v0.05wip11

This release fixes a few of the most long-standing issues and adds NSFe metadata support.

Driver

• Attack track allows grace notes (#35, reported by retrodpc)
• Channel volume in attack track is ignored rather than clobbering another variable (#35, reported by retrodpc)
• Option to round row grid to nearest tick on loop, pattern start, or beat (#37)
• Remove use of other .proc's labels in preparation for ASM6 port

pentlyas.py

• Fix bugs in fallthrough command and document it (#1, reported by jroatch)
• Specify tempo based on a musical duration other than a beat (#34)
• Calculate duration of each song and sound effect (#40)

Packaging and demo

• NES shell: Take track titles from score (#38)
• NSF shell: Take NSF title, author, and copyright from score (#38)
• NSF shell: Write NSFe and NSF2 formats (#39, #41)
• sfxed: Fix display of rate in slow (rate 10+) effects
• Move .pently files to audio folder
• Document workarounds for lack of reentrancy (#2)
• makefile: Add a recipe to convert a FamiTracker module with ft2pently (#36)

v0.05wip10

This is a fairly big release that brings Pently 5 toward completion after the development cycle of Nova the Squirrel and Mega Mountain.

Driver

• Grace note durations no longer reduced by 1 frame
• Always write period high byte for triangle, fixing problem with zero volume in instruments (#32, reported by NovaSquirrel)
• Suppress linker warnings for export/import address size mismatch
• Overhaul names and scope of internal subroutines
• Rearrange conductor processing based on bytecode order
• Move sustain phase processing above pitch effects
• Remove redundant checks for attack injection in pitch effects
• Fix misbehavior when music and a slowed-down sound effect are played at once
• C bindings for commonly used functions (requested by adrian09_01)
• pentlyseq.inc: don't truncate patdef at 7 bits (reported and fixed by NovaSquirrel)
• mkrammap.py: rename to pentlybss.py to encourage remembering to include it when vendoring Pently

pentlyas.py

• A score can include other files, such as an instrument set (#29)
• o0 through o7 to set reference pitch (requested by zzo38)
• Allow grace notes in drum patterns
• Playing a pattern with only rests or waits is nonfatal
• Fix warnings for missing "fine" or "dal segno"
• Order of objects in the output is explicit, the same order in which they appear in the score (requested by NovaSquirrel)
• Error if no songs are defined (reported by NovaSquirrel)
• -A means --period-tuning; --output means -o

Packaging and demo

• Profiler: don't overreport CPU use if the shell has a lag frame
• Document how to skip the makefile's default autoplay (#30)
• makefile: Allow building from an arbitrarily named score by giving the name of the corresponding .nes or .nsf
• Add pseudocode to aid in porting to non-6502 platforms
• Add Travis CI build script
• Sample songs: Include the soundtrack of all games by Damian Yerrick that have appeared in Action 53. These are Concentration Room, Thwaite, Zap Ruder, and RHDE: Furniture Fight.

v0.05wip9

This release adds several features useful for iterating on part of a piece, such as a visualizer, channel muting, seeking to rehearsal marks, and slow motion playback. It also adds an editor to create sound effects right on your console.

Engine changes

• PENTLY_USE options to disable music engine entirely, disable 303 portamento, and enable triangle channel duty fix
• Regression fix: Cancel injection when attack ends (had been broken since slow arps)
• Cancel grace note when pattern begins
• Add rehearsal transport control to skip to a row or slow down or pause playback
• Add variable mix to mute tracks
• Store current pitch and volume for use by visualizer

pentlyas.py changes

• Add warning infrastructure
• v1 through v4 as synonyms for pp through ff
• p (pause) is synonym for r (rest)
• q repeats last chord, as in LilyPond
• Bar check in pattern to warn if not on a measure boundary
• pickup works in patterns as well
• Unreachable A in tunings below A=437 is nonfatal
• mmloctaves off, which future chord syntax will require
• Set rehearsal marks for navigation in score
• Set initial playback position and track muting

NES shell changes

• Add per-song screen with visualizer, rehearsal mark navigation, track muting, tempo, and pause-and-step
• Import Sound Effects Editor as of 2014-09-10

Manual and other changes

• Script to estimate pitch of 93-step noise
• docs: Recalculate PENTLY_USE savings

v0.05wip8

Summary of changes in past 3 months:

• Uses less RAM when effects are disabled at build time
• Instrument envelopes with many 0 pitch frames use fewer bytes
• Drum names can start with l again
• Tuning can be changed from A440
• NES shell displays Pently's ROM size and CPU usage