3 short pieces

[SeemsSoUnfair]

I made a dozen of tracks when I started toying with FT; here are the three ones I like the best. They are really simple - only track 11 took me more than a single day, and I'm quite slow at this... Anyway, tracks 7 & 9 are NES channels only, track 11 is MMC5.

Any comment would be appreciate, but remember to judge those tracks for what they are. I'm a beginner
I personally find the Synth2 sound too "harsh" in Track 11, and am trying to make it sound smoother. Any insight is welcome.

Track 7.ftm

(17.25 KiB) Downloaded 111 times

Track 9.ftm

(9.86 KiB) Downloaded 75 times

Track 11.ftm

(11.51 KiB) Downloaded 77 times

[Teuthida]

Let's see here...

Track 7's probably my favorite. It has a nice feel to it. However, it sounds quite empty, and needs some extra effects on the other channels to make it sound fuller. Also, you should remember that the NES can't go below G-0; everything below that won't sound right. I like the pentatonic scale in Track 9! It's very good for beginning composers since it's hard to make things ugly sounding with it. It's neither good nor bad. I'm sorry, but Track 11 isn't that great... It sounds very ugly and dissonant. In general, your tracks need more effects, echos, and other techniques to make them sound better.

I also have a few general organization tips. I think that your patterns are too long. Usually, patterns should stay at the default 64 to make it easier to navigate the tracker while composing. While you can break this if you're writing a really fast song, most of yours are pretty slow. Additionally, in a few parts of your song, your notes desynchronize from the highlighted rows. While that's okay in some situations, these songs are not one of them.

Don't worry about this, though! My songs sounded like yours for two years, and now they sound...okay! What I would do is to keep practicing. Experiment with new ideas and see what works. If you keep doing that, you'll eventually improve. I would recommend reading this http://btothethree.tumblr.com/post/104644129447/how-to-use-famitracker-chapter-1-introduction to help you learn, it has great tracking tips and general songwriting guides. Another good place is this http://famitracker.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page which is a database of effects and other things.

I can't wait to see you improve!

[Klop]

The "synth" instruments in Track 7 feel very out of placed, and it doesn't sound in tone with the rest of the song. But that's just my opinion. :/

[BioMechanicalDude]

Hmmm... OK, I think all of these tracks have two major issues. One is the lack of good rhythm. The beats in the DPCM channel of Track 7 works, but is completely ruined by the G note (that drum kick). Try moving it somewhere, where it feels right, or remove it altogether. Track 9 has some good beats, but they get misplaced at some point and it feels uncomfortable. Also, try to place to notes in places where they align better with the rhythm. Track 11 does that, although you still have some notes that are out of place.
The second issue is that the notes themselves feel a bit random. In order to make the song harmonious, you have to pick a music scale for your song, which will limit which notes you can use, but it will make the song consistent (even then you have to experiment and see which notes work together). The arpeggio you've used for Track 11, doesn't really work because of the distance between the notes it uses remains the same. When you use chords, a lot of times, the distance between the notes changes, depending on what your main note is, in order for the chord to sound right.
Now, all this might seem hard, but don't be discouraged. I can guess you're new to making music, so it's only normal to make such mistakes. Here's a few things I recommend that you do: Listen to a lot of music and even try to make covers of NES music. (Make sure you get MIDI file or something, so you can look at the notes) That way, you'll get a feel of how rhythm works and how notes can relate to each other. Read about music theory, to learn more about rhythm, how notes relate to each other, music scales, chords, etc. This site is a good start (it deals more with sheet music and not trackers, but the concepts remain the same). Remember to experiment when making music. Try out different notes and rhythms, until the song truly sounds right. You'll learn what works and what doesn't that way.
So, yeah, that's about it. Just keep going, learn as much as you can and experiment as much as possible. I'd like to see you improve and make some great music.

[Doc2211]

I'm noticing that in one of the samples in your drums instrument, there is a delay between the triggering of the sample and the actual playing of the sample. Here's the fixed instrument:

[SeemsSoUnfair]

I can't believe it's been more than a month since I posted here! I've been busy with other things and barely visited the FT forum in the meantime. I would like to thank you guys for your criticism, the main weak point with my music, was that I lacked the fundamentals in music writing. I had very little experience and my ears made no real distinction between what sounded OK and what sounded crap. I must also have been very self-indulgent at this time too, but I since tried to aim higher.
Saying I took music lessons would be lying, but I trained myself a lot (both theory-wise and FT-wise) since I made those. Still, I had made a point of honour to create my own instruments/samples and work mostly using 2A03, I felt like using expansion chips was either too early or too complex for what I aimed at.
Enough talked about myself. I've made another song which is more sophisticated (20hrs of work as opposed to the few minutes on these ones) and uses the VRC7!

[Teuthida]

Where's the song?

EDIT:Whoops!