M-NES: 8-bit Chiptune Studio
2A03 music maker & NSF player
$6.99 · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
That 8-bit sound — with the real mechanism behind it.
M-NES is a chiptune workstation that recreates the RP2A03 APU, the sound chip of the classic 8-bit game console, at the register level. Two pulse channels, a triangle, a noise channel, and 1-bit DPCM samples: the five channels the hardware actually has, laid out on a piano roll. You are not composing with presets that sound "close enough" — you are driving the chip itself.
FIVE-CHANNEL APU SOUND ENGINE
• Two pulse waves with four duty cycles, hardware sweep, and envelopes
• Triangle with the linear counter — that round, fat bass
• Noise with 16 periods plus the 93-step short mode; pick the period by note pitch
• DMC channel playing 1-bit DPCM samples
• Switchable NTSC, PAL, and Dendy clocks and frame rates
• 48 kHz mono output, just like the hardware
A PIANO ROLL THAT FEELS RIGHT
• Tap to write, drag to move, pull the edge to resize
• 8th, 16th, and 32nd quantize
• Note velocity maps straight to the APU volume registers
• Per-track mute and solo, undo and redo, autosave
BUILT-IN NSF PLAYER
• Open .nsf or .nsfe and the built-in 6502 CPU and APU emulation play the original
• Multi-song files show a track list with titles and durations
• Single, repeat, and play-all modes
TURN A SONG INTO EDITABLE NOTES
• Re-emulates the selected song and tracks every APU register write, frame by frame
• Recovers pitch, timing, velocity, duty cycles, and noise periods into five editable tracks
• Use it to study, remix, or continue a track — transcribed songs play back immediately
DPCM SAMPLES
• Import raw 1-bit .dmc data
• Convert WAV, AIFF, and CAF to hardware-spec 1-bit DPCM automatically
• Place drums and voice clips with a waveform preview
HARDWARE-ACCURATE EXPORT
• NSF and NSFe export with a built-in 6502 driver and APU register stream
• 48 kHz mono WAV master
• .nesseq project files containing all editing data
PRIVACY
• No account, no ads, no tracking
• Composing, playback, and export all happen on your device, fully offline
MADE FOR
• Chiptune musicians who want the real sound, not an imitation
• Game developers preparing hardware-spec music and sound effects
• Anyone who wants to learn how 8-bit sound actually works — duty cycles, DPCM, noise periods — hands on
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M-NES is an independent product. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any video game console manufacturer. NSF and NSFe are community file formats used to preserve 8-bit game music. NSF files may contain third-party copyrighted material; import and export only within the rights you hold.
Ratings & Reviews
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Minor bug fixes
The developer, Code and DESIGN inc., indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Code and DESIGN inc
- Size
- 5.2 MB
- Category
- Music
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 17.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 17.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 14.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English and Japanese
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2026 Code and DESIGN inc.
