Free YMCK Magical 8bit Plugin Now Universal for Intel Macs

Tim Clark writes to point out the Magical 8bit Plugin from the awesome Japanese game console virtuosos YMCK is now Intel Mac-ready:

YMCK Plug-in Download Page

What wonders does YMCK offer?

  1. 5 waveforms (square, pulse (2 kinds), pseudo-triangle, low-resolution noise)
  2. ADSR envelope assignment for volume
  3. Supports pitch bending, bend range variable
  4. Frequency sweep function

Sure, it’s not a real NES, but I love plug-in emulations nonetheless: they open up additional performance options and insane configurations impossible with hardware. Now if only Chip32 were Intel-native. (As we discovered in comments, GarageBand weirdly refuses to run in Rosetta for PowerPC compatibility, something most music apps will do.)

Previously:
8-bit Nintendo Sounds as a Free Windows/Mac Plug-in (Add an NES to GarageBand, Stompbox NES FX)

YMCK: Japanese 8-bit Virtuosos, Music Videos

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32 Comments

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Zach

Any one else having trouble getting the plug-in to validate with Logic? I ran the AU manager and it was found, but it won’t validate. I can show the error output from the AU manager, but it’s long.

January 24, 2007 @ 4:20 pm
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Create Digital Music » 8-bit Nintendo Sounds as a Free Windows/Mac Plug-in (Add an NES to GarageBand, Stompbox NES FX)

[...] Create Digital Music » Free YMCK Magical 8bit Plugin Now Universal for Intel Macs [...]

January 24, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
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peter

its actually a NES emulator

January 24, 2007 @ 5:38 pm
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Matt

Ya, I am having the exact same problem with Logic 7.2 here. The AU manager states that the plugin fails on load times and because publisher’s name doesn’t have any lower case characters in it :/ When I force logic to load the plugin it makes the entire system act crazy. Some time sound will be in only the left or right channel and I get random stuck notes that only go away by shutting down the system. Same weird behavior in Garageband as well.I really wish I could get this working, I should email YMCK and ask them what’s going on with this.

January 24, 2007 @ 10:32 pm
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Peter Kirn

Logic can cause some unique AU hosting problems; they may not have tested it. (Every developer I’ve talked to who works on plug-in testing has most of their problems in Logic; I think it’s just an inflexible implementation of the spec.)

I’m able to load it successfully into Ableton Live and Apple’s own AU Lab. If you need a quick fix, the latter is installed with the 10.4 developer tools (well worth installing, and free, even if you’re not a programmer). In the meantime, I’ll keep a lookout for a bug fix.

January 25, 2007 @ 12:22 am
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octatone

this will be fun to play with.

January 25, 2007 @ 11:39 am
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Tyler

When you use it with garage band and try to make more than one 8-bit instrument it freaks out and starts squealing and wont stop till you exit the program. Anyone else experienced this?

January 26, 2007 @ 5:06 pm
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Matt

Ya, I’m experiencing the same “freak out” thing here with Logic, Audio Lab and Garageband. Although the sound comes at what seems randomly. Sometimes when I create another instrument and sometimes when I add an effect.

January 26, 2007 @ 9:45 pm
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Peter Kirn

It seems like I recall the band using Macs… hopefully they’re aware of the issues. That or else I should work on building something myself in Pluggo. ;)

January 27, 2007 @ 1:01 am
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Tyler

hopefully their aware. it wouldnt seem logical for you to not be able to have more than one 8-bit track at once, youd have to export one section then put it back into your program as a loop multiple times to make a song. Guess you cant really complain though because its free, but its a cool little VST. It’s neat to make instruments in garageband and then drag in pre-made loops from GB and listen to them all 8-bitized.

January 27, 2007 @ 2:06 pm
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Scott

Finally! I have been waiting months for this!!

January 28, 2007 @ 2:20 am
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josh

anyone else having pitch problems? my version running as an instrument in DP 5 is between 1 and 2 semitones sharp off of the midi note i’m playing… it’s weird. lemme try it in ableton and see if it works better there…

January 29, 2007 @ 11:42 pm
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josh

nope, it malfunctions in Live as well… hmm… if only it was exactly 1 or 2 semitones, it would be an easy workaround… looks like i’ll have to do some careful calibration to make it work. any other ideas?

January 29, 2007 @ 11:51 pm
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boya

Its not working right for me in Ableton either–only comes through on one channel, and its strange because it changes…sometimes right sometimes left…quite annoying as I had big plans for it….

January 30, 2007 @ 12:52 pm
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Barney

Same boya, im using it in GarageBand and im only getting it through on the left.

February 26, 2007 @ 9:47 pm
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A Different Scott

My god it’s finally here! Unfortunately for some reason the sweep switch just refuses to show up in the plug-in window…Anyone know what’s up?

March 20, 2007 @ 3:41 am
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A Different Scott

And yeah I’m only getting it through the left on Garageband as well…hmmm

March 20, 2007 @ 3:42 am
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A Different Scott

…AND I just found out it did the scare-the-shit-out-of-you-freak-out-noise thing when you try to use the plugin for more than one tracks. God I waited forever for this thing and now it does this…maybe I should just get GarageBand 2…

March 20, 2007 @ 3:51 am
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Daniel

This works perfect in Ableton Live 6. Multiple tracks with no problem.

April 6, 2007 @ 4:31 pm
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miguel

this stupid plugin sucks. acid pro 6.0 wont recognize it, ableton live 6.0.3 wont recognize it, the pc download is crap, dont even bother.

April 22, 2007 @ 2:16 pm
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bazis

i am running acid 6.0 with an axiom 25 midi controller keyboard. the problem is notes getting stuck all the time on my keyboard with softsynths..
tryed adjusting the audio buffers and loads of other settings in acid. with no luck.
i need som help here. what could it be?
its also connected thru the usb 2.0 port on my laptop, thought maybe it could be my usb ports is not running as 2.0 but 1.0 instead.
not sure. but its very irritating. help please…

April 24, 2007 @ 6:09 pm
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ERICW.BROWN

Hi… apparently this has become a complaint department, but if it isn’t can someone please post a link to the appropriate place (forum thread, etc.?)

If it’s ok to ask, I am having a problem with my speakers making very harsh, constant noise when I pull this plugin up in GarageBand, and the only way to kill it is to quit the program… goooooo

April 26, 2007 @ 1:45 am
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ERICW.BROWN

^ which I guess isn’t really a question, but my question would be am I doing something wrong/has anyone had the same problem?

April 26, 2007 @ 1:46 am
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James Venable

I can’t get it to work in Logic. Same as what everyone above said, fails validation crashes Logic 7. Only plays out LF side–drag this looked like such a cool plug–
Bug fix for Logic ?

Please.

April 27, 2007 @ 1:03 pm
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mike

This didnt work for me. Well its works, but only on the left channel. When i load up more than one instance of the app, it crashes and produces mad noise. I emailed ymt on the site but they have not replied, so it looks like it will be a while before we get a fix.

May 8, 2007 @ 9:41 pm
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Sam

can this only be used on software tracks in garageband, as in can i record stuff and then change it to sound 8-bit using this?

June 4, 2007 @ 10:49 am
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Create Digital Music » Your Top 10 Music Tech CDM Stories of 2007

[...] Free YMCK Magical 8bit Plugin Now Universal for Intel Macs [...]

January 1, 2008 @ 11:24 am
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rust

anyone know if the plugin’s sound is restricted to non-profit personal use?

I have used the plugin’s sound for some of my own music and wish to sell the music. I wanted to know if I cant do that, or require obtaining rights from them to use it.

January 17, 2008 @ 3:59 am
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Carlos Gonzalez

yep..only left in Garageband….:-{

March 21, 2008 @ 3:45 pm
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Wes

only left channel in ableton for me too, and also the non co-operation in logic 8 either?! what a bummer, hopefully they’ll get this sorted out somehow.

great plugin either way!

March 25, 2008 @ 6:21 pm
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caleb

are there any updates on the bugs? i would like to be able to use this, but since it only works in the left speaker, can’t produce multiple tracks, and often completely crashes into a frenzy of ear-deafening noises, it seems kind of worthless at this point.

May 7, 2008 @ 10:33 pm
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zahid

validating Audio Unit Magical 8bit Plug by YMCK:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
AU Validation Tool
Version: 1.2.0a11
Copyright 2003-2007, Apple, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Specify -h (-help) for command options
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

————————————————–
VALIDATING AUDIO UNIT: ‘aumu’ - ’synt’ - ‘ymck’
————————————————–
ERROR: Manufacturer OSType should have at least one non-lower case character: ‘ymck’
Manufacturer String: YMCK
AudioUnit name: Magical 8bit Plug
Component Info: YMCK’s 8bit Sound Generator
Component Version: 1.0.2 (0×10002)

* * FAIL
————————————————–
TESTING OPEN TIMES:
COLD:
Time to open AudioUnit: 0.699 ms
WARM:
Time to open AudioUnit: 0.012 ms
FIRST TIME:
Time for initialization: 0.005 ms

* * PASS
————————————————–
AU VALIDATION FAILED: CORRECT THE ERRORS ABOVE.
————————————————–

validation result: failed validation

thats the message i get in logic 8. macbook pro running 10.4

June 21, 2008 @ 9:27 pm
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