Furnace (chiptune tracker)

the biggest multi-system chiptune tracker ever made!

downloads | discussion/help | developer info | unofficial packages | FAQ

---

downloads

check out the Releases page. available for Windows, macOS and Linux (AppImage).

see here for unstable developer builds.

features

• over 50 sound chips - and counting:
  • Yamaha FM chips:
    • YM2151 (OPM)
    • YM2203 (OPN)
    • YM2413 (OPLL)
    • YM2414 (OPZ) used in Yamaha TX81Z
    • YM2608 (OPNA) used in PC-98
    • YM2610 (OPNB) used in Neo Geo
    • YM2610B (OPNB2)
    • YM2612 (OPN2) used in Sega Genesis and FM Towns
    • YM3526 (OPL) used in C64 Sound Expander
    • YM3812 (OPL2)
    • YMF262 (OPL3) with full 4-op support!
    • Y8950 (OPL with ADPCM)
  • square wave chips:
    • AY-3-8910/YM2149(F) used in several computers and game consoles
    • Commodore VIC used in the VIC-20
    • Microchip AY8930
    • TI SN76489 used in Sega Master System and BBC Micro
    • PC Speaker
    • Philips SAA1099 used in SAM Coupé
    • OKI MSM5232 used in some arcade boards
  • sample chips:
    • SNES
    • Amiga
    • SegaPCM - all 16 channels
    • Capcom QSound
    • Yamaha YMZ280B (PCMD8)
    • Ricoh RF5C68 used in Sega CD and FM Towns
    • OKI MSM6258 and MSM6295
    • Konami K007232
    • Irem GA20
  • wavetable chips:
    • HuC6280 used in PC Engine
    • Konami Bubble System WSG
    • Konami SCC/SCC+
    • Namco arcade chips (WSG/C15/C30)
    • WonderSwan
    • Seta/Allumer X1-010
  • NES (Ricoh 2A03/2A07), with additional expansion sound support:
    • Konami VRC6
    • Konami VRC7
    • MMC5
    • Famicom Disk System
    • Sunsoft 5B
    • Namco 163
    • Family Noraebang (OPLL)
  • SID (6581/8580) used in Commodore 64
  • Mikey used in Atari Lynx
  • ZX Spectrum beeper (SFX-like engine)
  • Pokémon Mini
  • Commodore PET
  • TIA used in Atari 2600
  • POKEY used in Atari 8-bit computers
  • Game Boy
  • Virtual Boy
  • modern/fantasy:
    • Commander X16 VERA
    • tildearrow Sound Unit
• mix and match sound chips!
  • over 200 ready to use presets from computers, game consoles and arcade boards...
  • ...or create your own - up to 32 of them or a total of 128 channels!
• DefleMask compatibility
  • loads .dmf modules from all versions (beta 1 to 1.1.5)
  • saves .dmf modules - both modern and legacy
    • Furnace doubles as a module downgrader
  • loads/saves .dmp instruments and .dmw wavetables as well
  • clean-room design (guesswork and ABX tests only, no decompilation involved)
  • some bug/quirk implementation for increased playback accuracy through compatibility flags
• VGM export
• modular layout that you may adapt to your needs
• audio file export - entire song, per chip or per channel
• quality emulation cores (Nuked, MAME, SameBoy, Mednafen PCE, NSFplay, puNES, reSID, Stella, SAASound, vgsound_emu and ymfm)
• wavetable synthesizer
  • available on wavetable chips
  • create complex sounds with ease - provide up to two wavetables, select and effect and let go!
• MIDI input support
• additional features:
  • FM macros!
  • negative octaves
  • advanced arp macros
  • arbitrary pitch samples
  • sample loop points
  • SSG envelopes and ADPCM-B in Neo Geo
  • pitchable OPLL drums
  • full duty/cutoff range in C64
  • full 16-channel SegaPCM
  • ability to change tempo mid-song
  • decimal tempo/tick rate
  • multiple sub-songs in a module
  • per-channel oscilloscope with waveform centering
  • built-in sample editor
  • chip mixing settings
  • built-in visualizer in pattern view
• open-source under GPLv2 or later.

---

quick references

• discussion: see the Discussions section, or (preferably) the official Discord server.
• help: check out the documentation. it's mostly incomplete, but has details on effects.

unofficial packages

some people have provided packages for Unix/Unix-like distributions. here's a list.

• Arch Linux: furnace is now in the community repo!
• FreeBSD: a package in ports is available courtesy of ehaupt.
• Nix: package thanks to OPNA2608.
• openSUSE: a package is available, courtesy of fpesari.

---

developer info

if you can't download these artifacts (because GitHub requires you to be logged in), go here instead.

NOTE: do not download the project's source as a .zip or .tar.gz as these do not include the project's submodules which are necessary to proceed with building. please instead use Git as shown below.

dependencies

• CMake
• JACK (optional, macOS/Linux only)

if building under Windows or macOS, no additional dependencies are required. otherwise, you may also need the following:

• libpulse
• libx11
• libasound
• libGL

some Linux distributions (e.g. Ubuntu or openSUSE) will require you to install the -dev versions of these.

getting the source

type the following on a terminal/console: (make sure Git is installed)

git clone --recursive https://github.com/tildearrow/furnace.git
cd furnace

(the --recursive parameter ensures submodules are fetched as well)

compilation

your typical CMake project.

Windows using MSVC

as of now tildearrow uses MinGW for Windows builds, but thanks to OPNA2608 this works again!

from the developer tools command prompt:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
msbuild ALL_BUILD.vcxproj

macOS and Linux

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make

Alternatively, build scripts are provided in the scripts/ folder in the root of the repository.

CMake options

To add an option from the command-line: -D<NAME>=<VALUE>
Example: cmake -DBUILD_GUI=OFF -DWARNINGS_ARE_ERRORS=ON ..

Available options:

Name	Default	Description
BUILD_GUI	ON	Build the tracker (disable to build only a headless player)
USE_RTMIDI	ON	Build with MIDI support using RtMidi
USE_SDL2	ON	Build with SDL2 (required to build with GUI)
USE_SNDFILE	ON	Build with libsndfile (required in order to work with audio files)
USE_BACKWARD	ON	Use backward-cpp to print a backtrace on crash/abort
WITH_JACK	ON if system-installed JACK detected, otherwise OFF	Whether to build with JACK support. Auto-detects if JACK is available
SYSTEM_FFTW	OFF	Use a system-installed version of FFTW instead of the vendored one
SYSTEM_FMT	OFF	Use a system-installed version of fmt instead of the vendored one
SYSTEM_LIBSNDFILE	OFF	Use a system-installed version of libsndfile instead of the vendored one
SYSTEM_RTMIDI	OFF	Use a system-installed version of RtMidi instead of the vendored one
SYSTEM_ZLIB	OFF	Use a system-installed version of zlib instead of the vendored one
SYSTEM_SDL2	OFF	Use a system-installed version of SDL2 instead of the vendored one
SUPPORT_XP	OFF	Build a Windows XP-compatible binary
WARNINGS_ARE_ERRORS	OFF (but consider enabling this & reporting any errors that arise from it!)	Whether warnings in furnace's C++ code should be treated as errors
WITH_DEMOS	ON	Install demo songs on make install
WITH_INSTRUMENTS	ON	Install demo instruments on make install

console usage

./furnace

this opens the program.

./furnace -console <file>

this will play a compatible file.

./furnace -console -view commands <file>

this will play a compatible file and enable the commands view.

note that these commands only actually work in Linux environments. on other command lines, such as Windows' Command Prompt, or MacOS Terminal, it may not work correctly.

---

frequently asked questions

woah! 50 sound chips?! I can't believe it!

yup, it's real.

where's the manual?

see papers/. it's kind of incomplete, but at least the sound chips section is there.

it doesn't open under macOS!

this is due to Apple's application signing policy. a workaround is to right click on the Furnace app icon and select Open.

as of Monterey, this workaround no longer works (especially on ARM). yeah, Apple has decided to be strict on the matter. if you happen to be on that version, use this workaround instead (on a Terminal):

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /path/to/Furnace.app

(replace /path/to/ with the path where Furnace.app is located)

you may need to log out and/or reboot after doing this.

.spc export?

not yet! coming in 0.7 though, eventually...

how do I use C64 absolute filter/duty?

on Instrument Editor in the C64 tab there are two options to toggle these. also provided are two effects:

• 3xxx: set fine duty.
• 4xxx: set fine cutoff. xxx range is 000-7ff. additionally, you can change the cutoff and/or duty as a macro inside an instrument by clicking the absolute cutoff macro and/or absolute duty macro checkbox at the bottom of the instrument. (for the filter, you also need to click the checkbox that says volume macro is cutoff macro.)

how do I use PCM on a PCM-capable chip?

two possibilities:

• the recommended way is by creating the "Sample" type instrument and assigning a sample to it.
• otherwise you may employ the DefleMask-compatible method, using 17xx effect.

my .dmf song sounds odd at a certain point

Furnace's .dmf compatibility isn't perfect and it's mostly because DefleMask does things different.

my song sounds terrible after saving as .dmf!

you should only save as .dmf if you're really sure, because the DefleMask format has several limitations. save in Furnace song format instead (.fur).

how do I solo channels?

right click on the channel name.

---

footnotes

copyright (C) 2021-2023 tildearrow and contributors.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

despite the fact this program works with the .dmf, .dmp and .dmw file formats (besides its native .fur format), it is NOT affiliated with Delek or DefleMask in any way, nor it is a replacement for the original program.