stay tuned!
This is so cool! I've been wanting a good gba sequencer for years, right now I use lsdj on my gba but it's not ideal. Thank you so much, I'll be giving it a whirl as soon as I get home!
Thank you, I hope you like it! I think LSDJ is more powerful than STEPPER at the moment, but I was going for a more intuitive user experience and a bit more of a performance mindset. Hope you have fun with it!
Nice work! Nice work! Love the user interface especially. Is there a way to access more granularity in the settings to get quicker or more precise envelopes for example?
Thank you I'm glad you like it! Sadly no, the DMG sound engine is limited and STEPPER just uses the available hardware registers. For example there are 4 bits for initial envelope values (16 possible levels) and 3 bits for envelope time (8 possible values).
If you are interested in learning more, you can check out this page for a description of the sound registers:
http://www.belogic.com/gba/index.php
Nice and smooth tool!
Edit: Recently toyed a bit with version 1.6 and noticed each step can have a different waveform (didn't noticed it before?). This make it in my humble opinion very flexible!
Thank you! I hope you have fun with it :)