PICO-8


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The Instruments




  • 1. What are the Instruments?

      Inside of the SFX Editor there is an Instruments Section. There are eight instruments to choose from (#0 - #7). Each instrument plays the same pitched note in a different style as if the sounds came from two different instruments!

      Play around with the different instruments to create a great variety of sounds for your games. Everything from simple beeps, to crashing explosions, to complex music.


      Instrument 0 = triangle

      Instrument 1 = tilted saw

      Instrument 2 = saw

      Instrument 3 = square

      Instrument 4 = pulse

      Instrument 5 = organ

      Instrument 6 = noise

      Instrument 7 = phaser






  • 2. Arranging the Instruments by Harshness

      It can help you to create SFX and compose music if you think of the instruments in terms of their harshness. This can help you find the sound you are looking for quicker. It can also help you figure out which instruments can be used together to create the effect that you want.

      This is what Gruber suggests as an arrangement of the instruments from the most mild to the most harsh:

      (#6 is not included because it is so unique)


      And here is how you could arrange them inside the SFX editor (in Tracker Mode) to listen to them in order.


      This is what that same arrangement looks like in Pitch Mode:







  • 3. Sound Suggestions

      With the harshness quality in mind, you could approach the sounds you want to make with a good idea of which instrument you should try to use. Here are some suggestions:






      Jumping Sounds: Use a mix of mild instruments.


      This uses a rising pitch (C, D#, F#) at a lower octave (#1) with a mild instrument (#5) and smoothed out by the Slide Effect (#1).

      As demonstrated in the video, you could play with other mild instruments such as #0 and #7, and even end on a middle instrument such as #1 to give it a little punch.






      Laser Sounds: Use a mix of harsh instruments.


      Notice that all of the notes are in the same Pitch, Octave, Volume and Effect. So all of the interesting sounds happening here are caused by the switching between two harsh instruments (#3 and #4).

      Here is what the same SFX looks like in Pitch Mode. The different color notes shows the different instruments.



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