That site basically details the oldschool of MML for closed platforms.
I say oldschool because that stuff is a clusterf*ck. It is awful. I am big on MML and even I think the stuff is a mess. There is alot of crap you have to setup with HuSIC/PPMCK that is a pain in the ass, and if you aren't sure what it even is, will scare you off forever.
Squirrel more closely follows what is in the Develo PC engine book, and borrows stuff from the MSX scene.
The MSX scene has used MML in commercial homebrew projects using a program called Musica.
The great thing about MSX mml w/ musica is that it is very tidy and very easy to get into. Because of this, I borrowed alot of concepts from it for Squirrel's file layout. The proof that it is a good working idea is the fact that MSX sceners have used it for decades now. So if anyone feels like badmouthing something Squirrel is doing or thinks its a bad idea or doesnt work, take it up with 20+ years of MSX development.
I suggest you download Squirrel from aetherbyte.com and read the instruction file. It breaks things down as best as I could. If you have more questions, ask away on my forum!
It has some preset waveforms and envelopes. You are all set to make noise from the get-go. No dicking around defining waveforms or setting up hardware information. Once you are more comfortable you can always experiment!
I packed in some example files as well so you can see stuff in action.
The other nice thing about MML is that it was designed as a way to easily punch sheet music into a computer for playback. If you know how to read sheet music or are a composer, learning MML and then putting it to use will be a very nice way to make music.
If you aren't like that, don't worry! You can always cheat. Grab some kind of MIDI song creating program. Make sure you account for PCE hardware limits (6 channels!), and make MIDI songs. Then theres this program called 3MLE that converts MIDI tunes to MML for Mabinogi (a newer MMO that uses .mml files. More proof that MML kicks ass).
You can take the converted data out of the 3MLE program and copy paste it into a squirrel file and be listening to bleepbloops in no time.
The only things to be wary of with 3MLE are the following:
Since percussion on the PCE is done strangely, you will almost always have to fix your drum sounds/beats/timing. Its not too awful, especially since my demo files have pretty nice drums defined. Drums are the hardest part of MML/chiptuning. Once you get familiar with it, you'll quickly find it as no big thing.
Mabinogi made up some special commands with respect to octaves. Sometimes they use shortcuts to drop/raise octaves. Its annoying. If you see errors during Squirrel compilation, theyre probably from that. I might make a program to fix these things. To fix them you have to manually edit the MML. it is usually just a matter of putting octave shifts, and the note in question back in place of the shortcut.
