WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??

Well, for those who've been keeping track, I published Volume 1 of some GameBoy/GBStudio specific chiptunes in March 2022 (.mod/.mp3/.wav), then a second volume of work in April 2023.

Now it's February 2024, I've had commission/collab work to keep me busy, but mostly I'm just living life. GB chiptuning has been fun, but at this stage of my life it's at a hobby level, mostly reserved for when I have free time.

WHAT IS THIS UPDATE ABOUT?

With the recent release of hUGETracker 1.0.5 a couple weeks ago and GBStudio 3.2.0 around the same time:

(a) hUGETracker is a bit more accurate when converting .MODs to .UGE

(b) GBStudio is now equipped to handle the latest hUGETracker UGE outputs (at least I think it is from the initial test run I did)!

With this updates, I plan to finally kick-off the project to create a full MOD and UGE collection of GBStudio-compatible music.

SO WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?

By the end of April 2024, my goal project is to release "8-BIT GAMEBOY SONGS - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION" (working title). This would not only include previously released items, but several new tracks/sounds as well:

FULL ALBUMS - REMASTERED and "DRUMLESS" TRACKS

- GB Songs Vol 1 [.mod/.mp3/.wav AND .UGE]

- GB Songs Vol 2  [.mod/.mp3/.wav AND .UGE]

- SFX (both albums) [.mod/.wav/.mp3 AND .SAV]

and A NEW VOLUME 3 OF UNRELEASED TRACKS/SFX

As noted in the earlier update, unlike the first two volumes, the current plan is that the complete collection will not be free to download.

While the pricing structure hasn't been finalized, I still want the music to be relatively accessible and not too cost prohibitive, likely in the realm of  a few USD, give or take.

WHY NOW?

It's been almost a year since I noted that I might start working on MOD to UGE conversions, with UGE being a much more accessible format to GBStudio devs.

However, MOD to UGE conversions took a lot more work to polish in the previous tracker versions. The manual process of tweaking each line and effect was kind of daunting and tedious before, but seems doable now with the recent software version updates.

I've also gained a ton more experience in sound effects through .sav and .wav optimization, with .sav especially being WAY easier to get a lot of SFX into an easy to manage format

BUT WHY WON'T THIS NEXT ONE BE FREE?

For me, making chiptunes has been time well spent, but it did take time nonetheless. I believe there is value in the work of making the tunes available in more formats and in the hours spent creating and polishing the music.

I don't plan to remove the original albums from my itch page, so if free music assets are what you're looking for, those original collections will still be around! 

This would (potentially) be the final collection of GBStudio music I would put out as an itch.io asset.  After that, I would hope that all of my work might be project specific, for my own projects or for commissions. Thank you all for your support so far, and feel free to reach out to me at thetiptoptomcat@gmail.com if you'd like!