NES and Famicom music editor with a piano-roll interface instead of a tracker grid, so it is easier for people who don't read tracker columns. It covers the 2A03 and the expansion audio chips. It exports WAV, MP3 and OGG for any engine, and NSF, ROM and assembly for real NES homebrew. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, and is actively maintained: 4.5.3 was released on 2026-08-10.
At a glance
Licence
MIT
Commercial use
commercial OK
Credit
Not required
Status
active: License spot-checked at the source; the entry carries dated evidence.
MIT covers the application. Music you write and render is your own
For NES homebrew, the bundled sound engine (SoundEngine/famistudio_*.s) has its own all-permissive notice. You may copy and modify it without royalty, provided the copyright notice stays in source copies. A ROM built with it owes no product credit
The engine is a heavily modified FamiTone2 by Shiru, which the header acknowledges
The author asks contributors to get in touch before opening pull requests
For a full NES tracker instead of a piano roll, see dn-famitracker. For many chips beyond the NES, see furnace
Evidence
Live GitHub LICENSE (2026-09-30): "MIT License", "Copyright (c) 2019 BleuBleu"
Live GitHub SoundEngine/famistudio_ca65.s header (2026-09-30): "permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright notice and this notice are preserved"
Live GitHub releases (2026-09-30): latest release 4.5.3, published 2026-08-10