ChipTone

Sound effects are among the many things that make up a game, and while they may go unnoticed sometimes, a lot of thoughtful work goes into them to create an appropriate atmosphere.

How do those sounds get made, though? Most likely in specialized software, handled by professionals. But thanks to the software of today, it's becoming increasingly simpler to do things, and SFX creation is no different. ChipTone is an SFX generator that allows users to manipulate sound in many ways, and it's relatively easy to use.

Getting started with this app is as easy as ever: unarchive it, then start the program. A quite loaded interface will greet you upon startup, but you'll get used to it after a while. A lot of musical terms are used, such as vibrato, harmony, tremolo, amplitude, and so on, and if you don't much know what they do, the best way to find out is by playing around with them.

While the Sampler and Sequencer have not yet been released, the Synth tab is where you'll spend your time. To create a sound effect, press on the desired piano key, then play around with the mixing. Depending on how you tweak the settings, the sound signature can drastically change, but that's not all.

The Generator function can help a lot when looking for a specific sound effect: coin, zap, boom, jump, among others, have presets to get users started. These presets can be tweaked to your liking, and with the synthesizing options available, the tweaking can only go as far as your creativity.

We wanted the boom sound effect to have a gloomy undertone, and we were able to do just that by using the preset, then tweaking its frequency, speed and introducing a delay.

Alternatively, the Randomizer function can come up with some interesting sounds, so definitely try that when you're of ideas.

ChipTone can help you create some sound effects you can call yours — it's also great fun to use, so that's all the better.