Fickle Films is a creative hobby project currently focused on 16-bit music covers, with plans to eventually produce original works as well as visual arts and educational content to guide others. It is likely the music portion will gain a new, dedicated name at some point in the future to differentiate it from other content.
Origins
In its current incarnation, Fickle Films was born from a need to balance objective, structured aspects of my engineering work and mindset with subjective, unapologetic expression. During the rough periods of college I discovered the catharsis of creating without worrying about justifying choices or being “correct”. Cultivating a creative hobby is something I’d recommend everyone do, whether that’s music, painting, writing stories, acting out skits, interior decorating, etc.
As far as the 16-bit fixation is concerned, my first video game consoles were a pair of plug-n-play Genesis systems. In high school I started re-examining them as art rather than just toys, and began seeking out new soundtracks to listen to. This led to learning of the work of the broader chiptune community, and joining it myself. I do dabble in pixel art and other aspects of 16-bit games, but have focused largely on music.
Deflemask Era
(2021 – 2023)
From watching oscilloscope views of Genesis soundtracks, I learned the system relies on two soundchips for a distinctive sound; the 6-channel YM2612 with its versatile and rich FM synthesis, and the 4-channel SN76489’s square waves and white noise. I was primarily attracted to the FM sound, but intimidated to leap straight to a full-featured DAW. I decided to adopt the constraints of the Genesis as a way to learn fundamentals without overwhelming myself with choice. And so I went with the program I saw used most frequently online: Deflemask.
I installed the free legacy version to fool around with as early as 2015, but didn’t finish a song from start to finish until 2021. The COVID pandemic provided the time and isolation to finally focus, resulting in a whole slew of covers; I finished twelve in the first two months!
As I accomplished more in Deflemask, my ambitions also grew. I began choosing songs primarily by what I wanted to hear and resolved to overcome any challenges later, which led to growth in my technical and musical theory knowledge. Besides just creating music, I wanted to increase the production value of the releases themselves; the result was a lot of experimentation with image editing software for thumbnails, waveform visualizer software Corrscope, chroma keying, and other video editing techniques.
My time with Deflemask came to an end in 2023 while working on my arrangement of The Death that I Deservioli, when I hit a hard limit on how fast the program could toggle a certain effect. Looking for an alternative, I came across a new program called Furnace.
Furnace Era
(2023 – Present)
Making the jump to Furnace was a decision I was immediately rewarded for. Furnace is filled with features like detailed mixing controls, modular interface, mix-and-match soundchip setup, in-depth instrument macros, a built-in sample editor, and tons of things I hadn’t realized I wanted. It also received frequent updates and is the focus of an active community, eager to collaborate and provide feedback.
It has been here that I truly push my technical limits with the Genesis, trying things like Ext. Ch3 mode and tweaking carrier mult settings of Alg 4 FM instruments to exceed the typical six voice limit of the YM2612. I also have delved into instrument macros for automating LFO levels, volume, panning, and more.
While I first tried the less restrictive 8-channel YM2151 in Deflemask, I have found myself using it increasingly frequently as I become less interested in wrestling with technical limits and looking to increase the number of instruments playing at once. Several of my releases have utilized multiple YM2151 chips for 16 channels of FM. While I still enjoy writing for the Genesis, it can be mentally taxing to be constantly swapping channels.
What Does The Future Hold
As for what comes next? I’d like to try using a modern DAW soon, and have heard REAPER is a really good no-nonsense option. I may place less emphasis on FM and try some sample-based systems (SNES, Amiga), other popular consoles like the Game Boy, or other soundchips I’ve seen used well like the Namco N163 or VRC6. Whatever it is, it’s sure to be a fun and informative experience!