Charting Tips
Updated: 19/09/2024
On this page I will go over a few key topics in charting that I think are valuable to know about. I don't go super in depth, but I will give my own perspective on them, as someone who has been charting since late 2016/early 2017, and has released or helped quality control a large number of packs in that time.
Pitch Relevance
Pitch relevance is the practice of placing notes in relation to the pitch of a sound. For example, if the music is ascending in pitch, then the notes would follow suite, going from lane 1 to lane 4, Like so. This practice is a very important part of charting, and while it can be ignored in favour of creativity sometimes, it's a very safe fallback, and something I would consider one of the fundamentals of charting. Pitch Relevance can cause patterning that feels slightly wrong to turn into something that feels satisfying to play. The way I personally use pitch relevance, is that I chart relative to the sound that came before. So while the sound overall may be ascending in tone, I will only focus on the sound that came before the one I'm currently charting. This lets me keep the PR feeling accurate without forcing me to look at the big picture for every single section. The downside with my approach is that notes as a whole can sometimes feel slightly off-pitch, but with solid layering (Which I will discuss later), that can be mitigated.
The best way to learn how to do pitch relevant charting, is to start by focusing on only the main melody of a song, and charting exclusively that. Don't listen to anything else, only the main melody. Doing this, you can then place notes one at a time, slowly, trying to figure out what the pitch of each note is, and slowly try figure out if the sound is ascending or descending. If it stays the same, you have the option to keep the note on the same lane, or, try and place it elsewhere for flow. It can be tricky to get the hang off at first, especially if you're not used to listening for the pitch changes in music, but I can guarentee that it's useful long-term for charting.
Layering
Layering is the practice of layering in each instrument in a song separately, one at a time. It's a tactic used to help the chart follow a coherent structure, and to help make sure the charter can comfortably keep charting the same sounds the same way. It's something every single good charter you like does, whether subconciously or not. When it comes to layering, there are many ways to approach it depending on your intent, but I will mainly just discuss my way to approach it. This way is to chart the PR first (as mentioned in the above segment), and then slowly layer the sounds on top of it one at a time, individually. Like so.
For me, the best way to get a solid base, or, as some charters call it, a "skeleton" for a chart, is to start with layering down the PR for the main melody, usually as single notes. If you plan to make any of the melody into holds, you should place those down first too. After that, you're free to choose whatever instrument you want to focus on next. For me, I normally focus on the main backround instrumental afterwards, then begin to layer in more details stuff after that. I won't go too in depth, as everybody has their own unique way of layering - but this layering style is ultimately what makes charters have a unique style in the first place, since every charter will layer their stuff in a different way, using different elements to bring out what they want to express. It's all about experimenting and finding what you enjoy doing the most.
Sync
Sync, for most players, is the single most important part of any chart. For charters, however, it can be quite hard to learn how to properly sync, and even once you've learned, it can be tedious. Despite this, sync is still an incredibly important part of every single chart. There are many ways to sync a chart correctly, but for this page I will only go over two surface level techniques that may help a less experienced charter find the right bpm and sync. More experienced charters can usually go by ear for figuring out if a chart is on or off sync, so this advice will only really apply to newer charters.
To start with, the way you sync changes depending on what editor you use, since the majority of people use Arrow Vortex these days, I will write with that in mind. The first, and most reliable way to get a rough estimate of the bpm and offset of a chart, is to use arrow vortex's BPM detector, found here. This feature only works if the song has a single BPM - but, it saves you a lot of trouble while you're starting out. Once you gain experience, you'll learn that the feature doesn't quite set the offset correctly 100% of the time, but for starting out, it's good enough. The second, is to use your editor of choice's waveform feature. This feature is indespensable for charters, and is a godsend for syncing. You can often times tell very clearly if a chart is on or off sync by how the notes and bpm align with the waveform. To show just how obviously helpful the feature is, I will link two pictures, one of which is one sync, and the other is off sync, and I assure you, you'll be able to tell which is which.
Link 1, Link 2
Song Choice
Song Choice is important for both your own enjoyability, and for your ability to learn. This segment won't be too long, but it's important to mention nontheless, that you should only chart music that you personally want to chart once you're experienced enough to do so, however many charters fall into the pitfall of immediately charting complex music. When you're learning, you should try to chart very simple music while learning. After getting the basics down, you can then move on to more complex music. This can, sometimes, result in you charting music that isn't quite to your interest, but is worthwhile to chart, because it helps you down the line in charting your favourite music.
Charting intent
When charting, it's always good to keep in mind what type of chart you're wanting to make. This may sound redundant, but it can help a lot with structuring charts. For example, if you're making a pure chordjack chart, you would avoid using bursts that are too nasty a lot of the time, to keep the focus on the chordjacks. If you're making a pure stream chart, you would avoid too many jacks or hands. This isn't a black and white rule, of course. There's plenty of charts that are combinations of various styles, but it's important to have intent with those styles, and chart accordingly, this will give your chart its own identity, and in turn, let it stand out from the sea of charts being released. If a chart has clear intent, people notice. This also goes for things such as practice charts. If you're making a practice chart, or any other type, making sure you don't stray too far from it does wonders for the chart.
Hosting a pack
At some point while charting, you may get the idea to host your own pack, a plan to release a collection of your own files, however when you do that, you should keep in mind something very Specific. Every experienced charter who hosts a pack, has a set of clear guidelines that even they themselves have to abide by - this can be anything from song choice, to chart type, or even pack type. As a beginner charter, I would earnestly recommend not making a pack immediately. I know it can be tempting, but you should instead focus on submitting to other packs, and getting feedback to improve with first. I made the mistake of making my first pack immediately, and you can see for yourself how badly it went, Here. The people in the thread were nice, however, if you download the pack, you'll see it's... Terrible, in every sense of the word. Once a pack is released, it will be permanantly out in the public, and as such, it will be permanantly tied to you, and your reputation. This is why it is so important to think before hosting a pack.
That being said, if you decide to go through with hosting a pack, there are risks and pitfalls you have to avoid as well. The most common of which is the pack just never getting finished or falling apart. I'll go over a few of them here, but not all of them. For starters, a lot of people make the mistake of charting files for their pack, but then sending those files to other peoples packs. This can cause a pack to be stuck in permanant limbo. The way I personally approach this is, if I chart a song for the pack, it stays in the pack no matter what, and only goes elsewhere if I personally think the chart does not fit the pack anymore. It sounds simple, but as you chart more, you'll realise that you only have limited time, yet have many packs you want to send charts to. Another pitfall is to start accepting submissions from friends. This isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but it does make your obligations with the pack significantly higher, because now other charters are relying on you to release their charts, and then you have to give them feedback for their files in your pack. Doing this can cause you a lot more stress, and can cause you to sometimes go easy on other peoples charts, accepting charts you don't quite agree with - lowering the pack's quality.
The last thing to look out for (There's many other things, but I'm only discussing what I consider the biggest issues), is theme. If a pack is just a mishmash of your charts, that's fine when you're an established charter, but if you're new to charting, or aren't popular yet, it can kill peoples desire to download your pack. Instead, a lot of charters make packs that target something people like, and go from there. To give you some examples, I personally made Chordial with Sheenoboo, to make some easy chordjack practice charts, and because people downloaded it for the practice charts, they ended up giving my charting a chance, adding credibility to my cdtitle and name to make decent charts. In Celebelian's case, he made a pack that was entirely focused on a specific aethstetic - STEP PROJECT. In this, every single song and piece of GFX in the pack was focused on following the cyberpunk style, this level of cohesion got people's attention, and they gave the pack a shot, resulting in them playing Celeb's charts, and falling in love with them (As is evident by people who still to this day recommend the pack to people.) Having a clear goal, or theme, can give people an excuse to download your pack when they otherwise wouldn't when you're not an established charter. From there you can then do your own thing and gain goodwill of players. Lastly: Try to avoid changing the aim of your pack mid-development after accepting submissions, it can completely ruin peoples trust in you as a pack host.
Avoiding burnout
When charting, burnout is always a possibility. There are many ways to avoid it, but sometimes it is inevitable. This is why you see a lot of charters releasing packs then vanishing temporarily. There are a few ways to mitigate the chance of experiencing burnout, though since burnout affects everyone differently, there is no guaranteed way to stop it from happening. Firstly, try to limit how much you chart. I know it can be tempting when you're having fun to chart a tonne at once, but if you chart too much, you'll eventually get sick of it and the fun you once had becomes a chore. This is especially prevalant when you're hosting a pack. Speaking from someone who's been behind the scenes for a number of major Etterna packs, I can tell you that a lot of charters lose steam long before the pack is finished, but feel the need to keep chugging along to finish the pack, which completely kills their motivation and causes burnout. The second way to avoid it, and the way I avoid it myself, is to make sure that when you're in the editor, you're having fun for at least the majority of the charts you make. View charting as a hobby you enjoy, rather than a chore to get charts you want to play. This can be done by doing what experienced charters refer to as "funstep". That is the act of charting something occasionally that is entirely, 100%, for fun. Placing down funny/entertaining patterns that you enjoy or make you giggle, or just messing about in editor with no intent to finish a chart. This freedom can help you mitigate potential burnout. There's many other ways, but these were some of the most common approaches.
Getting feedback
When starting out, it can be hard to find people to give you meaningful feedback, however there are a number of ways to get feedback for your charts. Feedback is required to improve as a charter, and is the most valuable way to improve. The best ways to get feedback are by posting your chart in the Etterna Online discord server's charting channels, submitting your chart to an open pack, or sending your chart to charters willing to give feedback. It's up to you to decide if the feedback you recieve is worth acting on or not, however, if you send a chart to a pack and it gets rejected, that is by far some of the most valuable feedback you will ever recieve, especially if it's a major pack, or a respected charter. Never be afraid to send your chart in for feedback, because even if your chart gets rejected and you get a wall of feedback, that is progress in improving as a charter, and progress in realising the vision you had for your chart. Every single bit of feedback you recieve will help shape you as a charter. It's also important to remember though, that not all feedback is guaranteed to be useful. You have to decide if the feedback you're recieving is useful for your intent or not. If you're charting a chordjack chart, and the feedback you get suggests adding streams, for example, you can safely ignore it, however if you are charting a chordjack chart, and the feedback you get mentions parts of the chart that are significantly harder chordjack patterns or something similar, you can act on it. Those are some very basic examples, but I hope it gets the point across that feedback is incredibly important, but is not something that you should ever feel like you have to follow if the feedback doesn't match your intent.
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