How to Use C700: MIDI Setup
To make hardware-playable chiptune with C700, we need to get the plugin set up to receive MIDI information – all the notes and other data that will comprise your song. If you've never worked directly with MIDI before, this'll be a bit of a crash course! We'll ease you into it as comfortably as possible.
First things first: Load up one (1) instance of the C700 VST in your music-making program. Consult with its manual if you are unsure how to load a VST plugin. You may need to specify its location in your DAW's settings in order for the plugin to appear, or install the plugin to a specific location. In order to use C700 to record chiptune files, we must use only one instance of the plugin.
Interface Layout: Section A
In section A, at the top of the plugin, the numbers 1-16 correspond to MIDI channels. It is possible to click on each number to assign it a sample. (This is one of two methods of assigning samples; we'll cover that below.)
Above each channel number is an indication of the maximum polyphony reached by each channel, which you can reset by hitting "stop" in your DAW's playback controls. In our example above, channel 1 has at some point had 4 notes playing at once, but no other channels have produced sound. Since the SNES is limited to 8 simultaneous sounds, this can be a useful way of keeping track of how much you have going on already. The channel numbers also light up when notes play in that channel.
Step 1: MIDI Input Port
These 16 channels are how you'll be sending C700 data, but first we need to make sure C700 can receive data. In your DAW's settings for the VST, assign C700 a "MIDI input port" of your choosing. This is the port you'll be speaking to the VST with.
Below are two examples of where this is done: FL Studio on the left, Ableton Live on the right.
Example from FL Studio (left): Click the gear icon at the top left of the C700 plugin window to access the settings pane. In this example the assigned "MIDI input port" is 0.
Example from Ableton Live (right): On each track, there are four dropdown menus. The top two control where the signal comes from, while the bottom two control where it's going. Set the bottom two to output the MIDI tracks to one of C700's 16 inputs.
Step 2: MIDI Output to C700
Next, create (up to) 16 instances of your DAW's MIDI plugin (in FL Studio it is named "MIDI Out"). Assign each instance a unique channel number, 1 through 16, and also assign each one the port number you just chose. This means that the instance set to channel 1 will be sending data to channel 1 in the VST, and so on.
C700 loads a few simple synth samples by default, so test this pathway of data out by placing a few notes and trying to play them back! You'll see the corresponding number light up in C700 when a note plays.
Example from FL Studio: Channel is set at top left, Port at top right.
Step 3: Selecting Samples for Each MIDI Channel
There are two ways to select samples for your MIDI channels; the first is more versatile.
Method 1
You can use the MIDI channels you just set up to select which sample you want to be played. The "Patch" number you choose will correspond to the sample's assigned number in C700. You can find that assigned number next to the sample's name in the middle of the interface:
Some pieces of software begin numbering at 1, while others begin at 0. (As shown in the examples above, C700 begins numbering at 0, while FL Studio's patch numbers start at 1.) Regardless of 0 or 1, the very first patch number will correspond to the very first sample, and so on. It will either match or be offset by 1. Looking at our above examples one more time, selecting patch 1 in FL's MIDI Out will make that channel utilize "Sine Wave", sample 0 in C700.
With this method, multiple MIDI channels can be assigned the same patch (that is, sample), and the patch can be automated to change within your song (called a "Program Change" in MIDI terms). This means that channels 1, 2 and 3 could all utilize the same trumpet sample. It also means that even if channel 1 starts out using a trumpet sample, later on that same channel can be changed to use a clarinet.
Example from Ableton Live: Ableton's equivalent to the Patch setting is in the Clip settings. Click the arrow and use the program (Pgm) box to choose the C700 sample.
Method 2
You can assign samples to the MIDI channels within the VST instead by clicking one of the numbers 1-16 at the top. Scroll through the sample numbers in the middle (next to the sample's name) until you get to the one you want. Where you would be selecting a patch number for your DAW's MIDI patch setting in method 1, instead choose "none" or leave it blank. Otherwise, the chosen patch number for the MIDI channel will override what you select within the VST. This method is more restrictive: it does not allow for Program Changes within your song, meaning each channel will have to use the same sample for your entire song. Whether this ends up mattering is dependent on your project and what you want to write, of course!
Summary
C700 comes with a few basic waveform samples already loaded up for you, so try clicking through the channels in the VST, changing the patch numbers on your MIDI channels, and playing back some test notes to get a sense of how it behaves. Test it out!
To summarize the process we just learned:
- Give C700 a MIDI input port so that it can receive MIDI data.
- Create a bunch of MIDI output plugins/channels in your DAW; tell them to send their data to the MIDI port you just chose for C700.
- Assign those MIDI channels a patch number to select which sample you want them to play, or assign samples by clicking the numbers 1-16 in the C700 interface.
Consider saving a template file for this portion of setup so that you don't have to repeat it each time you want to write a SNES tune. Here is a template for FL Studio 20 or newer, though even if you use FL yourself, I recommend learning this setup method, since it is widely applicable to other VSTs that can receive information from multiple MIDI channels.