I'm building Retro Song Bird, a speaker that plays the soundtracks from your classic Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. There were a ton of unique technical challenges to building the prototype in a way that could play instantly, have cool features, and not attract lawsuits from IP holders! I've discovered a ton about the artistry of these early game music composers and the technical limitations imposed on them. I've also discovered a ton of hidden bangers as I collected and tested 150+ carts. I'm most excited to see how people make music using the stems of classic tracks or perform DJ sets with two beat-synced carts. Happy to answer any questions, thanks!
It's a combination of a few things: existing GBS files, mapping new obscure carts, re-mapping music from revision to revision (usually they fix bugs but don't change music so it's the same overall shape, and lastly I have a crowdsourcing tool that works in Chrome if you plug in your Retro Song Bird. It allows you to play the ROM in a monitored emulator looking for register writes that look like music. Basically it's a multi-pronged approach with tons of little tools and heuristics!
I also go through and measure the music duration since some tracks are made to loop indefinitely and I measure the BPM of the tracks so you can sync two Retro Song Birds and change the tempo over MIDI and beat match them. Basically like a DJ set with carts instead of vinyl.
I'm going to NES next! The hardware and software architecture I have (including a split PCB design) allows me to move to NES pretty quick. I have a proof of concept working. Personally I have more nostalgia for NES music (Mega Man 2, Punch Out, Metroid!) than for GB.
GBA is a lot harder! On GB/GBC the music is just code, so if you can find it, you can execute it. This also means you just need to store a map of where it is (e.g. pointers) and not any intellectual property. On GBA and SNES, devs had access to more modern codecs, so they might just store music as a wav or mp3-like file (or a proprietary one), which makes the job a lot tougher. The hardware and software I built is setup so that I can rapidly move on to NES next. For me, NES is the sweet spot of quality of music and ease of extraction.
Beautifully whimsical and brought me delight seeing and of course, hearing this project. I feel like my “urge to create” itch experienced a second-hand scratch.
I'm getting inundated with Tonies ads now haha. I wish I could just use NFC and play pre-canned audio, unfortunately for me, the rights-holders might take issue! I'm also targeting musicians, so synthesizing the music is pretty powerful. I can do tempo control for beat matching of two carts, as well as split out the stems (e.g. drums, chorus) from the 4 instruments the Game Boy uses so a DAW can control and remix the tracks.
Heyy - first time seeing a friend's project on the front page! Have been following along since the beginning. I love chiptune and nes/gameboy soundtracks... Secretly hoping he supports NES next :X
Hey! This is mine, thanks!
I'm building Retro Song Bird, a speaker that plays the soundtracks from your classic Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. There were a ton of unique technical challenges to building the prototype in a way that could play instantly, have cool features, and not attract lawsuits from IP holders! I've discovered a ton about the artistry of these early game music composers and the technical limitations imposed on them. I've also discovered a ton of hidden bangers as I collected and tested 150+ carts. I'm most excited to see how people make music using the stems of classic tracks or perform DJ sets with two beat-synced carts. Happy to answer any questions, thanks!
Brilliant project, thank you for putting so much thought into it! The DAW / webcam features take this over the top for me, very well done.
Thanks! I can't wait to get the dual-song bird, beat syncing into the hands of real musicians. I have a blast just goofing around with my fake DAW: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AgTbedzKK-E and my KO Sidekicks: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IJ6GVudkRds
I haven't had the courage to join a meeting at my day job on the GB Camera yet haha
Interesting project!
How did you automate finding the music player code (and initializing it for different tracks) for +1900 ROMs?
It's a combination of a few things: existing GBS files, mapping new obscure carts, re-mapping music from revision to revision (usually they fix bugs but don't change music so it's the same overall shape, and lastly I have a crowdsourcing tool that works in Chrome if you plug in your Retro Song Bird. It allows you to play the ROM in a monitored emulator looking for register writes that look like music. Basically it's a multi-pronged approach with tons of little tools and heuristics!
I also go through and measure the music duration since some tracks are made to loop indefinitely and I measure the BPM of the tracks so you can sync two Retro Song Birds and change the tempo over MIDI and beat match them. Basically like a DJ set with carts instead of vinyl.
That's fun! I would love this for NES. I believe there are NSF rippers and players that are quite compact but that's the limit of my knowledge.
I'm going to NES next! The hardware and software architecture I have (including a split PCB design) allows me to move to NES pretty quick. I have a proof of concept working. Personally I have more nostalgia for NES music (Mega Man 2, Punch Out, Metroid!) than for GB.
That's awesome. I'll keep an eye out. Great reason beyond simple nostalgia to pick up and keep regular cartridges.
mega man 2 soundtrack is goated. Still listen to it regularly!
A fellow man of taste I see :) Can't wait to listen to Punch-Out, Metroid, and Bionic Commando.
Speaking of Punch-Out, it would be amazing if you could play the sounds from the prototype.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9FjUdMLM6g
Bionic Commando has such an amazing soundtrack. And Blaster Master!
Is GBA possible ? I was playing Tiny Toons Wacky Stackers yesterday and the soundtrack has no right to be that good.
GBA is a lot harder! On GB/GBC the music is just code, so if you can find it, you can execute it. This also means you just need to store a map of where it is (e.g. pointers) and not any intellectual property. On GBA and SNES, devs had access to more modern codecs, so they might just store music as a wav or mp3-like file (or a proprietary one), which makes the job a lot tougher. The hardware and software I built is setup so that I can rapidly move on to NES next. For me, NES is the sweet spot of quality of music and ease of extraction.
I would buy this immediately upon release.
Thanks! I'm launching a Kickstarter 11/15. I'm excited to turn it into a real product and not just a 3D-printed prototype.
Beautifully whimsical and brought me delight seeing and of course, hearing this project. I feel like my “urge to create” itch experienced a second-hand scratch.
> Retro Song Bird has a map of 1900+ carts and knows which sections of the ROM to read.
Huh. Was assuming that this was just Tonies for Game Boy enthusiasts, but seems it actually reads the songs from the cartridge. Not bad!
I'm getting inundated with Tonies ads now haha. I wish I could just use NFC and play pre-canned audio, unfortunately for me, the rights-holders might take issue! I'm also targeting musicians, so synthesizing the music is pretty powerful. I can do tempo control for beat matching of two carts, as well as split out the stems (e.g. drums, chorus) from the 4 instruments the Game Boy uses so a DAW can control and remix the tracks.
Heyy - first time seeing a friend's project on the front page! Have been following along since the beginning. I love chiptune and nes/gameboy soundtracks... Secretly hoping he supports NES next :X
Can't wait to start on NES! So many classics from my childhood.
congratulations, this is an brilliant idea, it checks soo many boxes
it seems obvious in hindsight.. you really found something novel here!
[flagged]
[flagged]