Yeah, that's a common thing I noticed in NES games as I dissected some osts as well; the main melody is often in Square 2, not Square 1 I assume it's to use Square 1 as the sound effect channel
@@brekreney5734 not even remotely true! They have similar motion, but they aren’t playing octaves at any point edit: im rekt BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN xd
fun fact, the main part of the melody is played on square 2 with the backing on square 1 because the ingame sound effects play on the first channel. that way when the sound is cut off you get the proper notes and not the "off" notes that are meant to be heard alongside square 2. its noticable on some other tracks that will actually switch off the same piece of the songt o the other channel when a new section comes in (player select comes to mind as an example)
@@Pip200ne yup its a little harder to notice in smb2 cuz there isnt as much stuff like groups of coins, prob vine climbing sound would end up cutting through a lot tho
I'm still amazed as to how that was done! (For anyone confused, listen to the two square wave voices at 3:42). It that just a normal octave or is there some sound-design trickery at play? Perhaps that "upright" sound is all in my head.
@@Tresquall I looked further into what you said and it looks like you're right! In this case, specifically, the voice playing the upper octave (square 2) seems to have been raised by a few cents. It's subtle enough to create that nice honky-tonk sound without creating any jarring dissonance.
Are you kidding me!? These huge corps are stupid. Just hearing the music makes me want to go and play it and several other SMB games (legally at that giving Nintendo more 🤑💰💵💸💶). But let's worry if someone makes $0.34 off of it. So dumb .
I went through hell because I transcribed it WITHOUT THIS!!! DO YOU REALIZE HOW WACKTACULAR THOSE CHORDS ARE?! But I got it to sound really accurate, though I'm probably off by some notes.
From 1:19 and on it sounds like a dude who is sad and down just walking down the street minding his business when suddenly 1 by 1 as the music slightly changes more and more ppl start to join him on his walk and he cheers up and ends the song smiling with new friends lol. I dont know why I feel that I just do.
The nostalgia trip I just took . . .being back in my single digit ages when this game dropped and my cousin rushed out to buy it and we spent ALL DAY AND NIGHT playing through each character. Damn those were good times.
Wow square 1 really changed my perception of the song. The pitch and notes are so much different than 2. I never really payed that much attention to how different they are
@@Whatismusic123 just letting you know counterpoint is a type of harmony so your comment was like someone saying "Yep- it's a building!" and you correcting them with "house*"
Extremely good choices to show the instruments one-by-one, skip the "drums by themselves", build up from drums and bass, add backing harmony first, then finally the lead melody! Flipping ACE! What a bopping tune!
Something about that walking bass comforts me. Also, this might be an odd question, but: In reference to the square waves being slightly skewed and the triangle wave being stepped, is that a hardware limitation of the original system, or software limitation of the oscilloscope? I'm pretty sure it's original hardware, and it's replicated here for authenticity, but I don't know for sure, and wanted to ask.
all 5 channels are skewed because they have a bias to return towards the centre, if you set one of the channels to its highest amplitude and left it there it would just return back to the middle. im told this is because of a low-pass filter applied to reduce noise, although im not entirely sure how that works im not an expert aha the triangle wave is stepped because all 5 channels have 4 bits of precision, i.e. the amplitude of one channel can be kept track of using only half a byte, the highest number that can be stored in half a byte is 15 - so 16 numbers counting 0. this means each channel can have 16 levels of "loudness". the pulse channels have direct control over what value it is, and can choose a smaller number to reduce the volume etc with 0 being silent and 15 being loudest. the triangle channel works by counting that amplitude half-byte all the way up to 15 then back down to 0 over and over again, and the speed at which it counts makes the frequency of the tone
@@kalamaike Considering the hardware of the time, that's really clever. I always love learning how the logic works on things, especially old-school stuff where you have to make the most of a limited resource. Even on modern hardware, old tricks still come in handy.
If you think that’s interesting, you might like this video by a guy who ‘fixed’ these quirks of the hardware & showed what it would sound like without them: ruclips.net/video/8RrQrATnXXY/видео.html
I feel so OLD listening to this. I was 12 when this game came out. But it is neat to see how really awesome the NES and subsequently the SNES was with it SPUs.
Listening to the part where all channels play at the same time... I can never stop thinking about that Moonbase Alpha text to speech video that had this exact music playing in the background... aeiou
The beat frequency of square 1 and 2 do so much to give this an authentic sound, since 12 tone equal temperament naturally adds this to western music the squares being perfectly in tune would give an unnatural sound since there is no acoustic resonance to offset the stacking of harmonic overtones. Keeping this mind would greatly help famitracker and other tracker users to have a great sound. Though difficult in practice for the obvious reason that someone without the knowledge would probably try to diagnose one of the harmonies instead of doing the diagnostic after both squares are rendered.
Also because of the clearly analytical nature of the content, I think you’ve got a great case for Fair Use. Maybe make a second channel just for Nintendo breakdowns and see how it goes? That way you don’t risk your main
Hey, I just discovered your channel and it's gold! I've always wanted to listen each instrument individually from my favorite videogame themes. Can you deconstruct themes from Nintendo 64 games like Super Mario 64, Paper Mario, or Mario Party 2?
![New Super Mario Bros. - Athletic [Oscilloscope Deconstruction]](/img/1.gif)
At first I thought the off-pitch Square 1 was a joke but then I realized it’s the harmony, not the melody for most of the song
Yeah, that's a common thing I noticed in NES games as I dissected some osts as well; the main melody is often in Square 2, not Square 1
I assume it's to use Square 1 as the sound effect channel
@@totoshampoin correct, square one is used for the sound effects, so square 2 holds the main melody
Koji Kondo loves his accidentals.
Wow! I can't believe how well Square 1 and 2 play off of each other. Separated they sound no where near as awesome as they do in harmony.
well thats how chords work im pretty sure
It’s like they were made for each other!
For real. I was like "why does it sound so off-key"
@@polecat3 its not lol, thats just how the square channels sound individually
@@brekreney5734 not even remotely true! They have similar motion, but they aren’t playing octaves at any point
edit: im rekt BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN xd
fun fact, the main part of the melody is played on square 2 with the backing on square 1 because the ingame sound effects play on the first channel. that way when the sound is cut off you get the proper notes and not the "off" notes that are meant to be heard alongside square 2. its noticable on some other tracks that will actually switch off the same piece of the songt o the other channel when a new section comes in (player select comes to mind as an example)
I figured this out while playing SMB1 and realizing the melody went away every time I got a coin
@@Pip200ne yup its a little harder to notice in smb2 cuz there isnt as much stuff like groups of coins, prob vine climbing sound would end up cutting through a lot tho
Oh yeah, I got curious as to why the main melody was being played on Square 2 instead of 1 and found out that this is the reason
OMG HI FLOPHAWK! 😩
@@Thomas_j041 what a funky coinkydink helo
Koji Kondo out there writing walking bass in that complicated era for writing chiptune music!
It's still amazing to me that they managed to synthesize an upright piano with two square waves.
They is Koji Kondo.
I'm still amazed as to how that was done! (For anyone confused, listen to the two square wave voices at 3:42). It that just a normal octave or is there some sound-design trickery at play? Perhaps that "upright" sound is all in my head.
@@bruhmomenthdr7575 To my ears it's a sliiiightly detuned octave, giving it that kinda honky-tonk saloon piano sound
@@Tresquall I looked further into what you said and it looks like you're right! In this case, specifically, the voice playing the upper octave (square 2) seems to have been raised by a few cents. It's subtle enough to create that nice honky-tonk sound without creating any jarring dissonance.
@@Tresquall square 2 sounds sharp to me at that point
This game is good for people who like pulling things out of the ground and throwing said things
Returning to monke.
I did this with a lamppost once
This makes you pull out vegetables and pour concoctions into a vase
I don't blame Carpathia for being more cautious with this video. Nintendo sure can be a poopyhead when it comes to their music being on RUclips.
Let's just hope the video won't get taken down...
I don't like doing nintendo videos to be honest and always worry Nintendo will strike me down with heinous wrath
@@carpathia808 Nintendo are asshole?
Are you kidding me!? These huge corps are stupid. Just hearing the music makes me want to go and play it and several other SMB games (legally at that giving Nintendo more 🤑💰💵💸💶). But let's worry if someone makes $0.34 off of it. So dumb .
The worst part is that it's fair use, yet Nintendo SOMEHOW still wins over this stuff
I think some people know how valuable this is to someone trying to transcribe this.
I went through hell because I transcribed it WITHOUT THIS!!! DO YOU REALIZE HOW WACKTACULAR THOSE CHORDS ARE?! But I got it to sound really accurate, though I'm probably off by some notes.
Square 1: 0:00
Square 2: 0:40
Triangle (Bass): 1:21
Triangle + Noise (What you'd hear during the pause screen): 1:57
Square 1 + Triangle + Noise: 2:35
_ALL TOGETHER NOW!_ : 3:14
L/R ear split: 3:52
Thanks
Thanks bro
@@_Custrd *T H A N K*
sail the ship
I love that the pause screen has the same music with just a few of the music tracks
The bass line in this song is so good
True
From 1:19 and on it sounds like a dude who is sad and down just walking down the street minding his business when suddenly 1 by 1 as the music slightly changes more and more ppl start to join him on his walk and he cheers up and ends the song smiling with new friends lol. I dont know why I feel that I just do.
I can see that! Would make a great animation!
Growing up in the 00's, I'd say that the "triangle" sound is mostly what I associate with older hardware
funny, considering it's basically only the NES that uses that sound
wait, you grew up in the start of time?
@@coderpro1040 I get it but he means 2000’s (I think)
I can see it
@@brinleyhamer729 Coder is being funay
Ahh, the old super mario bros 2 in US. Brings back a world of nostalgia.
3:14 EVERYBODY NOW
3:52 Stereo version
1:58 to 2:35 is the overworld pause arrangement, which is cool.
Super Mario Bros All - Stars on NES
The nostalgia trip I just took . . .being back in my single digit ages when this game dropped and my cousin rushed out to buy it and we spent ALL DAY AND NIGHT playing through each character. Damn those were good times.
It almost looks like the theme was made to be played with the square waves bouncing around, they legit look happy
That stereo seperation at the end was fantastic !
Agree, it's great
It kinda sounds like a GameBoy by doing that! It could individually hard pan channels either left or right, whereas the NES was only mono.
Okay but the L/R Ear Split is heavenly. (3:52)
it’s so amazing
2:14 kind of reminds me of the mini game music in Mario 3
pretty sure those are the same notes...
@@jtg55 No. It is slightly different.
@@thesupervideogamenerdmore3171 Isn’t it originally a bassline from a song at the beginning of the Blues Brothers movie?
Wow square 1 really changed my perception of the song. The pitch and notes are so much different than 2. I never really payed that much attention to how different they are
Yep- it’s the harmony!
@@brianmolina8818 counterpoint*
@@Whatismusic123 5 months later but i hope you relaize how silly your comment was
@@bubbleslovely129 look in a mirror buddy.
@@Whatismusic123 just letting you know counterpoint is a type of harmony so your comment was like someone saying "Yep- it's a building!" and you correcting them with "house*"
Nesticle 95 for the win. Used to love doing this in the emulator and listening to each sound set individually. Thank you for doing this!
The NES's triangle is it's biggest musical strength! Something the Master System desperately lacked
Still had some good music, but still lacked
That's unless you have a certain type of Japanese Master System. Then again, there are many Famicom games with extra sound chips.
@Youssef Land Official RUclips Channel, I think it's version 2.1.
True
The Texas Instruments SN76489 sucks when compared to the Ricoh 2A03
Less timbre variety on the pulse wave, too, because iirc it only supported a 50% duty cycle.
Extremely good choices to show the instruments one-by-one, skip the "drums by themselves", build up from drums and bass, add backing harmony first, then finally the lead melody!
Flipping ACE!
What a bopping tune!
With the All-Stars version I still always cringe at the intro from NOT hearing that dominant 7th
0:40 Super Mario Bros. 2 on a Game and Watch!
Something about that walking bass comforts me. Also, this might be an odd question, but: In reference to the square waves being slightly skewed and the triangle wave being stepped, is that a hardware limitation of the original system, or software limitation of the oscilloscope? I'm pretty sure it's original hardware, and it's replicated here for authenticity, but I don't know for sure, and wanted to ask.
Flaw of the original hardware.
@@isbragg Cool, I figured that would be it, but I didn't want to assume.
all 5 channels are skewed because they have a bias to return towards the centre, if you set one of the channels to its highest amplitude and left it there it would just return back to the middle. im told this is because of a low-pass filter applied to reduce noise, although im not entirely sure how that works im not an expert aha
the triangle wave is stepped because all 5 channels have 4 bits of precision, i.e. the amplitude of one channel can be kept track of using only half a byte, the highest number that can be stored in half a byte is 15 - so 16 numbers counting 0. this means each channel can have 16 levels of "loudness". the pulse channels have direct control over what value it is, and can choose a smaller number to reduce the volume etc with 0 being silent and 15 being loudest. the triangle channel works by counting that amplitude half-byte all the way up to 15 then back down to 0 over and over again, and the speed at which it counts makes the frequency of the tone
@@kalamaike Considering the hardware of the time, that's really clever. I always love learning how the logic works on things, especially old-school stuff where you have to make the most of a limited resource. Even on modern hardware, old tricks still come in handy.
If you think that’s interesting, you might like this video by a guy who ‘fixed’ these quirks of the hardware & showed what it would sound like without them: ruclips.net/video/8RrQrATnXXY/видео.html
0:01 SMB2 In ZX Spectrum
Square 2 tuned sharp on the bridge. Saccharine sweet when it plays over the game. Gives it such a slapstick cartoony feel.
That call and response just before the loop back is so satisfying.
Absolutely love the triangle when the game is paused.
I feel so OLD listening to this. I was 12 when this game came out.
But it is neat to see how really awesome the NES and subsequently the SNES was with it SPUs.
The panning between square 1 and square 2 is so good!
Seeing the squares in channel 1 and 2 hop between frequencies on the tremolos is so satisfying
I personally like the sound of the squares separately but playing after one another on loop
I would be OBSESSED with deconstructions of the music from Super Metroid!
That triangle bass really carries
This is so cool hearing what each channel is like! Super Mario Bros. 2 is my favorite of the original three and I love its ground theme!
The captions are insanely well made and thought out thank you
this shit is about to be so satisfying when they all start playing
it was 👍
Such an Iconic song crafted using only audio channels.
God, this song is amazing. Listening to the deconstruction makes you appreciate it so much more.
This is a video format I really needed to see
Transitions are so smooth and quick
my god i had no idea that the square wave channels could change pulse width during a piece.
This song has such a perfect harmony
Quite a nice track, I've always had a soft spot for Mario 2 despite never actually beating it
The triangle is my favorite when this over world theme is pause screen.
"why's that one called triangle?
oh"
This low key SLAPS
Listening to the part where all channels play at the same time...
I can never stop thinking about that Moonbase Alpha text to speech video that had this exact music playing in the background...
aeiou
I’m pretty sure the triangle and noise channels do play on their own if the game was paused I think
Request: from Top Gear (SNES), the score that plays in the first race of a circuit (Las Vegas, London, Rio…)
The beat frequency of square 1 and 2 do so much to give this an authentic sound, since 12 tone equal temperament naturally adds this to western music the squares being perfectly in tune would give an unnatural sound since there is no acoustic resonance to offset the stacking of harmonic overtones. Keeping this mind would greatly help famitracker and other tracker users to have a great sound. Though difficult in practice for the obvious reason that someone without the knowledge would probably try to diagnose one of the harmonies instead of doing the diagnostic after both squares are rendered.
Beautiful
1:28 is when the absolute banger starts
(Thanks for this breakdown!!)
The stereo split version sounds awesome in headphones!
This helped me get all the notes down holy f*** fr! Thank you so much! I can make my own version now!
Lore of Super Mario Bros. 2 - Ground Theme - Oscilloscope Deconstruction momentum 100
Also because of the clearly analytical nature of the content, I think you’ve got a great case for Fair Use. Maybe make a second channel just for Nintendo breakdowns and see how it goes? That way you don’t risk your main
Channel 1 - Square Wave
Channel 2 - Square Wave
Channel 3 - Triangle Wave
Channel 4 - Percussion
:trollface:
these videos are actually eye-opening
I got interested in music deconstructed by this video. Awesome vid!!!
Maaan, this is some lovely stuff, love it. 🙏😌
1:57 Pause screen theme!
One of the Mario ground themes of all time.
Shut up.
Super Mario movie leak (Mario’s heart monitor, after his opening battle with Bowser)
Hey, I just discovered your channel and it's gold! I've always wanted to listen each instrument individually from my favorite videogame themes.
Can you deconstruct themes from Nintendo 64 games like Super Mario 64, Paper Mario, or Mario Party 2?
1:57 POV: you pause the game
I love how the description is so defensive.
0:12
Once upon a time long long ago 2 races ruled over earth...
Koppas and mushroom kingdom inhabitants
The bass looks so fucking cool
Idk why, but this seriously puts a smile on my face, gad damn!
I never thought about it not being a true triangle wave but rather using a DAC of some kind. Makes sense tho
John Madden
John Madden
John Madden
John Madden
aeiou
oiseau
aeiou
aeiou
hearing one in each ear sent me for a loop so hard
This song has a textbook example of a walking bass line.
aeiou
And sometimes y
John Madden
ebrbrbrbrbrbrbrbr
Holla holla, get $
Koji Kondo wants to know your location.
I'm just gonna say it. The way Square 1 and 2 sound together after hearing them by themselves is Yuri
IT BEGINS
Fun fact:
When playing Mario Bros 2 when you pause the music stop playing the square notes and leavs the percussion and base.
I subbed just for this.
I love this! Can you do more of Super Mario Bros 2?
EPIC!
obligatory "pulse wave" comment
this song slaps, and i wish nintendo did more with it
Square 1 and 2 are friends and they're holding hands
3:42 absolute banger
I remember hearing this sped up in videos. Don't remember where I first heard it though
😯 subscribed!!
More bumps higher pitch, pretty neat
nice, can u do tha SNES version from Super Mario All Stars too?
1:58 pause menu theme
Can you do the SMB3 Overworld Theme?
He is not a fan of Mario deconstructions, so this may not happen.
Great video! Can you do I’ve got the magic in me by bob deconstructed? …that song would sound awesome.
This is amazing
Square 1 was completely cursed.
Awesome!
I like your pfp bro
My favorite part is when it goes “blalalalalalauh”
this song makes me feel nostalgic, but why? this game was retro way before i was born. maybe flash games/animations had something to do with it?